Just how did the old mages do it?

[HoldAll]

Some authors opine that the old European grimoires read like so many recipe books because they tacitly assume that the would-be mage had adequate prior training in order to get results. Really? I find it hard to believe. I think they were isolated solitary practicioners, bought the books somewhere, then went through a long, tedious process of acquiring all the prescribed implements and paraphernalia and, come ritual time, whipped themselves into a such frenzy of fanatical hope and superstitious fear through incessant praying (as well as a heavy dose of frankincense up their noses) until something happened. Allegedly. Did Eliphas Levi really conjure up the ghost of Apollonius of Tyana? Without any prior experience whatsoever?

I've only recently started to do some practical work like the LBRP, meditation, relaxation, etc., everything modern occult books recommend. While progress has been modest so far, I just can't imagine even now that one could do magic without some rock-solid trance-concentration (that's how I call the mental state that's required for a successful ritual, in my opinion). Except for the GoM (and I begin to doubt their effectiveness for this very reason), there seems to be a broad consensus that a lot of mental preparatory work is required first, from Quareia to the Bardon wringer. So how did the Medieval and Renaissance mages do it?

 

[Yazata]

I think they took one (or a few..) sourcebooks and worked from thereon instead of reading 5000 books with different opinions that confuse and hinder any progress.

 

[HoldAll]

I think they took one (or a few..) sourcebooks and worked from thereon instead of reading 5000 books with different opinions that confuse and hinder any progress.

That, and they were not self-conscious or embarassed about their desperate antics because they had seen much better on TV, including superior special effect.

 

[Tryp]

I think looking at cultures different to ours can prove more insightful than looking at older stages in our own culture. Consider aboriginal culture, African traditional religions and diaspora, etc.

The need for preliminary practical work like meditation may have more to do with the conceptual straitjackets we wear in our modern society, cultural baggage, misinformation overdose. We're stranded and confused.

And there's that old saying suggesting that reading only one book may be worse than having read none, but that doesn't mean it is worse in order to obtain results.

 

[8Lou1]

by sitting on a crossroad asking the devil to help. by asking the great spirit in the sky. by being me, the i that i am and daring myself to see the magick in me and the world around me. by accepting me is confused of all the info there is and realizing i am the center. and with realizing i mean that i research what i feel, what i notice with all my senses and give meaning to it. accepting these meanings in me and using those to guide me towards an other me, a better form of me, all from me to me inside out. see the me in yourself.

 

[Xenophon]

Some authors opine that the old European grimoires read like so many recipe books because they tacitly assume that the would-be mage had adequate prior training in order to get results. Really? I find it hard to believe. I think they were isolated solitary practicioners, bought the books somewhere, then went through a long, tedious process of acquiring all the prescribed implements and paraphernalia and, come ritual time, whipped themselves into a such frenzy of fanatical hope and superstitious fear through incessant praying (as well as a heavy dose of frankincense up their noses) until something happened. Allegedly. Did Eliphas Levi really conjure up the ghost of Apollonius of Tyana? Without any prior experience whatsoever?

I've only recently started to do some practical work like the LBRP, meditation, relaxation, etc., everything modern occult books recommend. While progress has been modest so far, I just can't imagine even now that one could do magic without some rock-solid trance-concentration (that's how I call the mental state that's required for a successful ritual, in my opinion). Except for the GoM (and I begin to doubt their effectiveness for this very reason), there seems to be a broad consensus that a lot of mental preparatory work is required first, from Quareia to the Bardon wringer. So how did the Medieval and Renaissance mages do it?

For one thing, they didn't have social media and 1000 other deliberate distractions. I once lived out in the woods for six weeks. Concentration came easier with maybe two books and no company. The old mage tended to be solitary types, I reckon.

 

[KjEno186]

We're stranded and confused.

I was about to write a reply to the effect that "magical thinking" is to some cultures like fish are to water. Well, in the times and places that most of us live now, we're told a lot of things simply aren't possible because they're "not real." We've left the water and believe that we'll drown if we go back in.

Magical thinking is, to some extent at least, associative thinking, which is why you'll find lists of things that "go together" in books about magic. I would caution against comparing lists because they are all contradictory to each other in many ways. By taking and using a particular list of things for a given spirit in a grimoire, you're creating a gestalt of thought and feeling which the old mages knew were needed to align oneself to the "frequency" of the spirit in question. The modern problem is that a lust for results interferes with this gestalt, canceling its effects in a self reinforcing vortex of defeat. Which is why a lot of beginner books on magic try to slyly get potential magicians in on the shallow end of the pool, so to speak. "Fake it til you make it" isn't such a bad idea because it attempts to get you into the flow of magical thinking, without thinking about it. Now that I've explained the trick, I hope that doesn't jinx my janx. There are some people who are on a losing streak, you know, until someone says the right thing, et voila, they start winning and cannot lose; or vice-versa.

 

[Tryp]

By taking and using a particular list of things for a given spirit in a grimoire, you're creating a gestalt of thought and feeling which the old mages knew were needed to align oneself to the "frequency" of the spirit in question. The modern problem is that a lust for results interferes with this gestalt, canceling its effects in a self reinforcing vortex of defeat.

That a lust for results is self-defeating seems almost out of the question right now, and I feel this is one of the toughest knots for us to figure out in magical practice (and Austin Osman Spare's work in this sense may still be underrated), but our need to make sense out of associations seems a really big hurdle as well.

One thing some of our mages of old and other cultures maybe have in common is a bigger capacity than we have to let go of that need for understanding, which is perhaps another way of describing what you call getting us "into the flow of magical thinking".

A quote I like from Frater Acher's Holy Daimon comes to mind:

The level of magical power you'll be able to handle successfully depends more than anything on your ability to remove yourself from the equation. This is neither an act of servile self-denial nor of divine bondage: it is about trusting that you'll be okay whatever happens.

 

[HoldAll]

The need for preliminary practical work like meditation may have more to do with the conceptual straitjackets we wear in our modern society, cultural baggage, misinformation overdose. We're stranded and confused.

It's also the whole civilizational clutter in our heads - which we need in order to survive in modern society but all these data run amok in our heads, idea chasing idea, random information breeding riotously, interspersed with media-fuelled fantasies all day long… It's really hard for us to get into a simpler mindset that is not troubled by these things.

For those old mages, I guess, the grimoires were gospel. They did not 'choose' to believe, they just knew it was so. Every incantation, every gesture in their rituals was dead serious, so they did not have to worry about such new-fangled things as 'concentration' or 'no mind'. Whereas we are constantly doubting ourselves, battling against the pressures of consensus reality, comparing ourselves with our more sober peers… ok, that may be just me and my current slightly disturbed frame of mind.

 

[beardedeldridge]

Magic predates those grimoires (written records). It came from religions (both wholesale & piece mail), grew from collective superstitions, trial & error, contact with other cultures, and spirit guidance.

Magic is simply asserting your will against perceived reality and the other forces/wills that are effecting a particular event. Grimoires (at least their source documents) are simply a practitioner’s journal/record of what seemed to work for them or what a spirit or another practitioner told them.

The oldest forms of transferring that knowledge between people was more of parent-child/teacher-student/master-apprentice/mentoring/etc… arrangement.

-Eld

 

[KjEno186]

For those old mages, I guess, the grimoires were gospel. They did not 'choose' to believe, they just knew it was so. Every incantation, every gesture in their rituals was dead serious, so they did not have to worry about such new-fangled things as 'concentration' or 'no mind'. Whereas we are constantly doubting ourselves, battling against the pressures of consensus reality, comparing ourselves with our more sober peers… ok, that may be just me and my current slightly disturbed frame of mind.

We can practice magic without a pseudo-pious cloak and do not have to worry about persecution from religious authorities. We do have the advantage of choosing our preferred practice. We just have to pick some path that we find acceptable and practice it every day. For me, that's meditation, divination, and a protection/invoking/banishing ritual. Then other things can be done beyond that.

As John Michael Greer wrote in a recent blog post, meditation is "pressing gently down on the fabric of the astral light and holding it smooth and still despite all its attempts to wiggle out from under the pressure, and despite all the disturbances that everyone and everything else is putting into it. Once you learn to master it, it becomes a vehicle for your intention and your intuition, and you become a mage."

Divination is the practice of suggesting to your "higher self" that you would like to see beyond the mundane things that your conscious mind is focused upon, and it generally uses some material tools to bypass your psychic censor. It feels awkward and pointless at first. And then, after you become more familiar with your tools, you find yourself meditating upon a particular outcome...

A good "banishing" ritual involves one's imagination. This could be a greater source of feelings of tedium than meditation, but there are reasons to persevere. I've gone through many variations over a year and a half of practice. Sometimes I did an absolute minimum like a Qabalistic Cross, just to have something to write in my notes. Other times I worked the QC + LBRP + Middle Pillar. It gets easier over time, and I can only speak from personal gnosis, but those periods when I'm doing the full set I seem calmer and more balanced in my thoughts and feelings than when I get lazy and do the minimum (or nothing at all). There are many protection/banishing rituals, so don't think you must do QC+LBRP+MP. Find something that resonates and stick to it.

 

[HoldAll]

We can practice magic without a pseudo-pious cloak and do not have to worry about persecution from religious authorities. We do have the advantage of choosing our preferred practice. We just have to pick some path that we find acceptable and practice it every day. For me, that's meditation, divination, and a protection/invoking/banishing ritual. Then other things can be done beyond that.

As John Michael Greer wrote in a recent blog post, meditation is "pressing gently down on the fabric of the astral light and holding it smooth and still despite all its attempts to wiggle out from under the pressure, and despite all the disturbances that everyone and everything else is putting into it. Once you learn to master it, it becomes a vehicle for your intention and your intuition, and you become a mage."

Divination is the practice of suggesting to your "higher self" that you would like to see beyond the mundane things that your conscious mind is focused upon, and it generally uses some material tools to bypass your psychic censor. It feels awkward and pointless at first. And then, after you become more familiar with your tools, you find yourself meditating upon a particular outcome...

A good "banishing" ritual involves one's imagination. This could be a greater source of feelings of tedium than meditation, but there are reasons to persevere. I've gone through many variations over a year and a half of practice. Sometimes I did an absolute minimum like a Qabalistic Cross, just to have something to write in my notes. Other times I worked the QC + LBRP + Middle Pillar. It gets easier over time, and I can only speak from personal gnosis, but those periods when I'm doing the full set I seem calmer and more balanced in my thoughts and feelings than when I get lazy and do the minimum (or nothing at all). There are many protection/banishing rituals, so don't think you must do QC+LBRP+MP. Find something that resonates and stick to it.

I do Damon Brand's Sword Banishing Ritual first thing in the morning and last thing at night and I've come to like it. The LBRP is more of a chore, so is meditation but I'm beginning to feel the benefits - not in everyday life, more in those rituals, they've become more vivid somehow. That's what I meant - I just can't imagine anybody doing magic without learning how to still the mind and really focus first. Maybe there are people who are able to get into some kind of trance that is beneficial to magic without any further preparation, dunno.

 

[Ziran]

I just can't imagine anybody doing magic without learning how to still the mind and really focus first.

There's another path, many actually, through the heart. There's still preperations, but it's not like stilling the mind which requires focus. It's more like developing sensitivity. The benefit is, the sensitivity is ongoing. With practice, the heart knows what to do all on its own.

 

[HoldAll]

There's another path, many actually, through the heart. There's still preperations, but it's not like stilling the mind which requires focus. It's more like developing sensitivity. The benefit is, the sensitivity is ongoing. With practice, the heart knows what to do all on its own.

Yes, I suspected that much... passion & belief instead of purely mental preparation, some emotional component that is missing, a sense of childlike wonder. I'm having trouble with sensitivity though, it's all too easy to delude oneself because one is impatient waiting for the results of one's labor, and what I really don't want is seeing parasites everywhere, for example. For now, I'm striving to stay 'neutral' and only accept phenomena that impinge on my consciousness out of the blue in an unexpected way (of which they have been very few so far). I'm suspicious of any effects that follow common NewAge narratives but at the same time I worry that I am taking my natural skepticism too far. Beginner's uncertainty, I guess, a stage which I just have to push through.

 

[beardedeldridge]

Strong emotion (righteous fury as an example) can add a lot of force to an already well designed working. A practitioner working themselves into an ecstatic state during a ritual is a long practiced tactic in many/most traditions.

-Eld

 

[Ziran]

Yes, I suspected that much... passion & belief instead of purely mental preparation, some emotional component that is missing, a sense of childlike wonder. I'm having trouble with sensitivity though, it's all too easy to delude oneself because one is impatient waiting for the results of one's labor, and what I really don't want is seeing parasites everywhere, for example. For now, I'm striving to stay 'neutral' and only accept phenomena that impinge on my consciousness out of the blue in an unexpected way (of which they have been very few so far). I'm suspicious of any effects that follow common NewAge narratives but at the same time I worry that I am taking my natural skepticism too far. Beginner's uncertainty, I guess, a stage which I just have to push through.

Yes, awareness of the malevolent "parasites" comes with it. And I think that's one of the reasons awareness is considered a burden and ignorance is considered bliss. Regarding "pushing though it", I'm not sure that's a good idea. I'm not a fan of "pushing" or "forcing" anything in this context. I like the idea of cultivating, like a garden, naturally. Getting used to the awareness of the quantity of malevolence is eased, imo, from being connected to a community. Going solo can be very difficult to say the least. And confidence comes with time. It's good to be skeptical in order to avoid false positives in your work.

But what comes from it is a capability to learn from "magical" phenomena that are already happening all day everyday. Also, reading a book becomes much more than learning a recipe. I think you mentioned that, the recipes, in your original post. This is a tremendous faculty if one is astute and patient and cultivates it. In my mind, this is what another was writing about, when something "resonates" with the reader. But I would place that resonance in the metaphorical "heart". It's a feeling. The mind hasn't caught up to what the heart is experiencing. So, it's being described as "resonance". From my perspecitive it is an "understanding" that is happening in the heart, but one needs to be open to it, and the more one is sensitive to these feelings, the more opportunity there is to learn. Everyone's different, of course, so what resonates for one person will not resonate to another. And I think it's important to be sensitive to that as well.

 

[HoldAll]

Yes, awareness of the malevolent "parasites" comes with it. And I think that's one of the reasons awareness is considered a burden and ignorance is considered bliss. Regarding "pushing though it", I'm not sure that's a good idea. I'm not a fan of "pushing" or "forcing" anything in this context. I like the idea of cultivating, like a garden, naturally. Getting used to the awareness of the quantity of malevolence is eased, imo, from being connected to a community. Going solo can be very difficult to say the least. And confidence comes with time. It's good to be skeptical in order to avoid false positives in your work.

But what comes from it is a capability to learn from "magical" phenomena that are already happening all day everyday. Also, reading a book becomes much more than learning a recipe. I think you mentioned that, the recipes, in your original post. This is a tremendous faculty if one is astute and patient and cultivates it. In my mind, this is what another was writing about, when something "resonates" with the reader. But I would place that resonance in the metaphorical "heart". It's a feeling. The mind hasn't caught up to what the heart is experiencing. So, it's being described as "resonance". From my perspecitive it is an "understanding" that is happening in the heart, but one needs to be open to it, and the more one is sensitive to these feelings, the more opportunity there is to learn. Everyone's different, of course, so what resonates for one person will not resonate to another. And I think it's important to be sensitive to that as well.

I think you're right in many respects, in fact, I used the word "cultivate" in my journal today, referring to positive emotions. It's just that I found daily routine, mulish stubbornness and repetition are the best strategies for me as I tend to give up easily whenever I hit a plateau or the going gets tough. It's still a struggle, armchair magicianship was so much easier… I think I still struggle too much, it's hard to cultivate sensitivity when your mind is in such a turmoil.

 

[Ziran]

armchair magicianship was so much easier

What's that? Never heard of it.

hard to cultivate sensitivity when your mind is in such a turmoil.

If you ever want someone to listen, my inbox is open. I won't offer any advice unless you ask; I'll just listen and support. But be warned I am a glass-half-full personality.

 

[HoldAll]

An armchair magician is someone who loves to read occult books without ever performing a ritual, let alone do any preparatory work. For example, I managed to read a lot of books about Buddhism without ever trying to meditate. Occultism as an intellectual intoxicant, you might say.

And thank you for your generous offer! It's getting clearer and clearer day by day that I need to learn how to relax and be calm first. I'm a very passion-driven guy so this is going to be difficult. Nothing wrong with passion, I'd say, but some peace of mind now and then can only be good for you.

Post automatically merged: Oct 27, 2023

I think I've found the answer in Ian Corrigans "Beginning Practical Magic" in the chapter "Training the Mind":

In order to get started in any of this kind of thing, it’s wise to take some training. Now, if you have something you need to do next week, don’t feel limited if you haven’t practiced mental discipline for six months up ‘til now. There are certainly ways to trick yourself into producing the states of consciousness that will trigger the results that you want. And a lot of traditional spell-binding, when you go to the old books and even some of the more recent ones, include a variety of detailed ritual intended basically to trick your mind into entering the proper altered state of consciousness to do the work. And you can do that for yourself, and it works just fine, it’s quite operative. It’s a little chancier than having your mind properly tuned up and ready to go.

This means that according to the author's opinion, the old mages relied heavily on rituals (and implements, I guess) to get them in the required altered state of consciousness. I originally started out with chaos magick which happily does away with all those long-winded incantations, ritual tools, etc. which was a big relief for me because I really didn't want to go through all that traditional rigmarole. So I fired off some sigils and was clueless as to why they did not work so well. Although I read and reread Liber Null & Psychonaut countless times back then, I only now realize that I hsf conveniently skimmed over the part on mind control where Peter J. Carroll proposes in Liber MMM some pretty demanding training (meditation, breathwork, visualization, etc.) first before you can hope to have any success with your sigils:

To work magic effectively, the ability to concentrate the attention must be built up until the mind can enter a trance-like condition.

So even chaos magick requires mental preparation (incidentally, Phil Hine takes exactly the same line), it's not all exuberant fun and anarchic games like some authors would have us believe. On the other hand, Damon Brand says somewhere that the traditional emphasis on preparatory work has probably deterred more readers from actually doing magic - and promptly does away with all these exercises. Now I think the GoM books can actually work if you let yourself be lulled into a state of naïve optimism by Brand's introductions (some people on Reddit have already commented that his style of writing was hypnotic, and that's what I felt when reading his books as well) but not very reliably and only haphazardly, the same way as my chaos magic experiments years ago.

I can already feel the benefits of daily meditation, modest as they are. I can concentrate better on the LBRP and don't get that easily distracted when I'm trying other stuff. I'm too much of a sceptic to take the ancient ritual approach so I'd better sit down every day and shut up for a while.

 

[Xenophon]

Some authors opine that the old European grimoires read like so many recipe books because they tacitly assume that the would-be mage had adequate prior training in order to get results. Really? I find it hard to believe. I think they were isolated solitary practicioners, bought the books somewhere, then went through a long, tedious process of acquiring all the prescribed implements and paraphernalia and, come ritual time, whipped themselves into a such frenzy of fanatical hope and superstitious fear through incessant praying (as well as a heavy dose of frankincense up their noses) until something happened. Allegedly. Did Eliphas Levi really conjure up the ghost of Apollonius of Tyana? Without any prior experience whatsoever?

I've only recently started to do some practical work like the LBRP, meditation, relaxation, etc., everything modern occult books recommend. While progress has been modest so far, I just can't imagine even now that one could do magic without some rock-solid trance-concentration (that's how I call the mental state that's required for a successful ritual, in my opinion). Except for the GoM (and I begin to doubt their effectiveness for this very reason), there seems to be a broad consensus that a lot of mental preparatory work is required first, from Quareia to the Bardon wringer. So how did the Medieval and Renaissance mages do it?

Interesting aside about the Eliphas Levi anecdote. Didn't he report that whatever he evoked walloped his arm pretty badly? I though I read the limb was impaired for life to some degree. Which is about the sort of thing one would expect did Willis Wannabe try to gun a Harley at speed without instruction. Powerful engines is powerful engines.