It is certainly true that the concept of the Will is central to many teachings and schools within the Western Magical Tradition. As far back as the 15^th Century, Paracelsus (a notable physician, alchemist, and astrologer) wrote: “determined will is the beginning of all magical operations. It is because men do not perfectly imagine and believe the result, that the (occult) arts are so uncertain, while they might be perfectly certain.”

It is these words of Paracelsus that give a few more clues, written of in more detail by later occult authors, as to some of the important secrets of magical training and initiation. As well as the Will, imagination and beliefs are central to the developing the ability to perform magic. Simply desiring or wishing that magic is real is different than cultivating a belief in the reality of magic, as is developing a belief and understanding of the importance of imagination, and realising that this is a powerful psychic faculty, that when combined with the Will brings about transformation.

Imagination is utilised in various ways, including creative visualisation. Even if a physical ritual is being performed, it is via the imagination that the magical energies are stimulated and directed. Imagination isn’t simply daydreaming or fantasy. In magical work, what is imagined has a type of reality, and when combined with the will that reality will interact with the physical realm to bring about transformation.

The Will is a psychic faculty that is commonly misunderstood, often being simply associated with willpower. From a magical perspective, the Will is the faculty that transforms thought or desire into action. When the Will is combined with imagination, and the proper beliefs and understandings are present, amazing changes can be manifested in the physical world.

It is possible to learn these skills to foster positive beliefs in magic, and to develop the skills necessary to work with the imagination and Will. These concepts can be explored without the need for a complex system of cultural or historic symbolism. It is through experience and understanding the simple basic concepts that learning and magical development will take place. It is not necessary to become enslaved by external, physical props and symbolism – these things only set the scene, and are not inherently magical in and of themselves.

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The Magical Path website has various articles on occult and magical topics. Many of these articles reveal simple truths that are obscured in many modern magical books, where the focus is on external factors and hidden beneath layers of cultural or historical baggage. Magical Path offers a free series of magic lessons.

In the idea of the elemental north is the seed of becoming where the realm of archetype and pure idea intersect with the physical world. This idea is an ancient one known to the pre-Socratic philosophers of the 6^th century BCE, the Hermeticists and Neoplatonists of the ancient world (circa 1^st century BCE to 3^rd century CE), the Hermetic mystics and magicians of the medieval era, and the mystics of the East. It is this: that the physical world is the manifestation of an ideal spiritual world. Therefore, the theme and mystery of the elemental North can be summarized in the Hermetic adage “As above, so below.”

The Emerald Tablet

This is True and certain without doubt.
What is above is from what is below and what is below is from what is above,

From this work comes the miracle of the One from which all things come.
Its father is the Sun, and its mother is the Moon.
It is carried in the belly of Earth and nourished by Wind, becoming Fire.
Therefore, feed the Earth with what is subtle, the greatest power.
It will ascend from the earth to the heavens and become ruler over what is above and below.

Thus says Hermes Trismegistus.

A number of symbolic ritual objects are used to represent Elemental North. They include: The Pentacle or Pentagram, Paten or ritual offering plate, Mirror, and Stone or Crystal. The ritual Shield, Breastplate, or Lamen perhaps can be added to this list. With the exception of the pentagram, these items are reflective objects. What they symbolically reflect is the Higher sphere of Reality: the Macrocosm reflected in the Microcosm.

The Paten used in Wicca and Ceremonial Magick generally is a pentacle—a pentagram in a circle, or in this case, a disc on which a pentagram in engraved. It is related to the paten used in Christian worship: a platter that represents the resting place –that is the womb and tomb—and the body of the Christian dying and resurrecting god. Even Aleister Crowley (1875-1947), in Liber ABA, Book IV, acknowledged this connection, saying about the pentacle: “that which is merely a piece of common bread shall be the body of God.”

Some antique patens are—as the name implies—large platters or bowls, and in fact are related to the grail. In Christian lore, the grail is described as vessel sometimes associated with the chalice used at the Last Supper and sometimes with the platter on which the Pascal lamb was served. The word grail and words like it originally meant something like big bowl or serving dish.  So both the chalice and paten are variations of the Grail that quickly evolved in Christian lore to respectively represent the blood and body of Christ.

In the late 19^th century, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn decided that the cup would represent the water element and the west (which was the convention within Freemasonry) and the pentacle paten would represent the element of earth and the north (Freemasons did not address the northern quarter, believing it to be a place of darkness). If we want to trace the chalice and paten to pagan origins, we can look to pagan Celtic grail legend and cauldron mysticism.

The paten in the form of a pentacle or pantacle, as Crowley liked to call it, also has the properties of a coat of arms and has been associated with the breastplate or lamen, although Crowley says that this in error. A lamen among ceremonial magicians is somewhat obsolete now but once referred to a specially engraved metal disc worn over the heart to protect its wearer or else activate a magickal charm that usually had to do with bullying otherworldly entities.  We will see as we go on in this article that the pentacle was used in medieval times as a talisman to ward away supernatural evil, so the relationship between the pentacle and lamen may not be distant.

The mirror also is an appropriate symbol of the elemental North because, as mentioned, the microcosm is a mirror reflection of the macrocosm. Likewise, the stone or crystal symbolizes the Philosopher’s Stone, which is the transformed self that holds and reflects the divine light.

The Pentagram and the Pythagoreans

Although the pentagram/pentacle symbol dates back to at least the ancient Babylonians, its importance in Western occultism probably rests most with the Pythagoreans. It is equated with the Golden Mean, which is the formula of the structure of man and life on earth. It also was a symbol of health and Cosmic wholeness to the Pythagorean mystics who associated the pentagram with the goddess of health and well-being Hygieia—from whom we get the word Hygiene. Indeed, amulets have been found in which the letters υ-γ-ε-ι-α (UGEIA) or SALVS (the Roman equivalent) are inscribed around a pentacle.

Popular Pagan commentators have reported that the Pythagoreans used the pentagram to commemorate Kore, the Maiden form of the Cosmic cycle. They also point out that the word core, which entered the English language in the 14th century to mean the pith of fruit, and Kore, the Greek word for maiden or female child, are the same. I could not find hard evidence to support either claim but did find allusions to the similarities between Orphic and Pythagorean mysticism and about the doctrine of the Pentemychos, a philosophy told as creation mythology and attributed to a 6^th century pre-Socratic philosopher named Pherecydes of Syros.  In the Pentemychos, the interplay between pre-cosmic Time (Chronos), Being (Zas), and “What Lies beneath the Earth” (Chthonie) results in the creation of the Cosmos. In brief, a structure made of five recesses (a pente-mychos) is inseminated, giving rise to the “offspring of the gods.” This event, however, occurs in the midst of an archetypal drama that pits light and dark and order and chaos against each other. Some commentators speculate the Chthonie is the pentemychos and is the prototype of the goddesses Persephone (i.e., Kore) and Hecate.

In addition to sacred geometry, the Pythagorean philosophers wrote a great deal about the role of the elements in the creation and structure of the world. Their ideas strongly influenced medieval esotericists who turned the name Hygieia into a mnemonic for the 5 elements: hudor (water), gaia (earth), heile, (heat/fire), Hieron (idea “a divine thing”) and aer (air). Pentagram-engraved talisman on which the mnemonic was inscribed were worn to ward away evil, including evil thought to originate with witches and demons. This practice was said to be common among the general Christian public, who also associated the symbol with the wounds of Christ and the Christmas star.

The Pentacle as the World

The pentagram is an ancient archetypal geometric form. It is a contemplative image that contains insight about the nature of Self and Reality.

In Crowley’s view, related in Liber ABA (Book IV), the pentacle represented the mages self and universe. The item had to be designed with utmost care and after much contemplation since it represented the values and vision of the mage. The practice of contemplatively and ceremoniously designing one’s own pentagram or paten—as well as one’s other ritual tools—is a primary part of course work for initiates in modern Hermetic forms of ceremonial magick.

In Transcendental Magic, Eliphas Levi (Alphonse Louis Constant, 1810-1875) likens the pentagram to the morning star. It is the self as deity displaced from the heavens. It also represents the human soul harnessing and deconstructing the elemental sphere such that it realizes its True Nature in deity—a concept that is patently both Hermetic/ Gnostic and Eastern. He writes:

The pentagram is the figure of the microcosm—the magical formula of man. It is the one rising out of the four—the human soul rising from the bondage of animal nature. It is the true light—the “Star of the morning.” It marks the location of the five mysterious centers of force, the awakening of which is the supreme secret of white magic.

It can be said to be the extension of the mystical dimensionless point into the four cardinal directions of space. In this sense, the pentagram symbolizes the one becoming the many through the process of “emanation” in which God doesn’t create the world but becomes the world through a step-wise evolutionary process. The idea of emanation is a principle doctrine in early Greek philosophy, Kabala, ancient and medieval Hermeticism and Gnosticism, and Eastern mysticism.

The pentagram, as a symbol of elemental earth, represents the final step and the totality of creation. Just as all elements are contained in Elemental Earth, all elements and basic directions are contained in the mandala of the pentagram.

The founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn developed a schema that more or less continues to be the template for modern ceremonial magicians and Wiccans/Post-modern Pagans. Some common correspondences, drawn from the Golden Dawn and other sources that are now associated with the vertices of the pentagram and their corresponding directions of space are as follows:

Lower left hand corner of the pentagram represents the northern quarter and its correspondences. In relation to time, these correspondences include winter, night, the new moon, death and germination. Its element is earth, associated with being cold and dry in quality, and representing form, stability, will, as well as scent and the sense of smell. Its representative color is black or green. Its associated ritual tool is the paten, pentacle, or crystal. Its Hebrew double-letter is פ (pe), which hieroglyphically represents a mouth and implies creative expression. Its angelic guardian is Uriel (“God’s light”), and its fairy elemental is the gnome.

Upper left hand corner represents the eastern cardinal point and its correspondences. In relation to time, these correspondences include spring, sunrise, the waxing moon, youth. Its element is air, associated with being hot and moist in quality, and representing knowledge, expression, communication, healing, and the sense of touch. Its representative color is yellow. Its associated ritual tool is the dagger. Its Hebrew double-letter is ד (dalet), which hieroglyphically represents a door and implies a portal to pass through. Its angelic guardian is Raphael (“God heals”), and its fairy elemental is the sylph.

Lower right hand corner represents the southern quarter and its correspondences. In relation to time, these correspondences include summer, midday, the full moon, the prime of life. Its element is fire, associated with being hot and dry in quality, and representing energy, action, courage, self-assertion as well as consumption and combustion, light, and the sense of sight. Its representative color is red. Its associated ritual tool is the wand or staff. Its Hebrew double-letter is ר (resh), which hieroglyphically represents a head and implies the highpoint of the sun’s passage through space. Its angelic guardian is Michael (“Like God”), and its fairy elemental is the salamander.

Upper right hand corner represents the western cardinal point and its correspondences. In relation to time, these correspondences include autumn, sunset, the waning moon, old age. Its element is water, associated with being cold and fluid in quality, and representing intuition, the unconscious, dream states, feeling, and sensation, as well as the sense of taste. Its representative color is blue. Its associated ritual tool is the cup. Its Hebrew double-letter is כ (kaf), which hieroglyphically represents a cupped hand and implies a vessel. Its angelic guardian is Gabriel (“God’s strength”), and its fairy elemental is the undine (mermaid).

The apex represents the Quintessence: That which transcends and is the source of the elements. It is the sacred center and the Void, the dimensionless point that is nowhere and everywhere. Its representative color is white or gold. Its Hebrew double letter is ת (tau), which hieroglyphically represents a mark or seal of ownership and implies the sacred center and identity with deity.

Among numerous other cultures, the pentagram is also important in Tantric Hindu sorcery and mysticism. It is associated with the deity Shiva and is the central geometric shape in an important meditational and talismanic image called the Sri Mrityunjaya Yantra. Mrityunjaya means He Who is Victorious Over Death. The yantra is meant to provide well-being, protection, and redemption from death. It is interesting that in the mantra that goes with this yantra, Shiva is revered as having excellent fragrance, associating Shiva with the Earth element.

Triyambakam Yajamahe                     Oh Three-eyed Lord, we adore you.

Sugandhim Pushti Vardanam             Of excellent fragrance, you nourish all life.

Uruvarukamivabandhanan                 As the cucumber is freed from the stem,

Mrityor Muksheeyamamritat             Liberate us from death and grant the nectar  of Immortality.

In this system, the pentagram represents the five senses, and—the same as in the West—the “tattvas” or elements: Space/hearing, Air/touch, Fire/sight, Water/taste, Earth/smell.  Name and form—that is, material existence—are said to arise out of these elements and sense perceptions.

The Inverted Pentagram

The pentagram of the Pythagoreans may have been inverted and appears this way in ancient seals and also in a comment on the Pythagorean pentagram in the work of the medieval occultist Cornelius Agrippa.

Ironically, the pentagram, and especially the inverted pentagram has taken on sinister meaning in modern times. For this, we can thank 19^th century occultist Eliphas Levi—or at least the interpreters of his work. He associated the inverted pentagram with an esoteric deity called Baphomet—an entity of Levi’s invention, constructed from several sources and firmly based in pseudo-history. The image was meant to be a mandala associated with profound gnosis. He writes:

The goat on the frontispiece carries the sign of the pentagram on the forehead, with one point at the top, a symbol of light, his two hands forming the sign of hermetism, the one pointing up to the white moon of Chesed, the other pointing down to the black one of Geburah. This sign expresses the perfect harmony of mercy with justice. His one arm is female, the other male like the ones of the androgyn of Khunrath, the attributes of which we had to unite with those of our goat because he is one and the same symbol. The flame of intelligence shining between his horns is the magic light of the universal balance, the image of the soul elevated above matter, as the flame, whilst being tied to matter, shines above it. The beast’s head expresses the horror of the sinner, whose materially acting, solely responsible part has to bear the punishment exclusively; because the soul is insensitive according to its nature and can only suffer when it materializes. The rod standing instead of genitals symbolizes eternal life, the body covered with scales the water, the semi-circle above it the atmosphere, the feathers following above the volatile. Humanity is represented by the two breasts and the androgyn arms of this sphinx of the occult sciences.

Levi also associated Baphomet with the god Pan and his cultural counterparts (e.g., Cernnunos), who 19^th century Romanticists convinced everyone were the principle deities of pagan pre-Christian cultures—an idea that contemporary historians of witchcraft and paganism have disproved. In addition, Levi also demonized Baphomet by associating it with the Lord of Darkness of both Christian and various non-Christian religions and with the supposed diabolical object of worship of medieval heretics (i.e., alchemists and the Knights of Templar) and accused and mythical witches. He writes in a tract about the 15^th card of the Tarot:

We recur once more to that terrible number fifteen, symbolized in the Tarot by a monster throned upon an altar, mitered and horned, having a woman’s breasts and the generative organs of a man—at chimera, a malformed sphinx, a synthesis of deformities. Below this figure we read a frank and simple inscription—the Devil. Yes, we confront here that phantom of all terrors, the dragon of all theogonies, the Ahriman of the Persians, the Typhon of the Egyptians, the Python of the Greeks, the old serpent of the Hebrews, the fantastic monster, the nightmare, the Croquemitaine, the gargoyle, the great beast of the Middle Ages, and—worse than all of these—the Baphomet of the Templars, the bearded idol of the alchemist, the obscene deity of Mendes, the goat of the Sabbath.

Crowley and later occultists such as some adherents of a form of post-modern sorcery called Chaos Magick (primarily derived from Discordianism, Thelema, and Zos Kia Cultus) adopted Levi’s stance that the Baphomet image represented a Gnostic deity related to man’s connection with earth, primal nature, integration. Crowley and others, such as Anton LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan, also adopted it to attest to their disgust with and defiance of Christian-based society.

Ultimately (in the 1960s with the birth of the Church of Satan), Baphomet and the inverted pentagram became the mascot and logo of a new occultist front: Satanists. Although Satanists/Setians, like modern-day witches/Pagans, are actually far removed in philosophy and practice from what was ascribed to them in paranoid medieval lore, the stigma remains and strongly affects how the pentacle—inverted or not—is viewed by society-at-large. Indeed, the use of the inverted pentagram in Wicca is increasingly being discontinued because of its co-opting by Satanists.

The inverted Pentagram otherwise is said to represent the Horned God or the Spirit descending into or hidden in matter. Some oft-quoted Pagan literature says that the Horned God’s was named Pentamorph—or “He of Five Shapes,” (human, bull, ram, goat, and stag), by Neoplatonic philosophers—an idea that I could not find evidence for.  This is not surprising since the idea of a supreme masculine God as a horned nature deity is more of a convention now among Pagans than it probably ever was before. As mentioned, the concept was developed by Romanticist poets of the 19^th century who had a fascination with the Greek deity Pan and disenchantment with the Industrial Revolution. It resulted in the creation of a pseudo-history about nature-based spirituality. This coupled with speculative ethnography and the revival of Western Occultism redefined through such channels as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Thelema, ultimately resulted in Gardnerian Wicca and its offshoots, including the still evolving phenomenon of post-modern Paganism.

The Pentacle as Mandala and Ritual Space

In ritual, we enter into a dimension of consciousness in which we communicate through symbols. This is true of both conventional religion and esoteric and occult spirituality. Symbolic language, gestures, and use of forms, images, and tools are the “language” used to communicate while in another dimension of human reality; the spiritual dimension.  The space within which ritual is conducted is a mandala—a specially constructed spiritual space where the mundane world is eclipsed by a numinous one.

Creating ritual space and also addressing the quarters of space has an ancient and history. For one, it is seen in sacred geometry the world-over, which, in part, is related to ancient astronomy. Consider the ancient Persians who, millennia ago (5000 years), associated the quarters of space with the seasons and regarded giant stars and constellations as the guardians of those quarters and seasons. For them (who, please note, associated the Northern quarter with summer and the Southern quarter with winter) the guardians of the quarters were:

• Fomalhaut, in the mouth of the Southern Fish beneath Aquarius, heralded the winter solstice. (Due to precession, the star’s appearance is now moving toward the spring.)
• Aldebran, in the right eye of Taurus, heralded the spring equinox. (Its appearance is now moving toward summer.)
• Regulus, in the heart of Leo, heralded the summer solstice. (Its appearance is now moving toward the autumn.)
• Antares, in the heart of Scorpio, heralded the autumn equinox. (Its appearance is now moving toward the winter.)

Medieval esotericists, drawing on what they understood about the Pythagorean, Hermetic, and Kabbalistic ideas from ages past, also had lore and about the quarters, sacred space, and the role of the elements in the design of the Cosmos. Much medieval magick had to do with addressing energies related to the quarters, the planets, and angelic realms that governed time and space.

In one of many diagrams developed by the 16^th century mystic and physician, Robert Fludd (1574-1637), illness is attributed to demonic influences that are countered by angelic forces that guard the directions of space.  In the image, the archangels stand in watchtowers and repel fallen angels and archdemons:

• Michael is depicted repelling the fallen angel Samael and the archdemon Oriens in the East, which was associated with elemental fire.
• Uriel is depicted repelling the fallen angel Azazel and the archdemon Amaymon in the South, which was associated with elemental air.
• Raphael is depicted repelling the fallen angel Azael and the archdemon Paymon in the West, which was associated with elemental water.
• Gabriel is depicted repelling the fallen angel Mahazael and the archdemon Egyn in the North, which was associated with elemental earth.

Fludd’s vision was inspired by Jewish mysticism about the Merkabah—the divine vision of Ezekial (Ezekial 1-28) in which the prophet describes a mystical mandala.  He sees four “holy creatures” that each have four heads (man, lion, bull, and eagle). They face the quarters of space, support the throne of God, and are likened to a chariot and the firmament of Cosmos.

With the occult revival in the 19^th century and the establishment of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, whose founders were Freemasons, the medieval scheme about the directions of space and correspondences was reinterpreted and elaborated on such that elements, god-names, symbolic Hebrew letters, colors, archangels, ritual tools, meditations on cyclic time, etc. were assigned to each quarter, as summarized earlier in this article.

In ritual, the apex of the pentagram is the center, or oneself. Besides correspondences mentioned earlier, incense is often the offering associated with the East or air element, candlelight with the south or fire element, water with the west or water element, and a flower or fruit, or (in Wicca) salt with the North or earth element.

Although creating ritual space and circle casting was a part of many ancient religions and remains central to Eastern and native religions and ceremonial magick, it probably was not part of crypto-pagan folk culture or so-called witchcraft traditions until the witchcraft revival and development of Wicca in the early to mid 20^th century. This emerging fact does not invalidate the practice. Circle casting founded around the mysteries of the pentagram and its glorification of earth-based spirituality has become a mainstay of post-modern Pagans who are increasingly owning” their spirituality as a vibrant and evolving contemporary movement distinct from die-hard legends—both good and bad—about their tradition.

Because “tradition” in contemporary Paganism is often based on mere decades-old convention, reinvention and reinterpretation of folkways, and pseudohistory, improvisation and individualization should be and is becoming increasingly acceptable in creating personal or group ritual space. General templates for creating ritual space—whether in the context of ceremonial magick, contemporary Paganism, or Eastern spirituality—include many of the following features:

-Self purification: This may take for form of a ritual bath, engaging in meditations meant to modify and protect one’s energy field (such as the Kabbalist Cross and similar exercises), anointing, or nyasa (consecrating parts of the body by intentionally touching them and uttering an appropriate mantra).

• Atonement: Acknowledging one’s imperfections and being in a state of repentance and forgiveness. In Gardnerian initiatic rites, this takes the form of scourging.
• Banishing/Purification of Space: Gestures and statements, including the ringing of bells or other noise makers or else smudging or asperging,  meant to disperse obstructive influences from the ceremonial space.
• Purification/Consecration of the Elements/Tools/Ritual Offerings: Gestures and statements meant to sanctify the objects and offerings that will be used during the ceremony.
• Addressing the quarters: This may be done to banish or neutralize obstructive energies or to invite energies or entities to the ceremony either as participants or protectors. Correspondences associated with the quarters may be contemplated at this time and/or signs and gestures may be performed to give further shape to the ceremonial space.
• Transubstantiation: Identification with the deity, theme, or aim of the ceremony—or the witnessing of and interaction with transubstantiation. At the least, some sort of commemoration may occur.
• Ritual offering or communion: Various items, including food may be offered to the object of the ceremony and then shared among participants.
• Deconstruction of the ceremonial space: Final salutations or dismissal of evoked energies or else a de-barring of banished energies.
• Grounding: An agreement that the ceremony has ended and that all participants have returned to ordinary time/space and function.

Selected References

• Bengt Ankarloo, Stuart Clark, eds.  Witchcraft and Magic in Europe. The Twentieth Century. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1999.
• Comrade August, Tani Jantsang. The Pythagorean Pentacle – it is Two Points Up.
• Guardians of Darkness. http://www.geocities.com/go_darkness/god-pythagorean-pentacle.html
• Michael D. Bailey. Magic and Superstition in Europe A Concise History from Antiquity to the Present. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2007.
• The Complete Pythagoras. http://www.completepythagoras.net/mainframeset.html
• Aleister Crowley, Mary Destland, and Leila Waddell. Liber IV, Part II, Magick (Elementary Theory).  http://www.sacred-texts.com/oto/lib4.htm.
• Julie Gillentine. Persia’s Royal Stars. Atlantis Rising.2001;27.
  http://www.queenofcups.com/AR27article.htm.
• Jenny Gibbons. Recent Developments in the Study of the Great European Witch Hunt.
  http://www.tangledmoon.org/witchhunt.htm.
• Tau Allen Greenfield. The Secret History of Modern Witchcraft in: Richard Metzger ed. Book of Lies The Disinformation Guide to Magick and the Occult. St. Paul: The Disinformation Company. 2003.
• John Michael Greer. The New Encyclopedia of the Occult. St Paul: Llewellyn Publications. 2005
• The Holy Grail. New Advent. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06719a.htm.
• Tani Jantsang. Symbols of Satan? -Baphomet –Four Articles. http://www.geocities.com/satanicreds/baph.html
• Peter Kingsley. Ancient Philosophy, Mystery, and Magic: Empedocles and Pythagorean Tradition. Oxford: Clarendon Press.  1995
• GS Kirk, JE Raven, M Schofield. The Presocratic Philosophers: A Critical History (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1983.
• Eliphas Levi (AE Waite, trans) Transcendental Magic. York Beach, MN Weiser Books 1968
• Linda Malcor. What is a Grail? http://www.chronique.com/Library/Knights/Grail.htm.
• Míchealín Ní Dhochartaigh. The Pentagram. http://irelandsown.net/penta2.html.
• Catherine Noble Beyer. The Burning Times or the More Persecuted than Thou Syndrome. http://wicca.timerift.net/burning.shtml.
• John Opsopaus A Summary of Pythagorean Theology Part II: Goddesses. http://www.cs.utk.edu/~Mclennan/BA/ETP/II.html
• Alexander Roob. Alchemy and Mysticism. Koln: Taschen. 2006.
• The Sanctuary of a Coptic Orthodox Church http://www.coptichymns.net/module-library-viewpub-tid-1-pid-565.html.
• Archbishop Seraphim (Sviazhscky) The Symbolic Meaning of the Liturgy http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/temple.htm.
• Apollonios Sophistes (alias John Opsopaus).  The Pythagorean Pentacle http://www.cs.utk.edu/~mclennan/BA/PP.html.
• Frater UD. High Magic. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications. 2007.
• Barbara G. Walker. The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1983.

I am going to discuss some of my favorite scents for fall and both their health and therapeutic benefits, as well as, their magical and ritual uses. I know that pumpkins and apples often bring thoughts of fall, but I will only address those plant spirits that are available in essential oil or loose herb form. I caution anyone; in particular witches from avoiding synthetic scents. The can often be toxic and will not provide any physical, mental or spiritual benefit. In addition, if you follow an Earth based path please honor the mother by using her gifts and not lab created candles and so- called magical oils. When using essential oils by the highest quality therapeutic and organic oils you can afford.

Cinnamon Bark- Cinnamon is probably one of the most recognizable scents in history and definitely is a scent for fall. However if the essential oil is used, caution must also be used. The oil should be avoided in pregnancy, and should not be used on the skin or in baths because it is an irritant. It can however be used by dropping some oil on a cottonball and sniffing, or you can buy cinnamon sticks and crush them and leave little bowls throughout the house. Because this is a highly potent oil I do not recommend beginners to use it for health and healing (just stick to using the spice and bark), but inhaling it and using visualization aids in tapping into the psychic mind and can also be used to ward off spite and malice.

Cypress Oil- An ancient Mediterranean pine tree that has great affect on the respiratory and circulatory system. It is an oil that can be both stimulating and relaxing depending on frame of mind, and amount used. Add 10-20 drops to a bath or to an ounce of carrier oil and massage in to relief sore muscles or menstrual cramps. It can also be blended with other oils (such as ravensara and naiuoli) and massaged into the back or feet to relieve respiratory congestion and coughs. Magically, cypress oil when inhaled or diffused helps to smooth transitions, particular the loss of friends or loved ones; therefore this is a perfect oil to celebrate our elders with during Samhain. Cypress is also an oil that can be used to honor the Goddess Hecate.

Myrrh Oil or Resin- Myrrh the mother of spiritual plants (frankincense being the father) has been revered since the beginning of time. Beyond ritual its health benefits are cooling and cleansing, and it can be used as an anti-fungal. I also use it to calm tense muscles. It can be used in a bath, diffused, or mixed with a massage oil. It will stimulate the 6^th and 7^th chakras. Myrrh can be used to consecrate objects or inhaled to awaken your awareness into the spiritual realm. It also wards off negativity and will protect you during a ritual. Again, for Samhain if Hecate is the Goddess you want, myrrh will certainly make her happy.

Oak Moss Oil- Oak the sacred tree of the Druids is one of my favorite scents; there is no comparing the earthiness. Oak Moss is actually a lichen taken from the base of an oak tree and is an extremely viscous oil. It is difficult to get even one drop out of a bottle, but it’s worth it and that is all you need. Normally used as a perfume fixative I also use it on the sinus points to clear congestion. Inhaling oak moss promotes fertility, power, balance and protection.

Orange Oil – (sweet never bitter) Oranges always remind me of fall, being Italian we ate more fruit and nuts than sweets for dessert and there were always oranges and tangerines at our Thanksgiving table. Orange oil helps the digestive system and is an anti-depressive and nerve sedative. I diffuse it in the house and add it to my bathwater any chance I get. It is also highly anti-viral and dissipates bad odors quickly so I use it in my cleaning products. Orange increases you bioelectric energy field so it is an ideal oil to use during divination practice, and will ensure you are entering into your divination without depression and at peace with yourself.

Patchouli Oil- Yeah, yeah I know so many people laugh at patchouli because it was so overused in the 60’s but it really is such a glorious earthy-musky scent that I encourage people to give it another try. It can be an aphrodisiac so I encourage wearing it, putting it into the bath or diffusing it if you would like at little romance to culminate your Samhain Sabbat. It is also a nerve sedative and anti-depressant. It also great for dry, oil or wrinkled skin just blend a few drops in vitamin E and jojoba oil and apply. Patchouli can also be used to manifest money if inhaled and proper visualizations are done. Patchouli is also associated with Samhain, Hecate and the Underworld.

I hope you enjoyed this list of oils and their uses. I chose to feature oils associated with the Samhain Sabbat and the Goddess Hecate as the honored Goddess for the holiday. These oils can all be used at the altar, or if you do a bathing ritual prior to celebrating all oils (except cinnamon) can be put in the bath. If there are any questions on the use or where to get these oils feel free to email me. I normally use Mountain Rose Herbs because there oils are all organic or responsibly wildcrafted and the prices are reasonable.

Like the sword and dagger, the wand may represent the element of air or the element of fire. Whereas the blade is an aggressive magical weapon that penetrates and cuts through space and is traditionally used in banishing operations, the wand commands and moves energy. As a ritual tool representing air, the wand it rests on the eastern side of the altar. As an implement representing fire, it rests on the southern side of the altar. As a meditation on the air element, the wand is associated with space, mind, healing, communication, and intentional movement in space. As fire, it is associated with magical will and qualities such as command, heroism, determination, and efficiency.

The wand also represents the male and solar regenerative principle, and the path of the secret fire and cosmic emanation. This refers to the middle pillar of Qabala and the shushumna of Tantric yoga (the path of Kundalini), and the caduceus of Hermetic mysticism, which itself has both solar (fiery) and mercurial (airy) associations, and refers to the the speirema in Greco-Roman mysticism. Little is known about the mysticism about the speirema but it is presumed to be the Greco-Roman equivalent of Kundalini. Speirema means “serpent” or serpent energy.

In modern magical fantasy, such as the Harry Potter series, wands are depicted as weapons.  However, the wand is a tool that mages uses for concentration and direction of energy. Why does a mage concentrate and direct energy? To cause change in accordance with will; not to duel or attack someone. In other words: the wand is a prop that helps the mind focus and direct energy in relation to a magical intent.

In the second part of Book ABA (Book IV) by Aleister Crowley and a Scarlet Woman or two, the meanings of various magical tools are discussed. The wand was an important tool for Crowley. He referred to it as a symbol of the mages magical oath, being the path and commitment to attainment of True Will.

“This Will is the wand in your hand by which the Great Work is accomplished, by which the Daughter is not merely set upon the Magical throne of the Mother, but assumed into the Highest.”

In a footnote, Crowley et al explain these terms in mystical language that have their roots in Qabala and Gnostic concepts:

“. . . the Absolute is called the Crown, God is called the Father, the Pure Soul is called the Mother, the Holy Guardian Angel is called the Son, and the Natural Soul is called the Daughter. The Son purifies the Daughter by wedding her; she thus becomes the Mother, the uniting of whom with the Father absorbs all into the Crown. See Liber CDXVIII.”

He also says:

“The Magick Wand is thus the principal weapon of the Magus; and the ‘name’ of that wand is the Magical Oath.”

“. . . the real Magical Will must be toward the highest attainment, and this can never be until the flowering of the Magical Understanding. The Wand must be made to grow in length as well as in strength . . .”

History

Just like dinosaurs are thought to have shrunk into birds and small reptiles over the course of evolution, the wand may be a mini-version of the staff or scepter. The staff or scepter is a stylized version of weapons such as the club or pike. The person who held the staff or scepter in a community was the one who held the power.

The wand or staff also may be related to the ancient mysticism related to snakes. Snakes came to be associated with evil in traditional Judaism and Christianity and some forms of Gnosticism. This might have been a backlash to other traditions in which the snake was thought of as a wisdom entity and a symbol of renewal/regeneration, eternity, and the life/death cycle: the ouroboros, which swallows its tale in the act of self-consumption and also symbolically, self-insemination.

The snake may have been equated with the magical staff and used in miracle working feats by ancient spiritual teachers—such as Moses. If you press on a snake’s head in a certain way, you can temporarily paralyze it so that it takes the form of a staff or a pole. When the “staff” was flung onto the ground, the snake would revive and appear to be a snake again. Such an event is described in the Book of Exodus (7:8-13):

Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, “If Pharaoh says to you, ‘Produce some marvel,’ you must say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down in front of Pharaoh and let it turn into a serpent. To Pharaoh Moses and Aaron went and did as Yahweh commanded. Aaron threw down his staff in front of Pharaoh and the court, and it turned into a serpent.  Then the Pharaoh called for his sages and sorcerers and with their witchcraft, the magicians of Egypt did the same. Each threw his staff down and these turned into serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up the staffs of the magicians.”

Aaron was Moses’ brother and apparently held political or magical power because Moses often is depicted telling him to use his staff to make magical catastrophic events occur. Like in stories in the New Testament, the magical actions of the protagonists aren’t considered to be “magic” but acts of God, whereas the exact same actions performed by the enemy/rivals/non-believers are labeled “witchcraft.” It is biased and ironic perspective that was carried into medieval times and the present. Indeed historian Michael Bailey conjectures that the New Testament story of the magical sparring between Peter (who like Jesus may have been a legendary character) and Simon Magus (an actual historical person) may have been interjected into the Book of Acts to dissociate early Christians from being thought of as magi (which Jesus’ miracle-working suggests that he was).

Indeed, early Christians may have looked upon Christ as a kind of magician. A third-century fresco discovered in the catacombs of the St. Callisto Chapel in Rome shows Jesus holding a wand in his right hand while raising Lazarus from the dead. In another example, a gold glass plate from the Fourth Century, now housed in the Vatican Library, shows Jesus using a magic wand to raise Lazarus from the dead. In a series of images on Christian sarcophagi dated to the 4th and 5th century, Jesus is depicted using a wand to resurrect Lazarus, turn water to wine, multiply loaves and fish, and heal the widow’s son.

The staff/wand also may have had its origins with the staff of Asclepius, Greek god of healing  It is a single serpent encircling a cypress branch—a reference to a certain benign, tree-climbing snake that was common in the Mediterranean.

The staff represents the power of knowledge and healing and came to be confused and conflated with the caduceus of Hermes. Rather than the art of medicine, the caduceus of Hermes represents the balance and union of opposing or complementary forces and the self-integration, mastery, and transcendence that is achieved by the person who can unite opposites. It is regarded as the western equivalent of the path of Kundalini in Eastern mysticism.

The Wand and Women

The ancient Druids seemed to have regarded the wand as a magical extension of the phallus. They carried wands with acorn tips to suggest fertility and luck. But the first literary reference to a wand, which appears in the Odyssey, does not associate it with male power or sorcery or the male regenerative organ. The wand is wielded by the sorceress Circe (pronounced Kir-key).

Circe was associated with the goddesses Diana and Hecate, which in turn were later associated with the Fate (pronounced like fa-tay)—Italian fairies. Italian fairytales were the first place that fairies appear in literature. They are depicted holding wands, equating them with the sorceress Circe. They were the counterpart to more malignant and threatening idea of female power, which also was related to Diana and Hecate. This was the mythical witch.

The fairies depicted were different from those in Northern European tradition. They were full-sized, elegant, goddess-like women who would protect and perform favors for those mortals that they took a liking to.

They evolved from the idea of the Fates (Roman/latin, Parcae; Greek, Moirae; Teutonic, Norns), who spun, wove, and cut the thread of life; to  whom even the gods bowed; and were forerunners of the idea of the triple goddess

The flipside of the wand-wielding fairy is the mythological witch. The lore drew on myths about Lilith and “Herodias” (aka Herodias’ daughter, Salome, who was responsible for the death of John the Baptist and, according to legend, became a “spirit of the air”). In medieval Italian, Herodias is rendered as “Erodiade,” only a short linguistic step away from “Aradia,” the legendary patron of a popular form of modern Italian witchcraft (Stregharia).

Rather than a wand—the miniature version of a scepter or phallus—the witch was depicted with a bifurcated branch—that is, a bune wand—or else a broom.

Medieval literature on witches—and notes from witch trials—report that witches rode to witch’s Sabbaths on either bune wands, pitchforks, or brooms (also called besoms). Eye witnesses report that persons who went through the motions of “riding” brooms, etc. only wobbled or collapsed.  Why? Because “broom riding” may have been a shamanic ritual. The poles of the pitchforks, brooms, etc. were thought to have been smeared with an ointment made of hallucinogenic and generally toxic substances that, among other psychedelia, gave the rider the idea that he or she was flying.

Although the idea that European folk practitioners pervasively revered a horned nature deity, conducted moon-magic rites, or met for so-called witch’s Sabbaths has been debunked by post-modern historians and ethnographers, commentators on folk paganism and witch lore, such as Doreen Valiente, contend that the bune wand represented the Horned God (eg, Celtic Cernnunos or Grecian Pan) and also the crescent moon. It also may have been a rough version of the distaff: a rod on which spinning material was hung. Very rudimentary distaffs can take the form of a bifurcated tree branch.

Like traditional wands, brooms have sexual connotations but in them, the masculine and feminine become one. The pole and bristles are said to symbolize the phallus in the vagina. Indeed, the part of the handle that was inserted into the broom material supposedly was carved into a phallus. Thus, brooms were not only a kind of wand used in ritual space clearing but also magical objects for fertility luck. Jumping the broom, thus, was—and continues to be—part of the marriage rite within folk culture.

More than Mere Swish and Flick

Although we are traditionally told by ceremonial magicians that the wand is a phallic icon that represents the masculine aspects of thought, command, and will, the wand exists in many guises and disguises. Certainly it can be thought of as an extension, funnel, and concentrator of energy and will. Like the broom, it therefore represents the Whole: the feminine and masculine—the goddess who is the capacity and the god who is intention toward creative acts.

Selected references

• Joe Lantiere. The Magician’s Wand Parts 1-4. http://www.secretartjournal.com/archives/author/joe
• Raffaella Benvenuto. Italian Fairies Fate, Folletti, and Other Creatures of Legend. Journal of Mythic Arts. 2006. http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/rrItalianF.html
• Heinz Insu Fenkl. Caduceus. Archived on Journal of Mythic Arts, reprinted from Realms of Fantasy. 2000. http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/forcaduc.html
• Sabina Magliocco. Who Was Aradia? The History and Development of a Legend. The Pomegranate: The Journal of Pagan Studies, Issue 18, Feb. 2002
• Aleister Crowley, Mary Destland, and Leila Waddell. Liber IV, Part II, Magick (Elementary Theory).  http://www.sacred-texts.com/oto/lib4.htm
• Margaret Alice Murray. The God of the Witches. http://www.hermetics.org/pdf/godwitch.pdf

In Wicca and neopagan traditions, it represents the Goddess. As a representation of the Goddess, it has a prominent place on the pagan altar. That place is left of center, which is the area associated with the moon and the divine feminine. In ancient times, the cup was an item associated with both the sacrifice of the dying and resurrecting god and the potential for ecstatic gnosis in states of liminal consciousness.

In the second part of Book ABA (Book IV), the mage Aleister Crowley refers to the “Magick Cup” as a symbol of the magician’s Understanding. He compares it with one of the sephira of the Kabbalist Tree of Life called Binah. Binah is associated with the feminine/lunar polarity and with the planet Saturn. Simply put, the “Understanding” or “Knowledge” implied by Binah concerns that of duality and limitation in contrast to union in the divine reality. It is the knowledge about the hard realities about life but also the assurance that there is a way to enlightenment in the divine source.

Crowley says: “This Cup is full of bitterness, and of blood, and of intoxication.” On the one hand, the statement refers to the cup’s association with the sephira Binah. On the other, it refers to its association with the unconscious—the place of dreams and unwieldy thought processes. In achieving self-mastery, the magical worker must strive to know the self and master personal consciousness instead of being mastered or led astray by it. In practice, this can be like walking a razor’s edge teetering between self-actualization and insanity. Like in Dionysian rites, the path is initiatic and typically of a “shamanic” or “Tantric” type.

Crowley’s statement also refers to sacrifice wherein life gives of itself for life. This concept is strongly seen in the Christian, Mithraic, Bacchic and other pagan mysteries.

Cauldron and Grail Mysteries

In Gnostic and mystical Greco-Roman/Middle Eastern paganism at the turn of the first millennium CE (the same time as the emergence of early Christianity), the highest idea of God was that of the divine light. The sun was a symbol of this. The vegetation god—that is, the dying and resurrecting god—was a manifestation of this light and sustained life through self-sacrifice, often symbolized by grain and fermented drink. One of the iconic symbols for this concept of life, death, and regeneration was the cup or chalice or the drinking horn/horn of plenty, which, if we travel north, is related to the cauldron.

Although the drinking horn, chalice, or cup were utilitarian and special objects in and unto themselves, they also may be miniaturized versions of the cauldron—which became associated with a “greal” (also spelled “graal” and “greel”) from which we get the word “grail.” We think of the grail as a chalice. In Arthurian legend, it is said to be a vessel that 1) collected the blood of the crucified Christ and 2) was used at the Last Supper either as a chalice that held the wine or a platter on which the pascal lamb was served.

“Greal’ is an archaic French term for the medieval Latin word “gradale.” A gradale is a wide, deep dish used to serve a fancy meal. Gradale, in turn, is related to the Latin word, gradatim, which means “great” and abundant. Some also say that the word grail is derived from the Latin garalis or cratalis—which also mean “crater,” or “big bowl.”

In An ABC of Witchcraft Past and Present, Doreen Valiente says of the cauldron:

A cauldron is an all-embracing symbol of Nature, the Great Mother. As a vessel, it represents the feminine principle. Standing upon three legs, it recalls the triple moon goddess. The four elements of life enter into it, as it needs fire to boil it, water to fill it, the green herbs to cook it, and the fragrant steam arises into air.

She goes on to say:

[It] is itself a vessel of transformation, because it takes raw uneatable things and transforms them into food; makes herbs and roots in to medicines and potent drugs; and is the emblem of woman as the greatest form of transformation, who takes the seed of man and transforms it into a child. In a sense, to the pagans all Nature was a cauldron of regeneration, in which all things, men, beasts, plants, the stars of heaven, the lands and waters themselves seethed and were transformed.

Valiente notes that the Rosicrucians, a Hermetic Christian order of occultists, agree. She quotes Hargrave Jennings in The Rosicrucians, Their Rites and Mysteries which was published in 1870: “We claim the cauldron of the witches as, in the original, the vase or urn of the fiery transmigration, in which all things in the world change.”

But although the cauldron is part of legendary witch lore, it did not originate with “witches.” It was an important item in Druidic and Celtic homes and had religious value because of its life-sustaining properties.

Various Celtic myths, such as those of Cerridwen and Gwion and of Bran-the-Blessed, celebrate the value of the cauldron by referring to it as an instrument of wisdom and regeneration.  In the first myth, the goddess Cerridwen brews wisdom in her cauldron, which she intends to give to her son, Morfran. Some of the brew spills onto the finger of a dwarf-servant named Gwion, who then attains the gift of knowledge. Cerridwen is angered by this. Both characters shapeshift as the one chases the other until Cerridwen, in the form of a hen, swallows Gwion, disguised as an ear of corn. Cerridwen becomes pregnant because of this. Nine months later, she gives birth to Taliesen, the greatest of all the Welsh poets.  In the Celtic legend of Bran-the-Blessed, Bran, a warrior-god, obtains a cauldron of wisdom and rebirth from Cerridwen. The cauldron can resurrect the corpse of dead warriors placed inside it.

Elements from these myths figure into the Arthurian Grail legend, which combines Christian lore about the chalice used at the Last Supper with more ancient Celtic pagan lore about cauldrons.

Rosicrucian writer Manly P. Hall, says:

There is evidence to support the claim that the story of the Grail is an elabortion of an early pagan Nature myth which has been preserved by reason of the subtle manner in which it was engrafted upon the cult of Christianity. From this particular viewpoint, the Holy Grail is undoubtedly a type of the ark or vessel in which the life of the world is preserved and therefore is significant of the body of the Great Mother—Nature. Its green color relates it to Venus and to the mystery of generation . . .

He goes on to say that “The earliest Grail legends describe the cup as a veritable horn of plenty. Its contents were inexhaustible and those who served it never hungered or thirsted.” Here he seems to be referring to the Cauldron of Dagda, the supreme deity of the Celts. Note that Dagda means “shining divinity” (derived from Proto-IndoEuropean “Dhagho [brilliant]-deiwos [deity, divinity, “shining one”],” so we are talking about a transcendent solar deity here.

The cauldron is said to be gifted to the Tuatha de Danaan by the sun-god, Lugh, whose self-sacrifice (although in some early version, the self-sacrifice of his mother) is commemorated during Lughnasadh. In myth, the cauldron of plenty feeds a thousand people and revives warriors after battle.  This regeneration of warriors is believed to be depicted on the Gundestrup Cauldron, which is dated to the 1^st century BCE.

Form Is Emptiness

Having pointed out the association between the ritual cup and the womb of the Great Mother, the Holy Grail, the cup of sacrifice and regeneration, I would like you to put it together and think out of the box about the ritual cup.

To summarize:

• To modern pagans and Wiccans, the ritual cup represents the Goddess, named by some simply as The Lady of the Moon, and collectively referring to all goddesses that personify the cycles of Nature, Time, and spiritual or occult mysteries.
• The ritual cup symbolizes water because cups hold fluid. Thus, the cup represents the water element and its meanings and correspondences.
• The cup is associated with the Arthurian legend of the Holy Grail, which is related to both Celtic pagan spirituality and Christian legend and spirituality. In this sense, it is the cup of enlightenment and the cup of self-sacrifice and regeneration.

The cup then not only represents the divine feminine but the divine masculine as well: the divine mother and son, which is also the divine sun reflected in the waters of life.

But to say that the cup represents the divine feminine—or the Goddess—or that it or its contents represent the divine masculine—or the solar deity, which essentially is the god of death and resurrection, is to say that the cup is really Us. It represents our body—our form. What it contains is life and spirit, the containment and limitation of which is only seeming. As the cup, we are the microcosm in which the macrocosm is reflected.

In its association with the West, the realm of the setting sun, the cup symbolizes liminal space—the space between worlds—where the manifest and unmanifest meet.

In ancient times, waterways were considered to be the pathways between the world of form and the spiritual world of formlessness. Indeed, the cup symbolizes the mystical relationship between form and space, perhaps harkening to the famous line from the Tibetan Buddhist scripture Prajnaparamita Hridaya Sutra (The Heart Sutra of Supreme Wisdom): “Form is emptiness; emptiness is form. Form is none other than emptiness; emptiness is none other than form.” And again, a passage from the Yoga-Vashishtha , an Advaita Vedantist scripture, says: “The world is in the mind like space in a jar.” These adages speak about the nature of Self and of Reality as well as the relationship between inside and outside, spirit and matter, form and formlessness. In considering this, we can go beyond patent or sentimental ideas about the ritual cup and touch gnosis.

Selected References

• Aleister Crowley. Book ABA. http://www.sacred-texts.com/oto/aba/aba2.htm.
• Frater UD. High Magick.   Woodbury, Minn: Llewellyn Publications, 2007, 231-233.
• Charles W. King. Gnostics and Their Remains Ancient and Mediaeval. London: David Nutt , 1887(reissued by Kessinger Publishing).
• The Holy Grail. New Advent. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06719a.htm.
• Doreen Valiente. An ABC of Witchcraft Past and Present.  Blaine, Wash: Phoenix Publishing, 1973; 57-58.
• Manly P. Hall. The Secret Teachings of All Ages. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin. 2003; 309.

Émile Coué’s Four Laws of Imagination and Will

Émile Coué, author of Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion, wrote of the the antagonism between Will and Imagination. Coué wrote of the Four Laws of Imagination and Will:

1. When the will and the imagination are antagonistic, it is always the imagination which wins, without any exception.
2. In the conflict between the will and the imagination, the force of the imagination is in direct ratio to the square of the will.
3. When the will and the imagination are in agreement, one does not add to the other, but one is multiplied by the other.
4. The imagination can be directed.

Compare these rules carefully with the statement by V. H. Frater Resurgam, a senior member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, who wrote that “to practice magic, both the imagination and the Will must be called into action, they are co-equal in the work… The Will unaided can send forth a current… yet its effect is vague and indefinite… the Imagination unaided can create an image… yet it can do nothing of importance, unless vitalized and directed by the Will.” I believe that Resurgam’s comments are slightly more accurate that Coué’s. Coué suggests that the imagination can win over the Will, however this exemplifies the mistake of the “power of positive thinking” crowd (as promoted in the book and the video The Secret, and claimed as an age old secret that only a few successful people knew about). An image alone is unlikely to create change unless Will is used to vitalize it – this is one of the true secrets of magic.

Thomson Jay Hudson’s Three Laws of Psychic Phenomena

Thomson Jay Hudson formulated Three Laws of Psychic Phenomena, which were published in 1893. Hudson was well known for his theories of the subjective and objective mind, and his teachings were incorporated into some of the lessons of the Builders of the Adytum. While the Will and Imagination are not mentioned, the laws fit in well with this subject.

Hudson’s three laws are as follows:

1. Man has two minds: the objective mind (conscious) and the subjective mind (subconscious).
2. The subjective mind is constantly amenable to control by suggestion.
3. The subjective mind is incapable of inductive reasoning.

It is important to understand that the Imagination and Will are being used by the objective (conscious) mind to make changes within the subjective (subconscious) mind. It is only by using the Will and Imagination combined that the so-called “power of positive thinking” can be successful.

Paul Foster Case on Will and Imagination

Paul Foster Case, the founder of Builders of the Adytum and a well known occultist, summed up the principles of Will and Imagination in the symbolism of The Magician tarot card. Case explained the symbolism of the card as follows: “The primary manifestation of Spirit is Will, of which Attention-the wand-is the essence, and to which Memory-the wallet-is closely linked. Wisdom, having for its essence Imagination-the rose-is the secondary expression. Upon the progress of this vital principle in humanity depends the advancement of the sub-human forms, represented by the dog.

As Heh of Yod, the Magician is passive to Ain Suph, hence he is a symbolic antithesis to the Fool. He is God the Creator in the Beginning, in contrast to God the Principle before all beginnings. He is Kether, the Primal Will which initiates the creative process by selecting a particular point in space at which to begin.

The Magician’s left hand points toward the High Priestess. It is as if he were the medium through which the Limitless Light finds expression in Chokmah. This gesture also denotes concentration, and the selective action of Creative Will. The same selective action is also suggested by the table, which implies definite location, and is, in one sense, a symbol of the material universe. The emblems of the Tarot suits lying upon it are the elements used by the Magician in his work.

Because even the Primal Will is a limitation of Ain Suph, it possesses some degree of the quality of darkness. Hence the Magician’s hair is black; but a golden band surrounds it, to show that the Darkness is held in cheek by Light. Here is the antithesis to the Fool’s yellow hair and his green wreath.”

Conclusion

Learning the Art of Magic requires some deep thought and contemplation. This article is offered to give a very brief introduction to a deep and complex topic, one that a neophyte (beginner) should take very seriously and seek to learn a great deal more about. All the statements given as “Laws” or “Arcanum” are worthless if not understood, and the understandings put into action.

For further information on the Will I suggest the following sites: The Will Project and the Magick Wiki entry on Will.

Many people believe that Aleister Crowley was the first to associate magic and will, such as his definition of magic as “the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will,” and his statement that “every intentional (Willed) act is a Magical act.” However, both Eliphas Lévi and Paracelsus wrote of similar ideas. For example, Lévi wrote, “would you learn to reign over yourself and others? Learn how to will. How can one learn to will? This is the first arcanum of magical initiation,” while Paracelsus claimed that “determined will is the beginning of all magical operations. It is because men do not perfectly imagine and believe the result, that the (occult) arts are so uncertain, while they might be perfectly certain.”

The imagination is closely linked to the will, as revealed by Paracelsus. This fact was not missed by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, with V. H. Frater Resurgam writing that “to practice magic, both the imagination and the Will must be called into action, they are co-equal in the work… The Will unaided can send forth a current… yet its effect is vague and indefinite… the Imagination unaided can create an image… yet it can do nothing of importance, unless vitalized and directed by the Will.” Soror S.S.D.D. wrote a visualization exercise that uses the imagination to help stimulate the will, and is essentially a short magical working. The exercise is performed in the following manner: “imagine your head as centre of attraction with thoughts like rays radiating out in a vast globe. To want or desire a thing is the first step in the exercise of Will; get a distinct image of the thing you desire placed, as it were, in your heart, concentrate all your wandering rays of thought upon this image until you feel it to be one glowing scarlet ball of compacted force. Then project this concentrated force on the subject you wish to affect.”

Paul Foster Case, founder of the Builders of the Adytum, described the symbolism of the will in the Magician tarot card. Case wrote that “the primary manifestation of Spirit is Will, of which Attention – the wand – is the essence, and to which Memory – the wallet – is closely linked. Wisdom, having for its essence Imagination – the rose – is the secondary expression.” This image captures the essence of magic, and depicts the importance of by will and imagination.

V. H. Frater Resurgam gave some fairly precise details for the connection between imagination and will, and how these are the basis for the magical act:

• Imagination creates a form on the Astral or some higher plane.
• This form is as real and objective to beings on that plane, as our earthly surroundings are to us.
• This form may have only a transient existence, productive of no important results; or it may be vitalized and used.
• To practice magic, both the Imagination and the Will must be called into action.
• The Imagination must precede the Will in order to produce the greatest possible effect.
• The Will unaided sends forth nothing but the current or force.
• The Imagination unaided can create an image and this image has an existence of varying duration; yet it can do nothing of importance.
• When the Imagination creates an image and the Will directs and uses that image, marvelous magical effects may be obtained.

H. P. Blavatsky, in The Secret Doctrine, offered a similar explanation of this magical process: “The ancients held that any idea will manifest itself externally, if one”s attention (and Will) is deeply concentrated upon it; similarly, an intense volition will be followed by the desired result,” and later: “For creation is but the result of will acting on phenomenal matter, the calling forth out of it the primordial divine Light and eternal Life.”

Magical Correspondences for the will include the following: The planet Mars and the Sun, the pituitary gland, the element of Fire, the sephiroth of Geburah on the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, the Magican Tarot card and tarot suit of wands, the zodiac sign Aries. The symbol for the will is the astrological symbol of Sol – a circle with a dot at its center.

For further information on the Will I suggest the following sites: The Will Project and the Magick Wiki entry on Will.