Magick for Beginners, by J.H. Brennan

Blessings Darlings - it's time for a Book Review!

I must have bought J. H. Brennan's "Magick for Beginners" a decade ago.  I don't recall WHY I bought it, I suppose it's because I know that Brennan did at least one book with Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki and I like her classes and books.  Earlier this month I decided it was long past time for me to read the book.

I did not enjoy the book.  I do not think it is a particularly good book for beginners at magick. I THINK he intended it as an intro to Ceremonial magick, but it's too disjointed to be that, and it has so little 'how to do' magick in it that a simple spellbook would be more practically useful.

The author says that he's starting readers off with 'low magick'.  However .... he actually starts readers off with the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram - pure theurgy, not practical, low-magical thaumaturgy.  Then he moves into chapter after chapter on the 'clairs' - clairvoyance and such.  Those, in my world view, are not magical skills, rather they are psychic skills.  The one 'practical magical' working is to bring in $100 ... but he drags the reader thru' 'inadequate explanation and knowledge of the Kabala" to do it. 

Then it's off to how magic isn't really magic, it's psychology, and we head to theurgy for the rest of the book.  But not just any theurgy - it's Intro to Enochian, where one is supposed to do invocations in a language you don't know (and he doesn't always include translations).  Then ... off to assumption of Godforms, the Rose Cross ritual (with no explanation of any of the Divinities the reader is calling!), etc.

Nothing practical in it's thaumaturgy.  Nothing beginner in its theurgy.  I simply cannot recommend the book.

Oh, let me look at how long it would take to 'work' the book, given it's exercises.  Two weeks of doing the LBRP.  Tatvva work - no clear idea how long that is supposed to take. Several weeks of the color version of the Middle Pillar. Then add the 'fountain of light' for an unmentioned amount of time.  So - two months, THEN you spend a month on getting that $100.  Total - over three months on what he calls 'low magick', only one of which is actually doing low magick.

Onward to High Magick - several exercises of self-awareness given, no time frame for how long they will take.     Then a ritual to charge a Talisman, which requires the reader to prepare for two months (but anyone the reader gets to join in .... doesn't have to prepare that long?  Because it's really only about the reader?  very odd....), etc.  No preparatory times given for these rituals, nor any word on how long to take between them or if you should/could do them all in one day.  So, let's say another over three month period for theurgy. 

Bah.  And Humbug.

Frondly, Fern

Vibrating Sacred Names/Words/Chants

Blessings Darlings!

Did I just say that out loud?  Well, yes, I did, when I scheduled the post. 

In my magical universe there are many ways I can magically bring things into being.  Writing them down is one way to do that - a to-do list is very potent magic for me.  But saying something out loud is another.

Ah, the magic of words.  Of keeping your word. Of making an announcement to the Universe and inviting the Gods and all your friends and enemies to laugh at you.  Powerful stuff!

Add to that the concept in Western Magical Tradition (probably brought over via Theosophy from Asian religions) of VIBRATING things into the universe, especially of vibrating Sacred Names!  Power raised several <   not iterations.  Not decimal places.  Logarithmetly? How is that spelled? >

I never 'got' the idea of vibrating things into the universe until the Smithsonian Institution showed me how it's done.  Well, the Institution didn't do it ....

What happened was that the Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian, on the Mall in DC, had Tibetan Monks create a huge, elaborate mandala out of colored sand.  It took them weeks to do it.  And every day before they got to work on it, they would first chant.  I don't have a clue what the English version of they were chanting was.  But the WAY they chanted - I assume that Siberian Shamanic Throat Music must be similar.  It was astonishing.  You KNEW that those chanted words were 'being vibrated out into the Universe" in some special way. 

You can hear things like it at this reference:

 the interesting stuff at about 10 seconds in.

Frondly, Fern

Shivian on Ritual Clothing

The awesome Shivian has blogged about ritual clothing!  http://blog.shivian.com/post/18448462631/ritual-clothing!   You should read it and think. 

I don't change for every bit of magic and ritual, like, if I'm going out to leave the weekly offering I will take off the dirty apron and take the fresh-baked goods out to the altar in the copse.  But for most other stuff I at LEAST put on one of two special scarves.  And most of y'all know what the Assembly of the Sacred Wheel ritual outfits look like, tabards and all.

Ritual vs Spells

Blessings Darlings!

The always interesting Wade has another GREAT post up on his blog, on how to become a Master.  I recommend it highly!

http://wadelong.wordpress.com/2012/03/01/crafting-tomorrows-master/

Frondly, Fern

Playing With Fire

Blessings, Darlings!

As some of y'all know, I have some issues with depression/Generalized Anxiety Disorder.  It started when I was very young, around age 10 or earlier.  Over the years I've tried a large assortment of therapies and drugs, and currently it's pretty well controlled with Effexor and having set up a system of accountability (so I don't try to duck/ignore anything that makes me anxious, a 'solution' which of course causes more problems than it solves).

Still, there are times when stress is high and it kicks in, and I have to change or increase medications or add some talk therapy for a while.  When that occurs ... I cut down or completely cut OUT doing deep spiritual work.

You may be asking 'why' - why would Fern 'turn from the Gods' when she seems to need them the most?

Well, I don't turn from the Gods - I still talk with them (and they get their messages across to me).  Same with the nature spirits, and the ancestors.  And I still meditate, since that helps (as does exercise, for that matter) But I do respect the intertwining of body/mind/spirit.  And I've found that it's best to work with one variable at a time.  

J. H. Brennan wrote about this in the introduction to Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki's WONDERFUL book "The Ritual Magick Workbook".  He talks of having nervous breakdowns after starting his occult studies, and goes into why esoteric training easily and often increases depression to such an extent that it will push you over the edge.  The short reason is that MOST spiritual/occult things you do - in any system - are DESIGNED to influence all of your energy systems.  And all of your energy systems (physical, mental, spiritual, chi, endocrine, emotional, sympathetic and parasympathetic, kundalini, etc - ALL OF THEM ) interact in ways that are intricate and powerful. 


So, the last time this happened ... probably not coincidentally while the coven I'm in was doing a year of Kabalistic workings (and I was prepping the working on Binah, for goodness sake!) .... I took a leave of absence from the coven I'm in that allowed me to have space to adjust drugs/therapy without the added variable of continuing the Kabalistic (and other) coven work.  I felt it would be detrimental to MY mental health to continue at that time, and unfair for me to burden my High Priestess with mediating any effects my out of control spiritual/occult energies could have on the coven's Group Mind.  (For the record, I'm SURE she could have handled doing that!)


And I bring this up now .... why?


I'm so glad you asked that!  I bring this up because lately I've seen a whole lot of folks who have depression or other emotional and mental challenges who really really want to work on their spiritual development ... whose depression or mental illnesses are not currently under any control at all.  And I'm scared for them.  These paths we walk are dangerous even for those who aren't pre-disposed, and for those who are pre-disposed but controlled and aware of the dangers and early warning signs of trouble.  For those whose mental/emotional issues are NOT in control - on this path lies madness. 


Literally. Madness.  Dousing yourself with gasoline and jumping into bonfire madness.  Not peace.  Not initiation.  Not MORE control, but LESS control. 


Stop.  Don't do it.  Don't do energy work.  Don't do trance work.  Don't do Pathworkings.  Don't attend 'transformative workshops'.  Don't attend Pagan festivals, where folks get ungrounded as it is from all the energy darting about. 

Pray, yes.  Talk with the Gods.  Make offerings.  Honor the cycles of nature.  Attend generic public rituals. Stay grounded with exercise, good food, good air, talking with real counselors, try on the appropriate prescribed drugs.

Frondly, Fern

What Makes a Wiccan .... Wiccan

Before I write about what makes a person Wiccan, I’m going to start with makes Wicca Wicca.

For me, Wicca is a fairly recent inspiration of the Gods, and features pantheism, functional duotheism, small group structure, coven hierarchy, liturgical format based on ceremonial magick, liturgical cycle based on combining the agricultural cycle and herding cycles and diving those holy days into 8 evenly spaced ones, noting and often working with Lunar cycles, working with polarity, and being an experiential mystery religion.  How many of these things can something called “Wicca” be missing and still be Wicca? I’m not going there today!

With its roots in Ceremonial Magick and mystery religions, Wicca-the-religion doesn’t accept just anyone who wants to join the Group Mind/Egregore – it is going to be into growth and evolution, yes, but not self-destructive changes.

You don’t have to be ‘actually’ Wiccan to worship The Goddess and The God, or to worship ‘Wicca Style’.  Not being Wiccan doesn’t keep you away from the Gods, after all.  But is DOES mean that you are not connected to the Egregore.  It’s sort of like the difference between Kosher and Kosher-style.  The taste – the liturgy and ritual actions – can be the same, but it’s not connected to the same Egregore.  Kinda like planning to work with Bridget, but working with Hecate instead (hey, both are Goddesses and have 3 aspects, how different can they be?)

So the question becomes “How do you connect with the Egregore of Wicca?”

Seems to me that the Gods set it up as study and practice (outer court work), which then is  made active by the Egregore acting through a HP/SS (or coven) that chooses to give the person membership or initiation. 

Can the Gods or the Egregore initiate a person themselves?  Yes, but in my experience it’s pretty rare.  The Gods put the coven system in place when They inspired Wicca (or caused it to evolve out of CM), and aren’t going to lightly put it aside.  The person the Gods are going to make an exception for is going to have to be special, and desperately needed for the growth of Wicca … and not just as a bad example.  I’m thinking that anyone They do that for is going to have to become as important as, say, Gerald Gardner, or Victor Anderson, or Doreen Valiente.  And even then, I’d expect that They would do it after the person, having lived in isolation somewhere with no chance to study with a coven, and no chance to move to study with one (and no chance to move away to even go to a university, which is harder to find time and money for than finding a coven), still did all the studying about Wicca, and practicing as much as they could get from books, for years on their own.  In other words, They don’t do it for the human individuals convenience, but to better manifest the Wiccan Egregore’s Higher Will.

Frondly, Fern

Other vaguely related blog posts:  Preparing for Samhain

                                                   Ancestor Worship