The Psychomagickal Hypothesis A New Look at Magick's Effect on the Psyche By Larry Cooper The Psychomagickal Thesis Every magickal operation involves a psychomagickal process. This process involves not only the traditionally accepted stimulating mnemonic effect of energy, symbols, movements and sounds on the higher centers of consciousness, but also the stimulation from dormancy of hitherto repressed psychological pain. This pain lies atop the very levels of consciousness magickal operations are designed to stimulate to the surface. Therefore, for a magickal operation to be effective, it must be accompanied by due attention to the emotional effect of that operation, be that effect immediately apparent or slowly unfolding. In order to understand this thesis it is necessary to understand the three elements of which it is comprised: the psychological, the magickal and the psychomagickal—the interrelationship between the two. The Psychological Approaching the psychological aspect, it is necessary to understand the following: the nature of Psychological pain, primarily as it is engendered in childhood; the defense mechanism of repression, the automatic and universal response to that pain; and the effect of repression on our ability to experience life and ourselves with our whole being, involving our connected mind/body. The Nature of Psychological Pain Psychological pain results when basic primal needs go unmet. This begins in childhood. We are born pure, innocent, all-knowing and as little bundles of primal need. We need touching, suckling, security, gentleness and as we grow older, encouragement to know that we are worthy beings. In short—we need love. When these needs go unmet, psychological or emotional pain is the result. This pain is simply the natural result of emotional and physical deprivation. A child needs to be touched. If they are, the need is satisfied and the growth of an integrated person capable of experiencing wholly can continue. If they are not touched, the need increases and increases. This continues until the pain of the deprivation is so extreme it threatens the integrity of the organism—its very life. Repression If this were to happen to a baby or child of any other species, it would most certainly die. Human beings have, however, a glorious defense mechanism mediated by that greatest of all evolutionary structures, the cerebral cortex. We have evolved into a species with a cortex so powerful it can mediate painful stimuli at a level below conscious awareness. The defense mechanism is repression. It is the ability to shunt painful experience away from the conscious mind and into the unconscious mind. This makes it possible for human beings to actually avoid having to experience certain events and truths that are impacting on their lives. It is the dubious but life saving ability to not experience oneself. This scenario of repression happens, in childhood, whenever a fundamental need goes continuously unmet. The above example deals with the need to be touched. The need to be secure, that is, to feel not alone is also primary. As children, we all need to feel that we are in the company of another human being, a caretaker, that is really there. If we are not properly loved—or if we seem to be, but the parent is very repressed and not experiencing themselves—there is really no integral human being there, and the child can sense it. The result is a profound feeling of aloneness that must be repressed lest the child die. Animals in captivity who are not properly cared for by their parents die of emotional/physiological deprivation. They have not the ability to repress the pain, and so react naturally to a reality that makes living untenable—they die. The Effect of Repression So then, repression seems to be the savior of human sanity, and, it would seem, human integrity. But what are the long-term effects of repression on the quality of life? How does repression affect consciousness and our ability to experience ourselves and life? And what role does it play in our quest for our Higher Selves and the expression of our Holy Guardian Angel? Definition of Consciousness and Experience To answer these questions we must try to elaborate the nature of consciousness and experience. This is no small task as humanity has been arguing about these concepts for centuries. Then we will take up a fuller description of the nature of repression, how it impoverishes life and what the symptoms of that impoverishment are. A good way to illustrate the nature of consciousness is to consider the nature of a magickal skill I have dubbed the Mediation of Energy Through the Body. Mediation is the ability to receive, integrate and transmit magickal energy, prana or conscious mind stuff (see The Magickal, below). It requires and is partially made possible through the skills of concentration and visualization. In a skill level comparison you could say that mediation is the synthesis of concentration and visualization. But it is also much more. Mediation is the magick; it is our contact with spirit. In order to mediate energy, the magician must become a conduit for the transmission of that energy. The conduit can be thought of as a symbolic representation of consciousness itself; it can be viewed as a tube that connects our mind to our body. Consciousness is a connecting tube. When that tube is unobstructed our body and mind have access to one another; we can experience the feeling that accompanies a thought, and we can know what we are feeling. This is connected consciousness. A high state of consciousness, in the sense of self-awareness, and a minimum of repressed psychological material renders the conduit clean and clear. How well the magician mediates energy depends on the quality of their conduit; it must be clear of all obstruction and absolutely pure to function properly. Consciousness makes experience possible. An experiential process is one in which our self (our mind/body) is open to, or feels the meaning or fact of an event that we are a part of or that is a part of us. For this to happen the conduit that connects our mind and body must be unobstructed. Our mind and body must have access to each other. A body feeling the meaning of a thought is experience. For example, when we are forced to feel the meaning of the thought that Mom has just died, it involves the mind/body experience of sorrow. Without the body component there would be no sorrow. How often is it that upon being told of the death of a parent, a person feels nothing but numbness? In that person the connecting tube is blocked—experience is blocked. Feeling the presence and meaning of the energy within oneself is also an experience, one that is of utmost importance to magicians. But if one cannot feel the meaning of a thought, one cannot feel the presence and meaning of energy; only a system that can experience itself can experience the world. The ability to experience one's self must be present and that ability is the felt interconnection of mind and body. The foundation, then, for experience, is simply consciousness, the connection between brain and body. This is the true nature and basis of experience. When we can accomplish this within ourselves, we can experience the external universe. The debate over the philosophical question of Mind/Body goes on and on. The question is usually put this way: Is the mind (soul) a separate phenomenon from the physical brain or is the mind simply the brain. The following puts forth a way of thinking about mind and body which is more in keeping with the current revelations of quantum physics and which adds new insights to the nature of experience. Most thinkers after Descartes have chosen to locate consciousness in the brain. Descartes declared that the brain and mind (consciousness) were related but separate phenomena. Three hundred years later Gilbert Ryle in his Ghost in the Machine pointed out the inadequacies of Descartes' position. Ryle doubted the value of speculating about an incorporeal soul (here taken to mean the mind), and declared, instead, we should consider the mind as simply the brain. In this one statement Ryle disposed of Descartes' distinction and began an era of confusion about mind and brain from which we are barely emerging. Where Descartes and other thinkers went wrong is in their conception of the meaning of the word body when comparing it to mind (or consciousness). Descartes' idea was that the mind involved a qualitatively different process from the body. (Here, the word body may be taken to mean the physical brain alone.) This is the problem. What happens if we expand the use of the word body to encompass the rest of the soma (physical body)? We can define the brain part of the Body as the Brain-Body, the somatic part of the body as the Soma-Body, and the sum of the two as the Whole-Body. With these expanded uses of the word body, we can now define consciousness or Mind (as distinct from brain) as the interaction between the Brain-Body and the Soma-Body. It is the connection between the two. We are back to consciousness as a connecting tube between brain and body—a conduit for the transmission of information. This information can be personal or transpersonal. The easy transmission (resulting from connection) of personal information results in self awareness and an ability to be very experiential. It also makes it possible to feel the meaning of a thought and to know that one is feeling. The transmissions of transpersonal information such as prana or specific macrocosmic energies result in the accomplishment of healing and magick. Mind or Consciousness is thus defined in a new way, satisfying Descartes' idea that the brain and consciousness are separate phenomena, but still only using the concept of body—without recourse to an incorporeal soul which should satisfy Gilbert Ryle. So, we agree with Descartes that mind is a different process from body (brain alone); it is body (Brain-Body) interacting with body (Soma-Body). Since the two bodies taken together equal the Whole-Body, it can be said that mind is body—wave is particle—mind is body. This conclusion is also shared by sections of the medical community. Research into the immune system has led to the discovery of certain nerve fibers that enervate cells of the immune system. Certain medical researchers have concluded from this that the brain and body are connected in ways never before suspected. They are saying that mind is body. It is believed that these brain-body, some-body connections help explain how certain emotions and feelings can have an effect on the body and particularly the specialized cells of the immune system. And isn't this where quantum theory is taking us, reducing all dualities to unities and all unities to dualities? Particles are waves, waves are particles; mind is body, body is mind. I have said that for the easy transmission of information to take place the conduit of consciousness must be unobstructed. For most of us however, the conduit is obstructed. It is obstructed with the blocks of repression, the process of inhibiting painful emotional experience. These blocks may be thought of as quanta of neurological repression. They function to inhibit painful experience in the only way they can—by severing portions of the connected interaction between Brain-Body and Soma-Body. But here's the rub: when you sever the connection, even partially, you diminish consciousness. A Fuller Description of Repression
and Its Effects on Consciousness We are now ready to answer the questions regarding the effect of repression on consciousness, experience and the attainment of our Higher Selves. Simply put, repressed pain clogs the conduit of consciousness. Since this conduit is responsible for experience, repressed pain clogs experience. This happens because of the nature of repression: to repress a pain (to extend the metaphor) means to render part of the conduit of consciousness nonconductive, i.e., a person stops experiencing that particular pain. Repression does this by inserting obstacles into the fluid connection between mind and body. The insertion of obstacles is a metaphor for a systemic process which is initiated when the brain shunts a painful thought from consciousness to unconsciousness. The agent of repression is the brain, but the object of repression is the mind-body connection. In other words, repression subverts the mind-body connection. And the result of repression is an experience of consciousness in which into the tube goes only the sensation of the soma-body but not the thought of the brain-body, or the thought of the brain-body but not the sensation of the soma-body. The former we experience as a disconnected feeling, as when we get anxious or uneasy and do not know why. The latter we experience as a disconnected thought, as when we think about something sad but do not feel sad. For every shunted thought (caused by pain) there is a quantum of repression. This is the obstacle—it is the presence of a disconnected thought or disconnected sensation reverberating forever around the mind/body system. In a sense the obstacle is an anti-obstacle: it is not something present, it is something absent (the thought part or sensation part of a feeling). In other words the shunting of painful thoughts from consciousness to unconsciousness, by itself, does not define repression. This is because consciousness is not a place, it is a process. And while the shunting of painful thoughts from one place to another does occur, it is the effect of that shunting on the mind/body conduit—the insertion of the obstacle—that really defines repression. This makes avoiding the experiencing (feeling) of painful stimuli (sorrow, aloneness, etc.) possible. Imagine this process of repression happening over and over again as indeed it does in childhood. Each instance is an insertion of another obstacle into the fabric of consciousness. Soon there is so much pain and so many obstacles the conduit is almost totally blocked. We don't feel our store of pain, but it is there just the same. It inhibits our ability to experience even painless stimuli like joy and love. This is because Nature throws the baby out with the bath water; it is not possible to give up our ability to feel pain and retain our ability to feel joy. Our cortex goes to work very early (probably at birth or before) repressing painful material; it not only disconnects us from painful stimuli but from a self that feels pain—and by extrapolation, a self that feels. This must happen because to feel anything we must first feel what there is to feel, what one has to feel that one has not been feeling—what is on top. This is not unlike the computer principle of FIFO (First In, First Out) in which the data input first must become output first. If you are open to feeling anything (joy), you are open to feeling everything, and you must feel your pain first. That is what came first. This is why the cortex splits us from the self that feels—one feeling is all feelings. To insure that we do not feel our pain we must defend against feeling everything. The Impoverishment of Experience
Caused by Repression Since repression profoundly diminishes fluid consciousness and impoverishes our ability to experience ourselves, we live life far less fully than we could. Repression causes us to lose our ability to experience our fire and our connection to Nature. All of us are cosmically connected to one another and to Nature by virtue of the oneness of all things. We become aware of this connection when we experience it as part of ourselves. But we have lost the ability to have such an experience, and so experience life in isolation as isolation; thus we continue the legacy of our parents—aloneness. While the overwhelming evidence, both psychical and scientific, points to the oneness of nature, we, who are the reflective microcosm of nature, feel so despairingly separate and alone. These feelings reflect an inner reality that is drastically different from the nature of the reality we ascribe to the universe—to the universe we ascribe oneness while accepting isolation for ourselves. Why such a disparity? Why do we not experience our connection to life and to each other? Because we do not experience our connection to ourselves. Repression has made this so. When we hurt we are unaware of it, and when joy is present we do not let ourselves experience it, lest, by virtue of its contrast to what we are used to (sorrow), it triggers that very sorrow. We do not feel. We are disconnected from ourselves, no longer even able to make an instinctual decision, like to fight or take flight, without thinking about it. We have lost our spontaneity, no longer responding to feelings—affective and somatic cues from within. We no longer experience a feeling, have an inner knowing and respond accordingly as one connected process. We spend our lives in a somnambulistic trance, reacting mostly to external cues. We respond to what people in high or low places tell us we should respond to; or we have internal reactions and fool ourselves into thinking that those reactions are feelings. Some of these internal reactions and the real feelings they symbolize are: guilt (fear of loss of love), jealousy (feelings of unworthiness), race hatred (generalized displaced anger and bitterness about never being good enough to be loved—this is a feeling, not a reality), and category hatred (specific displaced anger and hatred toward a symbol—police officer, teacher, etc.—of some primary person in our lives, like mother or father). These are all reactions not feelings; they are precipitants of old sorrow and pain that has been buried for a long time but forever pushes for expression. These have been a few examples of the experientially crippling effects repression has on our lives. Repression causes us to give ourselves up. Our system sacrifices its integrity to our defenses in order to protect us from what lies below. The price is emotional death. Whether we know it or not, most of us live in this kind of impoverishment to one degree or another. The Magickal In order to understand the effect of magick on the psyche we must first understand what magick is, how it is accomplished, and how and why it works. Definition of Magick There are many definitions of what Magick is. Aleister Crowley's definition is that magick is the art and science of causing changes to occur in conformity with the Will. According to this definition, opening a door is an act of magick, and indeed it is. Dion Fortune says that magick is the art of causing change to occur within the self in conformity with the Will; and Michael Kraig says that magick is the art and science of causing change to occur in conformity with the Will, using non-ordinary means. If we synthesize these we have a good definition of magick: Magick is the art and science of causing change to occur within (affecting the inner self (high magick)) or without (affecting the world (practical magick)) in accordance with the Will, by manipulating the natural forces of nature and using non-ordinary means. Let's look at this definition a little closer. At its core is the phrase, causing change by manipulating nature. Through refining, we have manipulating nature—this is what magick is. Nature is the medium of magick, and manipulation implies means and method. Let us take each one in turn. The Medium Nature, as used here, can best be understood as energy. The energy we use when we do magick is the energy that is free floating in the universe; it has been here since creation. It could be considered excess conscious mind stuff. Both the theories of traditional metaphysics and modern quantum physics bear this out. Quantum mechanics is continually proving that the universe is not made up of discrete bits of matter but is more like a totally interconnected electromagnetic field, or, as Fred Wolf puts it, a field of probabilities. There is one ultimate reality and we are all a part of it. But nothing we perceive with our senses really represents reality the way it is. To turn to the metaphysical—mind stuff can be equated with the one ultimate reality. Further, if you believe that originally there was nothing but mind stuff and that some cosmic force or cosmically conscious centers of force molded that stuff into manifestation, then it follows that we too, using our consciousness, are capable of such molding. This conscious mind stuff is what we manipulate when we manipulate nature (do magick). It is what we mold into thought-forms and send where we will. The idea is that material reality and our own inner reality may be altered by altering its representation in consciousness, creating a thought form and sending it—while maintaining absolute faith that this can be done—with a mere twitch of the will, to the location of the desired change. Since reality is comprised of energy (our perceptions to the contrary not withstanding), we can alter reality by altering its energy; this is what sending the thought form accomplishes. Thought forms are made of energy. In metaphysics there have been many names for the energy under consideration: Conscious Mind Stuff, Astral Light, Universal Life Principle, Serpent Power and Conscious Energy to name just a few. The Eastern concept of Prana is also a name for what is described here. Prana is absolute energy, the active principle of life, the vital force and the universal principle. This energy is God. So then, the medium of magick is energy. It is free-floating in the universe and only needs a human will and imagination to be given purpose, and a connected consciousness to be given expression. The Means Magickal Manipulation implies means and method. The means refers to what is done when magick is performed (the method), to how it is done. The means of magick is to call energy, mold it into the desired reality (or call a particular kind of energy invocation), and then to send it to where the desired reality is meant to materialize. The location can lie within or without the self, a small or a great distance away. An illustration would be a simple Wiccan spell to heal a stricken coven member: Energy is called using one or a combination of several methods; it is given a particular color or timbre, in this case the color of healing; and it is sent to the ill member. One method of coloring the energy with healing is to use a charm like the following: We are here until the end, Conjuring prana to heal our friend. The charm is a way of focusing the attention on the intent. If the friend is visualized as healed while the charm is being chanted, the energy will be both raised and transformed (at the same time) into a healing thought form with the capacity to alter the desired reality—in this case the illness of the friend. Another illustration of magickal means in action would be magickal invocation. Instead of calling generic energy and tailoring it to the desired purpose, a type of pre-molded energy is called. This is accomplished by first deciding on the kind of cosmic force desired and then calling it forth through one of the methods of raising power (chanting, dancing, breathing, etc.) while using the mnemonic method of magick (using symbols of a particular type of energy in order to call that energy) as an aid. It can then be sent to the desired destination (within or without) to have its effect. The mnemonic method of magick is based on two important magickal laws: 1) Every man and woman is a reflection of the universe—a microcosm. This means that every factor and force present in the universe is also present in the soul of man and woman. This makes it possible for an individual to strengthen any factor in their psycho-spiritual self by calling down the appropriate natural force (invocation). 2) There exists a natural system of correspondences in the universe. So certain numbers, symbols, letters, words, gestures, shapes, facts, ideas, natural phenomena and so on have a natural sympathy with one or more of the natural forces. Thus any one of these natural forces may be invoked with the aid of those things and symbols which are harmonious with it. In the West we use the Qabalistic system of classifying these natural forces. The Qabala divides the universe into a 32-fold system of forces and all things correspond to one of these. For example, the color blue, the number four, unicorns, cedar wood, the planet Jupiter, expansion, growth, philosophy and many other aspects of life correspond with the natural force personified as Zeus/Jupiter by the ancient Greeks/Romans and as Amoun, the Creator God, by the ancient Egyptians. It is through the use of these objects and ideas in ritual that their corresponding natural forces can be called down from above and evoked from within. The idea of mnemonics comes from this fact. Each of the individual ideas and objects (which can also include sounds and movements like chanting and dancing) act as a mnemonic (sign) which stimulates, within an individual, the conceptual representation of the appropriate natural force and an upsurging of its energy. This helps the individual focus intently on the type of energy that they are attempting to invoke. These memory aids are probably better thought of as spiritual aids for they trigger the memory of the spirit—which within it lies all the forces of the universe. For example, suppose you wanted to strengthen your ability to attract abundance. You would call down the natural force that corresponds to that aspect (Law 1) by using those things that have an affinity with the natural force (Law 2). You might create a ceremony to invoke Jupiter (an energy's corresponding godform being arguably the most potent representation of that particular energy); you could stand in a square drawn or painted blue in color, burn cedar incense, focus visually on the Major Arcana Tarot card that corresponds to Zeus/Jupiter/Amoun (which is the Wheel of Fortune) and call on Jupiter, chanting or vibrating His name or any of the other words of power associated with Him so that the god may be invoked. By invoking the God you are stimulating that aspect of yourself which corresponds to the energy symbolized by the God—in this case all that pertains to expansion and solidity. When you invoke a God you become that God; this is true invocation. If the intent of the magick is to stimulate the Jupiter factor within the self, then the ritual is concluded when the God-form has been assumed; if the energy is needed for some external purpose, say, to attract abundance, then the invoked energy can be sent out with that intent in mind. All magickal manipulation as it has been defined here, and the performance of the skills needed to carry it out (the method) almost always increases the consciousness of the magician. (This is if the magician's intent is not to hurt or affect another without their permission.) But there is a particular kind of magick specifically geared toward this kind of expansion of consciousness. It is High Magick or Theurgy. Its goal is to induce in us an awareness and experience of Self—our true, real, deepest and highest self; or, as Israel Regardie put it, to bring into full working consciousness the content of the hidden and buried unconscious. This Self is the light of pure being that lies within; it is what magicians call the Holy Guardian Angel, and it lies at the core of our unconscious; It is at the heart of every man and woman. It is our Buddha Nature; the presence of the Yekzdah within. Just as you can invoke the Jupiter energy of abundance to strengthen that same aspect within, you can most assuredly invoke the energy which corresponds to the white light of the spirit. Magick is above all else the method of accomplishing this, The Great Work, which is the attainment of the knowledge and conversation of our True Self, the depth of our unconscious—our Holy Guardian Angel. In keeping with our original definition of magick (causing change by manipulating nature) what we are referring to is a particular kind of change—change of consciousness. The means of this type of magick is, in general, no different that the means of all magick. The difference lies in the purpose to which the energy called is put. The idea is to invoke or bring down the light of pure being, using the light itself plus many varied symbols combined in many different kinds and styles of rituals. These symbols include (but are not limited to) symbols for the organization of self (like the cross and the pentagram) and symbols for aspects of self (like the god-forms and all mnemonics corresponding to them). The question arises: what is the difference between the kind of invocation involved when Jupiter is called to increase our ability to attract abundance and the kind of spiritual invocation involved in the Theurgical rite? Mostly, the difference is one of intent. We can identify two main categories of invocational intent: 1) Spiritual Awakening (Theurgy), and 2) Skill and Character Enhancement. Spiritual awakening would encompass attaining to the knowledge of our deepest selves; skill and character enhancement would include such things as come under the domain of our mediating ego, such as intellect, knowledge, dexterity, demeanor, sense of humor, aesthetic sense, sexual ardor, etc. The same God can be invoked for either intent. For example, as already stated, if you wanted to increase your ability to attract abundance you could invoke Jupiter. However, Jupiter is also the God of creation, consonant with the Egyptian God, Amoun; and if your intent was to recreate yourself as in an initiation (a theurgical goal) then Jupiter would not be a bad choice. The fact that just by altering your intent (a simple mental process) you can greatly alter the magickal effect is one of the most important ideas in magick. It corresponds to the idea of the observer effect in quantum physics. Another example of the two types of invocation would be the invocation of the Egyptian God, Horus. Horus represents our deepest, most secret and silent self. He is visualized as a child—the babe in the egg of blue. He represents the light at the core of our being, absolute purity of spirit. To touch the Horus within us is the key to all the mysteries of the universe. He is innocence itself; He does not judge or differentiate. To invoke Horus from this perspective is truly the highest of theurgical acts. But Horus could also be invoked from the perspective of motive number two. Suppose you were having trouble with your mate because of your being very judgmental. You could invoke Horus in order to stimulate the non-judgmental aspect within yourself. Admittedly, this is not as lofty a motive as the former. It is still High Magick—just not so high. Many would say this distinction is spurious—that the invocation of Horus, even to improve only one isolated aspect of self, couldn't help but to improve the whole self and take the person that much closer to their silent self. This may be true, but it is also true that intent makes a difference. A summary of the types of magick discussed may be helpful: The healing magick referred to above, with its accompanying charm is Low Magick, as is the invocation of a God to increase a skill or attribute. Accomplishing any desired external physical result, such as cleansing a house of unwanted energy, winning the lottery or making your car invisible to police officer (a shamanic skill, particularly), is also Low Magick (sorcery). Only magick done to put one in touch with one's Holy Guardian Angel is High Magick. For the purposes of this article we are most interested in High Magick. But it must be stressed emphatically that even the calling down of diffuse energy into the self (as is done in many Wiccan circles in which energy may be called and circled among the coven members) and many other preliminary steps in low magick have a purifying effect on the spirit and aids in The Great Work. The Method If the means of Magick is what is done, the method is how it is done. We talked about energy being called, molded and sent to do its work, but how is this accomplished? By what magic is magick accomplished? It is done through the use of the magickal skills: Concentration, Visualization, Mediation, Faith and Will. These are mind/body or psychic skills and the work is done in the astral world—the world of images. The power and the agent used to do the magick is the mind/body. Energy is called by concentrating and visualizing its presence and movement toward us, and willing that movement. It is then mediated— processed, integrated, massaged—by our mind/body in order for it to do its work. During mediation the energy becomes a part of us so that our will is its deed; we can mold it, send it within or without to do whatever is our will. Will or intent is one of the most important tools in the accomplishment of magick. Fred Alan Wolf, the noted quantum physicist, says in his book The Eagle's Quest, consciousness and the material world are connected. How an observer chooses to observe not only affects them but also affects the object being observed. And elsewhere, Our intent can influence where, how and when electrons materialize out of the vast worlds of probability. If we can manifest electrons, we can also manifest events, objects—and reality itself. I know of no more profound scientific support for the magickal idea of intent than this. For magicians, the key and cornerstone of magick is intent and its causative relationship to magickal effects has always been a gossamer and mysterious thing. Now, however, on the brink of the 21st century, science, in the form of quantum physics, supports the validity of this relationship. This is how magick works. It is intent augmented by magickal skills in a context of absolute faith that we can dream the world. Intent is the engine, imagination the fuel and mediation is the journey. Mediation makes the energy part of us, distributed into our mind/body. We let it in and open our experiential selves to its effect. In so doing, it joins our fabric. It becomes us and is therefore subject to our total control. It is control of an aspect of self akin to the control we have over one of our limbs—a level of control that exists because of how completely we have assimilated our body structure into our concept of self. We can similarly assimilate the energy we work with into the fabric of our self so that it becomes part of the self. To the extent that we do this, the magick is effective. It doesn't matter if you're doing High Magick or Low, it all requires the calling and integrating of energy—either energy to mold and then send or integrate (simple method) or invoked (God-form) energy to send or integrate (complex method). During the invocation of a God-form and focusing on the integration of it within, for example, the relationship between the degree of assimilation of the energy or God-form and the effectiveness of the magick is a direct proportion; the effectiveness of the magick can be defined by the degree of assimilation of the energy. We say that an invocation is effective if it has awakened within, the energy and consciousness that corresponds to the God invoked—that is, it has stimulated deeper levels of existence. For this to happen, the person's system must allow the invoked energy to bathe their spirit completely; they must be open, connected and accepting. This then, in brief, is the method for doing magick. What is not represented here, however, are the profound underlying processes involved—the psychomagickal processes. The Psychomagickal The Psychomagickal Process Defined The Psychomagickal process involves the interplay among magickal stimulation, repressed feelings and consciousness. These processes impact on the ability to experience deep feelings and on the raising of consciousness. Magick, if open to it, always stimulates primal feelings (repressed childhood feelings of sorrow, etc.) to the surface. The conscious experience of these feelings (feeling them) deepens consciousness, which increases the ability to do magick and thus increases its potency. This increased potency is capable of stimulating feelings even more powerfully and the cycle begins again, creating a spiral upwards towards ever increasing emotional connectedeness and expanded consciousness. This is the Psychomagickal Process. The idea that magick triggers repressed psychological pain (though expressed here simply and without a lot of metaphysical mumbo jumbo) is not new. In Magick, Aleister Crowley writes, The aspirant on the threshold of initiation finds himself assailed by the complexes which have corrupted him [repressed childhood pain begins to rise], their externalization excruciating him [the growing awareness and experiencing of the feelings causing great emotional discomfort], and his agonized reluctance to their elimination plunging him into such ordeals that he seems to have turned from a noble and upright man into an unutterable scoundrel [doing everything possible to avoid feeling the pain]. Regardie, commenting on the same process in The Eye of the Triangle says, These are the experiences and events which occur to every aspirant when initiation [a particular kind of magickal rite intended to indoctrinate the initiate into the secrets of his deepest self] forces the realization upon him, through the activation of the latent contents of his own psyche, that `All Is Sorrow.' In fact the existential criterion or hallmark of successful initiation is the occurrence of these similar experiences. Here, Regardie gives validity to the idea that what magick awakens within the psyche is sorrow. It is a simple expression of the most profound idea in magick. Psychomagickal Dynamics Magick stimulates Primal feelings through the pressure exerted upwards by a rising consciousness, a consciousness which has been aroused by the magickal invocation of spiritual energy. The upward movement of consciousness puts a burden on the blocks to that very consciousness—our defenses against pain—and starts to weaken them; in other words, consciousness awakened tends to shake off its defensive shackles, much like a waking animal would, which had been restrained while sleeping. The weakened defenses then loosen their stranglehold on the fluid connection between brain and body (consciousness). This drives consciousness even further toward expansion. When this happens what occurs is not, first, a heightened awareness of those themes directly related to the magickal operation performed, but a releasing to the surface of a fragment of some personal hitherto repressed material (a childhood feeling). Since primal feelings (part of the content of consciousness) are the first experiences to come up as a result of the weakening of the blocks, they must be experienced first. This must happen before we concern ourselves with the more attractive transpersonal experience that was the object of our search. Feelings and Experience Experience means to feel. The repressed material is primal pain (old issues with our parents); when it comes up it must be attended to and experienced. This may involve going within and feeling something that hasn't been thought about for a long time (or since childhood), or it may involve full-blown psychotherapy. The point is that the feelings that come up as a result of the magick must be dealt with adequately for there to be any progress on the spiritual path. This Psychomagickal process begins with Mediation (see The Magickal, above). For it to occur, a person's system must allow the invoked energy to bathe their spirit completely. If this is going to happen, the tube of consciousness must be somewhat open. That is, there must be a crack in the defense system at least wide enough for spiritual energy to find its way to the self that lies below the repressed pain. In most of us there is such a crack; very few are so hopelessly blocked that energy has no access whatsoever. When spiritual energy does find its way to the Self, primal feelings rise. But experiencing them is rarely part of the traditional magickal process. The reason is twofold: 1) It is possible for us to have feelings stimulated and push for expression but not be able to experience them in a cathartic way. This is because we also need certain resources (such as guidance, friendship, love and understanding) in order to experience catharsis. 2) Most magicians are unaware of the relationship between magick and feelings. Psychomagick is where pain and magick meet; magick always brings painful feelings to the surface and feeling them always augments the ability to do magick—a perfect synergy. A Traditional but Erroneous
Idea of Magick Traditional magicians believe that magick is a two-part process: you call the appropriate energy and the corresponding aspect of transpersonal self is awakened, rises to the surface and is experienced. Most magick performed is approached from this perspective, either explicitly or implicitly. Overlooking the feelings that arise, however, can cause catastrophic results. The magick is perceived to work, but may not actually be working. What does this mean? It means higher aspects of consciousness are actually stimulated to the surface by the magick, but bring with them repressed feelings. Repressed feelings arisen but not felt widen the split and are experienced in many different symbolic ways: They can make one feel very energetic or lethargic; they can bring on a depression or a manic state; they can cause certain physiological changes such as increased heart rate and respiration. But most deceptive and dangerous of all, they can generate certain apparent magickal effects (perceptions, ideas, visions, feelings, great confusion and transpersonal experiences) which, though convincing, are really only projected symbolic representations of repressed feelings that have been stimulated by the magick. These so called magickal effects are not the direct expressions of our higher consciousness stimulated by magickal operations, but expressions of our repressed pain which sits atop that consciousness and rises to the surface when that consciousness is stimulated by magick. A magician looking for magickal results can be most susceptible to these phenomena. Magicians experiencing these symbolic expressions of repressed feelings almost always mistake them for direct magickal effects. That is, they think their depression, joy or upset are direct representations of their higher consciousness triggered by the magick. They think that when they invoke an abundance of energy or a deity that their scary reaction, great confusion, or worse (because it encourages the doing of more magick), transcendental experience, are all manifestations of their higher consciousness—direct counterparts in consciousness to the energies or deities invoked. And, after all, this is natural because this fits their idea of how magick works and is therefore what is expected to happen. Therefore, while a direct magickal effect is a true experience of higher consciousness that has been stimulated by magick, most magicians experience indirect magickal effects, symbolic expressions of pain caused by the stimulation of consciousness by magick. I know these are blasphemous statements to make about the accepted effects of our beloved magick, but I want to assure the reader that these statements mean exactly what they sound like. Most of the effects of magick experienced by most magicians have been lies, blinds, symbolic representations of other more real, more painful experiences that we as human beings have been afraid to feel. They are signposts but they do not point to deeper consciousness; they point to deeper neurosis. I believe that Israel Regardie was aware of this phenomena when in The Eye of the Triangle he said, The personality must be reorganized on an entirely new basis. Every element therein demands equilibration so that illumination ensuing from magical work may not give rise to fanaticism and pathology instead of adeptship and integrity. The pathology he mentions is the symbolization of pain as direct magickal effects—the same idea as that introduced above. He seems to recognize that it is far more comfortable to symbolize emotional hurt into desired magickal effects than to accept the fact that all is sorrow and that it is the long dark night of the soul to which magick leads us all. These symbols, the physical sensations, ideas, insights, etc. are integrated into the system and accepted as direct magickal effects instead of being recognized for what they are—indirect magickal effects. Thus, the magician never feels the feelings that generate such symbols. They do magick over and over, triggering—but not feeling—old feelings over and over. The result is to become more defended against those feelings and therefore less conscious. This is because when you stimulate a feeling and are somehow able to defend against feeling it, you strengthen the defense and drive the feeling even deeper into the unconscious than it was before. Since the magician doesn't know they are engaged in this process but does experience, albeit unconsciously, the deadening effect on their consciousness, they are driven to do more and more magick as an antidote. The effect is to render them less and less conscious with each magickal act. This is as profound a process of decreasing consciousness as is the process of increasing consciousness the magician thinks they are involved in. It is the supreme irony of magick that most of the time it accomplishes the opposite goal from the one intended. The Psychomagickal Experience When repressed feelings stimulated to the surface by magick are experienced, the results are quite another matter. First, defensive blocks are rendered less necessary and thus diminished. This increases the brain/body connection (consciousness) and thus the accessibility magickal energy has to the deep self. This, in turn, magnifies the effectiveness of the magick. All this fosters an increase in consciousness; a more connected self and a profound transpersonal understanding of the cosmos. This is what happens when feelings and magick work together—the psychomagickal process. An example may be of help: Suppose a magician is performing a magickal invocation to Horus, the light at the core of being, absolute purity of spirit. This is one of the greatest assaults on the defensive system there is in magickal working. Consciousness is being pressed toward its highest manifestation, absolute awareness. This, as I have said, puts incredible pressure on the defenses and they weaken; consciousness continues to rise and expand toward greater awareness. But there is a problem. The magician starts to feel uneasy and, perhaps, physically uncomfortable. It is as if the self is fighting off an awareness of something that it intuitively knows holds some danger. And it is. What has happened is that expanding awareness has revealed an old unexperienced feeling from childhood and is balking. The uneasy feeling belies the fact that this old pain is now closer to the surface than it has probably ever been before. At this point it can be as simple as an existential choice. If the magician decides to focus explicitly on these uneasy feelings and sensations it is possible that the repressed feeling, of which the former are symptoms, can be felt. At this point let us assume that our magician makes such a choice. He lies down, takes several deep breaths and focuses on the feelings and sensations in his body. He thinks of nothing else. After a few minutes he finds himself inundated with specific feelings of aloneness, feelings he never knew he had. He immerses himself in them instead of trying to avoid them (another existential choice) and soon finds himself sobbing deeply. This goes on for five or ten minutes. The crying stops and our magician finds himself feeling wonderfully light, free and lucid, as he has never felt before, as if a burden has been lifted. One has. Vision seems clearer and the world is seen from a slightly different perspective—a broader one and one with more overall intuitive understanding. This latter coming from a more connected brain/body. Feeling the repressed feeling has freed his consciousness from a portion of its restrictive baggage (the repressed feeling sitting atop awareness and the defenses against that feeling) and it can now truly rise. He has experienced the first object his expanding awareness bore down on: his pain. This freed that awareness and himself to go on to other things. And now the awareness of these things can bring true and valid joy, not the illusory joy that comes from getting lost in the symptomatic effects of the magickal working. Indeed, now the magician may experience a glimmer of the Horus within, the transpersonal (but really not so transpersonal) goal of the working. Yes, now, but only after experiencing some of his personal pain and destroying forever a portion of the blocks to that inner Horus—the defenses against feeling and experiencing. Consciousness has been freed in two ways:
1) being rid of the defenses against experience and
2) having experienced what was being defended against, consciousness no longer needs to focus on it and can now point awareness at more pleasant and present subjects. This is an example of how a magickal invocation is validly, not symbolically, experienced. This example is an ideal scenario. Most often an invocation will not be accompanied by a personal cathartic experience of such intensity. Usually consciousness will be stimulated and defensive blocks will be weakened causing repressed material to begin to rise; it is akin to initiation, in which the process of unfoldment begins. It is after the invocation that the magician must be very keen to observe changes, subtle and otherwise, in himself. The magician must monitor these changes and attend explicitly to any feelings that may come up. This means taking time and feeling them. It is during this time that a guide and helper is indispensable. Psychomagickal Education This entire Psychomagickal Process hinges on a pivotal point: the education of the magician. In the last example, the magician made two existential choices: to focus on the uneasy feelings and physical discomfort; and, once experiencing the feelings underlying the former, to immerse himself in them wholly. These are by no means easy choices to make; consider that most of humanity is busy making the opposite decision—that is, insuring that they never feel any emotional discomfort. The magician has to be made aware these choices exist and further, that choosing them is desirable. The magician must be educated. Magickal education, therefore, will involve making the magician aware of the presence of repressed psychological pain, its causes, the nature of repression, the efficacy of feeling and the relationship between feeling and magick—the entire Psychomagickal process. Included in this education would be a type of psychotherapy that goes deeper than any other in its search for that suffering we have all very cleverly covered up. The magician would be taught how to go after that sorrow directly and for its own sake, not just as a byproduct of the magick. Ideally, this education would involve a Psychomagickal Curriculum in which the magician would receive instruction, perform magickal workings and receive psychotherapeutic intervention when needed. This is the magickal goal that Regardie spoke about in his introduction to The Tree of Life when he said that the ideal would be to combine Magick and Psychotherapy. This combination is the Psychomagickal Process! The teacher in such a process would function in the following ways: teach the magician the tenants of Magick and Psychomagickal theory; guide them through the Psychomagickal process and watch for points at which intervention would be required—intervention in order to both aid the magician in the performance of their magick and help them experience the feelings that may come up. The instructor or instructors have to be extraordinary. They have to be feeling magicians who have experienced the Psychomagickal process for themselves. A few words about psychotherapeutic intervention: One should not assume that every time a magickal operation is performed the teacher or guide would intervene to insure that the magician feels some kind of emotional pain. This kind of intervention is not necessarily needed immediately upon the performance of every magickal act. Rather, some time should be given in order for the magick to have an effect on the magician. However, on an ongoing basis, the student should be watched for breaks caused by the magick. Breaks may be defined as any interruption in the flow of the magickal operation caused by emotional difficulty; they can be overt or covert. An example of an overt break would be when the magician breaks down in tears all of a sudden in the middle of a ritual. A covert break (an event, emotional or otherwise, happening within the magician) would have to be sensed by the teacher; it could be something as simple as a jolt of anxiety. The breaks should be addressed as they occur. In this way it is assured that every magickal act does not have to be accompanied by psychotherapeutic intervention. But there is an old and ever present danger; it is the first corollary of Psychomagickal Theory: If too much magick is done without converting that part of the magickal effect which is anxiety or displaced feelings into real experience (feelings), the effect will be not to raise consciousness but to lower it. This is because of the net effect of the tradeoff between the stimulation of consciousness and the strengthening of defenses needed to ward off the feelings which that stimulated consciousness triggers. Therefore, the amount of magick allowed for a given student should be carefully determined, then monitored. Also it is not true that every time a magickal operation is performed, the only result possible is the triggering of repressed feelings. Notwithstanding Psychomagickal Dynamics (as elucidated here and especially in corollary one), it can be said that the doing of magick will raise consciousness even if the magician hardly ever feels any repressed pain. In other words, the transcendental goal can be accomplished. Corollary one, however, must be kept strongly in mind, because magick without feeling will always degenerate into emptiness. Comparing the two approaches to magickal processing (the traditional and the Psychomagickal), it becomes clear which one promotes consciousness and which one denigrates it. Although the Psychomagickal approach presented here is the most difficult and challenging approach to magick one can take, it is also the most rewarding. It will eventually lead to a realization of self and to a knowledge of all truths transcendental. A final reminder to all Magicians: Almost everything here can be used by solitary magicians. It is not unlike teaching yourself classical guitar; you have to monitor yourself very carefully to insure that your technique is correct. In the case of magick, however, you also have to be brutally honest with yourself. Additionlly, there might come a time when the feelings that arise seem to be overwhelming. If this happens, simply talk to a good friend; in most cases this will be enough. If you do not have a good friend, enter into the Psychomagickal Process very carefully; for you will find you cannot go into that long dark night of the soul totally alone!
1994, Larry Cooper | 
