|
|
|
|
Ceremonial Magic is a method of doing Magic. Magic is the tool that is used to influence those events that we do not have direct control over. It is highly structured in its ritual expression and may cover a variety of traditions and cultural pantheons. Ceremonial Magicians are not necessarily Witches or Pagans and can even be Christian. It requires a detailed knowledge of self and the world in which we live. As practised today it requires a great deal of practise and study and when performing a Ceremonial Ritual the practitioner should always know what is being done and why. Brief History In the classical period, magic as we would define it today was done primarily by the Priesthood. By late in this period when the Roman Christian Church came into rule most of this knowledge was lost. In the Medieval periods in Europe there was available both Christian and Native magic. During this time the Christian Church came into rule and doing any magic based on earlier religions was considered evil. During the Renaissance period interest in the classic knowledge was rekindled. It was during this time that the classical gods began to reappear, the Quabala also appeared around this time as a philosophical and magical system in the writings of Magicians Today Ceremonial Magic is dominated by the Golden Dawn and derivative systems. There is some interest in both older systems such as the Solomanic Cycle and alternative systems, with Chaos magic being the most favoured Quabala Quabala is the primary cosmology of modern practitioners and was originally an attempt to find Mystical Truths hidden in the Torah. Its goal was to illuminate God and the relationship man has, or should have, with the Divine. The two primary streams of study are Mystical (associated with Sephardic Jewish practice) and Magical (associated with Ashkenazic Jewish practice). Today the Quabala is often viewed as a `filing' system. This approach uses a diagram known as the Tree of Life. The Tree of Life represents the relationships of the numbers 1 through 10 and of the Hebrew letters that connect them. The numbers and letters total 32 `paths'. These paths can be used to describe anything that can be imagined. 777 written by Crowley, is an example of this approach. To do a ritual the magician decides what is needed, refers to the appropriate line of symbols and correspondences, and by using as many of these as possible calls the desired result into existence. The primary texts of traditional Quabala include the Torah, the Sepher Yetzirah, the Bahar, and the Zohar. Modern texts tend to be explanations and extrapolations of these texts. Among the most important are The Tree of Life by Regardie, 777 written by Crowley and The Mystical Qabala by Dion Fortune. As a Tradition, Ceremonial Magic covers things like the Order of the Temple of the Orient (OTO), Ritual Magic, Free Masons and many more. |
Last updated: February 01, 2005.
|
