In some ways, writing a book is like a waking dream. You carry it around with you for so long. The process takes months, sometimes years, and completion always seems out of reach. It’s a long hard slog.
I am so ecstatic right now because I just received the artwork for my upcoming book – Emergent Magick: Rebuilding Our Tribes Through Ritual and Meaning.
Much love for the magnificent Clinton “Toast” Burkhart for all his hard work creating this lovely art.
As much as I would like to avoid it, I feel I must first
define Emergent Magick (EMK). Especially considering that at this point, there
are maybe about fifty practitioners of EMK on the planet. If you follow my
other blog, Scroll of Thoth, you probably have some idea what it is, but I know
that I have failed to define it with any concision. Part of that is because I
am publishing a book on the subject, which will be released in early 2019. It
really needs an entire book and more to get the concept across. Also because
like any other magical philosophy, it’s slippery, and no matter how skilled I
think I am as a writer, words always fail to encompass it in its entirety. And
you’ve probably figured out by now I’m a wordy son-of-a-bitch, which makes it
doubly hard to do this. I’ll endeavor to make it as short as possible so we can
get on with the real subject at hand.
EMK defines magick as, “The art of altering consciousness.”
In essence, the universe itself is created and directed by consciousness, and
magick is a way to influence that consciousness. Consciousness itself lacks
universally accepted definition. For our purposes it includes any sufficiently
complex system that can perceive. If you accept that sub-atomic systems are
sufficiently complex, and that quantum theory proves that particles have some
form of perception, this includes everything in the universe to a greater or
lesser degree. Art, the activity of creation, influences consciousness. Ritual
is the art of the magician, and it is specifically designed to alter
consciousness.
I am very proud to announce the creation of a new blog – Emergent Animism (EMAN). EMAN is my own personal Emergent Magick paradigm, and this blog will be going deep with my thoughts on spirits, daily practice, and magick in general.
Don’t worry. Scroll of Thoth is not going away. I will be cross-posting on this blog until Emergent Animism develops a following of its own.
As much as I would like to avoid it, I feel I must first
define Emergent Magick (EMK). Especially considering that at this point, there
are maybe about fifty practitioners of EMK on the planet. If you follow my
other blog, Scroll of Thoth, you probably have some idea what it is, but I know
that I have failed to define it with any concision. Part of that is because I
am publishing a book on the subject, which will be released in early 2019. It
really needs an entire book and more to get the concept across. Also because
like any other magical philosophy, it’s slippery, and no matter how skilled I
think I am as a writer, words always fail to encompass it in its entirety. And
you’ve probably figured out by now I’m a wordy son-of-a-bitch, which makes it
doubly hard to do this. I’ll endeavor to make it as short as possible so we can
get on with the real subject at hand.
EMK defines magick as, “The art of altering consciousness.”
In essence, the universe itself is created and directed by consciousness, and
magick is a way to influence that consciousness. Consciousness itself lacks
universally accepted definition. For our purposes it includes any sufficiently
complex system that can perceive. If you accept that sub-atomic systems are
sufficiently complex, and that quantum theory proves that particles have some
form of perception, this includes everything in the universe to a greater or
lesser degree. Art, the activity of creation, influences consciousness. Ritual
is the art of the magician, and it is specifically designed to alter
consciousness.
I am very proud to announce the creation of a new blog – Emergent Animism (EMAN). EMAN is my own personal Emergent Magick paradigm, and this blog will be going deep with my thoughts on spirits, daily practice, and magick in general.
Don’t worry. Scroll of Thoth is not going away. I will be cross-posting on this blog until Emergent Animism develops a following of its own.
Emergent Animism (EMAN) is coming soon….
Amazon has only one Gutter Bible left in stock. We are hoping that if they sell it they will buy some more. If you have been thinking about purchasing one, now is the time.
In the end, any magus that continues to practice the art will eventually shift their practice away from Operative Magick to Illumination. Illumination starts with finding one’s True Will, but often includes exploring the nature of the universe the magus is a part of. The realization of universal consciousness is a good start, but to truly internalize such an idea requires repeated altered states of consciousness. The absolute acceptance of the unity of consciousness remains elusive for most of us. No ritual or spell, no single exercise can lead a magus to true realization. It requires a lifetime, or some believe, lifetimes to accomplish. The Protocols of the Order of Emergent Magi state, “EMK is the slow magick; the long invocation.” EMK accepts that a magus does not manifest their True Will in any given moment, but creates a life that embodies it.
Completing a course in
Liber F, and continuing to practice these exercises, helps protect the
individual from the perils of being a magus. Before you discount that statement
as hyperbole, we have already put
forth that taking mind altering substances can be a key to magick. Few would
argue that drugs don’t take a toll on the individual mentally and physically.
To believe you can do these things without any ill effects is the epitome of
hubris. Like much in this book, Liber F is simply our take on practices that
have been used for thousands of years and proven to work. Having the ability to
stick to a routine, calm your mind, and control impulsive thoughts goes a long
way in helping prevent addiction and other complications.
It may seem incredulous,
but doing magick can lead to bizarre and often self-destructive thought
patterns. To believe what the majority of society tells us simply does not
exist places stresses on the mind and tends to isolate an individual socially.
To be constantly contemplating spiritual questions, (Why are we here? What is
the nature of the universe? What is truth?) can lead to obsessive behaviors.
We do not take this
lightly because we have lost friends to mental illness. While no hard data
exists, those who practice magick have noted that magi do seem to suffer from
psychological conditions more frequently than the general population. Consider
Liber F to be a vaccination against those maladies. In fact, a magus should
make routine a priority in their day-to-day lives. So when you do occasionally
participate in activities far outside the norm, you can easily recover. This
will make it that much easier to hold down a job, provide for loved ones, and keep
social ties outside your magical circle.
Part of what sets Liber F
apart from other courses of this kind is that it encourages the magus to start
working with a group as soon as possible. Those who work in substance abuse
treatment have proposed that the opposite of addiction is not abstinence, but
connection. Those who have strong social bonds and favorable living conditions
are able to recover from addiction and are less likely to become addicted in
the first place. This applies to other mental compulsions as well. EMK favors
group magick not only to create better magick, but so that each magus has the support
network they need to prevent harm caused by the dangerous work of magick
itself.
Our ancestors also compel us
to learn our history, especially important for the magi. Just a brief survey of
your ancestral culture is most likely to unearth a rich magical tradition. We
have been led to believe that our current societies had been swiftly converted
to monolithic faiths, instantly erasing eons of animist and pagan traditions.
Nothing can be further from the truth. Vestiges of the old ways live on
everywhere if you know where to look for them. From Catholic grandmothers
burying statues of saints in the yard, to Baptist hoodoo practitioners driving
away evil spirits with salt, to the seer stone used by Joseph Smith in the
founding of the Church of Later Day Saints, the magick of our ancestors
continues.
If you dig a little
deeper, you find that many of our traditions come from much older, pagan roots.
Many Catholic saints were once pagan gods or folk heroes. Our holidays correspond
with celebrations of our pagan ancestors. All of them believed in magick. Your
ancestors will teach you this.
