1. KINDS OF MAGICK
Magick is the technique of harnessing the secret powers of Nature and seeking to
influence events for one's own purpose.
If the influence is beneficial it is known as white magick, but if it is intended to bring
harm to others, or to destroy property, it is regarded as black magick.
Magicians employ a variety of ritual procedures. Sometimes, as in imitative magick, they
seek to imitate the end-result desired by using models of real people or objects or by
dressing in ceremonial regalia in order to identify symbolically with a particular deity.
In certain black magick procedures, it is believed that harm can be inflicted upon a person
by burning a wax doll or sticking pins into it, as if it were the real person. Sometimes
"positive" effects are sought by similar procedures. The 'Magus' --- a classical textbook
on magick--- includes a "scapegoat" ritual for transferring illness and pain from a sick
woman to an unsuspecting frog: "Take the eye of a frog, which must be extricated before
sunrise, and bind them to the breast of a woman who be ill. Then let the frog go blind into
the water again and as he goes so will the woman be rid of her pains..." Here, removing
the eyes of the frog confirms the magician's mastery over the animal, who can no longer
jump for freedom. The woman's breasts, with their life-giving milk, represent health, and
the casting of the frog into water is a ritual act of cleansing. Taken overall, the frog
literally carries the disease away.
Modern Western Magick especially as practiced by the Hermetic Order of the Golden
Dawn, has as its main function the self-initiation of its members and must be regarded as
primarily a form of white magick.
However, there have been cases of alleged magickal attack and ritual practices that
summon bestial or demonic forces, which clearly are more related to black magick.
White magicians seek to activate the spiritual archetypes in the unconscious mind by
identifying with such life-sustaining deities as Osiris, Thoth, Apollo, Ra, and Horus
(male), and Isis, Aphrodite, Hathor, Demeter, and Persephone (female).
Black magicians worship such animal-human prototypes as the Devil, the Horned God,
Lilith, and a variety of other personifications of darkness and evil.
Black Magick
Magick performed with evil intent. The "black magician" or sorcerer calls upon the
supernatural powers of darkness--- devils, demons, and evil spirits--- and performs
ceremonies invoking bestial or malevolent forces intended to harm another person.
Black magick invariably involves imitative magick, in which there is said to be a link
between a person or object and something sharing its resemblance (e.g., a wax figure or
doll).
Injuries ritually inflicted upon the figure with pins or nails have a harmful effect upon the
person it represents.
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2. Some magicians claim that the technique is only effective when the sorcerer has enough
will-power to use the ritual figure as a focus for inflicting negative thought-forms on the
person under attack.
Celestal Magick
Belief that the planets are ruled by spirits that influence people.
For example, in kabalistic magick, the planets are ruled by the following archangels:
Tzaphkiel (Saturn); Raphael (Sun); Haniel (Venus); Michael (Mercury); Gabriel (Moon);
Sandalphon (Earth).
Ceremonial Magick
Magick that employs ritual, symbols, and ceremony as a means of representing the
supernatural and mystical forces linking the universe and humanity.
Ceremonial magick stimulates the senses--- sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch--- by
including in its rituals ceremonial costumes, dramatic invocations to the gods or spirits,
potent incense, and mystic sacraments.
The aim of ceremonial magick in its "highest" sense is a transcendental experience---
transporting the magician beyond the limitations of the mind towards mystical reality.
However, as a term, it is also associated with medieval magickal grimoires, which
describe procedures for summoning spirits.
These books, which are designed to confer power rather than transcendence on the
magician, include the Key of Solomon, the Grimoire of Honorius, and the Grand
Grimoire.
In modern times the most complete system of ceremonial magick was that practiced in
the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
Contagious Magick
The belief that objects that have been in contact with each other still have a link, and that
one can be harmed magickally--- for example, by a magickal rite performed over one's
fingernails, hair clippings, or possessions.
Defensive Magick
Magickal rituals and spells used to defend oneself from harmful sorcery or evil
influences.
Destructive Magick
Virtually synonymous with black magick, any magickal act intended to destroy people,
property, or crops, or to affect people's lives in a harmful way.
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3. Enochian Magick
System of magick derived from the work of Elizabethan occultists Dr. John Dee and
Edward Kelley, who met in 1581. Dee and Kelley made use of wax tablets called
almadels engraved with magickal symbols; they also used a large number of 49-inch
squares filled with letters of the alphabet. Nearby, on his table, Kelley had a large crystal
stone upon which he focused his concentration and entered a state of trance reverie. In
due course, "angels" would appear, and they would point to various letters on the squares
in turn. These were written down by Dee as Kelley called them out. When these
invocations were completely transcribed, Kelley then reversed their order, for he believed
that the angels communicated them backwards to avoid unleashing the magickal power
which they contained.
Dee and Kelley considered that the communications formed the basis of a new
language--- Enochian--- and these magickal conjurations were subsequently incorporated
into magickal practice by the ritual magicians of the Hermetic Order of the Golden
Dawn, who used them to induce trance visions on the astral plane.
High Magick
Magick intended to bring about the spiritual transformation of the person who practices
it.
This form of magick is designed to channel the magician's consciousness towards the
sacred light within, which is often personified by the high gods of different cosmologies.
The aim of high magick has been described as communication with one's holy guardian
angel, or higher self.
It is also known as theurgy.
Image Magick
The use of a magickal image--- a doll made of wax, clay, etc.--- in magickal spells.
In black magick harm may be inflicted upon a victim by forming the magickal image and
then pricking it with pins, breaking its limbs off, or consigning it into a fire.
Imitative Magick
Form of magickal practice in which the anticipated result in real life is mimicked, or
imitated, in ritual.
The most common form is through image magick, in which an image of areaal person
may be subjected to hostile acts (pins, burning, etc.) in the hope that real injury and
misfortune will befall the victim.
The technique can also be applied to mental images. For example, a phobia could be
visualized as a hostile creature (e.g., a spider, snake, or dragon) and "shrunk" in the
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4. imagination in the hope that the symptoms of fear would disappear with it. This technique
is used in some forms of psychotherapy that involve techniques of "active imagination".
For example, in guided-imagery techniques used in cancer treatment, the patient may be
asked to visualize the cancerous growth as a "dragon" that is gradually overcome by the
patient in the form of a "knight in armor". These treatments often prove to be remarkably
successful.
Low Magick
Magick intended to produce a utilitarian or domestic effect. Examples would include
attracting an influx of sudden wealth, a new lover, a change of occupation, or an uplift in
one's fortunes.
Mortuary Magick
Magickal rites and ceremonies performed in order to ensure that the deceased person will
have an enjoyable life in the afterworld. Mortuary magick was highly developed in
ancient Egypt.
Natural Magick
Magickal spells, enchantments, and conjurations believed to have an effect on Nature
(e.g., bring in much needed rain or thunderstorms, affecting the wind or other aspects of
the weather, contacting nature-spirits, or influencing cycles of fertility).
Protective Magick
Spells, rituals, and enchantments designed to counter the evil effects of black magick.
Sexual Magick
Magickal rituals and ceremonies that invoke the principle of fertility, and which usually
involve sexual acts that simulate the procreative union of the gods.
White Magick
Magick performed for a spiritual, healing, or generally positive purpose, as distinct from
black magick which is performed for self-gain, to inflict harm or injury, or for other evil
purposes.
Chaos Magick
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5. Chaos Magick focuses on the mechanism of belief, and suggests that the process of belief
rather than the object of belief is the critical element in magick. Chaos Magicians will
adopt or refute positions of belief as needed for the successful resolution of magickal
acts. This orientation, which stresses adaptability as a prime asset and greets change as an
accurate reflection of the true nature of reality can be extremely destabilizing for
individuals whose sense of personal identity requires that the universe be perceived as an
ordered and meaningful place.
Chaos Magick specifically refutes the possibility of eternal rest, of eternal order. It views
the universe as a phenomena of complexity at an order of magnitude too great for normal
human psychology to understand. In fact, Chaos Magicians would argue that the universe
is in such a state of flux and apparently random movement that only devious techniques
such as those of Chaos Magick, which deliberately subvert the conscious, rational mind,
have any chance of creating change in conformity with the will of the magician.
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