|
Magick
Without Whining
by R. R. Snow A lot of people who get interested in magick & the occult are curious, but don't really know what they're looking for--they're just sort of drawn to it. There are also a lot of very young people expressing interest but not finding much to go on. Most of the time if you're young (or just starting to learn) and you ask questions of someone who's been working with magick long enough to really know anything, a lot of them don't have the time or patience to explain it to (for instance) an 18-year-old who knows nothing (or just enough to get into trouble). So if you're trying to get started (even if you're not a kid), this is for you. If you know what you're doing already and it gets on your last nerve to have some "kid" asking you a bunch of questions, then this is for you too. Hand them this. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Beginning Magick Q. Why do you spell it with a "k" on the end? A. It seems to be something that started with Aleister Crowley (as far as I can tell--there's a rumor or two that it's related to some old Celtic spelling or something, or that it has to do with numerology, but most everyone I've talked to mentioned the Crowley thing). He added the "k" so you'd know he was talking about something different from the "poof, it's a rabbit in my hat" kind. Q. Who was Aleister Crowley? Didn't he invent devil worship or something? A. Did Aleister Crowley invent the devil or did the devil invent Aleister Crowley? OK, I'm joking there…but seriously, no, Crowley didn't come up with that. As for who Crowley was, that's a story way longer than I've got space for here…but the short answer, I guess, would be that he's the one who wrote up a lot of the stuff about magick that everybody had been trying to keep secret before. Q. Which is more powerful, black magick or white magick? A. Neither, it depends on the person practicing it. If you want to really be any good at it, you'd do better to just study magick & not worry about whether it's "black" or "white." Q. If you read books on magick and you don't know what you're doing, won't something really bad happen to you? A. Don't be silly. Reading books never hurt anybody. And if you don't know what you're doing, how are you supposed to find out if you don't read something? Seriously, if you read a book and "something bad" happens to you, it's probably because you expected something bad to happen to you for reading it. Q. What's the difference between magick and witchcraft? Is there one? A. You use a type of magick in witchcraft. But you can practice magick without being part of any other group. "High magick" or "ceremonial magick" is more about the individual & can be a little abstract (though it can also be used for very practical stuff too). You don't hear a lot about "witchcraft" these days, but when you do, it usually means a sort of "folk magick" which is generally used for practical, concrete things (for instance, herbal remedies, reading "signs" and so on). What you hear about more often is "Wicca," which is a little more different still; it's a pagan religion which uses some types of magick. Q. I read some stuff by Crowley & I keep seeing "Do what thou wilt" all over the place. But I see "An thou harm none, do what thou wilt" in a lot of Wiccan stuff I've read. Isn't that the same thing? A. No. The "Wiccan Rede" (which goes "An thou harm none, do what thou wilt") is meant to remind those practicing Wicca that they shouldn't do anything to harm another or they will suffer the consequences of their actions "coming back to them." That's not what's meant by "Do what thou wilt." Q. Doesn't "Do what thou wilt" just mean you should do whatever you want to? A. No, it means (in a nutshell) that you should figure out your reason for being, what you're supposed to do or learn at this time (your "Will") and do it. Q. Can I still practice my religion & do magick too? A. Depends on your religion! Magick isn't really a religion in the way most people think of it, so the theory seems to be that you could do both. A lot of religions (including Christianity) have things in common with magick, so if you already practice one of these, it might be easier for you to understand how you could take your beliefs further with magick. (But I wouldn't recommend asking your pastor what sort of banishing ritual he finds most effective.) Q. If you really want to learn magick, should you drop everything to study it & learn it properly? A. No. You need balance. If you start getting really into it, other stuff in your life (like your job or school or whatever) might seem that it's just holding you back. But you can learn from that too. Being in the "real world" gives you a chance to use what you learn. ("Knowledge is power, but knowledge without experience degenerates into dogma." Or so I've been told.) Q. How do you know if this is really the way you should go or if you're just a "wanna-be" who saw The Craft or role-played a little & thought it sounded cool? A. "Wanna-be's" are people who want to be something just because they think it's cool or because someone else is doing it. They don't understand what they're really getting into. So the answer is, find out as much as you possibly can about the subject on your own. If you're still interested, then go on finding out more. If you're on the right track, then one thing just sort of leads to another. If this is the thing for you, you'll know. If it's not, you'll get bored & quit, or something will happen to steer you back into the direction that is right for you. Q. How can I find someone to show me what I need to know? A. Don't worry about finding a "teacher"--there are a lot of people you can learn from, but there are a lot of con artists too. Be careful. And there's nothing wrong with teaching yourself either. Read. Listen. Think. Sometimes you can learn things in the strangest places! If you really need someone to guide you along, there's an old saying: "When the student is ready, the master will appear." So make yourself ready! Q. Should I work with a group? A. You don't have to. Some people need the support of a group, but others do best working alone or with one or two others. Getting into a group you don't work well with can be a lot worse than working by yourself. So can getting into a group that has a lot of problems. Before you decide to try to work with any group, ask yourself and the people in the group what you can offer each other and what you expect from each other. Q. What are some good books to start with? A. Crowley's Magick in Theory & Practice and Book Four were written for the beginner. (In case you're wondering "what about Book 1, 2 & 3" that's exactly what Magick in Theory & Practice is.) Don't expect to understand everything--or even much of it--the first time through. Even though it's written for beginners, there are a lot of different meanings to some of the things in there. But it's a start. The main thing to remember is that this isn't something you learn overnight. It's something you might have to read about over & over before you start to get the idea. Q. Where can I get good books on this subject? A. If you live in a larger town & have a public library, you might check there first; look in the card catalog under "occult" or "new age" (which is where most libraries keep this sort of thing, if they have it) or if you don't have any luck there, try the section on "philosophy." Sometimes you can find things under "anthropology" or "folklore" too. If you can't find anything that way, try just looking through the bookshelves in the "BF" section (for most libraries which are on the Library of Congress cataloguing system, not Dewey Decimal). If there's a college or state university nearby, this is even better. They usually have a better selection of books when it comes to stuff like this. If you don't have any luck at the library or would rather check out the bookstores instead, look at the section signs & try to find "magick" or "occult sciences." If you don't see that, try looking under the "new age" section. (Be ready to weed through a lot of fluff here.) Other options: check near the section on "astrology" or "religion" or "metaphysics." Sometimes the store may only have a few books on this subject, so it may not rate its own section & be lumped in with other stuff; these are the places you're most likely to find something. If you don't see anything & don't mind asking, most bookstores can order what you want, but you'll have to know what you want first (title, author, etc.). Of course, there are lots of places you can go online, so you can mail-order pretty much whatever you want (as long as you have a credit card or a checking account). But there are all sorts of websites too, and many of them even have parts of books you can read or download. For starters, try www.avatarsearch.com since it's a search engine dedicated to occult websites. And of course, you can also use any of the regular search methods that you normally use. The most important thing to remember: it's OK to ask questions, but read, read, read, and read some more before you start asking. You're more likely to get a good answer if you can ask your question in a way that shows you've made some effort to find out for yourself. I hope this helps you get started. Good luck! © Copyright 1999-2007 by R.R. Snow [This article previously appeared in SKOPOS Vol. II No. 2, and is archived here in an updated format by permission of the author.] |