Entrances and Exits

The human being, formed on the Threshold of worlds, on the threshold between the psychocosmos and the macrocosm, is a complex of interacting forces, more or less harmoniously arranged around the idea of embodiment.

Its existence, lying between these two universes aimed at harmonizing them, abounds in moments of both build-up of power and large-scale drains.

At the same time, the central point of this existence – the mind – continuously interacts with forces flowing from both the macrocosm and the psychocosmos. These forces constantly influence one another, sometimes complementing and sometimes opposing each other, yet always reflecting in one another and always finding a response in each other.

This means that changes in consciousness are reflected in processes in the macrocosm, and processes in the macrocosm affect the mind.

This interaction is especially important at the level of interplay between constructive and destructive forces that either promote or hinder the development of the mind itself.

Power is attracted or repelled according to the readiness of consciousness to accept it, and this process requires a number of conditions, the chief of which is precisely the degree of correspondence between the mind’s “internal” and “external” energies.

Any power consciousness can accept must first be found within it.

This fact has both positive and negative consequences.

On the one hand, if we follow the path of developing consciousness, then by creating within ourselves a need to receive a particular power we form for it a suitable vessel, thus preparing the ground for its entry.

But on the other hand — if we form a vessel for a power that is hostile to us, we also ensure its acceptance into our consciousness.

In other words, we ourselves shape the climate, the “flora” and “fauna” of our psychocosm.

No destructive or other power, be it a Demon, angel, Genius, Daemon or parasite, can enter the mind if it does not find a corresponding “response,” a hold — entry — through which contact between the forces is established.

A mind parasite would have no power if the mind did not make agreements with it, and any possession is always preceded by the destructive transformation of part of the mind.

Just as the destruction of the mind is rooted in the mind itself, the possibilities for development are likewise contained in the mind itself, as expressed in the familiar saying: “we carry our own hell and our own paradise within us.”

For the Magus, this phrase has a far more literal meaning than for a psychologist, and the forces with which he interacts are far more real and less conceptual; yet the essence does not change: the key to everything is mastery of one’s mind.

The Way of Magic means not only interaction with “external” angels or demons, it means no less the search for these angels and demons in oneself.

Whenever a Magus experiences the influence, say, of Asmodeus or Astaroth, he must ask himself: through which gates this influence enters? A Magus whose mind contains no hook for Asmodeus will be able to manage the “external” demon effectively, while a Magus who summons Asmodeus and still harbors his manifestations risks becoming ensnared by the demon.

Similarly, if a Magus wishes most effectively to balance the power of a demon with a genius’s power, he must first make that power concrete within himself.

Of course, this concerns above all effectiveness, not fundamental possibility, since many successful conjuring Magi were riddled with vices. However, in the Last Battle, the battle for their soul, they usually lost it.

A Magus oriented toward total victory, rather than toward winning small skirmishes, must remember that internal changes precede external ones, spirit governs form, not vice versa. Only by developing and transforming his mind, only by uprooting its “internal demons” and avoiding the trap of “internal angels,” can he attain that degree of freedom that is the ultimate goal of realization.