Robert's Rules of Magick

I've never been an intuitional magician. When I was first exposed to the local pagan-magick community, the folks in the non-initiated paths would often say something like, "I do whatever feels right." This drove the folks in my first group around the bend. Eventually, it drove me to distraction as well. I have oft been amazed at how my attitudes about certain things come straight from a group whose teachings a abhor. The only thing more vexing is when I've rejected a specific teaching and later found them to be quite right!

Part of being a magician, is hearing a message without attaching one's view of the source, positive or negative, to the analysis of said message. For me, this is becoming easier and easier to do.

Regardless of that, I oft wonder how well-honed the intuition must be to pull off the "I do whatever feels right" theory of magickal practice. I've seen more the one would-be mage do serious damage to themselves by practicing magick in that manner. Two of them have serious physical health issues as a result.

When I first approached HD, I was 'given' a mantra to use. In short, the mantra popped into my head and I assume it was given by the deity but I am not sure of that. The mantra is a simple four line poem-like utterance. I'd then do whatever I felt was right. From this combination, HD arrived quite nicely.  One of the questions we asked was something like, "Why do you appear to us as you do, given your lore is different." In short, we expected X and got Y. Its response was two-fold. First, It said that we didn't know its lore as well as we thought. Further research proved this quite correct. Secondly and more importantly, It said, "I come according to the nature of the priest that calls."

This I feel is an important concept to magick that is oft overlooked.

HD is multi-dimensional. We normally get one side but we've seen flashes of another. The side we get is not part of normal, dare I say it, purple website lore. People new to paganish magick are often insecure folks that are are in powerless situations, at least they are in my neck of the woods. These folks call upon things that provide them that feeling of power and control. Unfortunately, such power often exacerbates their issues. Now, the people that push them off have a reason to do so. No one likes someone seeking power over them. The dark power they seek is often subconsciously perceived by others and the societal rejection continues.  The only way I know to change this dynamic in a lasting way is to change who one is internally. When we seek unity humans are more positively receptive than when we seek control.

This gives the well-educated magician an advantage. If he knows the various aspects of deity or spirit X and then hears about how that deity manifests to person B, he has a good insight into the current personality of B. This assumes that all deities come according to the nature of the calling party. From looking back upon my various adventures, my experience tells me this is so more often than not. If someone continually sticks with the dark power image, one can also assume that while growth may have occurred in various areas, the personality and internal landscape remains relatively fixed. Therefore, past behavior will repeat. 

Moving back to HD, we've tried another method of calling that was suggested by how we feel in ritual. We received the deity but in a form that made us both relatively uncomfortable. We both feel following the advice given would be unwise. This is the first time either of us has felt that way.

Yesterday, I called HD on my own. In the process of repeating the mantra first given my words suddenly shifted to a new mantra. While it is literally half-formed, it promises to bring a new or fuller aspect of the deity in question. Using those new lines resulted in something unusual. I am withholding this to see if anyone notices the result of this unusual thing.

So, I have a rule and Robert's addendum:

1. Deities appear according to the nature of the magician that calls.
2. Deities appear according to the method of calling.

From this I theorize that a magician that uses one technique alone of calling a deity does not know that deity to the full extent possible. This may be how the founders of the GD, who had the Egyptology wrong, still crafted a viable system. Their aspiration to create an order with a given purpose (their nature) and method of calling combined and tapped into a potential side aspect of the deities in question. Those side aspects flowed neatly into their given system.

In evocation it is said that once successfully evoked, all the magician needs to do is call upon that spirit again and it will appear. I wonder if that fully serves the magician. Would it behoove the magician to call upon said spirit again (regardless of classification) using different techniques?

This is also a hint about joining a group. If the personality of the leadership falls into the son-of-a-bitch category, the nature of the deities s/he calls will follow accordingly. This leads me to the conclusion that the aspirant is more than likely to be exposed to a higher muck quotient than may be helpful. If the personality of the leadership is milquetoast, overly merciful or otherwise imbalanced, one can expect corresponding exposure magickally, through no conscious effort of the leader. The rule here is to know the leadership of any group quite well before joining.

Rules

I have several personal rules of magick as implied by the title of this post. I've never posted them. Perhaps someday I will.

The Name

I had my first intuition today that I can reveal the name of the Helpful Deity. I will await confirmation before doing so. Though, I suspect, many of you already know.