NMR ISSUE 1

Astrological Forecast 1
Beltane
Closer Look at the Tarot: Aces
Earth's Coronation
Eastern Insights
Editorial
Evolutionary Astrology
Guardians of the Four Gateways
How to Eat Meat
Olivine
Solitary Beltane Ritual
Solitary Summer Rite
Stone Banishing Ritual
Summer Solstice
Tarot Images
The Kabalah in Everyday Use
The Oldest Magick
The Other Editorial
Witchcraft: Problems of Study

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The Oldest Magick

Part One

Lew Paxton Price

Many of the oldest accounts of the World's beginning refer to "water" and vibratory energy within it. Sometimes the words are grossly misrepresented, as in the Hebrew Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament). In the old Hebrew form, the "spirit" of the creative forces vibrated within the waters. In Greek mythology, Uranus impregnated Pontus (the virgin fabric of the universe) with vibratory energy. The words passed down within occult groups still tell of the dark water or mother impregnated by movement or the energy in vibration.

We know today that the universe is teeming with energy. Space is a perfect fluid, non-particulate, with a reaction time we know as the speed of light. It is alive with motion and pressure changes that we call radio waves, light, gravity and other names. Vibrations within the fluid tend to favor certain chemical reactions over others. Frequency and combinations of frequencies have influences over reactions—at least on a microscopic level.

When simple "life" formed on Earth it was the result of may complex chemical reactions influenced by frequencies, a form of music. As the first cells developed into more complex organisms, they were still enslaved to the original vibrations. These vibrations dictated activity by timing chemical reactions. As more time passed, the organisms developed internal "habits" that continued to function in synchronization with the vibrations that originally started them. These internal "clocks" allowed the organisms to function properly even when cut off from the original sources of vibration. The internal clocks could be reset by occasional contact with the sources—much as battery operated clocks that run without external electricity but are synchronized, normally, with the sixty-cycle rate of our commercial electric current.

The clocks continued to function within the complex organisms of life, telling them when to sleep, wake, eat, fast, procreate, hibernate, migrate, etc.* It was as if the universe were a computer directing a particular program, allowing a planet's inhabitants to operate as a whole. This creates ecology capable of meeting challenges, changing with conditions, evolving. As the organisms became more and more complex, the internal clocks and the metabolic cycles also increased in complexity. Eventually, an organism began to tinker with its own programming and to ask why things were as they were.

Early Man began to discover three things before he could even be properly called "Man." One was as innate rhythm sensed within each individual—the rhythm that gave singing rocks, rhythm sticks and drums their magick. Another was the rhythm of one's own body, the cycle of the menses, the peaks of passion, the daily routine and the cycles of lower life forms. The last was the rhythm of the world about them—the ebb and flow of the tides, the cycle of night and day, the waxing and waning of the moon and the seasons. Man began to study these rhythms. Primitive people related passion to the full moon, tides to the moon's passage, summer to the sun's highest time, winter to the sun's lowest time, the migration of birds with the seasons and many other things. The heavens, particularly the night sky, became a reference, a way of measuring time consciously by fixed stars. The stars became indicators of events, both internal and external.

Humans used markers of wood and stone to measure the movement of the bright bodies in the night sky. They related the movement to events and cycles on Earth. They gave the moving lights names so that they could speak of them. Eventually they conceptualized these lights as forces. People personified them in myth to show their qualities to the young and to entertain and educate around the campfires.

Early man also learned of the other rhythms in the universe. Humans in warmer climes had heard the sounds of wind in the reeds—and in cooler climes, the sound of wind in the pines. They had heard the birds calling and the insects buzzing. They created their own sounds—the clicking and tinkling of rocks and the boom of hitting a hollow log. They discovered that these sounds could alter internal rhythms—create moods, mental images, strong passions, and allow one to operate somewhat independently of the internal and external cycles. This was the beginning of magick. This was consciously using music to regulate one's thoughts and moods so that actions could be more independent of the universal computer. Humanity was ready to explore music and its place in the cosmos.

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Copyright © 1988 by Lew Paxton Price