P A T C H E S O F C O N S C I O U S N E S S
"Two prisoners whose cells adjoin communicate with each other by knocking on the wall. The wall is the
thing which separates them but is also their means of communication. It is the same with us and God. Every separation is a link."
SIMONE WEIL - French philosopher, Christian mystic, and social activist
thing which separates them but is also their means of communication. It is the same with us and God. Every separation is a link."
SIMONE WEIL - French philosopher, Christian mystic, and social activist
Magic is simply enhanced communication; trans-dimensional communication admittedly, but don't let that intimidate you. It's really quite simple. As with all interpersonal exchange, mundane of otherwise, it helps if the parties involved share a language; but it's not necessarily 100% essential. That's because if you drill down to the bedrock of any culture sooner or later you'll arrive at a common vocabulary.
This holds good on the inner planes as well; colour is colourful, fragrance is fragrant, sound is loud, or soft, or somewhere in between, black is dark and white is light. And all the emotional associations are the same too; pointed things are sharp and round things are blunt, hot burns, cold freezes, pain hurts, pleasure makes you happy, revenge is sweet. The fragmented and surreal quality of dreams is largely due to memory distortion which occurs on the threshold on consciousness and not a true representation of what actually goes on 'down there'.
Magicians are big on lists they call 'correspondences'; for instance (check out the ad on the left) red equates to heat, excitement, passion, sexuality, assertiveness, control, leadership, confidence, dominance, power, revolution, dynamism, action, esteem (all attributes of the planet Mars). These powerful chains of associative meaning form the basis for the complex non-linguistic language of the unconscious (and implicit in all language is influence).
In the 20th century advertising agencies caught on to this; and now hundreds of times a day a cut-down version of this subliminal language is mobilised to subtly (oft times not so subtly) influence your purchasing decisions. That's what I used to do; I'm not proud. I mention this because there are insights and techniques, so called 'transportable skills', which I make use of in my magical practice and which may benefit others. Primarily they reside in visualisation, communication and presentation. So if I use lots of big colourful pictures don't feel patronised; I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to your unconscious (and you're just getting in the way).
Note: subliminal advertising was banned. Yeah; right. Crude 'auto suggestion' was banned in 1957; subliminal advertising went from strength to strength (as you can see from the above example - click to enlarge).
This holds good on the inner planes as well; colour is colourful, fragrance is fragrant, sound is loud, or soft, or somewhere in between, black is dark and white is light. And all the emotional associations are the same too; pointed things are sharp and round things are blunt, hot burns, cold freezes, pain hurts, pleasure makes you happy, revenge is sweet. The fragmented and surreal quality of dreams is largely due to memory distortion which occurs on the threshold on consciousness and not a true representation of what actually goes on 'down there'.
Magicians are big on lists they call 'correspondences'; for instance (check out the ad on the left) red equates to heat, excitement, passion, sexuality, assertiveness, control, leadership, confidence, dominance, power, revolution, dynamism, action, esteem (all attributes of the planet Mars). These powerful chains of associative meaning form the basis for the complex non-linguistic language of the unconscious (and implicit in all language is influence).
In the 20th century advertising agencies caught on to this; and now hundreds of times a day a cut-down version of this subliminal language is mobilised to subtly (oft times not so subtly) influence your purchasing decisions. That's what I used to do; I'm not proud. I mention this because there are insights and techniques, so called 'transportable skills', which I make use of in my magical practice and which may benefit others. Primarily they reside in visualisation, communication and presentation. So if I use lots of big colourful pictures don't feel patronised; I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to your unconscious (and you're just getting in the way).
Note: subliminal advertising was banned. Yeah; right. Crude 'auto suggestion' was banned in 1957; subliminal advertising went from strength to strength (as you can see from the above example - click to enlarge).
"We exist in a soup of abstraction; and the more alphabetti spaghetti is added to the recipe the harder it is to escape the limitations of the rational mind."
HERMAN. J. KLEIN
HERMAN. J. KLEIN
Throughout our lives the majority of our effort is invested in sustaining the illusion of a differentiated reality. Language and the written word act to fortify and perpetuate the plausibility of this self-deception. When attempting to penetrate the deeper levels of consciousness these finite concepts and literal interpretations represent the first hurdles that needs to be overcome.
"You are traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop, the Twilight Zone!"
THE TWILIGHT ZONE - 1959
THE TWILIGHT ZONE - 1959
Imagine the frustration felt by two dimensional creatures attempting to communicate with the mighty inhabitants of the unimaginably solid three dimensional plane; and then project that thought in the opposite direction. Consider how we would be perceived by the inhabitants of a four dimensional world. It's as well then that pure consciousness is capable of permeating inter-dimensional barriers.
"All gods are homemade, and it is we who pull their strings, and so, give them the power to pull ours."
ALDOUS HUXLEY
ALDOUS HUXLEY
It's a grave error to interpolate the world of spirit from physical data. The Bible has a name for it - idolatry. Located, as we are, in three dimensions understanding entities which are unconstrained by space/time is a hell of a stretch anyway. And that's why the principal challenge and purpose of high magic is to refine consciousness to the point where space and time are null concepts.
"Going back into the history of a word, very often into Latin, we come back pretty commonly to pictures or models of how things happen or are done."
J. L. AUSTIN
J. L. AUSTIN
When the Allies landed on the beaches at 'D' Day they carried an 'indispensable ready reference for invasion' prepared by Lieutenant-Colonel John Langshaw Austin (see above). It was entitled 'Invade Mercum'; that's his little scholastic joke - Vade Mercum translates from the Latin as 'go with me' and is generally taken to mean 'guide book'. When approaching the astral realms be similarly prepared.
"Marched 6 hours a day, slept 6 hours; always hungry, but never without food."
ROALD AMUNDSEN
ROALD AMUNDSEN
Amundsen beat Scott to the pole by implementing a very simple strategy. Whereas Scott carried his food; Amundsen made his food carry him. We have to be equally ruthless when it comes to our cherished thought processes. The rational mind, and the artificial reality it constructs, can transport us just so far. And then we either admit defeat and turn back or...it's goodnight Fido.
“The force that propels the human spirit on the clear way forward and upward is the abstract spirit.”
WASSILY KANDINSKI
WASSILY KANDINSKI
Objective representation only works on this side of the threshold of consciousness. It's symbolism and abstraction which comprise the language of the subliminal. In the 20th century we saw abstraction, surrealism and conceptualism emerge to dominate the visual arts. This is one of the major causes for optimism in the human condition; we are taking the first tentative steps in relearning the language of the unconscious.
“Hope in reality is the worst of all evils, because it prolongs the torments of man.”
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
Throughout history magicians and mystics have attempted to awaken us to a deeper reality of which this world is but a poor shade. Our greatest philosophers and artists have also been nipping ferociously at our heels (note the dog on the 'Fool' tarot card). The majority find this vision profoundly destabilising and in vertigo induced panic turn on those who jeopardise their fragile grip on sanity.
“I despise a world which does not feel that music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy”
LUDVIG VAN BEETHOVEN
LUDVIG VAN BEETHOVEN
...that's because music, by definition, is nonrepresentational and therefore effortlessly penetrates the deepest levels of consciousness. Music may paint pictures in your head (who can help but see the clash of mighty armies in Tchaikovsky's 1812), but it does not use words to do the job; it creates sound to stimulate emotions which trigger archetypal images.
"Our unconscious existence is the real one, and the conscious world is a kind of illusion, an apparent reality constructed for a specific purpose like a dream which seems a reality as long as we are in it."
CARL JUNG
CARL JUNG
In the 20th century the physical sciences became a lot less physical. The most successful scientific theory ever devised was predicated on uncertainty and irrationality; consciousness was recognised for its pivotal role in the creation of this and other universes; the work of the alchemists was validated by the world's leading psychologist; and most strange of all...very few of us seem to have noticed.
"...since the 1960s pornographic upsurge, the sexuality of children has begun to be shaped in response to cues that are no longer human. Nothing comparable has ever happened in the history of our species..."
NAOMI WOLF
NAOMI WOLF
As consumers we buy into a pornographic existence excised from the true nature of our physicality. In deriving profit from making us ashamed of our animal origins an unholy alliance of fashion and entertainment industry has taken over where the church left off. Body distorting clothing, fragrances, cosmetics, and depilatories combine to feed our voracious appetite for denial. (R.I.P Bettie Page 1923 - 2008.)
“All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.”
PRINCE GAUTAMA SIDDHATHA
PRINCE GAUTAMA SIDDHATHA
The civilisations of the east evolved in a spiritual climate distinguished by religious tolerance and a self-evident belief in the divinity of the individual. In the west two millennia of religious despotism has retarded spiritual, intellectual, and scientific progress. Only in the last century and a half, significantly as the west has secularised, is magic once again being recognised as the motive force of creation.
"Like everyone else I am what I am: an individual, unique and different, with a lineal history of ancestral promptings and urgings; a history of dreams, desires, and of special experiences, all of which I am the sum total."
CHARLIE CHAPLIN
CHARLIE CHAPLIN
One Christmas I was given two gifts; one box contained a model farmyard the other contained the farmer and animals. Jung did the same to the field of psychology. First, he revealed the collective unconscious and then he identified the characters which populate it - these he termed archetypes, which (he had the good grace to admit) were the gods, angels and demons of alchemists and mages from time immemorial.
"What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning."
WERNER HEISENBERG
WERNER HEISENBERG
Arriving at the subliminal levels is a significant psychic achievement; but it's really just a start. What's the point in blagging your way into a party to just stand inside the door shuffling your feet. You should have a clear and plausible reason for being there (not least because everyone hates a tourist) and a well prepared strategy aimed at influencing the locals to collaborate with you towards the achievement of your goals.
"Science is always discovering odd scraps of magical wisdom and making a tremendous fuss about its cleverness."
ALEISTER CROWLEY
ALEISTER CROWLEY
...on the other hand, there is little as irritating as having to listen to occultists constantly referencing developments in science as validation for their beliefs. It is difficult, nevertheless, to ignore the dramatic reconvergence of physics, cosmology, psychology, philosophy, and the arts which has taken place over the last hundred years; not least because everyone's now starting to sound like a magician.
"Gold is where you find it, according to an old adage, but judging from the record of our experience, oil must be sought first of all in our minds."
WALLACE PRATT - geologist and benefactor (1885-1981)
WALLACE PRATT - geologist and benefactor (1885-1981)
Separating conscious from unconscious states (and here's the science bit) is the endopsyche, an accretion of unresolved conflicts and complexes which frustrates inter-state communication. There are, however, techniques which facilitate transit through this psychic obstacle course. These fall into two categories; [1] a dramatic reduction of, or [2] an overwhelming increase in, stimulation. Either way...it's time to get freaky!
"at times I think there are no words / but these to tell what's true / and there are no truths outside the Gates of Eden"
BOB DYLAN - Gates of Eden
BOB DYLAN - Gates of Eden
The concept of the endopsychic barrier resonates with the Biblical creation myth. Adam and Eve becoming self-aware are expelled from Eden and forced to inhabit a self-constructed virtual landscape. In many classical depictions they jointly conspire to interrupt the self-referral cycle which sustains this artificial reality; Adam (subject) attempting not to see, Eve (object) attempting not to be seen.
“Using words to describe magic is like using a screwdriver to cut roast beef"
TOM ROBBINS - American Novelist
TOM ROBBINS - American Novelist
The grammar of the unconscious impacts so powerfully on the senses because it uses not words but the raw stuff of communication - colour, shape, texture, posture, gesture, fragrance, sound, taste - to construct maximal density symbolism. That's why occultists, after so plausibly establishing scientific validation, seem to act in contradiction by exhibiting strikingly irrational behaviour.
"We must assume that dream-displacement is brought about by the influence of this censorship, the
endopsychic defence."
FREUD - The Interpretation of Dreams
endopsychic defence."
FREUD - The Interpretation of Dreams
Interaction between the conscious and the unconscious is limited by the psychic barrier located at the limen (threshold) of these two states. It's inconvenient; but don't make the mistake of thinking it's your enemy. In the same way that the atmosphere protects earth's inhabitants by filtering out the harmful rays of the sun, this barrier prevents critical over exposure to the unconscious.
"Anyone who has lost track of time when using a computer knows the propensity to dream, the urge to make dreams come true and the tendency to miss lunch."
TIM BERNERS-LEE
TIM BERNERS-LEE
The Internet is an eerily accurate analogy for the collective unconscious; and it too has been colonised by angels and demons. Magicians term this substrata of reality the Astral and along with their predecessors and fellow travellers the shaman have always recognised its existence; indeed it has formed both their playground and battlefield for countless millennia. Magicians are naturally very much at home on the Internet.
“Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.”
LAO TZE
LAO TZE