Copyright (c) 1988 by Phil Hansford. This article is is licenced
for free non-commercial distribution only.
----------------------------------------------------------

** MAGICK 7 -- BASIC RITUAL **


    'The first part of every ceremony is the banishing; the second
    the invoking.'  (--Crowley, Magick, p. 104)

  It may be said that ritual is the very heart of magick.  For it
is through ritual that we achieve our magical results. Ritual is a
magical procedure or ceremony we perform in order to change the
environment. Usually we think of ritual as bearing on active
magick, although certainly, it can also affect passive magick.
Most often the change achieved is subjective (it may be subtle)
and in the physical world. Outsiders may put them down to
coincidence, but the effects are very real. Magical goals for a
ritual should not be taken lightly.

  The successful practice of magick depends upon strong belief.
The simplest ritual of them all must be belief itself. If you can
believe in your desired results strongly enough, that act is a
magical ritual which will achieve your results. Even a very
complex ritual is no more effective than strong belief. There are
aids to concentration which may help. Thus in *creative
visualization*, imagination and controlled breathing are brought
into play.


CREATIVE VISUALIZATION
  When you want to magically achieve something, first picture it
clearly in your mind. The more deffinite and specific your idea of
what it is the better. Picture yourself having it or doing it.
Visualize it as vividly and as intensely as you can and hold it in
your thoughts for a few moments. Concentrate on it intensely (it
may help to hold your breath). Feel the energy of desire welling
up inside you. Then suddenly feel the image or desire released
from your mind. Feel the energy filtering through the image and
intensifying it, as if the image is a 'stencil'. Imagine the
energy exploding out from you into the macrocosm in all directions
at once, and feel the universe 'tilt' as it reacts to the force.
(At the same time it may help to release your breath suddenly).
Feel the energy draining from you. Finally, *believe* that your
purpose *has* been accomplished; that it HAS HAPPENED, perhaps
saying something such as "so mote it be", or "it is done".


THE BASIC PARTS OF A RITUAL
  Often rituals are more formal than the above, but any full
magick ritual must always reduce to these stages -- 1) imaging; 2)
building; 3) firing.  Sometimes a ritual must be repeated every
day for a while to achieve difficult results or to overcome weak
belief.


THE MAGICK CIRCLE
  Often an important part of formal ritual is the magick circle.
Medieval magicians considered the circle essential, and placed
great emphasis upon its exactness.  Elaborate designs were
invented with many layers of complex symbols and words. It was
very important that the circle be completely intact with no breaks
in it. The magician and any other participants stand in the circle
during ritual.  The ritual began with a banishing of evil forces
(using the lesser ritual of the pentagram for example) to keep
them outside the circle. Today, circles are made on the floor with
chalk or paint, rock salt, or a rope. Whatever its form, the
circle is still an important part of magical protection for the
magician. This is especially important for aversive entities and
purposes. The circle also helps in focusing the energy of the
ritual toward its purpose, that is, it keeps it contained until
the magician is ready to release it. Of course, the magick circle
is basicly only a symbol, but it may eventually be possible to
supplement the circle with electronic equipment for a similar
purpose. We are researching the practicality of electrostaticly
charged Faraday shields.


ARTIFICIAL ELEMENTALS
  An artificial elemental is useful for certain tasks: 1)
invisible watcher and observer, telling you what it sees; 2)
psychic guard; 3) it can be used in healing; 4) it is helpful in
other ways.  Ophiel calls the artificial elemental a 'familiar'.
Producing your own artificial elemental is fairly easy.  YOU MUST
ASSUME THAT THE ACT HAS PRODUCED RESULTS, EVEN IF YOU DO NOT
IMMEDIATELY OBSERVE THEM. It is entirely possible to produce one
of these little beasties and not know it (not being clairvoyant
enough to observe it directly). Therefore, and this is a general
principle of any magick, never ignore forces you have set into
motion. Even though you may not see the elemental, you may
nevertheless 'feel' it.

  WARNING -- Do not use artificial elementals for any kind of
aversive magick at this point; they can be nasty little critters
to get rid of. Should you have to eliminate one of them which you
created in error, you must re-absorb it back into yourself through
your will; or in some cases you can 'exorcise' it.


HOW TO CREATE AN ARTIFICIAL ELEMENTAL
  You can create your own artificial elemental for various
purposes. An artificial elemental is basically a thoughtform which
has been strengthened with emotion. Refer to the aura color chart
in the previous lesson and decide what color to make the
elemental, based upon your intended purpose. Apple green is a good
choice for general purposes.  Then decide on a shape or outline.
Do you want your elemental to resemble some sort of animal? A
simple circle or cloud is a good place to start. With this in mind
you can use ritual to create your elemental. Creative
visualization is good for this. Visualize it glowing before you. A
darkened room is helpful for this.

  Communicate with your elemental with telepathy, by talking to
it, or with creative visualization. Your artificial elemental is
closely linked to you and your subconscious attitudes.  It will
generally not do things you think it cannot do. As in any magick,
results relate to effort and belief. Another way of looking at an
artificial elemental is as an aspect of your personality (sub
personality) which has been detached from you.


INVOCATION
  Formal ritual usually involves the invocation (ritually calling
up) of a god or goddess, spirit, or other entity. In this sense,
magick is somewhat similar to pagan religion and witchcraft.
However, we consider magick ritual a technique, not a religion.
Worship need not be involved.  Sometimes the invocation of an
entity creates an artificial elemental.  Crowley says there are
three different kinds of invocation --

 1) Devotion to the entity (as in the Bhakti yoga of the Hare
    Krishna sect; the Faustian devil pact).
 2) Ceremonial invocation -- usual method of the middle ages.
 3) Drama -- usually needs more than one person (as ina mass).

  Because of the microcosm-macrocosm identity, when you invoke the
gods, you are invoking aspects of yourself.  Jung has referred to
the gods as primitive archetypes.  This makes it sound like
spiritual entities are illusions.  But in fact the microcosm and
macrocosm identity does not discredit the gods and goddesses. It
instead helps to illustrate our relationship to the cosmos.

>>CAUTIONS<<

1.  Balance is important in magick. Vary the entities invoked in
    order to keep your personality in balance.
2.  Often as not a ritual may produce side-effects, usually
    something similar to, though not exactly the desired goal. If
    the true goal is delayed (as sometimes happens) we may see the
    side effects first. And if for some reason the goal is not
    achieved at all ('missing the target') the side effects may be
    pronounced.
    Examples:
      1) You use magick ritual to hurry shipment of an anticipated
         package in the mail. Side effect -- the next day an
         unexpected package (the wrong one) arrives instead.
      2) You use magick ritual to cause a certain person to phone
         you. Side effect -- for several days all sorts of people
         phone you...The sides effects will not affect you (or
         anyone else) adversely unless that is what you inwardly
         want.
3.  We may say with certainty that "something always happens" when
    we perform a magick ritual. But like everything else, magick
    follows the 'law of results'. This means that results require
    effort of some kind. And if you don't work hard enough at it
    you don't get results. Difficult goals have greater resistance
    (magical inertia) to overcome. If the ritual doesn't produce
    the desired results there is a good chance that the reason for
    the failure is within oursleves. Be certain there is no
    contradiction between your model and your magical goals.
    Sometimes self doubt and mental contradictions (wanting and
    not wanting at the same time) may interfere. The first step in
    magick is to re-program your model. And, of course you can
    help your magical results by working on the physical level
    toward your goals. Don't expect them to fall into your lap by
    themselves.
4.  A peculiar quality of magick is time displacement.  Results of
    a ritual are not usually instantaneous. There is often a delay
    of 12 hours or more. Difficult tasks or weakly performed
    ritual are more likely to be delayed. In most cases a slight
    delay is alright, and it gives us time to get used to the
    comming changes. And sometimes the effects of a ritual appear
    to extend to before the ritual was performed!
5.  Because of the way magick works, a ritual may create an
    emphasis in what is sought, and a de-emphasis in everything
    else. Balance is therefore important here. Once the magical
    result is achieved it may be 'bound' to you and difficult to
    get rid of should you later decide to do so.

    Example:
      You use a magick ritual to help you find and buy a new
      house. Years later when you decide to sell it, you are
      unable to do so. Consider your magical goals wisely so you
      dont get stuck with something you don't really want. Note
      that theory says you can always unbind through ritual what
      was bound to you...theory says.
6.  Sometimes the environment appears to react against the magick
    after the results are achieved. This is particularly
    noticeable in using magick to affect the weather (and the main
    reason why you should NOT use magick to affect the weather).
    For example...Your performance of a ritual to produce a sunny
    day produces a sunny day. The next day is sunny, alright, but
    the rest of the month is cold and overcast. Here the weather
    seems to react to the magick in the opposite way to
    re-establish its natural balance. It is something like pushing
    a pendulum to one side and releasing it -- the pendulum swings
    to the other side. To quote Emmerson -- "For everything you
    gain you lose something...".  I don't know that this is always
    true in magick, but it does illustrate the point. And another
    reason not to use magick to affect the weather is that it
    might foul it up in other parts of the country (world??).
7.  Finally, magick ritual (or any magick or occultism) is very
    dangerous for the mentally unstable. If you should somehow
    'get out too far', eat 'heavy foods' as previously discussed
    (lesson on chakras) and use your religious background or old
    belief system for support. But remember too, that wierd
    experiences are not necessarily bad experiences.


REVIEW QUESTIONS
1) What is creative visualization?
2) List the basic parts of a ritual.
3) What is invocation?


RESEARCH TOPICS (for independent study)
1) Examine the differences between western magick and oriental
   magick.
2) How do medieval grimoirs follow the basic ritual pattern?
3) Research and design your own formal ritual.


BOOK LIST
P.E.I. Bonewitz, Real Magic.
David Conway, Magic: an Occult Primer (or Ritual Magic).
Aleister Crowley, Magick in Theory and Practice.
Denning and Phillips, Creative Visualization.
Ophiel, Creative Visualization.
A.E. Powell, The Astral Body.
________, The Mental Body.
Joseph Weed, Wisdom of the Ancient Masters.
Julian Wilde, Grimoire of Chaos Magick.

========
Phil Hansford, 4/88 Mysteria (818) 353-8891 (modem)
P.O. Box 83 Tujunga, CA 91042