What is Ritual Magic?

The word 'magic' is derived from the Iranian, i.e. the Old Persian, where it means magus, i.e. knower, scholar or recogniser. The so-called Magi or rather Magoi were an ancient group (around the year 1.ooo BCE), which formed a caste of priests at that time.

I. Origins

Magic for many people for centuries, if not for millennia, has been a word shrouded in mystery. How many excellent minds have already dealt with this most difficult, most versatile and most fascinating of all secret sciences – proponents as well as mockers and opponents, insiders and adepts as well as ignorants.

The theme of individualism and independence is woven deeply into the cultural perception of the Western Magician. Often they are regarded as peculiar and idiosyncratic eccentrics who do not wish to bow to any foreign worldly or cosmic power, as individualist who in the eyes of others dare the ‘sacrilege’ not to let themselves be fobbed off with what religion and society, priests and worldly rulers put before them as reality. They take the liberty to define their own standards of reasoning, morality and everyday ethics.

The word magic can be traced back etymologically, according to Herodotus (b. ~480 BCE), to the Persian priests, the tribe of the wise. They were famous for their astrological knowledge as well as their ability to divine from dreams.

Other etymologists prefer to relate the term 'magician' to the word 'luck' as encountered in the Indo-European verb-stem mãgh (megh = can, have luck), hence the relation to the word Might as in the idea of Power.

II. Representatives & Companions

A magician has always been a Faustian psychonaut and soul traveller, a human who sought to peer behind the ‘veil’, a human who did not rest until they had fathomed, or at least guessed, what holds the world together at its core.

Zoroaster was regarded as a magician, but also Moses, Solomon, Jesus of Nazareth or Milarepa. Raimundus Lullus belonged to this group of dissenters and like him others such as Jaques de Molay, Agrippa von Nettesheim, Theophrastus Bombastus Paracelsus, Athanasius Kircher, the Comte de Saint Germain and a lot more. The list could be extended arbitrarily, extensive with real historical figures, almost unlimited with mythical ones. However, this list never stopped extending itself. New names are being added continuously, despite all persecution by church and state, and even despite the dawn of the so-called Enlightenment of Rationalism.

Witnesses of our guild were and are Robert Fludd, Dr. John Dee, Frances Barrett, Alan Bennett, Eliphas Levi, Papus (Dr.med. Gérard Encausse), Stanislas de Guaïta, Sâr Merodack Joséphin Péladan, Samuel Liddell McGregor Mathers, Arthur Waite, Dion Fortune, Karl Kellner, Theodor Reuss, Aleister Crowley, Austin Osman Spare, Ludwig Staudenmaier, Franz Sättler alias Dr. Musallam, Rah-Omir Quintscher, Frantisek Bardon (Franz Bardon), Herbert Fritsche, Eugen Grosche alias Gregor A. Gregorius, Karl Spiesberger and many more. Those who are still alive I want to exclude from this already incomplete list for reasons of modesty and lack of historical distance.

You see: If you opt for the path of magic, you will find yourself in a rather illustrious society. This includes, as in every great ‘family’, outstanding experts and real geniuses as well as simple minds and real blunders; and not to forget, of course unfortunately too, charlatans.

III. Pigeonholing?

Those who feel attracted to the magical arts, in the way we are teaching it, are always individualists and are reluctant to be pressed into categories or to be labelled with convenient names such as 'black magician', 'white magician', 'sorcerer', 'witch', 'magician', 'fortune teller' and the like. For none of these names explain anything, but instead once again categorize and falsify many things.

The apparent contradictions in the writings of magical authors can be explained both by the above mentioned colourfulness of its community as well as by the inherent subjectivity of magic, which we will encounter again and again.

For a modern practitioner there are many advantages and some disadvantages to engage with the works of older authors. After all, it saves one from having to reinvent the wheel again and again. Instead we can stand and walk well on the shoulders of giants, especially if we bring a sharp eye for historic nuances and realities. By beginning where our ancestors (in spirit) left off, we become partakers of the rich experiences and the vast treasures knowledge of our predecessors.

IV. Historical Context

In order to judge their works correctly, it is also necessary to understand the historical context, such as the function and role of Christian phrases in medieval magic books (the so-called grimoires). Truly immersing oneself into such works, also means studying the spiritual-historical environment of the magicians and of magic at the time, as well as the predominance of the church and the reality of the witch-hunts, and thus the associated risks to one’s own life, which were associated with these books. And it is the broader study of culture, time and context that also enables a critical vantage point: Not everything that is old is by definition good, practical or even suitable for our time. Much has crept into the tradition of magic, which one can comfortably do without today and should even do without if one really wants to make progress in practically operating it.

V. The Many Leads To One

Every form of magic bows to the same essential law: Magic depends on practical application. From naive acts of folk magic to the highest application of cosmic magic, there are a multitude of nuances. However, it is human courage and decisiveness to actively engage that always stands at its centre. – With increasing development of magical knowledge, skills and abilities, the student of IMBOLC will gradually complete and work their way through various fields of magic – always in a balance of theoretical as well as practical engagement.

An individual aptitude in specialised faculties of magic usually only arises when a solid foundation of knowledge and skills has been acquired in the many areas of Western Magic. Magic, like any other skill, requires slow, steady and logical development, comparable to most other crafts where traditionally the student assumes the position of apprentice, journeyman and master. Disrespect or deviations from such gradual and guided approach - unless you are a genius of talent and resilience - can easily lead to pathological problems on a physical, mental or/and spiritual level.

VI. Functionality

The inner dynamics of magic are based on the principles of synchronistic relationships. In other words: The energy or force triggered by a magical act culminates in the experience ofsynchronicity, i.e. of events which appear significantly related but do not seem to have any discernible causal connection.

Since they – the supposedly magical effects – lack a classical causal nexus, they are nowadays – in the 21st century – ridiculed and not taken seriously, especially by representatives of the natural sciences. Thus magic has been shipped off into the realm of chance or stochastics (probability calculation). However, as many modern books tell us, there is a silver lining: As the higher physics advance into ever finer details of creation (Quantum Physics) they begin to validate many of the axioms and statements of the Hermetical Tradition and Western Magic in general. See also the chapter 'Magic and Science'.

According to a cognitive model of magic it is defined simultaneously as an art (intuition) and science (mind and understanding), which leverages altered states of consciousness (gnosis), in harmony with human will, to bring about changes in the physical, astral and mental level (world). In an animistic model the same definition holds true, only that we’d need to swap the term ‘altered states of consciousness’ with ‘spirits’. In this regard IMBOLC operates entirely agnostic, which means we are open to a multitude of approaches of ‘sense-making’, while entirely focussed on our aptitude of ‘change-making’. What matters in the end is not whether we have convinced ourselves of a beautiful theory of why magic works, but that we have mastered the skills to make it work reliably, safely, and in accordance with our own will.

VII. Religion & Magic

What again and again brings religion and magic into contact with each other is the theoretical and practical recognition of a transcendent field and the intimate preoccupation with it.

Nevertheless, in many comparative religious studies a strict distinction is found between magic and religion, and rightly so in our eyes: In most religious behaviour man expresses their dependency on higher powers and therefore strives to place themselves in the right relationship to them. Magical behaviour, on the other hand, presumes man to possess a much larger degree of freedom. Unsurprisingly, it often expresses itself as much more egocentric towards the natural and supernatural world. Magicians act decisively. In an essentially Promethean sense, they reach just as much for power as they do for empowerment.

In magic we are just as widely exposed to the same multi- layered dangers of ethical-moral misconduct as we are in religions. In the former the individual runs the risk of reaching for power too easily, in the latter they run the risk of giving it away too easily. Therefore both magic and religion, if not balanced through one’s personal integrity and responsibility, can turn into the art of the devil. History is full of examples for both.

In polemic reduction, thus, magic can be defined as the simple and undisguised objectification of conscious desires in the human imagination. This is achieved by the magician learning how to make use of the powers that manifest in their environment, and by then using these not only for their own wellbeing, but for that of others as well.

According to such abbreviated notion, magic would have to stand in opposition to religion: In sharp contrast it would express the opposition of human agency vs. divine agency. So, magic must always be blasphemous from the point of view of the established religions, for in such truncated perspective magic lacks both humility as well as the desire to serve.

VIII. Some Authors & Their Quotes

Magical operations, performed properly and without relying on any kind of charisma, create automatisms of effects. This is emphasised in a lecture by Adolf von Harless (Muenchen, 1858) on Jamblichos’s text De mysteriis Aegyptiorum:

'The peculiarity of the magical signs, symbols and words is that they exercise from themselves the effectiveness which is due to them, that the ineffable power of the gods, to whom all this refers, recognize from themselves these their images and therefore let them become active, without the divine basic causes being determined and stimulated to their activity beforehand by thoughts.'

For this reason, especially in ritual magic, the exact observance of ritual rules plays such an important role.

K.A. Nowotny, in his work Agrippa von Nettesheim (Graz, 1967), turns against a separation of magic and religion:

This distinction was a '[...] European interpretation and not justified by anything. The European initially suspects an act of devotion in the victim (i.e. in the religious act). In reality, it arises from a wealth of intentions: i.e. the safeguarding of natural events, purification, atonement and reconciliation, petition, tribute and contract, coercion, defence and annihilation, the attainment of divine powers, not to mention immortality potions [...].'

We like to disagree with Nowotny at least in parts. In our understanding the magician’s attitude towards the transcendental or chthonic world is still more active, more 'autonomous' than one encounters it usually in especially orthodox religions.

The inner attitude that culminates in words like ‘Thy will be done’ and ‘Not as I will, but as Thou wilt’ and implies the voluntary affirmation of a divine plan of salvation as an axiom is initially alien to the magician, who seeks to put the supernatural world at their service. Thus also falls away the recognition of divine acts of grace as a prerequisite for sacred manifestations. From this in turn follows inevitably: The magician cannot pray to the magical power. A religious prayer can never arise from a magic formula, although many alleged magicians practice the same. In our eyes, there is no straight path from spell to prayer. The inner attitude of the praying person is completely different from that of a magician.

IX. Orient

In Arab countries magic is called sihr. Here we find it mostly divided into two parts: Tariqa al mahamuda ('white magic') and Tariqa al madnuna ('black magic'). The Sura II (102-106) of the Quran, for example, allows the service of spirits and demons through magical incantations. This leads thus also to the forbidden interpretation and use of the Quran for exclusively selfish magic and occult practices.

X. Forms Of Magic

The often purported transition from goetia ('black magic') to theurgy ('white magic') has been fiercely contested by older authors, such as the famous alchemist Alexander von Suchten (16th century), who writes in his De tribus facultatibus: 'Magia is not magic, but the greatest wisdom of God’s work and a recognizer of hidden nature'. And Julius Sperber (17th century) distinguishes a divine magic (magia divinia or magia coelestis) 'that is the heavenly or divine wisdom' and a human magic 'which mixes with ceremonies and all sorts of abuses so much, and has been obscured by the fact that it essentially lost the previous name'.

Mostly considered legitimate was the magia naturalis, which was contrasted with magia innaturalis or magia diabolica. In common usage, the latter two are often referred to as sorcery, which is here understood as the use of the supernatural world in a largely selfish way that harms one’s fellow human beings.

Therefore, nowadays the term magic is usually associated with a derogatory ethical judgement, while the term magic in above illustrated sense can generally be used without any value judgement.

Very rarely in literature do we find the archetype of the magician compared with that of the scientific researcher. Both, however, have in common the desire to control the environment, to 'manipulate' it and to put it to human service. Yet, their methods differ significantly: Despite the adherence to traditional patterns, the magician still has to leverage artistic expression and intuition to no insignificant degree in their ritual practice. The researcher, on the other hand, only relies on systematic observation, the controlled and deliberate variation of external circumstances, as well as the guiding logic of targeted actions.

XII. Conclusion

Regardless of any moral or intellectual evaluation, one must conclude that magic is a fact of our spiritual history, and that it has played an important role in the life of all of humanity. For this reason alone, a serious theoretical and practical study of magic should not be reserved only for its opponents or uncritical fantasists.