Paper Thoughts

Today, may be a day of many posts. I plan to be working in a few areas and as usual, I plan to post. I suppose I could do them all at once but I find I do not have the time to make the various activities flow freely across the page.

I am starting on my research paper for Cherry Hill. The topic I've proposed has to do with prayer and its use in the modern GD inspired ceremonial magick. My theory is that while you can certainly find prayer in the GD initiatory rituals, prayer is nearly omitted or glossed over in GD inspired texts on how to do magick.

The paper will cover the types of prayer used in general by humanity, Agrippa's use of prayer, and prayer in the ancient grimories. I will then take several texts on modern magick and analyze their ritual structure and the role prayer plays. I will also ask several authors I know that have written books on ritual that have omitted prayer and find out why. Finally, I will discuss how more prayer can be incorporated.

This has already brought up a couple of issues. One of the reasons I am going to Cherry Hill is to expose myself to different parts of the pagan community. Yet, in my first project, I am proposing to study Golden Dawn type materials. So much for getting out of my comfort zone!

Secondly, how will I deal with the topic of prayers of imprecation? That is a nice term I found on a Christian website that basically means cursing someone through prayer. While I fully embrace the idea that the rare curse can be necessary to living a life that allows us our magickal pursuits, I am not sure I have the room to explore the depth of that topic.

Moreover, I have a personal issue. My goal is utter unity with the divine. How can someone pursue that goal and reject anything at all? Isn't a curse the ultimate rejection? Isn't a curse the ultimate in separating from the target? Everything is part of the ultimate divine. Yet, there are people, religions, attitudes and all sorts of things that I cast off. I think the answer to that question is unity of the self. When all parts are reconciled internally, we fit like a key into a lock and the marriage of microcosm to macrocosm happens. That is my theory of the moment. If I ever get there, I will know.