For the
sake of argument, I will discuss this in terms of conjuring a red rubber ball,
but these principles apply to all acts of magical creation on all levels. Still, the range of conjuration I present
here is not the only way to talk about this subject—just one way that appeals
to me personally. Remember: in magic, as
in all things, let personal intuition and firsthand experience be your primary
guide.
Moreover,
these basic ideas can become very complex when we broach the subject of spirit
work, personal initiation (“The Great Work”), lodge work, and collaborating
with divine entities toward magical-religious goals. I will discuss those in part 2. For now, I want to keep things simple and talk
about the ways we bring things into our lives (i.e. creative acts of practical
magic).
I think the
professional magician, Jason Miller, once voiced the longstanding occult belief
on his blog that practical magic can realistically only do two things: influence
minds and / or influence probabilities.
And while magic can undeniably accomplish those feats, as a useful
explanation, I think that’s a bit oversimple.
It doesn’t
address equally important questions (especially to working sorcerers and
people committed to so-called “results magic”): how does it do these things
and why is this the case? Why can’t
I shoot fireballs out my backside, conjure solid-gold Escalades, and make the
genitals of my enemies rot off?
To that, I
answer, you actually can create such effects; though, perhaps not quite
in the way you’ve been trained by the media to imagine them. And so I humbly request that you hear me out
before you decide I am incurably insane.
Because this might be of some value to you going forward.
Instead of
Miller’s facile and not-so-useful statement, I suggest this: in life,
and therefore in magic, all things are possible, but far fewer things are
probable. Notice that
I did not write “only some things are possible” or “practical magic is limited
to the following effects.” I’ve been
around real magic long enough to see many ostensible “laws of nature” violated
directly in front of me. So just for a
moment, I ask you to play along and drop your assumptions and acquired
expectations about how the world must work.
Pretend you are a child (often the most potent sort of magical creator)
and that you haven’t yet had ideas about what’s possible and impossible beaten
into you.
Easiest:
Static Eidolon Conjuration
Since we
are playing a game where anything is possible, please imagine a red rubber
ball. It’s no problem if you look up at
the picture above and then just reproduce it in your mind’s eye. If you have done that, you have conjured
something in the easiest way possible: in your imagination (or, if you prefer,
on the “Astral Plane” / Yetzirah), which is where all magical acts are graphically
shaped. You have brought an image, a
phantom, an eidolon into being.
Many
magical techniques begin an end with this act alone because whatever is
conjured on the Astral Plane / Yetzirah must eventually manifest on the
Physical Plane / Malkuth. It is the
easiest sort of conjuration to perform and it is why human beings (especially
children) are constantly performing magic, whether they are aware of it or not.
Somewhat
Harder: Moving Eidolon Conjuration
But what if
two of us are imagining a red rubber ball?
Does that increase the power of its manifestation? In many cases, it does. Or it could.
Take a look at Mark Stavish’s book, Egregores, for an interesting
in-depth discussion about that. But
without digressing into such a complex topic here, we can say that one person
can conjure the eidolon of a red rubber ball and give that eidolon to another
person, all using the power of Yetzirah.
If you don’t believe me, look back up at the picture. Didn’t I just conjure that in your mind after
I conjured it in my own?
Yet
Harder: Social Objective Conjuration
Since we
are beings rooted in physical bodies and therefore find physical things more
satisfying than phantom images and ideas, we usually work practical magic at a
third level of difficulty (we might even say, “density”), by seeking out the
physical manifestation of our Astral creations.
Remember, anything created on the Astral must eventually manifest on the
Physical.
So back to
our red rubber ball. We’ve imagined it
in great detail. It exists as a conjured
image for us and perhaps for others.
Then we watch and wait. Sooner or
later—usually sooner—the universe will bring a red rubber ball into our
physical experience. If we have created
it in collaboration (or as a viral transmission) with another mind, it is very
likely that person will bring it to us or at least be involved.
This is
what I mean by “social objective conjuration.”
It’s social because we’ve involved another as the pathway of
manifestation. It’s objective because
we’re not just talking about producing an image. Now we want a conjured physical thing. And it’s a conjuration because this is straight-up
practical magic: causing change in conformity with will to produce a desired physical
effect.
We might simply
say to our friend, “It’s my birthday. I
want a red rubber ball.” That magic is
rather direct. Your loving friend may go
to the sporting goods store and buy one for you. But it can be far more mysterious. Say you float a magically charged image of a
red rubber ball onto social media and your friend sees it. She might arrive at your house with the
object as a joke, not quite sure why she finds it so funny. Or the ball might come to you in a way very
indirectly connected to your act of Astral eidolon transmission. But it must come to you if you have
deliberately created the eidolon. And if
others receive that image, it is very possible that they will be part of its journey.
Hardest:
Pure Objective Conjuration
Instead of deliberately
involving others as part of our conjuration, we “fire and forget.” I make a sigil for a red rubber ball and
release that sending into the cosmos.
I’ve (1) imagined the ball; (2) formed a symbolic statement of intent
that encapsulates and directs the manifestation of the ball’s image into the
Physical; and (3) patiently and calmly opened myself to receiving that ball
from wherever it may come. It may arrive
in a very circuitous and strange manner.
Or its arrival may be so mundane and unspectacular that I hardly notice
the magic at work.
The
philosopher, Robert Anton Wilson, described this as “The Thinker and the
Prover” effect: what the thinker thinks, the prover sets out to prove,
not just perceptually and subjectively but in the broad, objective scope of our
experience. We are not sure what pathway
of manifestation the red rubber ball is going to take. At least, we’re not as sure as we were when
our friend was involved. But because we
are not limiting ourselves (specifically, we’re not accepting that magic has
limits), there are no limitations to get in the way. This is what real sorcerers can do. They can attain a state of personal gnosis
(cf. Spare’s “neither-neither”) that facilitates any and all pathways of
manifestation.
At this
level of magical difficulty, the eidolon has been created in a mind or in
multiple minds, and it seeks physical manifestation through a kind of magical aperture
into an objective state of being. Wilson
suggested that people experiment with the image of money in the street. Ritualistically visualize it; think that you
are going to find some; and, if you are walking down the street, in the very
near future you will. Here, I suggest a
red rubber ball manifesting somewhere nearby . . .
Now back to
my principle: in life, and therefore in magic, all things are
possible, but far fewer things are probable. I could shoot
fireballs out my backside. Google it and you will likely see people doing so. I could manifest a solid
gold Escalade without spending a dime. I could conjure millions
of dollars, acquire an unlimited succession of sexual partners, send my rivals
off cliffs, and get that promotion.
Whatever I want can be accomplished at one or more of the above levels—even
ostensibly miraculous or “impossible” things.
It’s all
possible if I’m the one deliberately bringing it into being. But far fewer things “just happen”—thankfully
with regard to my fireball example. I
can imagine a scenario where anything might happen even if I didn’t do
magic. But it’s far more likely that
extraordinary events / effects do not come into being unless I’m focusing on them
with intention.
It’s much harder to
purely and objectively conjure a physical thing than it is to summon up its
eidolon. Then again, sometimes only the
eidolon is necessary. And sometimes
conjuring the physical thing is more trouble than it’s worth. Still, ask
and you shall receive. But you have to
know the right way to ask.
Know the
amount of probabilistic distortion you are imposing on the world but keep a
very open mind. Conjure an image as a
first step. Then remind yourself that in
the powerful mind of a child, who sees no limits because she has never learned
them, anything is possible.
Anything.
Ask in a
powerful way and, as the Russian physicist-mystic, Vadim Zeland, writes,
“Apples will fall up” and there will be no choice but for you to get what’s coming
to you . . .
