“Knowledge and Conversation”: Activating Higher Matrices
As we have said more than once, one of the most important tasks a Magus must address at the beginning of the Way is determining one’s “natural vector,” Orlög— that is, discerning those tasks and possibilities that must be actualized in the current incarnation. Ordinary life usually realizes only a small fraction of these tasks; an effective life seeks to realize them as fully as possible. The life of a Magus, however, should be directed not only toward the realization of these tasks, but also toward further advancement — building on their results — toward complete self-realization.
Over the course of Magic’s historical development, many approaches have been devised for the vision of one’s nature — the very condition for its effective realization. Among the best-known methodologies are the Ritual of the Second Book of Abramelin, the Golden Dawn’s “Ritual of the Bornless,” and, of course, “Liber Samekh,” with its “Knowledge and Conversation.” If, in the “Book of Abramelin,” contact with the ‘Suprapersonality’ is only the first part of a longer operation of mastering various creative (and destructive) Powers, then in many modern Orders this contact has become an autonomous goal — often regarded as a necessary condition for the Magus’s development.
It is evident that, without a clear and aware connection between the manifested mind and its logos (which, as we have said more than once, is objectified in all the above Rituals as the “Holy Guardian Angel”), the construction of one’s Way — one’s Wyrd— has far fewer chances of success and efficacy. Yet the attainment of this connection may proceed by entirely different paths, and these paths by no means must include the “exteriorization” of the mind’s logos and its perception as an “external” structure.
Nevertheless, just as in the goetic practice of identifying destructive matrices of mind, many wayfarers find it simpler and more convenient to perceive the constructive foundations of mind through their objectification.
The Rituals mentioned above propose two fundamentally different approaches to establishing contact between the “diurnal” mind and its logos: the “extensive” and the “intensive.”
The “Second Book of Abramelin” prescribes a long, gradual intensification of interaction: a progressive restructuring of the stream of mind toward perceiving its “upper” layers. Similar Rituals are well known in archaic shamanic cultures in the form of “vision quests,” undertaken as part of age-related (or shamanic) Initiation. The essence of the approach is the gradual removal from the mind of impulses that “interfere” with the sought-for contact. This is achieved through prolonged seclusion and the direction of the stream of mind into the channel of the search by means of prayers, meditations, and similar ordering techniques.
The “Ritual of the Bornless,” very much in keeping with the emotional temperament of its creators (Mathers and Crowley), aims to intensify the mind through the dramatic force of experience: the activation of the mind’s potencies through vivid, emotionally charged images, invested by these Magi into a rather mundane and mediocre source rite — an appeal to Typhon, the “Headless god.” Approaches of this kind — mysterial in nature — are also well known from antiquity, both in Greek and in ancient Egyptian transformational dramas.
In any case, the approaches under consideration are directed toward a “rupture” in the stream of ordinary mind, and its subsequent redirection away from an emphasis on “neutral” or destructive matrices — toward the revelation, within one’s potential sphere, of constructive, system-forming elements, and the subsequent activation of these elements.
Accordingly, the next logical step after discovering the logos within oneself is to reorient the stream of mind toward actualizing this logos — which is, in essence, an alchemical act: the “re-smelting” of the soul. Yet it is precisely at this continuation that difficulties often arise, especially under the “intensive” approach to “knowledge and conversation.” For a mind at the peak of experience, it is comparatively easy to glimpse its higher spheres, and it is this illumination that is often taken as the sign of a successful operation. But without stable support in the present, actual nature of the stream of mind, this illumination often fades as the mind returns to an “ordinary” state; the understandings gained are forgotten and de-actualized.
Thus, to obtain stable results from “knowledge and conversation,” it is not enough merely to attain contact between the mind and its logos. This contact must be carried over from the domain of potencies into the domain of actual capacities — something often neglected. As a result, the Ritual becomes merely a way of obtaining vivid experiences: yet another “spiritual narcotic” that contributes nothing to real development.
Another common mistake in conducting such Quests is the gradual drop in intensity caused by fatigue and waning motivation. Properly speaking, this is a general problem in many magical actions that require prolonged exertion: practitioners begin the work “hot,” with genuine interest, but as they proceed without substantial successes (and we have noted that any attainment passes through a long stage of “horizontal” movement, without visible evolution), initial fervor declines and diligence slackens. For Quest Rituals, however, it is critically important that the tension in preparation not only not diminish, but, on the contrary, increase. Only then — after prolonged heating to incandescence — does “ignition” finally occur, and the Quest is crowned with success.
Only when the Quest is, first, a natural and lawful stage of the personal Way, rather than merely a conceptual “necessity” one has heard from books or acquaintances; second, when the practitioner has sufficient will and discipline to conduct it correctly; and third, when it serves as the foundation on which further efforts at self-perfection, self-transformation, and self-harmonization are built — only then can such a Ritual be truly useful.
“External” Goetia
Abramelin Technique: The Separation of Vortices
The Ornateness of Ritual
Shaking the Vessel
Magical Practice
States of Mind
Attaining Desires
Sealing of Experience
How exactly can silent knowledge obtained through mystical practices be translated from the realm of potentialities into the realm of actual possibilities?
First of all, this knowledge is not necessarily so “silent.” For example, the mentioned Ritual of Abramelin, when successfully performed, implies receiving from the “Angel” quite clear, concrete, and structured instructions regarding further actions. The same applies to most Goetic operations. If, for some reasons, consciousness cannot or does not want to embody the states reached during the Rituals into specific forms, it still can use these states as an internal guide for constructing its development vector. Plants do not “know” at the level of words where and how to grow, but they grow correctly when there is Sun above them.
One modern Western author quite often reiterates the following: “Enlightenment is not a level that consciousness can achieve; it is a level in which it can permanently reside.”
Usually, this is in the context of crossing the abyss, suggesting that achieving it is not that difficult during brief moments of the ritual; but that’s not the point.
“Yet another common mistake in conducting such Searches is the gradual decrease in search intensity due to ‘fatigue’ and lack of motivation….” I have something similar – some internal laziness, wanting simply to do nothing. The most paradoxical thing is that I understand I am being held by a predator, but at the same time, because of my stillness, other predators reveal themselves. Here lies the problem in my Consciousness … it needs fixing, but I don’t want to, maybe I lack strength, then suddenly another one pops up, and again the urge (I wonder whose?) “Come on, do something, fix it.” But I don’t want to (I can even try, but I still won’t fix it), I just grab my head, realizing how many problems I have in Consciousness, and I’m continuously struggling in them. Yet somewhere deep down, there is a feeling that I am driving myself into hopelessness, and when inside, the feeling “jump!” rings out, I will have no choice…
Actually, it’s interesting what silent knowledge represents as a whole 🙂 I have what seems like “burrows,” parts of this knowledge, but they are different. The first one is from childhood when much wasn’t articulated in words, but you understood what was happening. For instance, you aren’t told that someone has died, but you know this and, furthermore, death is perceived differently. Even now, it is hard to explain, not like how it is perceived later. Therefore, I always believe that children are wiser than adults, but unfortunately, like dogs, “I understand, but cannot say.” If you do a review, you can realize how this knowledge gets traumatized. In my case, it was emotional deception when people played roles, showed one thing, but inside, everything was completely different. This created a distorting dissonance. The second burrow is instinct and intuition. When you sense danger and avoid it, taking unexpected actions for yourself. Or you just know in advance – it can be a flash of insight or a deep, stretched anticipation. There is also knowledge obtained in a state of unity, in a state of flow, when you only thought about something and already received the answer from the surrounding world (although the boundary between you and the world dissolves in this state – you are a single organism). The world knows what you need, and you know what it needs. Or it is an option when you receive not the answer you were looking for but the one you needed, which is also something on the boundary of enlightenment. In general, there are many different variants and states of knowledge, but it seems to me that even though they are different, they all lead to the same field…