“Knowledge and Conversation”: activation of the higher matrices

 As we have said more than once, one of the most important tasks a Magus must address at the beginning of his Way is the determination of his “natural vector“, Orlög — that is, the identification of those tasks and potentials that he needs to actualize in the present incarnation. Ordinary life most often fulfills only a small fraction of these tasks; an effective life strives to realize them as fully as possible; and the life of a Magus should be directed not only toward the actualizing of these tasks but also toward further advancement, based on their results, to full self-realization.

Throughout the history of Magic, many methods have been developed for seeing one’s nature — a seeing which is itself a prerequisite of its effective realization. Among the best-known of these methods are the ritual of the Second Book of Abramelin, the “Ritual of the Unborn” of the Golden Dawn, and, of course, Liber Samekh with its “Knowledge and Conversation.” And whereas in the “Second Book of Abramelin” the contact with the ‘Suprapersonality’ is only the first part of a longer operation to master various creative (and destructive) forces, for the Orders of the modern era, this contact has become an independent task, often perceived as a necessary condition for a Magus’s development.

Although it is clear that without a clear and conscious connection of the conscious mind with its logos (which, as we have repeated, is represented by the aforementioned Rituals in the form of the “Holy Guardian Angel”), the construction of one’s Way, vird, has far less chance of success, the attainment of this connection itself can occur by entirely different routes, and those routes do not necessarily include an “exteriorization” of the logos of that mind and its perception as an “external” structure.

Nevertheless, as in the case of goetic practice for identifying destructive matrices of mind, for many travelers, the perception of the constructive foundations of the mind is simpler and more convenient when these foundations are made explicit.

These Rituals propose two principal approaches to establishing contact between the “diurnal” mind and its logos: the “extensive” and the “intensive.”

The “Second Book of Abramelin” prescribes a prolonged and gradual intensification of interaction, a gradual restructuring of the stream of mind toward the perception of its “upper” layers. Such rituals are well known in archaic shamanic cultures as various “vision quests” undertaken in the course of age-grade (or shamanic) initiation. The essence of the approach lies in the gradual removal of impulses from the mind that interfere with the sought contact, achieved by prolonged seclusion and the directing the stream of consciousness into the channel of the quest through prayers, meditations, and other ordering techniques.

The “Ritual of the Unborn,” entirely in the spirit of the emotional nature of its creators (Mathers and Crowley), is aimed at intensifying the mind through dramatic experiences, activating the mind’s potentials through vivid, emotionally charged images that those magi infused into the otherwise mediocre ritual of invoking Typhon, the “Headless god.” Such approaches, fundamentally mystical, have likewise been well known since antiquity — both among Greek and ancient Egyptian transformational dramas.

In any case, the approaches under consideration aim at a “rupture” of the flow of ordinary mind and its subsequent redirection from an emphasis on “neutral” or destructive matrices toward the revelation, within one’s potential, of constructive system-forming elements and activating those elements.

Accordingly, essentially the next logical step after opening the logos within oneself is the reorientation of the stream of consciousness toward the realization of that logos, which is, in effect, an alchemical action of “remelting” the soul. However, it is precisely in this continuation that problems often arise, especially with the “intensive” approach to “knowledge and conversation.” Indeed, a mind at the peak of its experiences can relatively easily attain insight into its higher spheres, and it is precisely this illumination that is often taken as a sign of a successfully completed operation. Yet, lacking a stable foothold in the current nature of that stream of mind, this illumination often gradually fades as the mind returns to the “ordinary” state, and the understandings gained are forgotten and fade away.

Thus, to obtain lasting results from “knowledge and conversation,” it is not enough to achieve the mere contact between mind and its logos; that contact must still be translated from the realm of potentials into the realm of concrete possibilities, and this is often neglected, turning the Ritual into one more way of obtaining vivid experiences — a kind of repeated “spiritual drug” that doesn’t contribute to genuine development.

Another common mistake in conducting such Searches is the gradual decline in the intensity of the search due to “fatigue” and falling motivation. In truth, this is a general problem of many magical endeavours that require prolonged effort: practitioners initially take up the work with zeal and interest, but as they progress without substantial successes (and we have said that any achievement passes through a long stage of “horizontal” movement without visible evolution), the initial ardor wanes and diligence decreases. Nevertheless, for Search Rituals, it is critical that the tension during preparation not only does not drop but actually increases. Only then, after sustained preparation, does an “ignition” finally occur and the search is crowned with success.

Only when, first, the Search is a natural and legitimate stage of one’s personal Way, and not merely a conceptual “necessity” recounted in books or by acquaintances; second, the practitioner has sufficient will and discipline to conduct the Search correctly; and third, the Search is the foundation upon which further efforts at self-improvement, self-transformation, and self-harmonization are built — only then can such a Ritual be truly useful.