Meditation and Consciousness

For the most part we are unaware of how much of our minds are focused on processing sensory information. Our brains are filled with interconnected circuits responsible for coordinating our sensory information into a unified whole. The fact that we can catch a ball being thrown at us is a marvel when examined closely. Our eyes process a series of images that one region of the brain interprets as being a ball, other circuits determine that the ball like shape that is growing larger is actually moving towards us. Then our brain must tell our muscles (lots of them) exactly how much force needs to be applied to move our arms and open our hand to catch the ball. And we can do all this in less than a second.

So when we meditate, our consciousness isn’t tied up with this vast array of sensory networks to coordinate. This is why an activity such as running or watching tv can go by very quickly but even a few minutes sitting down in a quiet room with one’s eyes closed can be experience a taking more time. When our other senses are for the most part unoccupied, or at least not sending attention arousing signals, our entire awareness is focused on our internal thought processes. Of course, this does not happen immediately.

For me at least, there are several regular predictable stages that occur when starting to meditate. First my body spends some time shifting into a comfortable position, muscles relax and as the tension is relieved by body weight is distributed differently. As I shift into a more comfortable position, much of my attention is directed towards my vision, or lack thereof. As primates, our primary sense for orienting ourselves is vision, so naturally it is the sense our minds keep trying to use even when deprived of discernible visual input. The patterns seen when the eyes are closed are random firing of photoreceptors, the cells that detect light in our eyes. The patterns we see are the attempts our minds make to detect recognizable shapes in the chaotic weak input. After awhile the brain realizes that visual input isn’t going to occur, it shifts to the other sense, most prominent being the sense of touch. The random firing of sensory neurons across the body give rise to a whole host of sensations, from hot to cold, itching, pain and occasionally pleasant sensations as well, though they are often overlooked because the mind does not treat them with the same urgency as is provoked by sensations of pain.

If these sensations are ignored, the mind eventually stops focusing on external input and enters an interesting state, where the mind is able to experience thoughts through the senses, almost like a dream but without the lapses in memory the usually accompany dreaming. The mind is now in what some call a trance like state, able to recollect information that is usually inaccessible to the regular waking state. The mind is experienced as much more creative. It isn’t any more creative, but rather it is experienced as more because it is not occupied with having to process all the addition information that the five senses provide almost continuously during our waking lives.

This focused state is still new territory. It is well known that some people are able to accomplish incredible feats of mental calculation and others may experience near perfect recall of visual information. It seems likely that these people are more used to accessing information that is for most only available in this trance like state. It is certainly worth experiencing.

Systems of Magick, let’s start over

There are so many systems of magick to choose from it can be overwhelming for the new comer to find their way to a system which they can work with harmoniously. This problem is compounded by the fact that a system that has an underlying philosophy that be work very well for a person may not posses a magickal system that said individual can work with easily. For example, consider hermetic kabbalism, a system whose fundamental goal is individual spiritual development through the training of magickal/psychic abilities. Astral travel, evocation, energy work, and divination have been thoroughly explored from the perspective of hermetic kabbalism. Yet this very individualistic system of development is highly structured and ritualized. Strong structural elements in a magickal system can be very valuable for the right people, but can be confining to others who prefer a more free-form practice and still desire a system of development. Other systems such as neo-paganism can have a very free-form approach to magick which may be perfect for some, but it’s philosophies concerning spirituality can be seen as wishy-washy by those who want a little more of a roadmap.

In essence it can be very difficult to find a good fit. It seems like systems need to be meshed together so that an individual can have a system which suits their needs. This can be a problem when the systems have inherent conflicts or contradictions. For example, imagine someone who is focused on the spirituality of the new age global consciousness movement, what if the magick that feels right to them happens to be Lovecraftian themed rituals… seems kinda tricky to mesh those together without ripping one system apart. And people are tricky like that, we are by no means consistent. Hypocrisy and contradictions are what make up individuality. If we didn’t contradict ourselves, we’d just be stereotypes.

In lieu of trying to piece together a system of magick from where others have tread before, why not start anew? Primitive man was fortunate in not being overburdened with the multitudes of assumptions and structures placed upon the universe that we all inherited. Our progenitors were free to explore their universe with very little preconceptions.

Imagine two people meeting without language and being attracted to each other. Having no words or prior experiences to classify the effects they have on each other. They don’t know anything about each other or the sensations they are experiencing for the first time. They would experience being drawn to each other without understanding why and yet feel it as the most natural thing in the world.

This is the same approach our proto-shaman ancestors must have taken towards what we now consider the supernatural/magickal/occult and whatnot. First not being burdened with a materialistic mindset, they would not have seen “magickal” experiences as other. They would experience it as yet another wondrous facade of existence, another mystifying experience. Magickal structures came through experimentation starting with almost no preconceptions towards what was possible and what would work.

By using the magickal system of another, you assume that those who have come before you have had the same goals as you and that these methods are universal, what works for one should work for all. Most occultists have had the experience of that very first spell working out great, thus drawing them into the work of magick. But they assume the spell worked because they saw the desired results. But really, did the spell work because it was a good spell, or because we open ourselves up to the possibility that the events could be manifested, or maybe something else happened, who knows? But from then on, most people put their faith in that magickal system because it worked.

The next mistake comes in assuming that the person who wrote the spell knows more about spirituality and stuff than you do, because they can cast spells and get results (allegedly). But just because a physicist can show you how to smash atoms and release energy, that doesn’t mean you should listen to the dating advice they give you.

My suggestion, approach magick as though you were falling in love for the first time. No preconceptions, just enjoyment of the experience without knowing where you’re headed, but trusting your instincts. Don’t approach with fear, don’t approach with expectations. You don’t have those when you first fall in love, everything is new, seen through new eyes and the experience rocks your whole life for years to come. After your first love, you’re never the same. If you trust in yourself and you trust in magick, you’ll never find yourself pouring over arcane tomes looking for the lost knowledge of another when you can be obtaining better info from the source. Why go with second hand material? Unless of course pouring through forgotten tomes is how magick really manifests for you, then you’ll find all sorts of things in there. More or less, if you do what feels natural and trust you instincts, you’re way better off than following a system that may only be hindering your magickal development.

Good luck and keep up the good work,

N.

An interesting meditation

I’ve often found that in the practice of magick there are times where is seems like all one’s efforts aren’t doing much. Sometimes progress is difficult to see. And there are other times when magick likes to surprise with unexplained events or strange feats.

I just had a moment where magick made itself felt, in a gentle way (spend enough time doing magick and you’ll see, it’s not always gentle). I was meditating in an uncomfortable position and instead of changing my posture I stuck with it with some difficulty. After some time I had the most unusual experience, the pain became pleasurable. It was unusual not because I have never had that particular experience before, I have, but never while meditating. If I had to describe it, I’d say it was almost exactly like the way pain can be pleasurable during sex. To have that happen during meditation was, for lack of a better term, pretty freaking cool.

Yep, that’s right, put up with enough pain and the body releases the endogenous opiates enkephalin and endorphin. So there you have it, the science behind the magick and the magick behind the science. Like I said, pretty freaking cool.

Secrets

If you’re new to magick, or even if you’re not, you may be wondering why there’s still so much secrecy enveloping the practice of magick. Some practitioners love to surround themselves with an aura of mystery, it makes them appear mysterious and powerful to the easily impressed. You could be a total twit who’s never even performed a proper banishing, but act secretive and you’re sure to attract a few lost souls.

Just to be clear, I’m not speaking about keeping one’s magickal practice secret from the public eye, historically that practice makes sense depending on one’s environment. I speak of secrecy among practitioners. It seems like there are those who get off on claiming great magickal knowledge and then withholding it or using it as a bargaining chip to obtain… well, it’s almost always sex or money. Those people are to be avoided, they usually haven’t learned any secrets except the secret of appearing to have secrets, which can be a powerful tool, but they are charlatans, they are seeking to use those around them, pursue them at your own risk. Also avoid the braggarts, they are pretty much the same, except instead of sex or money, they are more interested in having their egos stroked.

However the tradition of secrecy among practitioners has another purpose and it is one that is seldom spoken of to the uninitiated, and that is that acquiring a magickal secret is a true initiation. Ignore group initiations for a second, those are what cement a magickal order together, but the secrets conferred by a group initiation are not true magickal secrets because a true magickal secret cannot be given by anyone else, it must be earned by the initiate. So possessing certain magickal secrets serves a a form of recognition among those who have acquire a certain level of magickal knowledge, if everyone knew of those secrets, everyone could claim those high titles and cheapen the effort of those who had actually come to earn that knowledge. But if that was all there was too it, magickal secrets would be spread, because even if they were not earned, shouldn’t learning be passed on?

The trouble is that magickal secrets cannot be passed on. To explain why, I must resort to analogy. This is pretty much the parable of the cave so just bear with me if you know your classics. Imagine that you are blind and I want to teach you about the color red, I cannot show you red, you’re blind. I can describe the color red, but without a frame a reference, you would have no way to picture it. I could explain the emotions associated with red and you’d probably think it was a pretty sultry color, and it is. But that is merely a cultural association with the color red. The real problem is that if I told you all about red, even though you were blind, you would think that you had grasped some element of what the color red is. If you were not blind but only color blind you might even think that you had now identified the color red. And if you had your eyes closed instead of being blind, you wouldn’t learn how to open your eyes because you’d already think you knew red.

That is much the same with a magickal secret, I could tell you the words that represent the magickal secret to me, but if you had grasped the secret at least slightly, you would understand the words and only think you understood the idea behind them. A true magickal secret is world shattering, it changes the world you live in. If you posses what you think is a magickal secret, it probably isn’t one. If you have a magickal secret, you know it, you’ll know it because when you obtain it, it brings you to your knees in awe, in terror, in joy, or in sorrow, but probably in a mix that ends in laughter.

So I won’t tell you my magickal secret, because you can’t hear it, I could tell you the words but I would only be doing you a disservice and lead you to chase shadows. But when you get there, not only will you know that your magick has brought you something special, but you’ll realize you’re not the only one because you have heard the secret before. Others have spoken them but you had never realized exactly what they were saying until just now. In a way, occultists have left graffiti around for those with eyes to see, a way to say to others we may never meet that we too had realized what they had. Because having a secret you can’t share is lonely, so we try to show others the way to get there, or we hold on to them jealously, it depends on the occultist and the secret I suppose.

And that concludes this chapter on magickal secrets. They are there, or at least one of them is, that I can say for sure. I get the distinct impression there are more but I’m not there yet. Oh and don’t now waste your time scanning this article for secrets, the only secret here is the one that is plainly spoken, the secret about secrets.

NITEIP