EMK accepts all forms of magick
as valid. Each individual has their own preconception of what magick entails.
Say the word magick and one person may think of a long-bearded wizard studying
ancient books and waving a wand. Another might envision a Vodoun practitioner
drinking rum and dancing in a graveyard. Still others picture an alchemist
mixing potions or a witch flying on a broom stick. Each of these perceptions
are valid, and only serve as a testimony to the influence of culture on magical
practice and the limitless nature of the art form itself. Just like some
graphic artists work in oil paint and others with water color. Some musicians
pursue classical music, others are drawn to folk. No one form is better than
the other. A good magician learns and is influenced by the many forms of
magick, but we still can’t tell you the right one for you.
Another analogy would be
that Emergent Magick sees belief as a temple. The temple can be redecorated. It
can renovated and added to, but remains the same at its core. As a magus learns
more about the nature of the universe through magick, their temple reflects
this. Look at the temples of any religion or magical organization and you will
find that they reflect the beliefs of their followers. In many cases they form
a symbolic microcosm of that organization’s paradigm. A prime example would be
the temples created by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The black and
white checkered floors and black and white pillars represent a belief system based
on a struggle between and union of opposites. It shows a literal interpretation
of the hermetic belief, “As above, so below.” As the magicians of that order
see the universe they try to recreate in their temple. Many gothic cathedrals
were designed in the shape of a cross. The ultimate symbol of the faith. Even
modern Catholic churches have, in their stained glass windows or by carvings or
pictures, the Stations of the Cross, symbolic representations of the story of
the crucifixion.
The strength of a temple
comes from its foundation. While the core philosophy of EMK is magick informed
by magick, a magus needs to start somewhere. Magick is the art of altering
consciousness. But the “art” in that statement contains all of the traditional
and nontraditional symbols and beliefs used by the magus to alter that
consciousness. It can be as simple as believing that the world contains spirits
that can be contacted and invoked. From there the magus develops methods to
contact those spirits and learns from them the other ways of manipulating
consciousness and the nature of the universal consciousness itself.
Building a temple of
belief takes time and careful consideration. There can be many false starts. A
magus may find that their core belief takes them nowhere. In the above example,
perhaps the magus spends a few years summoning spirits but never develops
meaningful communication with them. Perhaps the spirits only teach the magus a
few useful magical tricks but they have no better knowledge of the nature of the
universe than the magus themselves. In that case, a magus may choose to tear
down the foundation of their temple of belief and start over. This should never
be undertaken lightly, less the magus becomes a simple chaos magician, and
never explores a paradigm unto fruition.
Finding the right place to
build your temple of belief takes time and serious exploration. A magus may
take years learning about magical paradigms until they find one suitable to
build upon. There’s nothing wrong with taking an existing and proven magical
paradigm and building off of that. The Order of Emergent Magi finds ancestor
veneration, the oldest magical paradigm, a good place to start. A good
foundation may ultimately contain parts of several belief systems. Received
wisdom, which comes to a magus through visions, dreams, or other random
transmissions also make good starting points. The OEM uses the Gutter Bible, a found artifact, as a
cipher for magical ritual.
A good foundation must
contain mystery. All should not be plain from the beginning. The belief system
should contain elements that are indecipherable unless approached in an altered
state of consciousness. Beware of closed systems, like Kabbalah, which purports
to contain every aspect of the universe in a convenient package of ten
sephiroth. This can limit a magus, as they will undoubtedly find aspects of the
universe that don’t fit within the system.
Remember, however, you are
only choosing a foundation. The most important part of EMK is what you learn
while doing the magick itself. Those become the treasures of your temple. A
magus considers carefully before ever discarding one.