Sticking with a tradition?

[KozlovMasih]

Since chaos magic, being an occultist has never been easier. Easier to test results, easier to design spells. But stripping away all the mystery sometimes leaves practicing magic to be a little superficial (I would wholeheartedly describe myself as a "crisis mage" - only enchanting when things don't appear to be going my way).

Is this similar to your practice? Or instead have you found community in a graded system? Which one?

I regularly think some structure would give me more focus, and I'm not opposed to spirituality that usually comes with this.

As an English-speaker, I've considered Germanic heathenry, obviously there are more sources on Norse heathenry, but I've found what I can on Anglo-Saxon too. With at least having the view that instead of using the Latin alphabet for sigils, why not just use Anglo-Saxon runes? But of course it's much, much easier to use the Latin alphabet, so that never really stuck.

I've recently become a lot more interested in Buddhism, and in terms of rituals/magic, Vajrayana Buddhism appeals more than any other type. Vajrayana Buddhism (and Mahayana Buddhism as a whole) also has the idea of Upaya ("skillful means") where essentially any tool can be used on the path to enlightenment (seeing this as an excuse to do magic as part of the spiritual path). I also happen to live not very far form a Vajrayana Buddhist temple - I just haven't gone yet.

Two questions I guess I'm trying to ask are:
1) If you are happy as a solitary practitioner, what do you think has kept your enthusiasm for magic over time?
2) If you are part of some magical group, what do you personally get out of it, compared to being a solitary practitioner?

Thanks!

 

[FraterFraxinus]

Hello Kozlov!

To answer your first question:
The magic that seems to be the fabric of our universe just can never stop to amaze me.
Since I've first stepped on the path of the great work it never let me go, even when ordinary life sometimes stopped me from actively working on it.
Sometimes I just have to remember myself how beneficial and fun it is to actually do some magickal work, even if its just for exploration.
Feels like the urge to be connected to this kind of stuff comes in waves/cycles, just as most things do. as above so below ect.pp...

I just joined this Forum actually, to keep myself in this "realm" more often since i've never really spoken much with anyone knowledgeable about this topic (aside from a few) but i think now is the timel to actually talk to people with similiar interests, to keep the fire burning so to speak.

 

[saber]

I suppose I walk a kind of middle ground!

My practice is unique and solely my own, but I talk to other occultists somewhat frequently and sometimes learn and take interest in the things that they work on. While I'm not part of a strict kind of tradition, I exist in a community of other people who do things their own way, and we all push each other to grow and learn in our own individual ways.

To fully answer your first question, I think one thing that keeps my enthusiasm up over time is the different relationships I've developed with the spirits I work with, and they encourage me to pursue my true will, while also making it a little awkward if I "ghosted" (heh) them for an extended period of time.

 

[Morell]

Since chaos magic, being an occultist has never been easier. Easier to test results, easier to design spells. But stripping away all the mystery sometimes leaves practicing magic to be a little superficial (I would wholeheartedly describe myself as a "crisis mage" - only enchanting when things don't appear to be going my way).

Is this similar to your practice? Or instead have you found community in a graded system? Which one?

I regularly think some structure would give me more focus, and I'm not opposed to spirituality that usually comes with this.

As an English-speaker, I've considered Germanic heathenry, obviously there are more sources on Norse heathenry, but I've found what I can on Anglo-Saxon too. With at least having the view that instead of using the Latin alphabet for sigils, why not just use Anglo-Saxon runes? But of course it's much, much easier to use the Latin alphabet, so that never really stuck.

I've recently become a lot more interested in Buddhism, and in terms of rituals/magic, Vajrayana Buddhism appeals more than any other type. Vajrayana Buddhism (and Mahayana Buddhism as a whole) also has the idea of Upaya ("skillful means") where essentially any tool can be used on the path to enlightenment (seeing this as an excuse to do magic as part of the spiritual path). I also happen to live not very far form a Vajrayana Buddhist temple - I just haven't gone yet.

Two questions I guess I'm trying to ask are:
1) If you are happy as a solitary practitioner, what do you think has kept your enthusiasm for magic over time?
2) If you are part of some magical group, what do you personally get out of it, compared to being a solitary practitioner?

Thanks!

First, Every system had to start as an experiment some day. Chaos magic didn't strip away the mystery, it just brought in new angles.

I'm solitary, never been in a group. Good for me, as the discipline that I've developed doesn't depend on anyone else, but me. No one is or was manipulating me through my spiritual development, at least not directly. Grants some advantages and doesn't make the way easier at all, you don't just do what you want, definitely not in matter of discipline. Once you develop yourself a system, you will tend to keep following it and deepening it.
So what keeps me motivated? I think that it is the same thing as for people in the magic groups: Because I enjoy doing magic.

 

[Robert Ramsay]

Since chaos magic, being an occultist has never been easier. Easier to test results, easier to design spells. But stripping away all the mystery sometimes leaves practicing magic to be a little superficial (I would wholeheartedly describe myself as a "crisis mage" - only enchanting when things don't appear to be going my way).

Two questions I guess I'm trying to ask are:
1) If you are happy as a solitary practitioner, what do you think has kept your enthusiasm for magic over time?
2) If you are part of some magical group, what do you personally get out of it, compared to being a solitary practitioner?

Thanks!

I am indeed solitary, as I haven't found many other wizards who agree with me

As Terry Pratchett said: "It's still magic even when you know how it's done" and if you feel the mystery is lacking, it's your job to put it back again!

Finding out how it works has only increased my enthusiasm; I'm now considering workings that I would never have countenanced before.

 

[unholyReverie]

Since chaos magic, being an occultist has never been easier. Easier to test results, easier to design spells. But stripping away all the mystery sometimes leaves practicing magic to be a little superficial (I would wholeheartedly describe myself as a "crisis mage" - only enchanting when things don't appear to be going my way).

Is this similar to your practice? Or instead have you found community in a graded system? Which one?

I regularly think some structure would give me more focus, and I'm not opposed to spirituality that usually comes with this.

As an English-speaker, I've considered Germanic heathenry, obviously there are more sources on Norse heathenry, but I've found what I can on Anglo-Saxon too. With at least having the view that instead of using the Latin alphabet for sigils, why not just use Anglo-Saxon runes? But of course it's much, much easier to use the Latin alphabet, so that never really stuck.

I've recently become a lot more interested in Buddhism, and in terms of rituals/magic, Vajrayana Buddhism appeals more than any other type. Vajrayana Buddhism (and Mahayana Buddhism as a whole) also has the idea of Upaya ("skillful means") where essentially any tool can be used on the path to enlightenment (seeing this as an excuse to do magic as part of the spiritual path). I also happen to live not very far form a Vajrayana Buddhist temple - I just haven't gone yet.

Two questions I guess I'm trying to ask are:
1) If you are happy as a solitary practitioner, what do you think has kept your enthusiasm for magic over time?
2) If you are part of some magical group, what do you personally get out of it, compared to being a solitary practitioner?

Thanks!

I am fairly happy as a solitary practitioner. What has kept my enthusiasm? Dissatisfaction. Were I satisfied that there was nothing more to see, know, or do, then I probably would lose at least some enthusiasm.

 

[Van Horne]

@KozlovMasih
You are raising some good questions here and you are hitting close to home with some of your thoughts.

Like you I started with Chaos Magick, and I developed my own ideas that came naturally to me, and to this very day I still do integrate them. Symbols, visions and images are important factors and I believe it's necessary to find those which resonate with one self.

First I was enthralled by all the different currents, systems and pathworkings in existence (ergo in the internet), but over the time this diversity turned for me into dissonance, a cacophony of repetition, reinterpretation, zeitgeist ingratiation and individual egotism, and the emergence of AI slop is not helping here. First I was overwhelmed and slightly annoyed, then it turned into such staleness and insignificance for me I quit to bother. But the next time I'll read about some new "gnostic goetic grimoire", I swear I will bite into the carpeting (symbolic, of course)!

To answer your questions (at least I try):
Historically interested I was always intrigued by the Golden Dawn, but at first I did not get it all. But being annoyed by all that occulture balderdash I decided to start right from the roots of all this modern magical-mystical mumbo jumbo and to study the GD system, self-initiatory (for now). From there I wish to unfold my own journey like it's 1900 and I'm an eccentric English gentleman.

Of course I thought about joining a group, but there a several problems. First, I dislike people in general and mistrust them easily (actually a good precondition for joining the GD). Secondly, I have no problem subordinating myself to a system as long as respect is a mutual thing, and as long as I can agree to most of its ideas, but at a certain point I'm out. And thirdly, I'm from the land of no humor (Germany) and I got the impression that my beloved country is a spiritual wasteland, in comprehension with the US e.g. There are barely any organizations (at least those I could relate to), so I stay with the solitary practice. I have some close friends I can discuss some topics, but everybody is traveling their own journeys. And of course, there is a little weird internet forum...

I have to raise a question of my own. I got the feeling that it's it being barely discussed. The question is not how or what do you practice, the question is why do you practice. For myself I couldn't answer this for a long time. Finding an answer sure helps! Do you wish to get filthy rich? Do you want to bring vengeance upon your enemies? Do you want to become besties with Baal or some other archdemons? Do you crave earthly (or even unearthly) desires? Do you wish to unveil the secrets of the Universe, or to heal the world?

Some of them do sound promising, but personally, I realized that I basically grew bored with the physical realm (I still like nature and such), but being human at the moment is such a bore. Too young to discover the world, to old to reach for the stars, I guess. Too many, too loud. The insignificance of existence and the inevitability of extinction, combined with the disenchantment of the world? Bummer! So basically, in some way, I am not too far away from those 19th Century gentlemen. Like them I have the feeling there is something amiss, but I don't know what.

 

[Naze]

I am in complete agreement with Van Horne here: I truly believe one of, if not the most important, questions an occultist should be asking is why they do what they do. And answering it once is not enough - it must be constantly re-examined, faceted, polished as the object of the unending creation of the philosopher’s stone.

That being said, I am also a solo practitioner - even if I wanted to join an order of some sort or another, there is literally nothing anywhere near me. I fall far more on the mystic side of the esoteric, though it is a mysticism grown on the nectar of alchemy, Kabbalah, and hermeticism. It is my work to understand (as much as it is something that can be understood or experienced - language fails here) and become truly aware of the nature of reality that keeps me going - a need that I cannot deny and that has been with me most of my life, even before I understood what it was or had encountered anything particularly esoteric. I hope you can find the burning meaning for you that will drive you forward through existence as well.