“It was right in everyone’s face.
Tyler and I just made it visible. It was on the tip of everyone’s tongue. Tyler
and I just gave it a name.”
–
Fight Club (1999)
Have you ever been to an
outdoor music festival? Saw the masses of people all moving to the same music?
Felt the connection, knowing you were with The People now, and this is has it
has always been? Asked yourself, what breaks this connection when the lights go
down and the band leaves the stage?
Have you been to Burning
Man, or one of the many regional burns? Saw the flames lick up into air? Felt
the ecstasy of release and jubilation? Succumbed to the moment? Have you ever wondered if it could have a
deeper meaning?
Have you ever been to a
good party? On a camping trip around a campfire, or a bonfire in the backyard?
Witnessed the organic flow of the conversation? Been a part of the vibrations
of emotion and shared experience? Sensed the timeless quality of the night?
Felt a deep bond with all in the circle? Have you asked yourself, why do our
daily lives not feel this way?
This book is for you.
Because the answer to
these questions is magick. It’s really magick. A timeless art practiced by our
ancestors, and it has never really gone away. From the tribes of Africa, to the
Egyptians, the Greeks, the witches’ fires in the Middle Ages, magick ruled the
minds and hearts of human beings. It ruled their world. And every time someone
figured out a way to sell it, it lost some of its power.
It’s time to take it back.
In 1987, when Samuel
Weiser unleashed on the world the first mass market version of Liber Null & Psychonaut by Peter J.
Carroll, it included a flow chart that expressed the progress of magical
traditions. The chart declared the Magical Pact of the Illuminates of
Thanateros (IOT) as the culmination of all other magical tradition that
proceeded it. While the creators of this book would argue that the progression
of magick is decidedly non-linear, the chart does elegantly express the idea
that magick is not moribund in ancient tradition. That as a living, breathing
art form, those that practice it learn from what has come before and make
improvements. Certainly Carroll did not presume that the IOT and Chaos Magick,
as it would come to be called, would be the final destination of that
progression. Nor do we presume what lies within to be the last word on magical
practice.
It is the next step.
Emergent
Magick presents the
distilled learning of a multitude of magical practitioners who have worked in
multiple systems. It represents the cutting edge of magical thinking. If you
find the contents of this book familiar, it’s because they are things that many
practitioners have been saying for years. Sadly, we have found few books that
actually express these ideas concisely. All too often, magical tomes contain
in-depth explorations of a single paradigm, or worse yet, lists of spells
expected to work like recipes.
The creators wanted this
tome to be useful to a rank amateur with only a passing interest in magick. But
we haven’t “dumbed it down.” We advise those with no experience to consume this
book slowly, and do not shy away from researching while reading any concepts
you may be unfamiliar with. At the same time, experienced practitioners should
not just skip the “how-to” sections of this book as they represent the
application of the new theories put forth.
We hope that at the very
least this book generates worthy discussion on new magical theory. For those
who have just joined the ranks of the magi, we salute you.
Frater Threskiornis, 16670,
“Ego Sum Legio”
Scribe of the Order of
Emergent Magi
9/16/2018