'Who Is' Of Magic

According to the tradition of the Golden Dawn, there were ten grades, which are associated with the Sephiroth of the Tree of life, plus the probationary degree for the Neophytes. In this tradition, it is vital for the student to first learn about the foundation of magic, not the practice, before advancing through the grades. Those who disregard the safeguards of the system often fall prey to mental delusion and ego-inflation. Much of today's Wiccan and Pagan Magical teachings are based largely on Hermatica and the Egyptian Emerald Tablets attributed to the mythical Hermes Trismegistus, or "thrice great Hermes". (The combined Egyptian and Greek deities of Thoth and Hermes, respectively.)The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was one of the most influential occult societies of the late 19th Century. The key founders of this movement were Dr. William Wynn Wescott, Samuel Macgregor Mathers and the Rev. A. F. A. Woodland.

There seems to have been a lot jostling amongst even these highly advanced adepts, but the result has been that the knowledge is now recorded again for the discerning aspirant to wade through at their leisure.

Later Aleister Crowley became involved in the Pagan Federation and was instrumental in establishing a network and peer group support for Wiccans and Pagans in Britain and Europe. Today's artistry owes much to the genus of these and other Alchemists, mathematicians and astrologers whose research and principal's have been absorbed into keeping alive the rituals of modern Witchcraft.

Magic is logical and practical and scientifically founded. Is it any wonder that we have rebuked the Religions and medical practices of today? It's mind control and that's scary in any language. The Old Sciences teach us how to take charge of our lives by living purposefully. Put simply it is the recognition that we are the power behind our thoughts and that these thoughts are the things which will become manifest in our world. We are what we think. It is a way of living in accordance with our true nature, which is the core of all creation. This core is healthily balanced and silent.

The power that made your body heals it from the inside out. How bizarre, that we continue to give our power away to a diseased industry of barbaric butchers which claims to heal it from the outside in. Healing begins in our spiritual center. Most people's spiritual center is dead.

As we experience this turning point in our evolution, the Mystical truths of the past are becoming public knowledge once again, offering information, which was once a well-protected secret. We have become so disconnected from Nature that the survival of our species is under threat. We need to bring back a nature-based philosophy, which can help us to get back in touch with the natural arts again. Our spirituality needs to be ecological for our survival as a species and for that of the planet.

Much of the old magical and healing wisdom has been ploughed into the mists of yesteryear, lost to a madness of other eras and cultural dogmas, which forced a lot of these natural sciences underground for their survival. The last time a group of people tried to point out the obvious imbalance in nature, they were murdered en-mass and have been persecuted ever since.

There have always been groups of people on the planet who have chosen to consciously dedicate their lives to keeping the gateway between heaven and earth open. To keep the magic alive. Most of them work in private, some work in groups and others as solitary practitioners, and their number is far greater than the average person would suspect.

We live, eat and breathe in a magical universe. Aleister Crowley said "Every intentional act is a Magical Act." Magic is all around us and part of our everyday life, which we seem to take for granted. Each time we dwell on a thought, make a decision, or create a project that manifests in the material world we are performing magic. There's nothing mysterious about that. Magic is a power that lies deep within the human soul and is our nature. Some people just do it consciously, that's all.

For those who choose do live it with awareness, the main axiom of magic is to "Know Thyself."