The Honor of the Magus

Among concepts that have nearly fallen out of use today yet remain very important on the Way of the Magus, the notion of honor occupies a special place.

In the pagan world, honor was one of the foremost values; to lose one’s honor was worse than to lose one’s life.

The word itself derives from the Old Slavic ch’sti, ch’tu — “to esteem, to read, to reckon”, cognate with Lithuanian skaitýti — “to read”, and Old Indic citti- — “thought”. The same root appears in the words chitat’, chtit’, schitat’, chot (the even number). The idea was that the property of an honorable person could be accounted for.

In Old Russian literature the word “honor” had three meanings — first, it denoted a person’s dignity, his high social standing; second, it served as a synonym for glory, especially martial glory; and third, it meant a special moral purity, sanctity. Conversely, “dishonor” meant lack of esteem, disgrace, implying not only human disrespect but also falling into “sin”, i.e. “impiety“. In most cases the Greek timē is translated as “honor.” Sometimes “honor” is also used to translate other Greek words: for example, euphemia (“reputation”), dosis (“grant”), geras (“reward”). In Greece, honor was considered the greatest quality for a hero; the Greeks understood honor as “honouring” appropriate to merit and rank — a fitting, respectful attitude. Honor is the hero’s most intimate and vulnerable aspect, the decisive cause of upheaval in the heroic world. For example, the plot of the Iliad is based on the quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon, which arose because Agamemnon dishonored Achilles by taking a captive woman whom Achilles had earned as a prize after a successful battle; Hector, for the sake of martial honor, must set aside his love for his wife and young son and pity for his elderly father. In ancient Rome, the concept of honor (existimatio) mixed with the idea of civil rights; honor belonged to a person only insofar as he enjoyed the privileges of citizenship; those who were not Roman citizens did not enjoy honor.

In all conceptions of honor, the key element is the conformity of the hero to certain standards and demands placed upon him. “To have honor” means, to the fullest degree, to conform to certain ideals.

For the Magus, the idea of honor aligns with the idea of the rules of his game. In other words, a Magus’s honor depends directly on how scrupulously he observes those rules. The clear awareness of the relativity of the rules themselves does not in the slightest diminish his scrupulous observance. Understanding the illusory nature of the game and the arbitrariness of the rules, the Magus nevertheless treats them with utmost seriousness, and it is precisely this seriousness — that is, the Magus’s honor — that makes him most effective.

In this sense, honor actually means consistency of behavior — the fulfillment of undertaken obligations (that is, their being accounted for — again the same root), even in cases when it seems at the moment that one could abandon them. (At the same time, it is important to understand that each set of rules is valid only under certain conditions, and when those conditions change, the rules change as well, and consequently the order of observance changes.)

Such consistency implies maximal composure — and therefore the integrity of the Magus’s intention, and in this respect the notion of honor converges with the idea of impeccability.

Thus, the honor of the Magus is his sense of self; it is his acceptance of responsibility for his decisions and the fulfillment of his undertaken obligations. Such a state, first, is a manifestation of the Magus’s will, and second, a testament to and which supports it. Both of these factors are important for increasing the effectiveness of the Way of the Magus, for his struggle for his independence and authenticity.