NMR ISSUE 9

An Introduction to Modern Practical Alchemy
Astrological Forecast 9
Birth and Education of a Magician
Calling up the Spirits of Our Ancestors
Editorial
Electric Almanac
Harvest Equinox Sunstead
Obsidian
Protection from the Intoxicated
Raven, Bear and Grizzly Bear
Tarot Images
The Oldest Magick
The Spirit's Dance
The Story of Two Bridges
The Time of Spirits Samhain
The Ugly Witch Figures
Witchcraft: Yesterday and Today

Articles
Authors
Rituals
Book Reviews
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The Birth and Education of a Magician

By Jill Duerr

Part I

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

A growing number of Western magickal practitioners operate outside the realm of traditional organizations and initiations. There is simply more interest out here than there are teachers to accommodate it. As Donald Michael Kraig pointed out (Rose & Quill 1:4), our so-called ancient traditions have gaps in their lineage’s, and consist to some extent of inspired reconstructions. However, as Kraig also explained, the cumulative effect of many people working in a particular way creates a magickal current, and "anyone who does the work necessary to establish a link can tap into this current."

I want to propose, in this series of four articles, a map of how a practitioner might tap into the current of the $$$$ AA. My inspiration to do this came several years ago, when a teacher remarked that we might study the grades of the $$$$ AA in order, not only to see how far we had to go, but to credit ourselves with what we have accomplished. We tend to see ourselves as the barest beginners on an endless path, and in a way this is true. But in another way, it is possible to look honestly at the things we have achieved.

Most of my information for this map comes from "One Star in Sight," Appendix II of Aleister Crowley's <I>Magick in Theory and Practice. Crowley describes "One Star" as "A glimpse of the structure and system of the Great White Brotherhood." I have consulted his <I>Gems from the Equinox for some details, and also <I>Magick Without Tears and <I>The Law is for All. Lastly, for some of the early grades, I draw on my own beginner-level experience.

Crowley established the system of the $$$$ AA, drawing on other graded orders such as the Golden Dawn and on his own inspiration. He refused to divulge what the initials stood for, because "certain swindlers have recently stolen the initials $$$$ AA in order to profit by its reputation." Readers of the <I>Rose & Quill may recognize the tone of this remark. One can argue about the ultimate source of all these teachings, but I will not. If they are workable, it ultimately doesn't matter who claims them.

The reference in my title to birth and education comes from the curious way in which the 11 grades are numbered. Beginning at the entry level with 0=0, the grades go on to 1=10, 2=9, 3=8, etc. In puzzling over this, it dawned that the numbers go both up and down the Tree of Life simultaneously, and that the development of a magician could be seen similarly. As a student, one starts at Malkuth, the ground-level, and proceeds to Kether, the crown of attainment. As a magician, on the other hand, one starts with Kether, the spark of inspiration, and proceeds to Malkuth, the fullest manifestation. So the right-hand side of the equation is the education, and the left side is the birth process. It's an equation because at each point the two paths strike a different balance. Crowley's only explanation of the numbering system is typical of him: "These figures have special meaning to the initiated." I have no idea what the circle and the square mean.

ILLUS!

The grades of the AA mapped onto the Tree of Life.

Crowley begins his more detailed list with an unnumbered grade before that of Probationer, which he calls Student. The Student's job is to "acquire a general intellectual knowledge of all systems of attainment," which involves a prodigious reading list. This brings us immediately up against the first great obstacle in the magickal education—the size of the task. If we had to read all the books listed on pages 209 to 214 of Magick in Theory and Practice before we could go forward, most of us would never start. It is important, as self-initiated tappers into this current, to remember that we are not required to be overly literal or even overly sequential. Crowley notes, "It should be stated that these grades are not necessarily attained fully, and in strict consecution, or manifested wholly on all planes." These grades are only a possible structure.

The general points of the reading list are: 1) definitive texts in a variety of traditions, such as I Ching, The Upanishads, The Oracles of Zoroaster, The Bible; 2) technical treatises in yoga and Kabbalah; 3) encyclopedic works like The Golden Bough; 4) examples of philosophical schools; and 5) a long list of works of fiction "valuable" for various areas of understanding represented (for example, Crowley lists <I>Alice Through the Looking Glass as "valuable for those who understand the Qabalah"). One can put one's past reading into these categories, see areas for further growth, and add one's own interests. Books on astrology, for instance, might fit into (2) or (3). Also, since this list was made sometime before 1929, vast amounts of new work could be added. What is important is the breadth of the list. The Student doesn't read just in his/her own tradition, but in a wide range of sometimes contradictory ideas. The contradictions, in this kind of magickal work, are as important as the concordances.

The Probationer enters the series of numbered grades with 0=0. For both the education path and the birth path, this is the place of the Fool card in the Tarot (Atu 0), the journeyer before s/he walks off the cliff into specificity. It is the place of the veils of the Negative above the Tree of Life (Ain, Ain Soph, Ain Soph Aur). The Probationer's task is "to begin such practices as he may prefer, and to write a careful record of the same for one year." The specific practices don't matter here. We are still in the pool of infinite possibilities. The key is the act of recording itself. One records both what one did and how one's mind, body and emotions participated. Crowley, along with other magickal writers, is emphatic to the necessity of precisely and completely recording one's work. This is partially explained by a desire to make magickal working "as systematic and as scientific as chemistry," and by a desire to leave a record for future workers. In my own experience, these goals can seem rather abstract. The more immediate function of writing down what we do is to bring it out of our single, subjective shell into the world. It is a magickal fact that if we tell someone of an intention, that makes the intention more real. We reinforce it. Likewise, when we record our magickal working, that record has a nominally separate existence. We have brought something into the world. Not only is the memory of what we have done better imprinted on our own mind, but also it is there in black and white—we have made a mark. Love is the law, love under will.