Quotes

In EMK, “Magick is the art of altering consciousness.” While the statement seems succinct enough; it requires additional explanation and agreeance on the terms within the definition itself.
     The most elusive word is consciousness. Not surprisingly, since modern science and philosophy has yet to come to a consensus on what consciousness is, how it is created, what possesses it, and if it even objectively exists. We make no claim to ultimate truth, but consciousness in the context of EMK has certain characteristics.
      In EMK, everything a magus can perceive contains consciousness. Including the magi themselves. However, all things contain differing levels of consciousness. Levels of consciousness varies among different instances of the same object, from animal to animal in the same species, and from person to person. Consciousness also exists in non-corporeal entities and ideas.
     Not surprisingly, this brings Emergent Magick in line with the first human belief system—animism. In animism all things–rocks, rivers, animals, etc.–contain their own spirit. In most respects, spirit is synonymous with consciousness.

By the archaeological evidence, magick before civilization was practiced by tribal men and women, who learned to talk with spirits, both alien spirits and spirits of the dead. The term shaman originally referred to the wise men of certain Siberian hunter-gatherer tribes, but it has been adopted to mean any wise person from a tribal culture who uses altered states of consciousness to travel to other realms and contact spirits.
     They were the lynchpin of tribal society, responsible for maintaining the tribe’s social bonds. Since they could communicate with the ancestors, they served as their representative, passing on traditions and keeping the tribe’s history.
     They also maintained the bonds by leading group ritual. The shaman talked to the plant spirits and learned the properties of plants and the processes of turning them into a sacrament. The sacrament almost always consisted of a mixture of alcohol and psychedelics. The shaman used the sacrament in their own spirit quests, and distributed them to the entire tribe in times of celebration. Using ritual that contained dancing and drumming, the tribe would build a communal consciousness.
     The shaman also provided healing and divination for the tribe through contact with the spirits.

Emergent Magick (EMK) views the practice of magick as an evolving art form starting from the very beginnings of the Homo genus. Archaeological evidence shows that even Neanderthals honored their dead. The tombs of our ancestors show that to some degree, we as a species have always known something exists beyond what we can normally perceive.

In this view, magick progresses from era to era in different forms. However, even though the practice has evolved, it does not make older forms of magick less valid. While EMK provides the most useful philosophy of magick for modern magi in our current culture, there remains much to learn from older forms of magick. They continue to reveal their secrets through advances in archaeology and history. They also benefit from being practiced in a culture that universally believed in magick and having the best minds of their eras tasked to the magical arts. While EMK takes a progressive, postmodern approach to magick, it also seeks to learn from and in some ways emulate the shamanic magicians that practiced magick for tens of thousands of years of human pre-history.

One of the core differences between its predecessor, Chaos Magick, and Emergent Magick lies in how they approach belief. Classic Chaos Magick uses belief as a tool. In that philosophy, beliefs can be added and discarded as desired. While some chaos magicians hold core beliefs throughout their magical practice, most change their paradigm frequently, oftentimes on a whim. Chaos Magick advocates switching beliefs in order to find the right tool for the job. While this can work if all a magician is interested in is operative magick, it becomes a detriment to spiritual growth. A belief can better be seen as a muscle. Use it frequently and it becomes stronger and more useful. Use it seldom and it fails to perform when needed.

Enacting a ritual requires the development of meaning. In magick, meaning develops through the use of symbols. Humans seem to do this par excellence, though we are far from the only species on the planet that uses symbols, and our lack of understanding when it comes to the consciousness of plants and other animals may prove them to be just as capable. Hear the mournful strains of a wolf’s howl, and you will know that it conveys something more than any animal behaviorist can guess.

All rituals have purpose. This can be deliberately vague, just like any other art form. You can perform ritual simply for enjoyment. You can perform ritual to achieve some tangible result, though you will often find those results to be subtle, and produce effects more in line with what you truly need than what you think you want. In the same respect, rituals performed for sheer pleasure often produce effects well beyond the scope of the original purpose. Such as raising your own awareness to the reality of love, and strengthening the bonds of love between the participants. While Joseph Campbell called ritual “the enactment of a myth,” this does not limit them to some kind passion play based on a mythological story. In the best rituals a magus creates their own myth.