


                                                                             800

                              Wiccan Beliefs

     Since the religion of Wicca (or Witchcraft) is so diverse in it's 
     beliefs,  I have included several documents here  that  encompass 
     the majority of the traditions involved.  Again, this is simply a 
     basis...NOT the be all and end all.

                                Wiccan Rede

                       Bide ye wiccan laws you must,
                     in perfect love and perfect trust
                       Live ye must and let to live,
                        fairly take and fairly give
                        For the circle thrice about
                       to keep unwelcome spirits out
                     To bind ye spell well every time,
                      let the spell be spake in rhyme
                      Soft of eye and light of touch,
                       speak ye little, listen much
                       Deosil go by the waxing moon,
                       chanting out ye baleful tune
                        When ye Lady's moon is new,
                       kiss ye hand to her times two
                      When ye moon rides at her peak,
                        then ye heart's desire seek
                     Heed the north winds mighty gale,
                      lock the door and trim the sail
                    When the wind comes from the south,
                     love will kiss thee on the mouth
                    When the wind blows from the east,
                     expect the new and set the feast.
                      Nine woods in the cauldron go,
                     burn them fast and burn them slow
                         Elder be ye Lady's tree,
                      burn it not or cursed ye'll be
                      WHen the wheel begins to turn,
                      soon ye Beltane fires will burn
                     When the wheel hath turned a Yule
                    light the log the Horned One rules
                      Heed ye flower, bush and tree,
                          by the Lady blessed be
                       Where the rippling waters go,
                    cast a stone, the truth ye'll know
                       When ye have and hold a need,
                        harken not to others greed
                       With a fool no season spend,
                        or be counted as his friend
                        Merry meet and merry part,
                   bright the cheeks and warm the heart.
                      Mind ye threefold law ye should
                   three times bad and three times good
                         When misfortune is enow,
                        wear the star upon thy brow
                        True in love my ye ever be,
                      lest thy love be false to thee
                These eight words the wiccan rede fulfill;
                     An harm ye none, do what ye will. 



                                                                             801


       One of the Pagan Oaths recognized nationally here in the U.S.

                      A Pledge to Pagan Spirituality
     I  am  a Pagan and I dedicate Myself to channeling the  Spiritual 
     Energy of my Inner Self to help and to heal myself and others.
       
     *   I know  that I  am a  part of  the Whole  of Nature.   May  I  
     grow   in  understanding of  the Unity  of all  Nature.   May   I  
     always  walk  in Balance.
       
     *   May  I  always be  mindful of  the diversity  of   Nature  as 
     well as its Unity and  may I  always be  tolerant of those  whose 
     race, appearance, sex, sexual preference, culture, and other ways 
     differ from my own.
       
     *  May I  use the  Force (psychic  power) wisely  and  never  use 
     it   for aggression nor  for malevolent  purposes. May   I  never  
     direct  it  to curtail the free will of another.
       
     *  May I  always be mindful that I create my own reality and that 
     I have the power within me to create positivity in my life.
       
     *   May  I  always act  in  honorable  ways: being   honest  with  
     myself and others, keeping  my word  whenever I  have given   it,  
     fulfilling   all responsibilities and  commitments I  have  taken  
     on to  the best of my ability.
       
     *  May I  always  remember  that whatever  is  sent  out   always  
     returns magnified to  the sender.  May the  Forces of  Karma move  
     swiftly   to  remind me  of these  spiritual commitments  when  I 
     have  begin  to  falter from them,  and may  I  use  this  Karmic 
     feedback  to  help myself grow and be more attuned  to  my  Inner 
     Pagan Spirit.
       
     *   May  I  always remain strong and committed  to  my  Spiritual 
     ideals in the face of  adversity and  negativity. May  the  Force  
     of my Inner Spirit ground out  all malevolence  directed my   way 
     and   transform  it  into positivity. May  my Inner  Light  shine  
     so   strongly  that  malevolent forces can not even  approach  my 
     sphere of existence.
       
     *   May I  always grow  in Inner  Wisdom & Understanding.  May  I 
     see  every  problem that  I face  as an opportunity   to  develop 
     myself spiritually in solving it.
       
     *   May  I  always act out of Love to all other  beings  on  this  
     Planet -- to other humans,  to plants,  to animals,  to minerals, 
     to elementals, to spirits, and to other entities.
       
     *   May  I  always be  mindful that the  Goddess and God  in  all 
     their  forms  dwell  within   me  and   that  this   divinity  is  
     reflected through my own Inner Self, my Pagan Spirit.
     .pa  
     *  May I  always channel  Love and  Light from  my  being.  May my  Inner 
     Spirit, rather  than my ego self, guide all my thoughts, feelings, and 
     actions.
                               SO MOTE IT BE



                                                                             802

     In  the  Wiccan Rede above, and scattered in the  oath,  we  find 
     words  such  as Perfect Love and Perfect Trust.  What  are  these 
     strange words and what do they mean?

     Before  one  can analyze the meaning behind the  phrase  "Perfect 
     Love  and  Perfect Trust", one must first define the  words.  For 
     this  purpose, I will use the Webster's New World  Dictionary  of 
     the  American  Language  1982 edition. Perfect:  adj.  [L.  per-, 
     through  + facere, do] 1. complete in all respects;  flawless  2. 
     excellent,  as  in  skill or quality 3.  completely  accurate  4. 
     sheer;  utter  [a perfect fool] 5. Gram. expressing  a  state  or 
     action completed at the time of speaking - vt. 1. to complete  2. 
     to make perfect or nearly perfect - n. 1. the perfect tense 2.  a 
     verb form in this tense - perfectly adv - perfectness n.

     Love: n. [<OE. lufu]  1. strong affection or liking of someone or 
     something. 2. a passionate affection for one of the opposite sex. 
     3. The object of such affection, sweetheart. 

     Trust:  n.[ON,  traust]  1.  a)  firm  belief  in  the   honesty, 
     reliability,  etc.  of  another;  faith b)  the  one  trusted  2. 
     confident  expectation,  hope, etc. 3.  responsibility  resulting 
     from  confidence  placed in one. 4. Care,  custody  5.  something 
     entrusted to one....

     Using  these  definitions,  we  come  up  with  "Flawless  strong 
     affection and flawless faith.

     Is this possible?  Those that follow the religion of Wicca  often 
     give  excuses for this just being words.  When this is the  case, 
     they are not obeying their faith....thus..they are not  following 
     perfect love and perfect trust.  But to the rest...the answer  is 
     a  resounding YES.  This does not ask that you "like"  a  person.  
     It asks that you see the divine light and love within  individual 
     whether you like them or not.  Can this be done...YES. As to  the 
     perfect  trust...we  can always trust a fox to be  a  fox  right. 
     Therefore,  when we are entering circle, we can  honestly  answer 
     perfect  trust even if it is on shaky ground.  We may have  faith 
     that this person will act like any other human. 

     It  with these beliefs and doctrines that I state that  not  only 
     was   the  doctrine,  or  teaching  almost  identical,  but   the 
     vocabulary was extensively the same.

     It's with these beliefs and doctrines that I state that not  only 
     was   the  doctrine,  or  teaching  almost  identical,  but   the 
     vocabulary was extensively the same.



                                                                             803

     Greek  life  was  characterized  by  such  things  as  democratic 
     institutions,  seafaring, athletics theatre and  philosophy.  The 
     mystery  religions adopted many expressions from  these  domains. 
     The  word  for their assembly was Ekklesia of  the  mystai.  They 
     spoke of the voyage of life, the ship, the anchor and the port of 
     religion,  and the wreath of the initiate.  The  Christians  took 
     over the entire terminology, but had to twist many pagan words in 
     order  to  fit  into the Christian world.   The  term  Leitourgia 
     (meaning  service of the state) became the ritual or  liturgy  of 
     the  church. The decree of the assembly and the opinions  of  the 
     philosophers  (dogma) became the fixed doctrine of  Christianity.  
     The term for "the correct opinion" (or the doxa) became orthodoxy. 

     The  mysteries  declined  quickly when  the  emperor  Constantine 
     raised Christianity to the status of the state religion.  After a 
     short period of toleration, the pagan religions were  prohibited.  
     The  property of the pagan gods was confiscated, and the  temples 
     were  destroyed.  The metal from which Constantine's gold  pieces 
     were coined was taken from the pagan temple treasuries.

     The main pagan "strong holds" were Rome and Alexandria.  In Rome, 
     the old aristocracy clung to the mysteries and in Alexandria  the 
     pagan Neoplatonist philosophers expounded the mystery  doctrines. 
     In  394, the opposition of the Roman aristocracy was  crushed  in 
     the battle at the Frigidus River (modern stream of Vipacco, Italy 
     and stream of Vipava, Yugoslavia). 

     According  to  the Christian  theologian  Origen,  Christianity's 
     development  during the time of the Roman Empire was part of  the 
     divine  plan.   The whole Mediterranean world was united  by  the 
     Romans,  and  the  conditions  for  missionary  work  were   more 
     favorable  than  ever before.  He explains  the  similarities  as 
     natural considering the cultures etc.  The mystery religions  and 
     Christianity had many features in common.  Some examples of  this 
     are  found in their time of preparation prior to initiation,  and 
     periods  of fasting.  Their were pilgrimages, and new  names  for 
     the  new  brethren.  Few of the early  Christian  "congregations" 
     would   be  called  orthodox  according  to  later  more   modern 
     standards. 

     Though for many years, the pagan "churches" of this area tried to 
     bring  about  a  unity  among  their  "doctrines",  beliefs,  and 
     practices  to  raise support for their practices,  the  Christian 
     philosophies and doctrines were so organized and strong that this 
     fell  as well.  Little did they know that a couple hundred  miles 
     away, peoples were still worshipping in pagan temples.

     Let's take a look up north.

     The  worship of trees goes far back into the history of man.   It 
     was  not until Christianity converted the Lithuanians toward  the 
     close of the 14th century that tree worship was thought to be  in 
     the  past.  The truth is...whereas they are not  worshiped,  they 
     are  still  honored by society today in the burning of  the  Yule 
     log, May Day bon-fires, Kissing under the Mistletoe, and the ever 
     famous Christmas tree. 



                                                                             804

     The worship of the oak tree or god appears to have been universal 
     by  all branches of the Aryan stock in Europe.  Both  Greeks  and 
     Italians  associated  the tree with their highest  god,  Zeus  or 
     Jupiter,  the  divinity of the sky, the rain,  and  the  thunder.  
     Possibly one of the oldest and most famous sanctuaries in  Greece 
     was  that of Dodona, where Zeus was revered in th  oracular  oak.  
     The  thunderstorms  which  are  said  to  rage  at  Dodona   more 
     frequently than anywhere else in Europe, would render the spot  a 
     fitting  home  for  the god whose voice was heard  alike  in  the 
     rustling of the oak leaves and in the crash of thunder.  

     Zeus  of Greece, and Jupiter of Italy both were gods  of  thunder 
     and rain, and to both the oak tree were sacred.

     To  the  Celts,  or Druids, their worship was  conducted  in  oak 
     groves.  The Celtic conquerors, who settled in Asia in the  third 
     century b.c., appear to have carried with them the worship of the 
     oak to their new home.  In the heart of Asia Minor, the  Galatian 
     senate  met in a place which bore the Celtic name of  Drynemetum, 
     "the sacred oak grove" or "the temple of the oak."

     In  Germany, we find that the veneration for sacred groves  seems 
     to  have held the foremost place.  According to Grimm, the  chief 
     of their holy trees was the oak.  Again, here we find that it  is 
     dedicated to the god of thunder, Donar or Thunar, the  equivalent 
     of  the Norse Thor. Among the Slavs, the oak tree was  sacred  to 
     the  thunder god Perun. Among the Lithuanians, the oak  tree  was 
     sacred to Perkunas or Perkuns, the god of thunder and rain. 
      
     The  Christmas  tree,  usually  a  balsam  or  douglas  fir,  was 
     decorated  with  lights  and ornaments as  a  part  of  Christmas 
     festivities.   The use of evergreen trees, wreaths, and  garlands 
     as  a symbol of eternal life was an old custom of the  Egyptians, 

     Chinese,  and  Hebrews.   Tree worship, common  among  the  pagan 
     Europeans, survived after their conversion to Christianity in the 
     Scandinavian  customs  of  decorating the  house  and  barn  with 
     evergreens at the New Year to scare away the devil and of setting 
     up a tree for the birds during Christmastide.  It survived in the 
     custom  observed  in Germany, of placing a Yule tree  inside  the 
     house in the midwinter holidays.

     The  modern  Christmas tree originated in Western  Germany.   The 
     main prop of a popular medieval play about Adam and Eve was a fir 
     tree  hung  with apples (the tree of Paradise)  representing  the 
     Garden  of Eden.  The Germans set up the Paradise tree  in  their 
     homes  on December 24, the religious feast day of Adam  and  Eve.  
     They hung wafers on it (symbolizing the host, the Christian  sigh 
     of redemption).  In later tradition, the wafers were replaced  by 
     cookies  of  various  shapes.  Candles were often  added  as  the 
     symbol  of Christ, though they were also a pagan symbol  for  the 
     light of the God.



                                                                             805

     As  we  can see, even though the pagan community  has  been  trod 
     upon,  it  was  never  destroyed.   The  date  of  Christmas  was 
     purposely  fixed on December 25 to push into the  background  the 
     great  festival of the sun god, and the Epiphany on January 5  to 
     supplant  an  Egyptian festival of the same day  and  the  Easter 
     ceremonies were set to rival the pagan spring festival. 

     Let's take a look at a few of the holidays and compare.

     As  we  can see, even though the pagan community  has  been  trod 
     upon,  it  was  never  destroyed.   The  date  of  Christmas  was 
     purposely  fixed on December 25 to push into the  background  the 
     great  festival of the sun god, and the Epiphany on January 5  to 
     supplant  an  Egyptian festival of the same day  and  the  Easter 
     ceremonies were set to rival the pagan spring festival. 

     Let's take a look at a few of the holidays and compare.

     Easter
     On Easter Sunday, everywhere, the children hunt the many  colored 
     Easter  eggs, brought by the Easter rabbit.  This is the  vestige 
     of  a  fertility rite, the eggs and the rabbit  both  symbolizing 
     fertility.  The  rabbit was the escort of  the  Germanic  goddess 
     Ostara  who  gave her name to the festival by way of  the  German 
     Ostern. 

     The first day of Spring holds much in the way of folklore.  It is  
     also  known  as the Spring Equinox, Ostara, Eostre's  Day,  Alban 
     Eilir,  the  Vernal Equinox, or Festival of the Trees.  It  takes 
     place  between March 19 and 22.  It marks the first day  of  true 
     spring (verses the balmy weather that may precede it.)

     The day and night is equal on this day, thus the name of Equinox. 
     There is a story in one culture that says that the sun has  begun 
     to  win it's race with the night and that the days get longer  as 
     the sun pulls ahead. (Followed by the fact that the sun begins to 
     lose  the  race at Mid-Summer, and loses the race  at  Mid-Winter 
     just to start the race again the next day.)

     It  is  a time of beginnings, of action, of  planting  seeds  for 
     future grains, and of tending gardens. On the first Sunday  after 
     the  first full moon following Eostre's Day (the name from  which 
     the  Easter was derived), the Christian religion celebrates  it's 
     Easter Day.

     Spring  is  a time of the Earth's renewal, a  rousing  of  nature 
     after the cold sleep of winter.  As such, it is an ideal time  to 
     clean your home to welcome the new season.

     Spring cleaning is more than physical work.  Some cultures see it 
     as  a  concentrated  effort on their part to  rid  themselves  of 
     problems  and  negativity  of the past  months  and  tho  prepare 
     themselves for the coming spring and summer.  



                                                                             806

     To  do this, they approach the task of cleaning their homes  with 
     positive thoughts.  They believe that this frees the homes of the 
     hard  feelings brought about by a harsh winter. Even  then,  they 
     have  guidelines that they follow such as any scrubbing of  stains 
     or  hand  rubbing  the floors should be  done  in  a  "clockwise" 
     motion.   It is their belief that this aids in filling  the  home 
     with good energy for growth.

     To the Druidic faith, this is a sacred day occurring in the  month 
     of  Fearn (meaning, "I am the shining tear of the Sun"). Part  of 
     their  practices  are to clean and  rededicate  outdoor  shrines, 
     believing that in doing so they honor the spring maiden.  This  is 
     a  time  of fertility of both crops and families.   In  promoting 
     crops,  they believe that the use of fire and water (the sun  and 
     rain)  will  reanimate all life on Earth.   They  decorate  hard- 
     boiled  eggs, the symbol of rebirth, to eat during  their  rites, 
     and  such foods as honey cakes and milk punch can also be  found. 
     The  mothers and daughters give dinners for each other  and  give 
     cards and gifts as a way of merging with the natural flow of life 
     and  with each other. (The Druids consider this also as  Mother's 
     Day.)

     In Greek mythology, spring was the time when Persephone  returned 
     from  the  underworld (where the seed was planted in  the  barren 
     winter  months) and thus represents the seedlings of the  spring. 
     Demeter, Persephone's mother represents the fertile earth and the 
     ripened  grain of harvest since it is alleged that she is the  one 
     that  created  the need to harvest crops when  her  daughter  was 
     kidnapped  and  taken  to  the underworld.   It  was  through  an 
     arrangement that her daughter could return for 1/2 the year  that 
     Demeter allowed the crops to spring forth for that time until she 
     again went into mourning for her daughter in the fall.

     In some cultures, even today, the ones that continue to celebrate 
     the  rites  of  spring rise on Easter morning to  watch  the  sun 
     "Dance" as it rises.

     The Christian festival commemorating the resurrection of Christ, 
     synchronized  with  the  Jewish Pesach,  and  blended  since  the 
     earliest  days of Christianity with pagan European rites for  the 
     renewed  season.   In all countries Easter falls  on  the  Sunday 
     after  the  first  full moon on or following  March  21.   It  is 
     preceded by a period of riotous vegetation rites and by a  period 
     of  abstinence,  Lent (in Spain Cuaresma, Germany  Lenz,  central 
     Italy, Quaresima) and by special rites of Holy Week.

     Everywhere  Easter  Sunday is welcomed with  rejoicing,  singing, 
     candle processionals, flowers in abundance, and ringing of church 
     bells.   Many pagan customs survive, such as the lighting of  new 
     fires  at  dawn, among the Maya as well as in Europe,  for  cure, 
     renewed life, and protection of the crops.   

     May Day
     The first day of May: observed as a spring festival everywhere in 
     Europe, the United States, and Canada, and as a labor festival in 
     certain European countries.  



                                                                             807

     Rites such as the ever famous May Pole occur in the town  squares 
     or  in the family's front yard.  The gathering of green  branches 
     and  flowers on May Eve is the symbolic act of bringing home  the 
     May, i.e. bringing new life, the spring, into the village.

     The  May Queen (and often King) is chosen from among  the  young 
     people, and they go singing from door to door throughout the town 
     carrying  flowers  or the May tree, soliciting  donations  for  a 
     merrymaking  in  return  for  the "blessing  of  May".   This  is 
     symbolic of bestowing and sharing of the new creative power  that 
     is stirring in the world.  As the kids go from door to door,  the 
     May Bride often sings to the effect that those who give will  get 
     of nature's bounty through the year.

     In parts of France, some jilted youth will lie in a field on  May 
     Day  and  pretend to sleep.  If any village girl  is  willing  to 
     marry  him, she goes and wakes him with a kiss; the pair then  go 
     to  the village inn together and lead the dance  which  announces 
     their engagement.  The boy is called "the betrothed of May."

     This  festival is also known as Beltane, the Celtic May  Day.  It 
     officially  begins  at  moonrise on May Day Eve,  and  marks  the 
     beginning  of  the third quarter or second half  of  the  ancient 
     Celtic  year.   It is celebrated as an  early  pastoral  festival 
     accompanying the first turning of the herds out to wild  pasture.  
     The  rituals  were held to promote fertility.   The  cattle  were 
     driven  between the Belfires to protect them from ills.   Contact 
     with the fire was interpreted as symbolic contact with the sun.  

     The  rowan  branch  is hung over the house fire  on  May  Day  to 
     preserve  the fire itself from bewitchment (the house fire  being 
     symbolic of the luck of the house. 

     In early Celtic times, the druids kindled the Beltane fires  with 
     specific incantations.  Later the Christian church took over  the 
     Beltane  observances, a service was held in the church,  followed 
     by a procession to the fields or hills, where the priest  kindled 
     the fire.

     In some rituals, a King and Queen May symbolize the male and female 
     principles of productivity. 

     We  have looked briefly at the similarities of  the  philosophies 
     and vocabularies, but is that all that they had in common?  Let's 
     look at symbologies.

     For  many years, the cross has been the symbol  representing  the 
     death  of the Christian Christ.  It has represented that  through 
     his  death, man could be reborn into God's grace.  Thus, we  have 
     the  philosophy  of life in death being connected to  the  cross.  
     Is  this the only time where this symbol was recognized as  such?  
     Let's go back to Egypt and find out.

     An upright piece of wood, tied to a horizontal beam indicated the 
     height  of  the  flood waters on the Nile.  This  beam  formed  a 
     cross.   If  the  waters  failed to rise  during  the  season  of 
     planting,  it  meant a poor harvest for these people.   Thus  the 
     cross was revered as a symbol of life and regeneration. 



                                                                             808

     The Ankh represents the genitals of both sexes.  The cross itself 
     is  a  primitive form of the phallus, and the loop  that  of  the 
     womb. Again, we continue the symbol of the cross as the giver  of 
     life.

     Oh  my gosh...did I use the word phallus in connection  with  the 
     cross?  Oops!  

     Yes...even  prior  to  this time was the cross a  symbol  of  the 
     phallus  or  fertility.   This is not the  only  thing  that  the 
     phallus has symbolized over the many centuries within and without 
     the pagan world.  It has also been used as a symbol of strength.

     Within the Bible, we find several references to the horn also  as 
     a  symbol of strength.

     2 Samuel 22:3 - He is my shield, and the horn of my salvation.
     Luke 1:69 - And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us.
     Psalm 18:2 - He is my shield and the horn of my salvation.

     The move from horn to helmet is followed up also in the bible  as 
     follows:
     Isaiah 59:17 - For he put an helmet of salvation upon his head.
     Ephesians 6:17 - Take the helmet of salvation.
     1  Thessalonians  5:8  -  ...putting  on  faith  and  love  as  a 
     breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 

     In  Roman days a warrior would were horns on his helmet.   If  he 
     came back defeated, he was said to have been dehorned.  There are 
     several  references  where a soldier who lost his helmet  on  the 
     field  was killed for this offense because it meant dishonor  for 
     him to loose his horn.

     Shakespeare had much knowledge of the use of horns as a symbol of 
     protection  and victory as is evident in his works "As  You  Like 
     It" (IV,2) and in "Measure for Measure" (II,4:16) when he writes: 
     "Let's  write  good  angell on the devill's horne;  tis  not  the 
     devill's crest." 

     Even  in modern days, the Catholic Church uses this  symbol  when 
     setting  the mitre upon the head of a newly  consecrated  bishop.  
     The  words used at such a time are: "We set on the head  of  this 
     Bishop,  O  Lord,  Thy champion, the helmet  of  defense  and  of 
     salvation, that with comely face and with his head armed with the 
     horns  of  either  Testament  he  may  appear  terrible  to   the 
     gainsayers of the truth, and may become their vigorous assailant, 
     through  the abundant gift of Thy grace, who didst make the  face 
     of Thy servant Moses to shine after familiar converse with  Thee, 
     and  didst adorn it with the resplendent horns of Thy  brightness 
     and Thy truth and commandedst the mitre to be set on the head  of 
     Aaron,  Thy high priest, Etc..." (Copies in Latin and  translated 
     can be found in The Order Consecration of a Bishop Elect with the 
     imprimatur  of H. Card. Vaughn, p. 14, Burns and Oates, 1893.)  



                                                                             809

     If  we are looking at protections and the like, we must  look  at 
     the  use of stones and crystals within our lives.  Yes,  even  in 
     the Christian bible, the powers and uses of stones is  mentioned. 
     Exodus  28:15-21 - "Fashion a breastpiece for making decisions  - 
     the  work  of a skilled craftsman.  MAke it like  the  ephod:  of 
     gold, and of blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and of finely twisted 
     linen.  It is to be square - a span (9 inches) wide - and  folded 
     double.   Then mount four rows of precious stones on it.  In  the 
     first  row  there shall be a ruby, a topaz and a  beryl;  in  the 
     second  row  a  turquoise, a sapphire (or lapis  lazuli)  and  an 
     emerald; in the third row a jacinth, an agate and an amethyst; in 
     the fourth row a chrysolite, an onyx and a jasper.  Mount them in 
     gold  filigree settings.  There are to be twelve stones, one  for 
     each  of  the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved  like  a 
     seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes."

     Exodus  28:9-14  - Take two onyx stones and engrave  on  the  
     names  of  the sons of Israel in the order of their birth  -  six 
     names  on one stone and the remaining six on the other.   Engrave 
     the  names of the sons of Israel on the two stones the way a  gem 
     cutter  engraves a seal. Then mount the stones in  gold  filigree 
     settings  and fasten them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod  as 
     memorial  stones  for the sons of Israel.  Aaron is to  bear  the 
     names on his shoulders as a memorial before the Lord.  Make  gold 
     filigree  settings  and two braided chains of pure gold,  like  a 
     rope, and attach the chains to the settings. 

     Though it does not say as much, we might take the engraving as  a 
     form of runes, again creating a similarity between the craft  and 
     religions of old.

     From  man's search for protection, we come to the telling by  the 
     stars...Astrology, and the use of stars as protectors of man.

     The  lore behind the star of David is an interesting  tale.   The 
     easy interpretation is that of Zionism.  The more research you do 
     on  this though, you will find that once again, depending on  the 
     cultures  you  look at, it's interpretation  changes.   The  six-
     pointed  star  formed  by the superimposing of  one  triangle  on 
     another.  The symbol is a combination of the male (apex  upwards) 
     and female (apex downwards) triangles;  it is said, in cabalistic 
     writings, to comprise the signs of the four elements and the four 
     letters of the Tetragrammaton, and thus it came to be the  symbol 
     for God.  Since the Biblical commandment puts a taboo on the  use 
     of  the Name of God and on the depiction of God, the  symbol  was 
     inscribed as the graphic representation of God in synagogues  and 
     wherever the Name was appropriate.  In alchemy, the star of David 
     combined  the  symbols  for  fire  and  water;  hence,  it  meant 
     distillation.   Until recently, therefore, it appeared  on  shops 
     selling  brandy.  The star of David is the symbol of Zionism  and 
     appears  on the flag of Israel.  As Solomon's seal, the  hexagram 
     possessed  power to control demons of all kinds.  The stopper  on 
     the  bottle containing the bottle imp or jinni was  stamped  with 
     the  seal  of Solomon.  In the Nsibidi script of West  Africa,  a 
     native  form  of  writing,  the symbol  means  ardent  love;  the 
     universality  of  the  male-female content of the  sign  is  here 
     apparent. 



                                                                             810

     Astrology also has interesting roots.  Though the word itself  is 
     made  up of the Greek words meaning "star logic" (astra  -  star, 
     Logos  - logic), the actual origin is yet to be  determined.   We 
     read  in the Epic of Creation of Sumer - Akkad, or Early  Babylon 
     (ca  2200-1900  B.C.)  that:  "The  Star  -  Jupiter  who  brings 
     prophecies  to all is my Lord.  My Lord be at peace.  The Star  - 
     Mercury  allows rain to fall. The Star - Saturn, the star of  Law 
     and Justice..."

     The  telling  of fortunes by the stars underwent an  avid  growth 
     spurt during the times of the Roman Empire, and though with minor 
     qualms with the Christian church, it co-existed peacefully  until 
     the  time  of  Constantine  when  all  "pagan"  activities   were 
     outlawed.  Though  outlawed within the  Roman  Empire,  Astrology 
     continued to thrive within the Middle East.

     I  realize that I said that I would touch on the inquisition  and 
     such,  however, I think that it is common knowledge the  document 
     used to persecute those involved was written by the Friars within 
     the  Catholic  Church  at the time.  The  document,  The  Malleus 
     Maleficarum,  was a document designed to bring about fear  within 
     the  Christian community, and more power to the church.  What  is 
     not widely realized is that the majority of the persons that were 
     either burned, drowned, or hung were not witches, but Protestants 
     within the Christian church.  (The ones that were Protesting  the 
     Catholic church.)

     I realize that, at this time, this is a rather sketchy  document. 
     I hope in the near future to be able to take the time to  develop 
     more  of  the depth that I would like to put into  bring  up  our 
     roots.  I  hope to include in the expanded edition the  times  of 
     burning,  modern witchcraft, more symbols, and famous persons  in 
     the craft.

     We've  changed...but  then as a good friend has told me  on  more 
     than  one occasion..."When we cease to change, we cease to  grow.  
     When we cease to grow, life ends."



                                                                             811

                               Bibliography

     The Golden Bough - Frazer, Sir James George, Macmillan Publishing 
               Co., NY, NY  c 1922

     Witchcraft The Old Religion - Martello

     Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and 
     Legend

     The History of Witchcraft - Russell, Jeffrey B., c 1980

     Encyclopedia Britanica - 1986

     The Holy Bible (New International Version)

     Under the Spell of the Zodiac - Mark Graubard

     Alchemy: Origin or Origins? - H. J. Sheppard, AMBIX, July 1970

     Magic, Supernaturalism, and Religion - Seligmann c 1948



                                                                             812

                           MAGICK, Physics, and Probability


     Now, as  most of you  may know, Magick  is a somewhat  controversial issue.
     Even the spelling of  the word is argued about!  I have picked up the habit
     (only the gods  know where I picked  it up ... possibly  from my occasional
     perusals of  Crowley)  of using  "Magick"  for the  real thing,  and  using
     "Magic" for what a stage magician does. 

     Before I go any further, I guess that I had better define Magick.  One 
     definition is: "the art or science of causing change to occur in conformity
     to Will" - A. Crowley.

     Now,  while Crowley himself,  was quite controversial,  I think we  can all
     agree that this should serve as a generic definition of Magick. But, one of
     the  differences between  types of  magicks  is in  the way  of raising  or
     calling energy to cause change.  Thus, such a change may be accomplished in
     one of a couple of ways:        

     1. The magick may be caused by the action of only one person or group of 
     people.

     2. The magick  may be caused by the intercession of  some higher (or lower)
     being who was evoked or controlled by a person or group of people.        

     3. The magick may  be caused by the action of one person or group of people
     who is/are "borrowing" energy from some higher being (lower beings may sell
     energy, but seldom lend or give it).        

     4. The magick may be caused by the person or persons use of an object or 
     location which was previously charged with energy (ie. a Magickal Tool, 
     Talisman, standing stones,  etc).

     Note:  The use of a sacrifice (which can range from symbolic sacrifices of 
     Grain, Wine, etc., all the way to Human Sacrifice [something which I, 
     personally, am against]) is  a combination of  methods, in that a  relative
     amount of energy is released at  the sacrifice itself, and, a larger amount
     of energy is usually then given forth by a higher or lower being.  

     In many ways, Magick is quite similar to the harder sciences.  In both, one
     must expend  energy in order to effect a change, or, TANSTAAFL (There Ain't
     No Such Thing As A Free Lunch).  Another difference between types of Magick
     is in the Focusing or Concentrating of the power being raised.  This may be
     accomplished through the  use of chanting, singing, dancing,  various types
     of meditation, and  through formalized Ritual steps,  which may or may  not
     involve  Magickal Tools.    Which brings  us  up to  another  controversial
     issue...    the use  and meaning  of the  Circle  in Wiccan  and Ceremonial
     Magicks.  



                                                                             813

     Now,  as some of you  may know, a Magickal Circle  serves a couple of uses,
     and, as  far as I can  see, the argument is  really over which  is the most
     important aspect of such a Circle.  Most modern Wicca types will say that a
     Circle's property of: "Holding  and concentrating the energy being  raised,
     until it is ready  to be released" is the most important.   Many Ceremonial
     types  cite  the  Circle's  ability  to  keep  out  negative  energies  and
     influences as being  most important.  While, some others  say that a Circle
     relates the tie of  spirit to body, and the ability of spirit to act on the
     body, with the tie of the people on the inside to the world(s) without, and
     a similar ability to cause change.  

     As for my  own position on this  argument, while, in most areas,  I tend to
     favor the  Wiccan position (albeit,  with a decidedly  Discordian slant),in
     this  case, I'll say:  "Who CARES which is most important!?!  A Circle does
     all of the above, and  more, but, it's not worth arguing over!"   So, on to
     the heart of  this article:  Explaining Magick in  terms of Quantum Physics
     [{chuckle},  I knew  a couple  of Physicists  who used  to explain  Quantum
     Physics in terms  of Magick {grin}].   This covers  the how and  why Magick
     works.  PLEASE NOTE:  I do not claim to be infallible, this is not a laying
     down of  the  LAW.   Rather,  this is  simply  a theory.    But then,  E  =
     MC(squared)is simply  a theory.   However there  exists lots of  data which
     supports both  theories.   Since  I've already covered some  basic Magickal
     Theory,  it looks like  time to start on  the Physics end  of things.  I'll
     start with the theories of Probability and Uncertainty.   

     Probability can be likened to  Voltaire's Theory that:  "Since this  is the
     Only One of  All Possible Worlds that  we know, it must,  therefore, be the
     Best of All Possible Worlds!".   While this may be an  interesting concept,
     Voltaire's logic is slightly flawed.  A better statement would be: "This is
     the most Probable of All Possible Worlds".  Thus, the Theory of Probability
     is quite  simple.  Everything we  see or experience is  due to probability.
     An Apple, when dropped, will fall (as long as it's in a gravity well, like,
     the surface  of a planet, and, no  other forces are acting  on it), because
     falling is  the most  probable course  of action open  to it.   Uncertainty
     comes into play when there  IS no one most probable thing to  happen.  Good
     examples of uncertainty in action are small things, like electrons in orbit
     around an atom.  Since there is no one most probable spot for that electron
     to be,  it isn't in  one place.   There is a  locus of  higher probability,
     where  in a  lower  energy electron  is more  likely  to be  closer to  the
     nucleus, and higher energy ones farther away.   Thus, scientists may either
     pin  down where an electron is, or, where  it is going, but, they CAN'T pin
     down  both at the  same time.   Also, electrons  tend to vibrate  in energy
     level,  spontaneously bouncing  up  and down,  seeking their  most probable
     states.  



                                                                             814

     So, "Where  does Magick come  into play?" one  may ask (assuming,  that is,
     that one has made it this far).  Well, one of the tenants of the Theory of 
     Probability is that: the possibility of an event occurring depends upon the
     events probability.  Thus, if said probability can be changed, one could, 
     theoretically,  either make such an event happen,  or prevent such an event
     from happening.  And this is what Magick really is ... the Art of Changing 
     Probability.   And,  here's how  that  happens ...  Einstein, as  some  may
     recall, was NOT  happy with the  theory of Probability. Since,  who decides
     what is  most probable, and, how  can such decisions be  altered?  Einstein
     said "God does not play dice with the universe!", and tried, for years,  to
     come up  with a better theory.   But, he failed,  and so far,  all the data
     collected tends to  support the theory  of Probability.   Some others  have
     come up with possible answers to the above posed question.  One of which is
     that  Chance  determines probability  (this  is  the theory  that  Einstein
     commented  upon).   Another  theory  is  that  some  sort  of  GOD  decides
     probability.  Needless to  say, whatever being who could  alter probability
     at will, WOULD be a god!   And so, that brings  us to the present state  of
     affairs.   No doubt, even as I write, somewhere, there is someone trying to
     come  up with some more theories governing the manipulation of probability,
     and  thus, allowing  the construction  of a machine  which does  just that.
     But, there are also some who have found that such a machine exists... 

     PEOPLE!       There  is  already lots  of evidence,  some documented,  most
     overlooked or  kept hidden  by  the use  of vows,  that  People CAN  affect
     probability. 
     Blessed Be... Hurn



                                                                             815

                                Definitions

     Some food for thought for those of us who are fond of the word
     magic.

     "... as  the symbolic  background of  magical techniques  as well  as their
     deployment  in official ceremonies shows, the  transition between magic and
     religion is very  fluid.  Since  religious symbols are  always a  synthesis
     between the visible and the invisible, they may be looked upon as signposts
     in  the  search  for  religious  meaning,  or  misinterpreted  as  ends  in
     themselves.  In this sense each ritual may be either religious or magical,
     conditional upon the intention of the participants.

               Distinctionscan be made, as precise as the symbols and principles
     employed allow,  among various types of  magic.  Substitute  Magic is based
     upon the idea that a part  substitutes for the whole, thereby reversing the
     transcendental principle that the part may represent the whole.  Man seizes
     power over  someone  else by  possessing parts  of him,  e.g. bones,  hair,
     nails, etc.  Contagious magic obtains when the substitution of the part
     for the  whole is only partially  realized and integrated into  a scheme of
     causal  connection.   By touching  or wearing  power-laden objects  such as
     relics, fetishes, sacred stones, amulets, etc. or even by assimilating them
     as in the case of  cannibalism, man integrates him-self and his  deeds into
     the efficacy of an invisible power structure.  Sympathetic magic deals with
     symbols  and  their  supposed   unity  or  sympathy  with  that   which  is
     sympathized.   It differs from substitute magic by the ideational character
     of the substitution.  Examples are the anticipation of a successful hunt by
     striking a picture of the animal;  the manipulation of pictures and figures
     in general; the use of  curse figurines or dolls; the deployment  of arcane
     formulas,  both in  connection with pictures  and statues  or independently
     from them.    In  this latter  instance,  the practice  of  subjecting  the
     godhead, a ghost, or an individual to one's will by means of a name or
     proper formula should also be mentioned.   Gnoseological magic appears as a
     more  or less autonomous type  when the instrumental  function of knowledge
     and  reason becomes an end in itself.  The knowledge of the right time, the
     right setting,  the  godhead proper  in  a given  situation,  is in  itself
     sufficient reason to achieve the  desired goal.  The world of the sacred as
     a means of orientation for the growth and meaning of  the person turns into
     a  state of  impersonal  and  mechanically  effective anonymity.    Ascetic
     technique becomes its own end, effective by its very deployment.

               As  a technique of reaching  goals by means  different from those
     required by these goals, magic is of particular significance for the social
     life of  a  community.   In  this regard  we  have to  distinguish  between
     official and private magic.  Official magic obtains when public affairs are
     treated by help of magical techniques, e.g., when a drought is counteracted
     by the imitative act of sprinkling water, or when the office of a shaman
     is a generally recognized institution.  Private magic on the  other hand is
     a matter of individuals and/or exclusive groups who, often in deep secrecy,
     use  their knowledge  and techniques  in order  to pursue  their particular
     goals....."
     __________________________________

     From the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Religion. 

     ..........  FROM RMPJ, 2/3/1987



                                                                             816

                                 THE BASICS OF MAGICK 

     I.  Ethics
          A.  The Wiccan Rede
          B.  The Law or Return (sometimes called the "Threefold Law")
          C.  Perfect Love and Perfect Trust (among partners in magick)

     II.  The Witches' Pyramid
          A.  Faith in your abilities and powers.
          B.  Imagination to vividly create in your mind that which you desire  
             to manifest.
          C.  Will to achieve your goal despite all obstacles.
          D.  Secrecy to keep your magickal intention concentrated and pure.

     III. The four Qualities of the Mage
          A.  To know
          B.  To will
          C.  To dare
          D.  To keep silence

     IV.  Preparatory Skills (hatha and raja yoga are good aids to developing   
                    these)
          A.  Cleansing, clearing and stilling
          B.  Grounding
          C.  Centering
          d.  Concentrating ieving one-pointedness)

     V.   Defining the Goal:  Form vs. Essence

     VI.  Working with the Power
          A.  Confining it (casting the Circle)
          B.  Raising it
          C.  Sending it (channeling it)... for immediate effect or into storage
          D.  Earthing the excess (grounding it)

     VII.  Systems and Techniques

          A.  Spellcraft
          B.  Words of Power and affirmations, charms and 
              incantations
          C.  Dance, postures and mudras
          D.  Meditation, trancework and hypnosis, fascination
          E.  Stone magick
          F.  Candle magick
          G.  Amulets and talismans;  power objects or "psychic batteries"
          H.  Healing
               1.  Psychic (visualization, laying on of hands)
               2.  Herbal
               3.  Energy channeling iwht auras and chakras
               4.  Color therapy
               5.  Other systems listed above  



                                                                             817

          I.  Divination
               1.  Scrying
               2.  Astrology
               3.  Tarot
               4.  Runesticks
               5.  Lithomancy (casting the stones)
               6.  I Ching
               7.  Other systems
               8.  Pendulum or radiesthesia

          J.  Astral travel
          K.  Thought forms;  wraiths, fetches, artificial elementals
          L.  Extra-sensory perception
               1.  Clairsentience
               2.  Clairvoyance
               3.  Clairaudience
               4.  Precognition
               5.  Telepathy
               6.  Telempathy
               7.  Psychometry
               8.  Telekinesis
               9.  Teleportation

          M.  Sympathetic magic (poppets and such)
          N.  Runes
          O.  Mediumship, necromancy, and spirit guides
          P.  Philtres and Poteins
          Q.  Cleansing, purification, protection and blessing;  exorcism;      
            ligature, binding
          R.  Power animals, totems and familiars;  shapeshifting
          S.  Tree magick
          T.  Dreamcraft
          U.  Ritual tool magick
          V.  Invocation, evocation and going into aspect
          W.  Symbols, sigils and images; Tattvic symbols; numerology
          X.  Conjuration or summoning;  banishing or exorcism
          Y.  Commemoration or linking
          Z.  Past life regression or recall
          AA. Pathworking on the Tree of Life
          BB. Ceremonial magic

     VIII.  Timing
          A.  The lunar cycle
          B.  The Wheel of the Year
          C.  Astrological conjunctions
          D.  Planetary hours and days
          E.  Individual biorhythms

     IX.  Creating your own reality, following your True Will

     Prepared by:  Amber K
                   Our Lady of the Woods



                                                                             818

     "Magick    is   the    Highest,   most    Absolute,   and   most    Divine 
     Knowledge   of    Natural   Philosophy;    advanced   in  its  works  and
     wonderful   operations  by  a   right   understanding  of the  inward and
     occult  virtue  of  things;  so  that true Agents being applied to proper
     Patients,   strange   and  admirable   effects  will thereby be produced.
     Whence   magicians    are    profound   and    diligent   searchers  into
     Nature;  they,  because  of  their  skill,   know  how to  anticipate  an
     effect, the which to the vulgar shall seem to be a miracle."

                    The Goetia of the Lemegeton of King Solomon.
                                       *

       "Whenever  sympathetic   magic  occurs  in   its   pure   unadulterated
     form,   it  is   assumed   that  in  nature  one  event  follows  another
     necessarily  and  invariably  without the intervention of  any  spiritual
     or personal agency.

       Thus  its   fundamental   conception  is   identical   with   that   of 
     modern   science;    underlying    the    whole   system   is   a  faith,
     implicit   but   real   and   firm,   in   the  order  and  uniformity of
     nature.   The   magician  does  not  doubt  that  the  same  causes  will
     always  produce  the  same  effects,   that  the   performance   of   the
     proper   ceremony    accompanied   by   the   appropriate   spell,   will
     inevitably  be  attended  by  the  desired  results,  unless, indeed, his
     incantations should  chance  to  be  thwarted  and  foiled  by  the  more
     potent  charms  of  another   sorcerer.    He   supplicates   no   higher
     power:  he  sues  the  favor  of  no  fickle  and   wayward   being:  he
     abases himself before no  awful  deity.   Yet  his  power,  great  as  he
     believes  it  to  be,  is  by  no  means arbitrary and unlimited.  He can
     wield  it  only  so  long  as  he  strictly  conforms to the rules of his
     art, or to what may  be  called  the  laws  of  nature  as  conceived  by
     him.   To  neglect  these  rules,  to  break  these  laws in the smallest
     particular is to  incur  failure,  and  may  even  expose  the  unskillful
     practitioner  himself  to  the  utmost peril.  If he claims a sovereignty
     over  nature,  it  is  a constitutional sovereignty rigorously limited in
     its  scope  and  exercised  in  exact  conformity  with  ancient  usage.
     Thus   the   analogy   between   the    magical   and    the   scientific
     conceptions   of   the   world   is   close.    In both   of   them   the
     succession   of   events   is   perfectly   regular   and  certain, being
     determined   by   immutable   laws,    the   operation   of   which   can
     be   foreseen   and   calculated   precisely;   the   elements of caprice,
     of  chance,  and  of  accident  are  banished  from the course of nature.
     Both  of  them  open  up  a  seemingly  boundless  vista of possibilities
     to  him  who  knows  the  causes  of  things  and  can  touch  the secret
     springs  that  set in  motion  the  vast  and  intricate mechanism of the
     world.  Hence  the  strong  attraction  which  magic  and  science  alike
     have  exercised  on  the   human  mind;   hence  the   powerful  stimulus
     that  both  have  given  to  the  pursuit  of  knowledge.   They lure the
     weary enquirer,  the  footsore  seeker,  on  through  the  wilderness  of
     disappointment  in  the  present   by  their  endless  promises   of  the
     future:  they  take  him  up  to  the  top  of an exceeding high mountain
     and shew him, beyond the dark  clouds  and  rolling  mist  at  his  feet,
     a  vision  of  the  celestial city,  far off, it may be, but radiant with
     unearthly splendor, bathed in the light of dreams."

                        Dr. J. G. FRAZER, "The Golden Bough".
                                       *



                                                                             819

       "So  far,   therefore,  as  the   public  profession   of   magic   has
     been   one   of   the   roads   by   which  men  have  passed  to supreme
     power,   it   has   contributed   to   emancipate   mankind    from   the
     thraldom of  tradition  and  to  elevate  them   into  a   larger,  freer
     life,  with  a  broader   outlook   on  the   world.  This   is  no small
     service     rendered    to    humanity.     And    when    we    remember
     further   that  in  another   direction   magic   has  paved ther way for
     science, we are forced to admit that if the  black  arts  has  done  much
     evil, it has also been the  source of  much  good;  that  if  it  is  the
     child   of   error,   it   has   been   the    mother   of   freedom  and
     truth."

                                                                         Ibid.
                                         *


       "Prove  all  things;    hold  fast  that  which  is  good".
      
                                                                     St. Paul.
                                         *


       "Also  the  mantras  and  the spells;   the  obeah  and the  wanga; the
     work of the wand and the  work  of  the  sword:   these  he  shall  learn
     and teach.
       "He must teach; but he may make severe the ordeals.
       "The word of the Law is THELEMA."

                          LIBER AL vel xxxi:  The Book of the Law.

                                        -----------


     This book is for
                                     ALL:
     for every man, woman, and child.

       My  former  work  has  been  misunderstood,  and  its  scope   limited,
     by   my  use  of  technical  terms.   It  has  attracted  only  too  many
     dilettanti  and  eccentrics,  weaklings  seeking  in  "Magic"  an  escape
     from reality.  I myself  was  first  consciously  drawn  to  the  subject
     in  this  way.   And  it  has  repelled  only  too  many  scientific  and
     practical minds, such as I most designed to influence.
       But
                                    MAGICK
     is for
                                     ALL.
       I  have  written  this  book  to help  the  Banker,  the  Pugilist, the
     Biologist, the Poet,  the  Navvy,  the  Grocer,  the  Factory  Girl,  the
     Mathematician,  the  Stenographer,    the   Golfer,    the   Wife,    the
     Consul--and   all   the   rest--to   fulfil  themselves  perfectly,  each
     in his or her own proper function.



                                                                             820

       Let  me  explain  in  a  few  words  how  it came about that I blazoned
     the word
                                    MAGICK
     upon   the   Banner   that  I   have  borne  before   me   all  my  life.

       Before I touched  my teens,   I  was  already  aware  that  I  was  The
     Beast  whose  number   is   666.   I  did  not  understand  in  the least
     what that implied; it was a passionately ecstatic sense of identity.
       In my third  year  at  Cambridge,   I  devoted  myself  consciously  to
     the   Great  Work,   understanding   thereby   the  Work  of  becoming  a
     Spiritual Being, free from  the  constraints, accidents,  and  deceptions
     of material existence.

       I  found  myself  at  a  loss  for  a  name  to designate my work, just
     as   H.P.  Blavatsky   some   years   earlier.   "Theosophy",  "Spiritua-
     lism",   "Occultism",   "Mysticism",   all  involved   undesirable   con-
     notations.

       I chose therefore the name.
                                    "MAGICK"
     as  essentially  the  most  sublime,  and actually the most  discredited,
     of all the available terms.

       I swore to rehabilitate
                                     MAGICK,
     to  identify  it  with  my  own  career;   and  to   compel   mankind  to
     respect, love, and trust that which they scorned, hated and feared.
     I have kept my Word.

       But  the  time  is now  come  for  me  to  carry  my  banner  into  the
     thick of the press of human life.

       I must make
                                     MAGICK
     the essential factor in the life of 
                                      ALL.

       In  presenting  this  book  to  the  world,  I  must  then  explain and
     justify   my   position   by  formulating  a  definition of
                                     MAGICK
     and setting forth its main  principles in such a way that
                                       ALL
     may  understand  instantly  that  their  souls,  their lives,   in  every
     relation  with   every   other   human   being  and  every  circumstance, 
     depend upon
                                      MAGICK
     and the right comprehension and right application thereof.



                                                                             821

     I.  DEFINITION.
                                      MAGICK
     is  the  Science  and  Art  of  causing  Change  to  occur   in   confor-
     mity with Will.

       ( Illustration:  It  is  my  Will  to inform the World of certain facts
     within  my   knowledge.   I   therefore   take   "magical weapons",   pen,
     ink,  and  paper;  I  write  "incantations"  --these sentences--  in  the
     "magical language"  i.e.  that  which  is  understood  by  the  people  I
     wish to instruct;  I call forth  "spirits", such as printers, publishers,
     booksellers,  and  so  forth,  and  constrain  them  to convey my message
     to those people.   The composition  and  distribution  of  this  book  is
     thus an act of
                                       MAGICK
     by  which  I  cause  Changes  to  take   place  in  conformity   with  my
     Will) *By "intentional" I mean  "willed".   But  even  unintentional  act
     so-seeming  are  not  truly  so.   Thus, breathing is an act of the Will-
     to-Live.*

     II.  POSTULATE.

       ANY    required   Change   may   be   effected   by   the   application
     of   the    proper   kind   and   degree   of   Force   in   the   proper
     manner  through the proper medium to the proper object.

       ( Illustration:  I  wish  to  prepare  an  ounce  of  Chloride of Gold.
     I  must  take  the  right  kind of acid, nitro-hydrochloric and no other,
     in sufficient quantity and  of  adequate  strength,  and  place  it, in a
     vessel which will not break, leak,  or  corrode,  in  such  a  manner  as
     will  not  produce  undesirable  results,  with  the  necessary  quantity
     of Gold: and so forth.  Every Change has its own conditions.

       In  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge  and   power   some changes
     are not possible in practice; we  cannot  cause  eclipses,  for instance,
     or transform  lead into tin,  or  create  men  from  mushrooms.   But  it
     is  theoretically  possible  to  cause  in any object any change of which
     that  object  is  capable  by  nature;  and the conditions are covered by
     the above postulate.)


     III.  THEOREMS.

       (1)  Every  intentional  act  is  a  Magical Act.  *In one sense Magick
     may be defined as the name given to Science by the vulgar.*
       (Illustration:  See "Definition" above.) 

       (2)  Every successful act has conformed to the postulate.

       (3)  Every failure proves that one or more requirements
     of the postulate have not been fulfilled.



                                                                             822

       ( Illustrations:  There  may  be failure  to understand  the  case;  as
     when a doctor  makes  a  wrong  diagnosis,   and  his  treatment  injures
     his  patient.   There  may  be  failure  to  apply  the   right  kind  of
     force, as when a rustic tries  to  blow  out  an  electric  light.  There
     may  be  failure  to  apply  the  right  degree  of  force,   as  when  a
     wrestler has his hold  broken.    There  may  be  failure  to  apply  the
     force  in  the  right  manner,  as  when  one  presents  a  cheque at the
     wrong  window  of  the  Bank.   There  may  be  failure  to   employ  the
     correct  medium,   as  when  Leonardo  da  Vinci  found  his  masterpiece
     fade  away.   The  force  may  be  applied  to  an  unsuitable object, as
     when one tries to crack a stone, thinking it a nut.)

       (4)  The    first    requisite    for    causing    any    change    is
     thorough   qualitative   and    quantitative   understanding    of    the
     conditions.

       (Illustration:  The  most  common  cause  of   failure   in   life   is
     ignorance  of  one's  own   True Will,   or   of   the  means by which to
     fulfil that Will.   A  man  may  fancy  himself  a  painter,   and  waste
     his  life  trying  to  become  one;  or  he  may be really a painter, and
     yet fail to understand  and  to  measure  the  difficulties  peculiar  to
     that carrier.)

       (5)  The    second   requisite   of   causing   any   change   is   the
     practical ability to set in right motion the necessary forces.

       (Illustration:  A   banker   may   have   a   perfect  grasp of a given
     situation, yet lack the quality of decision,  or  the  assets,  necessary
     to take advantage of it.)

       (6)  "Every  man   and   every   woman   is   a   star".   That  is  to
     say,  every  human  being  is  intrinsically  an  independent  individual
     with his own proper character and proper motion.

       (7)  Every   man   and   every   woman   has   a   course,    depending
     partly   on   the   self,    and   partly   on   the environment which is
     natural   and   necessary   for   each.   Anyone   who   is   forced from
     his  own   course,   either    through    not    understanding   himself,
     or  through   external  opposition,   comes   into   conflict   with  the
     order of the Universe, and suffers accordingly.

       (Illustration: A  man  may  think it  his duty to act in a certain way,
     through   having   made   a   fancy   picture   of   himself,  instead of
     investigating  his  actual  nature.   For  example,   a  woman  may  make
     herself  miserable  for  life  by  thinking  that  she  prefers  love  to
     social consideration,  or  visa  versa.   One  woman  may  stay  with  an
     unsympathetic  husband  when  she  would  really  be  happy  in  an attic
     with  a   lover,   while   another  may  fool  herself  into  a  romantic
     elopement  when   her   only  true   pleasures  are  those of presiding at
     fashionable functions.  Again,  a boy's  instinct  may  tell  him  to  go
     to  sea,  while  his  parents  insist  on his becoming a doctor.  In such
     a case, he will be both unsuccessful and unhappy in medicine.)



                                                                             823

       (8)  A man whose  conscious   will   is   at   odds   with   his   True
     Will   is   wasting   his   strength.    He   cannot   hope  to influence
     his environment efficiently.

       (Illustration:  When  Civil War  rages  in  a  nation,   it  is  in  no
     condition   to   undertake  the  invasion  of  other  countries.   A  man
     with  cancer  employs  his  nourishment  alike  to  his  own  use  and to
     that of the enemy which is a part of himself.  He soon  fails  to  resist
     the  pressure  of  his  environment.    In  practical  life, a man who is
     doing what his conscience   tells  him  to  be  wrong  will  do  it  very
     clumsily.  At first!)

       (9)  A  man  who  is  doing  his  True   Will   has   the   inertia  of
     the Universe to assist him.

       (Illustration:  The  first  principle  of  success in evolution is that
     the  individual  should  be  true  to  his  own  nature,  and at the same
     time adaot himself to his environment.)

       (10)  Nature     is     a     continuous    phenomenon,    though    we
     do   not   know    in   all   cases   how   things   are   connected.

       (Illustration:  Human  consciousness  depends  on  the   properties  of
     protoplasm,  the  existence  of  which  depends  on  innumerable physical
     conditions peculiar to this planet; and  this  planet  is  determined  by
     the mechanical  balance  of  the  whole  universe  of  matter.    We  may
     then  say  that  our  consciousness  is  causally   connected   with  the
     remotest galaxies;  yet  we  do  not  know  even  how  it  arises  from--
     or with--the molecular changes in the brain.)

       (11)  Science   enables   us   to   take   advantage   of  the  contin-
     uity    of   Nature    by   the   empirical   application   of    certain
     principles   whose   interplay    involves   different   orders  of  idea
     connected with each other in a way beyond our present comprehension.

       (Illustration: We are  able   to   light   cities   by    rule-of-thumb
     methods.   We   do   not   know   what   consciousness is,   or how it is
     connected with muscular action;  what  electricity  is  or   how   it  is
     connected   with   the   machines  that  generate  it;  and  our  methods
     depend   on   calculation   involving   mathematical   ideas   which have
     no correspondence in the Universe as   we   know   it.)  *For   instance, 
     "irrational", "unreal", and "infinite" expressions.*



                                                                             824

       (12)  Man   is   ignorant   of   the   nature   of  his  own  being and
     powers.    Even    his    idea    of    his   limitations  is   based  on
     experience   of    the    past,    and  every    step  in   his  progress
     extends   his  empire.    There  is   therefore  no   reason  to   assign
     theoretical limits to what he may be, or to what he may do.
     *i.e.,  except--possibly--in  the  case  of  logically  absurd questions,
     such as the Schoolmen discussed in connection with "God".*

       (Illustration:  A generation  ago   it   was   supposed   theoretically
     impossible  that  man  should  ever  know  the  chemical  composition  of
     the fixed stars.  It is known that our senses  are   adapted  to  receive
     only an infinitesimal fraction of the possible rates of vibration.
     Modern instruments have enabled us to   detect  some   of  these   supra-
     sensibles by indirect methods,  and even  to use their peculiar qualities
     in the service of man,  as in  the  case  of  the  rays  of   Hertz   and
     Roentgen.   As  Tyndall  said,   man  might  at   any  moment   learn   to
     perceive and utilize vibrations of  all  conceivable   and  inconceivable
     kinds.   The   question  of   Magick   is  a  question of discovering and
     employing hitherto  unknown forces   in  nature.   We   know  that   they
     exist,  and  we  cannot   doubt  the   possibility  of mental or physical
     instruments capable of bringing us into relation with them.)

       (13)   Every  man   is   more   or   less   aware   that  his individu-
     ality    comprises    several  orders   of  existence,   even  when   he
     maintains   that  his   subtler  principles   are   merely    symptomatic
     of the  changes   in  his   gross  vehicle.    A  similar  order  may  be
     assumed to extend throughout nature.

       (Illustration: One   does  not   confuse   the  pain  of toothache with
     the decay  which  causes  it.   Inanimate   objects   are  sensitive   to
     certain  physical  forces,  such  as electrical and thermal conductivity;
     but   neither   in  us   nor  in   them--so  far as we know--is there any
     direct conscious perception of  these  forces.   Imperceptible influences
     are  therefore   associated  with   all  material   phenomena;  and there
     is no reason  why  we   should  not   work  upon  matter   through  those
     subtle  energies   as  we  do  through their material bases.  In fact, we
     use   magnetic  force   to  move   iron, and solar radiation to reproduce
     images.)

       (14)  Man   is   capable   of   being,   and   using,   anything  which 
     he perceives,  for  everything   that   he  perceives  is  in  a  certain
     sense  a  part  of  his  being.    He  may  thus  subjugate   the   whole
     Universe of which he is conscious to his individual Will.

       (Illustration:   Man  has  used  the  idea   of  God  to   dictate  his
     personal  conduct,   to  obtain  power  over  his  fellows, to excuse his
     crimes,   and  for  innumerable   other   purposes,  including   that  of
     realizing  himself  as  God.   He   has  used  the  irrational and unreal
     conceptions  of  mathematics  to   help  him   in  the   construction  of
     mechanical   devices.   He  has  used  his  moral  force to influence the
     actions even of  wild  animals.    He  has  employed  poetic  genius  for
     political purposes.)



                                                                             825

       (15)  Every   force   in  the    Universe   is    capable    of   being
     transformed   into   any   other   kind   of   force   by  using suitable
     means.    There    is    thus    an    inexhaustible    supply   of   any
     particular kind of force that we may need.

       (Illustration:    Heat   may  be   transformed  into light and power by
     using   it  to   drive   dynamos.   The vibrations of the air may be used
     to   kill   men   by   so ordering  them in speech as to inflame war-like
     passions.   The   hallucinations   connected    with    the    mysterious
     energies of sex result in the perpetuation of the species.)

       (16)  The   application   of   any   given   force   affects   all  the
     orders of being  which   exist   in   the   object   to   which   it   is
     applied, whichever of those orders is directly affected.

       (Illustration:  If  I  strike   a man with a dagger, his consciousness,
     not  his  body  only,  is  affected  by  my  act; although the dagger, as
     such,  has   no  direct   relation   therewith.   Similarly, the power of
     my thought may so  work   on  the   mind  of   another   person   as   to
     produce  far-reaching   physical  changes   in  him, or in others through
     him.)

       (17) A   man   may   learn   to   use   any   force   so  as  to  serve
     any purpose, by taking advantage of the above theorems.

       (Illustration:  A  man may use a   razor to   make   himself   vigilant
     over   his   speech,   by  using it to cut himself whenever he unguardedly
     utters  a  chosen  word.   He  may  serve  the same  purpose by resolving
     that every incident of his life  shall remind him of  a particular thing,
     making  every  impression  the  starting  point  of a connected series of
     thoughts   ending   in   that  thing.   He  might  also  devote his whole
     energies to some one  particular  object,  by  resolving  to  do  nothing
     at  variance  therewith,  and  to  make  every  act turn to the advantage
     of that object.)

       (18)  He  may  attract  to  himself   any   force   of   the   Universe
     by   making   himself  a   fit   receptacle   for  it,   establishing   a
     connection   with   it,    and   arranging   conditions   so   that   its 
     nature compels it to flow toward him.

       (Illustration: If   I   want   pure   water to drink, I dig a well in a
     place   where   there   is   underground water; I prevent it from leaking
     away;   and   I   arrange   to  take advantage of water's accordance with
     the laws of Hydrostatics to fill it.)

       (19)  Man's    sense    of    himself    as    separate    from,    and
     opposed   to,   the   Universe   is   a   bar   to   his   conducting its
     currents.  It insulates him.

       (Illustration:   A   popular   leader   is   most   successful  when he
     forgets himself,   and   remembers  only   "The   Cause".    Self-seeking
     engenders   jealousies   and   schism.   When   the   organs  of the body
     assert their presence  otherwise  than by  silent  satisfaction,  it is a
     sign   that   they   are  diseased.  The single exception is the organ of
     reproduction.   Yet   even  in this case its self-assertion bears witness
     to  its  dissatisfaction with itself, since it cannot fulfil its function
     until completed by its counterpart in another organism.)



                                                                             826

       (20)    Man   can   only   attract    and   employ   the   forces   for
     which he is really fitted.

       (Illustration: You   cannot   make  a  silk purse out of a sow's ear. A
     true   man   of   science   learns   from   every phenomenon.  But Nature
     is dumb to the hypocrite; for in her  ther is nothing false.)
     *It is  no objection  that the hypocrite is himself a part of Nature.  He
     is  an "endothermic"  product, divided against itself, with a tendency to
     break  up.   He  will see his own qualities everywhere, and thus obtain a
     radical  misconception  of  phenomena.   Most  religions of the past have
     failed  by  expecting  Nature  to  conform  with  their  ideals of proper 
     conduct.*

       (21)  There   is   no   limit   to   the   extent   of the relations of
     any man with  the   Universe   in   essence;   for   as   soon   as   man
     makes   himself   one   with   any   idea   the   means   of  measurement
     cease to exist.  But his power  to   utilize   that   force   is  limited
     by   his   mental   power   and   capacity,   and   by  the circumstances
     of his human environment.

       (Illustration:   When   a   man   falls   in   love,   the  whole world
     becomes,   to him,   nothing   but   love   boundless   and immanent; but
     his mystical state is  not  contagious;   his   fellow-men   are   either
     amused   or   annoyed.   He   can  only extend to others the effect which
     his   love   has   had  upon  himself by means of his mental and physical
     qualities.  Thus,  Catullus,  Dante  and  Swinburne  made  their  love  a
     mighty   mover  of  mankind  by  virtue  of  their  power  to  put  their
     thoughts  on  the  subject  in  musical  and  eloquent  language.  Again,
     Cleopatra  and   other  people  in  authority  moulded  the  fortunes  of
     many  other  people  by   allowing  love  to  influence  their  political
     actions.  The Magician, however well he   succeed   in   making   contact
     with  the  secret  sources  of energy in nature, can only use them to the
     extent permitted by his intellectual and moral qualities.
     Mohammed's  intercourse   with   Gabriel   was   only   effective because
     of  his  statesmanship,  soldiership,  and  the  sublimity of his command
     of  Arabic.   Hertz's  discovery  of  the  rays  which  we  now  use  for
     wireless  telepathy  was  sterile  until  reflected   through  the  minds
     and  wills   of  people   who  could   take  his  truth,  and transmit it
     to the  world  of  action   by   means   of   mechanical   and   economic
     instruments.)

       (22)  Every individual is essentially sufficient to himself.
     But   he   is   unsatisfactory   to   himself   until he has  established
     himself in his right relation with the Universe.

       (Illustration:  A  microscope,  however  perfect,  is  useless  in  the
     hands  of  savages.   A  poet,  however  sublime,   must  impose  himself
     upon his generation if   he   is   to   enjoy   (and   even   understand)
     himself, as theoretically should be the case.)

       (23)  Magick   is   the   Science   of    understanding   oneself   and
     one's conditions.    It    is   the   Art   of   applying   that   under-
     standing in action.

       (Illustration: A  golf  club  is  intended  to move a special ball in a
     special way in  special   circumstances.   A  Niblick  should  rarely  be
     used  on  the  tee,  or  a  Brassie  under  the  bank  of  a bunker.  But
     also, the use of any club demands skill and experience.)



                                                                             827

       (24)  Every man has an indefeasible right to be what he is.

       (Illustration:  To  insist  that any  one  else shall comply with one's
     own standards is to outrage,  not  only  him,  but  oneself,  since  both
     parties are equally born of necessity.)

       (25)  Every    man    must   do   Magick   each   time   he   acts   or
     even   thinks,   since   a   thought   is   an   internal    act    whose
     influence   ultimately    affects   action,   though   it  may   not   do
     so at the time.

       (Illustration:   The   least   gesture   causes   in   a   man's    own
     body and in the air around him;  it   disturbs   the   balance   of   the
     entire  Universe,  and  its  effects  continue  eternally  throughout all
     space.   Every  thought,  however  swiftly  suppressed,  has  its  effect
     on  the  mind.   It  stands  as  one  of  the  causes of every subsequent
     thought, and tends  to  influence  every  subsequent  action.   A  golfer
     may  lose  a  few  yards  on  his  drive,  a few more with his second and
     third, he may lie on the green six bare inches  too far  from  the  hole;
     but the net result of these  trifling  mishaps  is  the  difference  of a
     whole  stroke,  and  so  probably  between   halving   and   losing   the 
     hole.)

       (26)  Every   man   has   a   right,   the   right   of  self-preserva-
     tion, to fulfil himself to  the  utmost. *Men  of  "criminal nature"  are
     simply  at  issue  with  their  True Wills.  The murderer has the Will-to
     -Live;  and  his  will  to  murder  is  a false will at variance with his 
     true  Will,  since  he  risks  death  at  the hands of Society by obeying  
     his criminal impulse*

       (Illustration:  A   function   imperfectly   performed   injures,   not
     only itself,  but  everything associated with it.  If the heart is afraid
     to  beat  for  fear  of  disturbing  the  liver, the liver is starved for
     blood, and avenges itself on the  heart  by  upsetting  digestion,  which
     disorders respiration, on which cardiac welfare depends.)

       (27)  Every   man   should   make   Magick   the   keynote    of    his
     life.  He should learn its laws and live by them.

       (Illustration: The Banker should   discover   the   real   meaning   of
     his   existence,   the   real motive which led him to choose that profes-
     sion.   He  should  understand  banking  as  a  necessary  factor  in the
     economic   existence   of  mankind,  instead  of  as  merely  a  business
     whose  objects  are   independent   of   the  general welfare.  He should
     learn  to  distinguish  false  values  from  real,  and  to  act  not  on
     accidental fluctuations  but on  considerations   of   essential   impor-
     tance.   Such  a  banker  will  prove himself superior to others; because
     he  will  not  be  an  individual  limited  by  transitory  things, but a
     force of Nature, as impersonal, impartial and  eternal  as   gravitation,
     as  patient  and  irresistible  as  the  tides.   His  system will not be
     subject  to  panic,  any  more  than  the  law  of   Inverse  Squares  is
     disturbed by Elections.  He will not  be  anxious   about   his   affairs
     because  they will not be his;  and  for  that reason  he will be able to
     direct   them   with   the  calm, clear-headed confidence of an onlooker,
     with  intelligence  unclouded   by  self-interest   and  power  unimpaired
     by passion.)

       (28)  Every   man   has   a   right   to   fulfil  his own will without



                                                                             828

     being   afraid  that   it   may   interfere  with  that   of  others; for
     if he is in his proper place, it  is  the   fault   of   others  if  they
     interfere with him.

       (Illustration:   If  a   man   like  Napoleon  were  actually appointed
     by destiny to   control   Europe,   he   should   not   be   blamed   for
     exercising   his   rights.    To   oppose   him   would be an error.  Any
     one so doing would have made a   mistake   as   to   his   own   destiny,
     except  in  so  far  as  it  might  be  necessary  for  him  to learn the
     lessons of defeat.  The sun moves in space without interference.
     The   order  of  Nature  provides  an  orbit  for  each  star.   A  clash
     proves   that   one   or  the  other has strayed from its course.  But as
     to  each  man  that  keeps  his true course, the more firmly he acts, the
     less  likely  are  others  to  get  in  his  way.   His example will help
     them  to  find  their  own  paths  and  pursue  them.    Every  man  that
     becomes a Magician  helps   others  to  do  likewise.   The  more  firmly
     and  surely  men  move,  and  the  more  such  action  is excepted as the
     standard  of  morality,  the less  will  conflict  and  confusion  hamper
     humanity.)
                                   ---------- 
            
       I   hope   that   the  above    principles    will    demonstrate    to
                                      ALL
     that their welfare, their very existence, is bound up in
                                    MAGICK.
     I trust that they will understand, not only the reasonableness, but
     the necessity of the fundamental truth which I was the means of
     giving to mankind:

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

     I trust that they will  assert  themselves as individually absolute, that
     they will grasp the fact that it is their right to assert themselves, and
     to  accomplish  the  task  for  which their nature fits them.  Yea, more,
     that this is their  duty,   and  that  not  only  to  themselves  but  to
     others,  a  duty   founded   upon   universal   necessity,  and not to be
     shirked on account of  any  casual  circumstances  of  the  moment  which
     may  seem  to  put  such  contact  in  the light of inconvenience or even
     of cruelty.

       I   hope   that  the  principles  outlined  above  will  help  them  to
     understand   this  book,  and  prevent  them  from  being  deterred  from
     its  study  by  the  more  or  less  technical  language  in  which it is
     written.

       The essence of
                                      MAGICK
     is  simple  enough  in  all conscience.  It is not otherwise with the art
     of  government.    The  Aim  is  simply  prosperity;  but  the  theory  is
     tangled, and the practice beset with briars.



                                                                             829

       In the same way
                                      MAGICK
     is  merely  to  be and  to do.   I  should add:  "to suffer".  For Magick
     is the verb; and it is part of the Training to  use  the  passive  voice.
     This is,  however,  a matter  of  Initiation  rather  than  of  Magick in
     its ordinary sense.  It is not my fault if being is baffling,  and  doing
     desperate!

       Yet,  once  the  above  principles  are firmly fixed in the mind, it is
     easy  enough  to  sum  up  the   situation   very   shortly.   One   must
     find  out  for  oneself,  and  make  sure  beyond doubt, WHO one is, WHAT
     one  is,  WHY  one  is.   This  done,  one  may  put  the  Will  which is
     implicit in the "Why"  into  words,  or  rather  into  One  Word.   Being
     thus  conscious  of  the  proper  course  to pursue, the next thing is to
     understand   the   conditions  necessary  to  following  it  out.   After
     that,  one   must   eliminate   from   oneself   every   element alien or
     hostile to success,  and  develop   those  parts  of  oneself  which  are
     specially needed to control the aforesaid conditions.

       Let   us   make   an   analogy.   A   nation  must  become aware of its
     own character before it can be  said  to  exist.   From   that  knowledge
     it  must  divine  its  destiny.    It  must  then consider  the political
     conditions of the world; how  other  countries  may  help  it  or  hinder
     it.  It  must  then  destroy  in  itself any elements discordant with its
     destiny.   Lastly,  it  must develop in itself those qualities which will
     enable   it   to  combat   successfully   the  external  conditions which
     threaten to oppose  its  purpose.   We  have  had a  recent   example  in
     the  case  of   the   young  German  Empire,   which,  knowing itself and
     its   will,   disciplined    and  trained itself so that it conquered the
     neighbors  which   had  oppressed   it  for   so  many   centuries.   But
     after  1866   and   1870,   1914!   It  mistook itself for superhuman, it
     willed a thing impossible, it failed  to  eliminate   its   own  internal
     jealousies,  it   failed  to understand the conditions of victory, it did
     not  train  itself  to  hold  the  sea,  and thus,  having violated every
     principle of
                                     MAGICK,
     it  was  pulled  down  and  broken   into  pieces  by  provincialism  and
     democracy, so  that  neither   individual  excellence  nor  civic  virtue
     has  yet  availed  to  raise  it  again to that majestic unity which made
     so bold a bid for the  mastery  of  the  race of man.*At least it allowed
     England to discover its intentions, and  so  to combine the world against
     it.*



                                                                             830

       The   sincere   student   will  discover,  behind  the symbolic techni-
     calities   of   this  book,  a  practical  method  of  making  himself  a
     Magician.   The  processes  described  will  enable  him  to discriminate
     between  what   he   actually  is,   and  what  he  has  fondly  imagined 
     himself  to  be. *Professeur  Sigmund Freud and his school have, in recent
     years, discovered a part of this body of Truth,  which  has  been  taught
     for many centuries in the  Sanctuaries of  Initiation.   But  failure  to 
     grasp  the  fullness  of  Truth,  especially  that  implied  in  my Sixth 
     Theorem (above) and its corollaries, has led him and his  followers  into
     the error of admitting that the avowedly suicidal "Censor"  is the proper
     arbiter of conduct.  Official psycho-analysis is therefore  committed  to 
     upholding a fraud,  although  the  foundation  of  the  science  was  the 
     observation  of  the  disastrous effects on the individual of being false 
     to  his  Unconscious Self, whose "writing on the wall" in dream language
     is  the  record of the sum of the essential tendencies of the true nature
     of  the  individual.   The  result  has  been  that  psycho-analysts have
     misinterpreted life, and announced the absurdity that  every  human  being 
     is essentially an  anti-social,  criminal,  and  insane  animal.   It  is 
     evident  that the  errors of the Unconscious of which the psycho-analysts
     complain  are  neither  more  nor  less  than  the  "original sin" of the 
     theologians whom they despise so heartily.*   He must  behold his soul in 
     all its awful nakedness, he must not  fear  to  look  on  that  appalling 
     actuality.  He must discard the  gaudy  garments  with  which  shame  has 
     screened  him;  he  must  accept  the  fact  that  nothing  can  make him
     anything but what  he  is.    He  may  lie  to  himself,   drug  himself,
     hide himself;  but he is  always  there.   Magick  will  teach  him  that
     his  mind  is  playing  him  a traitor.  It is as if a man were told that
     tailors'  fashion-plates  were   the   canon   of    human    beauty,  so
     that he  tried  to  make  himself formless  and  featureless  like  them,
     and shuddered with horror at  the  idea  of  Holbein  making  a  portrait
     of  him.   Magick  will  show  him  the  beauty  and  majesty of the self
     which he has tried to suppress and disguise.

       Having discovered his identity, he  will  soon  perceive  his  purpose.
     Another   process   will   show   him  how  to  make  that  purpose  pure
     and  powerful.   He  may  then  learn  how  to  estimate   his   environ-
     ment, learn how to make allies,  how  to  make  himself  prevail  against
     all powers whose error has caused them to wander across his path.

       In  the  course  of  this  Training,  he  will  learn  to  explore  the
     Hidden-Mysteries   of   Nature,   and   to   develop   new   senses   and
     faculties  in   himself,   whereby   he   may   communicate   with,   and
     control,  Beings  and  Forces  pertaining  to  orders  of existence which
     have been hitherto  inaccessible  to  profane  research,   and  available
     only to that unscientific and empirical
                                      MAGICK 
     (of tradition)  which  I  came  to destroy in order that I might fulfil.



                                                                             831

       I send  this  book  into  the  world  that  every  man  and  woman  may
     take  hold  of  life  in  the  proper  manner.   It  does  not  matter if
     one's present house of  flesh  be  the  hut  of  a  shepherd;  by  virtue
     of my
                                      MAGICK
     he  shall  be  such  a  shepherd  as David was.  If it be the studio of a
     sculptor, he shall so chisel from  himself  the  marble  that  masks  his
     idea that he shall be no less a master than Rodin.
       Witness mine hand:
     TO MEGA THERION  (in Greek)  (zayin, vav, yod, resh tav):  The Beast 666;
     MAGUS 9=2  A.'. A.'.   who   is   The   Word   of   the   Aeon   THELEMA;
     whose   name   is   called   V.V.V.V.V.  8=3   A.'. A.'.  in  the City of
     the Pyramids; OU MH 7=4; OL SONUF VAORESAGI 6=5,  and   ..... .....   5=6
     A.'. A.'. in the Mountain of Abeignus:  but  FRATER PERDUABO in the Outer
     Order or the A.'. A.'. and in the World  of men upon the  Earth, Alleister
     Crowley of Trinity College, Cambridge. 



                                                                             832

                                    Laws of Magick 
                                          by
                                     Simon Magus

     Magick,  not unlike  physics or  chemistry, operates  according to  certain
     laws.  These laws, as well as those of the sciences, reside in reality
     within  the heads of those who use them.   However, the analysis of reality
     into  artificial categories is  useful at certain  levels of investigation.
     It is well to bear in mind, nevertheless, that such categories reflect more
     the contents of the human mind than they do of whatever "reality" might  be
     out there.

     For the  following  analysis  we  are indebted  to  REAL  MAGIC  by  P.E.I.
     Bonewits.   Mr  Bonewits, incidentally,  holds the  first Bachelor  of Arts
     degree  in magic(k) ever awarded.   He, much to the  chagrin of some of the
     faculty of the University  of California, was awarded  the degree in  June,
     1970.

                               LAW OF CAUSE AND EFFECT
     Anything done under EXACTLY the same conditions will always be associated
     with  exactly  the same  result.   This  law is  taken  for granted  in the
     sciences and in everyday  life.  The whole  concept of causation is  now on
     shaky ground,  thanks to developments in the field of quantum physics.  But
     for  practical purposes,  in magick as  well as  in our  everyday lives, we
     ignore causality  to our own  peril.  We  must assume, at least  in dealing
     with things  the size of human beings, that effects follow causes.  Even in
     the constantly flowing, changing astral realm we find the law  of cause and
     effect in full operation.
          
                                   LAW OF KNOWLEDGE
     This  law tells us that  "understanding brings control,"  that the more you
     know the more  powerful you are.  If you know all about something, you have
     total control over it.  "Knowledge is power."

                                LAW OF SELF-KNOWLEDGE
     This is a  sub-law of the previous  law and follows from  it.  If you  know
     yourself, you control yourself.  The more you know about yourself, the
     better you can control yourself.

                                     LAW OF NAMES
     This law is related to the Law of Knowledge and to  the Law of Association.
     It  states if  one knows  the whole  and complete  name of a  phenomenon or
     entity, one  has complete control over it.  This  is one of the reasons the
     Mystery  Religions (including  Christianity) conferred  a  new name  on the
     neophyte.  His new  name was then his true  name, but it was known  only to
     his fellow members  of the mystery.  The  Law of Names also relates  to the
     Law of Personification which will be explained later.  Two premises  behind
     the present law are:  (1) Names are definitions.   This is more  obvious in
     simpler languages, but it is as true of English as of any other.  Sometimes
     the  definition is hidden in  the origin of the word,  as is often the case
     with  those derived from  Latin or Greek, but  it is there.   (2) Names are
     mnemonic (memory) devices which trigger a range of associations.   (See the
     Law of Association).
                         



                                                                             833

                                LAW OF WORDS OF POWER
     This is a sublaw of the Law of Names.  It states that certain words trigger
     changes  in the inner and outer realities  of the person saying them.  Many
     of these words are corruptions of the names of ancient Gods.  Words like
     "Abraxas,"  Osorronnophris,"  "Abracadabra" are  examples.    They have  no
     meaning to us today, but THEIR POWER LIES IN THE SOUNDS OF THE WORDS
     THEMSELVES.

                                  LAW OF ASSOCIATION
     If two things have something in  common (anything!), that thing can be used
     to control both.  Bell's theorem in quantum mechanics indicates that every
     particle in the Universe affects every other.  The following two sublaws,
     which anthropologists think are the basis of "primitive" magick, are more
     useful in practice.  These are the Laws of Similarity and Contagion.

                                  LAW OF SIMILARITY
     Most  people have  heard  of sympathetic  magick, which  is  based on  this
     principle.  Effects resemble causes.   To make something fly, put  feathers
     on it and make chirping noises.  Wave it in the air.  The example is not
     entirely absurd and serves to illustrate the principle.  Much of the magick
     of "primitive" people  is of this  nature.   For example, rain  is made  by
     (among other  actions) sprinkling water on  the ground (or by  washing your
     car -- a modern example of the same principle!).

                                   LAW OF CONTAGION
     This  is the principle behind doll-sticking and such in "primitive" magick.
     This directly  relates to  Bell's theorem  and states  that things once  in
     physical contact continue  to influence  one another after  they have  been
     separated.  This relates more to our consciousness than to things as
     they are in the physical world, but defining the two is more difficult than
     they   appear  on  the  surface.     Thinking,  feeling,   and  memory  are
     associational  functions of  the human  brain.   New  data  are related  to
     existing knowledge and patterns  are established which correlate particular
     elements  of   knowledge.    The   overall  pattern,  which   includes  the
     "personality" and  the "world view" is  the METAPATTERN of all  this.  This
     metapattern we may consider to be made up of the  memories, fantasy images,
     beliefs, values, techniques, rules of  behavior, attitudes, etc. which make
     up the individuality of the person.
                          
                                LAW OF IDENTIFICATION
     This law  relates to those  of Knowledge, Association  and Personification.
     It states that by complete association between your metapattern and that of
     another entity, you can BECOME that entity.  You can then examine your own
     metapattern from the point of view of that entity.  At full identification,
     one "becomes" the entity.  All idea of distinctness vanishes and you are
     empowered  with all  the  attributes of  that entity  because you  ARE that
     entity.    The danger  here  is that  many people  become  lost in  the new
     identity  as  the  stronger  metapattern  submerges  the  weaker.    Proper
     training, practice and guidance will lessen the danger.



                                                                             834

                                   LAW OF SYNTHESIS
     Two opposing ideas or items of data will be resolved into a third idea that
     is more valid than the first two.  This principle allows you to hold two
     seemingly contradictory ideas (such as, "Electrons are particles," and
     "Electrons are waves.") at the same time.  Reality is as it is, not as we
     conceive  it  (or  even  as  we  perceive  it,  for  that   matter).    The
     wave-particle duality in physics is an example.  Physicists were nonplussed
     to  observe in  their  experiments that  light  behaved (depending  on  the
     experiment) sometimes  like a wave  and sometimes like  a particle.   Light
     striking a surface  of copper,  say, releases electrons  from the  surface.
     This  phenomenon, when examined closely, demonstrates that light is made up
     of particles (now called photons) which impart energy to the electrons,
     allowing them to escape.  However, another experiment, in which we direct
     a beam of light at some pinholes, "proves" that light is of the nature of
     waves.  If we direct a beam of light at an arrangement of pinholes:

     ---------------------------------------
     I          I                          I
     I          I                          I
     I          I               screen-->  I
     I          I                          I
     I                <--pinhole           I
     I          I                          I
     I          I                          I
                I                          I
     LIGHT      I                          I
                I                          I
     I          I                          I
     I          I                          I
     I                <--pinhole           I
     I          I                          I
     I          I                          I
     I          I                          I
     I          I                          I
     ---------------------------------------

     assuming that we have a beam  of "parallel" light (a plane wavefront),
     we see the light projected onto the screen.  If we cover one of the
     pinholes, we see a single  illuminated spot on the screen.  If  wwe uncover
     the  first  and cover  the  second  pinhole, we  again  see  a single  spot
     projected onto the  screen.  Now, if we  uncover both pinholes, what  do we
     see?  Two spots  of light?  No!  We see a  pattern of alternating light and
     dark bands on  the screen.  This phenomenon is  due to INTERFERENCE between
     the crests and  troughs of the  WAVES of light  as they strike  the screen.
     When two crests occur  together, or two troughs, the amplitude  is doubled,
     and we get a bright area. But when a crest and trough coincide, they cancel
     each  other,  and  the  result  is  a  dark  spot  of  zero  amplitude  (no
     brightness).   The point of all this  is that interference is necessarily a
     WAVE phenomenon.   The experiment  demonstrates the wave  nature of  light.
     How do  we resolve  the dilemma?   By  realizing that  we are dealing  with
     something that is neither a wave nor a particle, but SOMETHING ELSE.



                                                                             835

                          Mayan Deities 

                      From Sekhet Bast Ra Lodge

          The contents of this file is derived from the research
     resources from within our lodge and is the sole property of
     Sekhet Bast Ra Lodge.  Copyright 1987.


                                 777
                              Column XXV
                            Mayan Deities


     Key Scale  -  Mayan Deities  -  Explanation

      0  -  Itzam Na  -  This diety encompasses all deities yet this
                       Diety is beyond all comprehension.

      1  -  Itzam Na  -  "one" or "unique"  He is the greatest of
                         the Gods.
            Hunab Ku  -  "All powerful God of no Image"  I listed
                         this diety although information shows
                         this diety did not exist until after the
                         Spanish Conquest.  It probabily came
                         about due to christian influence.
       
       2  -  Ohoroxtotil  -  Father of the Sun.
             Ben Ich      -  "He of the Starry Sky"  He is a
                             great infinite Jaguar (his spots are
                             thought to be stars and planets).

       3  -  Ix Chebel Yax  -  Mother of the Sun.
             Ix Hun Zipit   -  Lady of the Sea.

       4  -  Kunku Chacs  -  'Kun' means "kindly" or "tender"
                             'Ku' means "God".

       5  -  Ah Hadz'en Caan Chacs  -  "Lash" The Sky God.

       6  -  Ah Kin  -  "He of the Sun".

       7  -  Ix Ahau  -  "Mistress"  She is the Mistress of
                         Creative Arts and the Master of Weaving
                         (she like Athene, in the Greek myths,
                         worked her magick on the loom).

       8  -  Ah Kin  -  as the Patron of Knowledge and Power.

       9  -  XAhau  -  "Lady Ahau"  Moon Goddess  Wife of Ah Kin
                       (the Sun God).

      10  -  Cobel Cab  -  Mistress of the Earth.
             Ix Tan Dz'onot  -  The Child of She who Sits in the
                                Mud, the Child of She who emerges
                                from the Sand.



                                                                             836

      11  -  Acan  -  God of Wine (Actually he rules over
                      intoxicating drinks such as beer, wine,
                      Kola, etc.)  He is known for his loud
                      "bellowing" and his foolish behavior
                      He is Cacoch's aid (Cacoch is a God of
                      Creation).

      12  -  Ah Kin Xoc  -  'Ah kin' means "Priest".  'Xoc' means
                            "to count or read".  He is a great
                            singer, musician, and poet.  He won
                            the respect of the Sun God when he
                            took the guise of a Hummingbird and
                            wooed the Moon Goddess.  Husband of
                            the Plumeria, the sacred flower of
                            Itzam Na (this flower rules Divine
                            Sexuality, its colors are red and
                            white).  This Flower contained the
                            secret of Truth and Immortality.

      13  -  Ix Chel  -  Moon Goddess  She rules over Pro-
                         creation, birth, medicine, and wisdom.
                         She is a Virgin but she had a secret
                         cult which she is regarded as a Sacred
                         Mistress to Itzam Na.

      14  -  Ix Ahau Na  -  "Palace-Lady".

      15  -  Canan Chul Chan  -  Guardian of Holy Sky.  "Big
                                 Star".

      16  -  Itzam Na Kinch Ahau  -  Old Sun God of balanced
                                     judgement.  Ruler of the
                                     Bacabs (Elements).

      17  -  Xbalanque & Hunahpu  -  Twin Heros Brothers who
                                     heard the Divine Call of
                                     Itzam Na which lead them to
                                     destroy the False Ones who
                                     had exalted themselves and
                                     deceived some Mayas to
                                     worship them; and defeated
                                     the Lords of Death.

      18  -  Nucuch Chacob  -  "The Great Chacs"  Four horsemen
                               who are the Rain Gods.  They
                               bring Water of Life from the
                               Gods to the Maya.

      19  -  Balanke  -  "Jaguar-Sun"  This aspect of the Sun is
                         the essence of Strenght (warrior-type
                         strenght).  He is considered a Great
                         Breast.  All His Priests and Priestesses
                         are His harlots.

      20  -  Xob  -  Mother of Maize.  All Maize Deities sprang
                     from Her seed (literally corn seed).



                                                                             837

      21  -  Ek Chuah  -  He is the Merchant Diety, but most im-
                          portantly is ruled the cacao which was
                          the Mayan's biggest trade commodity.

      22  -  Itzam Na  -  as Great God who oversees Justice
                          between the Gods and the Mayan who
                          worships the Gods.
      


      23  -  Ku Kulcan  -  The Aztecs called Him "Quetzalcoatl". 
                          He is the God of Self-sacrifice which
                          was done so the Maya could survive
                          and gain acknowledgement of Itzam Na.
                          Some myths place Him as the Judge of
                          the dead (but I would take this with
                          a gain of salt).

      24  -  Yum Cimil  -  "Lord of Death".

      25  -  Zip  -  Protector of the Deer (according to myth
                     the Deer created the Vagina of the Moon
                     Goddess by stepping on Her abdomen and then
                     she was able to bear children of the Sun
                     God. Note the sole of deer's foot looks like
                     a Vagina).  Zip would deceive hunters to
                     believe he was shooting a deer when in fact
                     it was a iguana (a sacred animal of Itzam
                     Na; to kill one incites the Death penalty).
                     To those who gained Zip's Favor meant a
                     successful hunt.

      26  -  Ah Ahaah Cab  -  "Awakener"  He is associated with
                              the Morning Star (Venus).

      27  -  Cit Chac Coh  -  "Father Red Great Puma"  The Lord
                              God of War.
             Buluc Chabtan  -  The God of Human Sacrifice and War.

      28  -  Bolon Tzcab  -  The Ruling-Lineage Diety.  He kept the
                             Line of Itzam Na pure and made sure the
                             Nobility of the Maya was strong.

      29  -  XAhau  -  as Moon Goddess.

      30  -  Kinich Ahau  -  "Sun-Eyed Lord"   It is said He had
                             a golden Sun eye (some say it was
                             almond eye) at the place of His
                             Ajna Chakra.

      31  -  Hun Kak  -  "Unique Fire"  The Divine Fire that
                         consumes all what ever remains is
                         prepared for Divinity.

      32  -  Ben Ich  -  "He of the Starry Sky"



                                                                             838

                              A Celebration of
                               M A Y   D A Y
                       --by Gwydion Cinhil Kirontin
        
                      *     *     *     *     *     *
                     "Perhaps its just as well that you
                   won't be here...to be offended by the
                    sight of our May Day celebrations."
                      --Lord Summerisle to Sgt. Howie
                           from "The Wicker Man"
                      *     *     *     *     *     *
        
         There are four great festivals of the Pagan Celtic year and 
     the modern Witch's calendar, as well.  The two greatest of these 
     are Halloween (the beginning of winter) and May Day (the 
     beginning of summer).  Being opposite each other on the wheel of 
     the year, they separate the year into halves.  Halloween (also 
     called Samhain) is the Celtic New Year and is generally 
     considered the more important of the two, though May Day runs a 
     close second.  Indeed, in some areas -notably Wales - it is 
     considered the great holiday.  
        
         May Day ushers in the fifth month of the modern calendar 
     year, the month of May.  This month is named in honor of the 
     goddess Maia, originally a Greek mountain nymph, later identified 
     as the most beautiful of the Seven Sisters, the Pleiades.  By 
     Zeus, she is also the mother of Hermes, god of magic.  Maia's 
     parents were Atlas and Pleione, a sea nymph.  
        
         The old Celtic name for May Day is Beltane (in its most 
     popular Anglicized form), which is derived from the Irish Gaelic 
     "Bealtaine" or the Scottish Gaelic "Bealtuinn", meaning "Bel-
     fire", the fire of the Celtic god of light (Bel, Beli or 
     Belinus).  He, in turn, may be traced to the Middle Eastern god 
     Baal.  
        
         Other names for May Day include: Cetsamhain ("opposite 
     Samhain"), Walpurgisnacht (in Germany), and Roodmas (the medieval 
     Church's name).  This last came from Church Fathers who were 
     hoping to shift the common people's allegiance from the Maypole 
     (Pagan lingam - symbol of life) to the Holy Rood (the Cross - 
     Roman instrument of death).  
        
         Incidentally, there is no historical justification for 
     calling May 1st "Lady Day".  For hundreds of years, that title 
     has been proper to the Vernal Equinox (approx. March 21st), 
     another holiday sacred to the Great Goddess.  The nontraditional 
     use of "Lady Day" for May 1st is quite recent (within the last 15 
     years), and seems to be confined to America, where it has gained 
     widespread acceptance among certain segments of the Craft 
     population.  This rather startling departure from tradition would 
     seem to indicate an unfamiliarity with European calendar customs, 
     as well as a lax attitude toward scholarship among too many 
     Pagans.  A simple glance at a dictionary ("Webster's 3rd" or 
     O.E.D.), encyclopedia ("Benet's"), or standard mythology 
     reference (Jobe's "Dictionary of Mythology, Folklore & Symbols") 
     would confirm the correct date for Lady Day as the Vernal 
     Equinox.  



                                                                             839

         By Celtic reckoning, the actual Beltane celebration begins on 
     sundown of the preceding day, April 30, because the Celts always 
     figured their days from sundown to sundown.  And sundown was the 
     proper time for Druids to kindle the great Bel-fires on the tops 
     of the nearest beacon hill (such as Tara Hill, Co. Meath, in 
     Ireland).  These "need-fires" had healing properties, and sky-
     clad Witches would jump through the flames to ensure protection.  
        
                      *     *     *     *     *     * 
                      Sgt. Howie (shocked):  "But they 
                      are naked!"
                      Lord Summerisle:  "Naturally.  
                      It's much too dangerous to jump 
                      through the fire with your 
                      clothes on!"
                      *     *     *     *     *     *
        
         Frequently, cattle would be driven between two such bon-fires 
     (oak wood was the favorite fuel for them) and, on the morrow, 
     they would be taken to their summer pastures.  
        
         Other May Day customs include: processions of chimney-sweeps 
     and milk maids, archery tournaments, morris dances, sword dances, 
     feasting, music, drinking, and maidens bathing their faces in the 
     dew of May morning to retain their youthful beauty.  
        
         In the words of Witchcraft writers Janet and Stewart Farrar, 
     the Beltane celebration was principly a time of "...unashamed 
     human sexuality and fertility."  Such associations include the 
     obvious phallic symbolism of the Maypole and riding the hobby 
     horse.  Even a seemingly innocent children's nursery rhyme, "Ride 
     a cock horse to Banburry Cross..." retain such memories.  And the 
     next line "...to see a fine Lady on a white horse" is a reference 
     to the annual ride of "Lady Godiva" though Coventry.  Every year 
     for nearly three centuries, a sky-clad village maiden (elected 
     Queen of the May) enacted this Pagan rite, until the Puritans put 
     an end to the custom.  
        
         The Puritans, in fact, reacted with pious horror to most of 
     the May Day rites, even making Maypoles illegal in 1644.  They 
     especially attempted to suppress the "greenwood marriages" of 
     young men and women who spent the entire night in the forest, 
     staying out to greet the May sunrise, and bringing back boughs of 
     flowers and garlands to decorate the village the next morning.  
     One angry Puritan wrote that men "doe use commonly to runne into 
     woodes in the night time, amongst maidens, to set bowes, in so 
     muche, as I have hearde of tenne maidens whiche went to set May, 
     and nine of them came home with childe."  And another Puritan 
     complained that, of the girls who go into the woods, "not the 
     least one of them comes home again a virgin." 
        



                                                                             840

         Long after the Christian form of marriage (with its 
     insistence on sexual monogamy) had replaced the older Pagan 
     handfasting, the rules of strict fidelity were always relaxed for 
     the May Eve rites.  Names such as Robin Hood, Maid Marion, and 
     Little John played an important part in May Day folklore, often 
     used as titles for the dramatis personae of the celebrations.  
     And modern surnames such as Robinson, Hodson, Johnson, and Godkin 
     may attest to some distant May Eve spent in the woods.  
        
         These wildwood antics have inspired writers such as Kipling: 
        
                   Oh, do not tell the Priest our plight,
                       Or he would call it a sin;
                   But we have been out in the woods all night,
                       A-conjuring Summer in!
        
     And Lerner and Lowe:
        
                      It's May!  It's May!
                      The lusty month of May!...
                   Those dreary vows that ev'ryone takes,
                      Ev'ryone breaks.
                      Ev'ryone makes divine mistakes!
                      The lusty month of May!
        
         It is certainly no accident that Queen Guinevere's 
     "abduction" by Meliagrance occurs on May 1st when she and the 
     court have gone a-Maying, or that the usually efficient Queen's 
     guard, on this occasion, rode unarmed.  
        
         Some of these customs seem virtually identical to the old 
     Roman feast of flowers, the Floriala, three days of unrestrained 
     sexuality which began at sundown April 28th and reached a 
     crescendo on May 1st.  
        
         By the way, due to various calendrical changes down through 
     the centuries, the traditional date of Beltane is not the same as 
     its astrological date.  This date, like all astronomically 
     determined dates, may vary by a day or two depending on the year.  
     However, it may be calculated easily enough by determining the 
     date on which the sun is at 15 degrees Taurus.  British Witches 
     often refer to this date as Old Beltane, and folklorists call it 
     Beltane O.S. ("Old Style").  Some Covens prefer to celebrate on 
     the old date and, at the very least, it gives one options.  If a 
     Coven is operating on "Pagan Standard Time" and misses May 1st 
     altogether, it can still throw a viable Beltane bash as long as 
     it's before this date.  This may also be a consideration for 
     Covens that need to organize activities around the week-end.  
        



                                                                             841

         This date has long been considered a "power point" of the 
     Zodiac, and is symbolized by the Bull, one of the four 
     "tetramorph" figures featured on the Tarot cards the World and 
     the Wheel of Fortune.  (The other three are the Lion, the Eagle, 
     and the Spirit.) Astrologers know these four figures as the 
     symbols of the four "fixed" signs of the Zodiac (Taurus, Leo, 
     Scorpio, and Aquarius, respectively), and these naturally align 
     with the four Great Sabbats of Witchcraft.  Christians have 
     adopted the same iconography to represent the four gospel-
     writers.  
        
         But for most, it is May 1st that is the great holiday of 
     flowers, Maypoles, and greenwood frivolity.  It is no wonder 
     that, as recently as 1977, Ian Anderson could pen the following 
     lyrics for Jethro Tull: 
        
                 For the May Day is the great day,
                 Sung along the old straight track.
                 And those who ancient lines did ley
                 Will heed this song that calls them back.

                                  THE END
        
     P.S.--I would be glad of any comments, corrections, additions, 
     etc. regarding this article.  Please E-mail them to Mike Nichols 
     (a.k.a. Gwydion Cinhil Kirontin) 73445,1074 

     P.P.S.--A special thank you to "The Rune", Kansas City's premiere 
     Pagan publication for permission to reprint this article, which 
     originally ran in a somewhat condensed form there.  

     P.P.P.S.--Please feel free to reprint this article wherever you 
     see fit.  I ask only that I be given credit as the author.  Also, 
     it would be nice if you could drop me an E-mail note and let me 
     know where you are using it. Thanx!  



                                                                             842

     ________________________________________________________________________

         Taken from the 1960 reprint of AN ENCLYCLOPAEDIA OF OCCULTISM
         by Lewis Spence, University Books, Hyde Park, New York. First
         published in 1920, it is considered to be one of the best
         sources on the subject.

         Submitted by Alan Wright, Atlanta GA, Illumi-Net 404-377-1141
     ________________________________________________________________________

     NECROMANCY: Or divination by means of the spirits of the dead, from the
     Greek work `nekos', dead; and `manteria', divination.  It is through its
     Italian form nigromancia that it came to be known as the "Black Art".
     With the Greeks it originally signified the descent into Hades in order
     to consult the dead rather than summoning the dead into the mortal
     sphere again.  The art is of almost universal usage.  Considerable
     difference of opinion exists among modern adepts as to the exact methods
     to be properly pursued in the necromantic art, and it must be borne in
     mind the necromancy, which in the Middle Ages was called sorcery, shades
     into modern spiritualistic practice.  There is no doubt, however, that
     necromancy is the touchstone of occultism, for if, after careful
     preparation the adept can carry through to a successful issue, the
     raising of the soul from the other world, he has proved the value of his
     art.  It would be fruitless in this place to enter into a psychological
     discussion as to whether the feat is possible of accomplishment or not,
     and we will confine ourselves tit he material which has been placed at
     our disposal by the sages of the past, who have left full details as to
     how the process should be approached.
       In the case of a compact between the conjuror and the devil, no
     ceremony is necessary, as the familiar is ever at hand to do the behests
     of his masters.  This, however, is never the case with the true
     sorcerer, who preserves his independence, and trusts to his profound
     knowledge of the art and his powers of command; his object therefore is
     to 'constrain' some spirit to appear before him, and to guard himself
     from the danger of provoking such beings.  The magician, it must be
     understood, always has an assistant, and every article named is prepared
     according to rules well known in the black art.  In the first place,
     they are to fix upon a spot proper for such purpose; which must be
     either in a subterraneous vault, hung around with black, and lighted by
     a magical torch; or else in the center of some thick wood or desert, or
     upon some extensive, unfrequented plain, where several roads meet, or
     amidst the ruins of ancient castles, abbeys, monasteries, etc., or
     amongst the rocks on the sea shore, in some private detached churchyard,
     or any other solemn, melancholy place between the hours of twelve and
     one in the night, either when the moon shines very bright, or else when
     the elements are disturbed with storms, thunder, lightning, wind, and
     rain; for, in these places, times, and seasons, it is contended that
     spirits can with less difficulty manifest themselves to mortal eyes, and
     continue visible with the least pain, in this elemental external world.
       When the proper time and place is fixed on, a magic circle is to be
     formed, within which, the master and his associate are carefully to
     retire.  The dimensions of the circle are as follow: - A piece of ground
     is usually chosen, nine feet square, at the full extent of which
     parallel lines are drawn within the other, having sundry crosses and
     triangles described between them, close to which is formed the first or
     outer circle, then, about half-a-foot within the same, a second circle
     is described, and within that another square correspondent to the first,
     the center of which is the seat of spot where the master and associate



                                                                             843

     are to be placed.  "The vacancies formed by the various lines and angles
     of the figure are filled up with the holy names of God, having crosses
     and triangles described between them.  The reason assigned by magicians
     and others for this institution and use of circles, is, that so much
     ground being blessed and consecrated by such holy words and ceremonies
     as they make use of forming it, hath a secret force to expel all evil
     spirits from the bounds thereof, and, being sprinkled with pure,
     sanctified water, the ground is purified from all uncleanliness;
     besides, the holy names of God being written over every part of it, its
     force becomes so powerful that no evil spirit hath ability to break
     through it, or to get at the magician and his companion, by reason of
     the antipathy in nature they bear to these sacred names.  And the reason
     given for the triangles is, that if the spirit be not easily brought to
     speak the truth, they may by the exorcist be conjured to enter the same,
     where, by virtue of the names of the essence and divinity of God, they
     can speak nothing but what is true and right.  The circle, therefore,
     according to this account of it, is the principal fort and shield of the
     magician, from which he is not, at the peril of his life, to depart,
     till he has completely dismissed the spirit, particularly if he be of a
     fiery or infernal nature.  Instances are recorded of many who perished
     by the means, particularly Chiancungi, the famous Egyptian
     fortune-teller, who was so famous in England in the seventeenth century.
     He undertook a wager, to raise up the spirit "Bokim", and having
     described the circle, he seated his sister Napula by him as his
     associate.  After frequently repeating the forms of exorcism, and
     calling upon the spirit to appear, and nothing as yet answering his
     demand, they grew impatient of the business, and quitted the circle, but
     it cost them their lives; for they were instantaneously seized and
     crushed to death by that infernal spirit, who happened not to be
     sufficiently constrained till that moment, to manifest himself to human
     eyes."
       There was a prescribed form of consecrating the magic circle, which we
     omit as unnecessary in a general illustration.  The proper attire or
     "pontificalibus" of a magician is an ephod made of fine white linen,
     over that a priestly robe of black bombazine, reaching to the ground,
     with the two seals of the earth drawn correctly upon virgin parchment,
     and affixed to the breast of the outer vestment.  Round his waist is
     tied a broad consecrated girdle, with the names Ya, Ya, - Aie, Aaie, -
     Elibra, - Sadai, - Pah Adonai, - tuo robore, - Cintus sum.  Upon his
     shoes must be written Tetragammaton, with crosses round about; upon his
     head a high-crowned cap of sable silk, and in his hand a Holy Bible,
     printed or written in pure Hebrew.  Thus attired, and standing within
     the charmed circle, the magician repeats the awful form of exorcism; and
     presently, the infernal spirits make strange and frightening noises,
     howlings, tremblings, flashes, and most dreadful shrieks and yells, as a
     forerunner of their becoming visible.  Their first appearance in the
     form of fierce and terrible lions or tigers, vomiting forth fire, and
     roaring hideously about the circle; all which time the exorcist must not
     suffer any tremor of dismay; for, in that case, they will gain the
     ascendancy, and the consequences may touch his life.  On the contrary,
     he must summon up a share of resolution, and continue repeating the
     forms of constriction and confinement, until they are drawn nearer
     to the influence of the triangle, when their forms will change to
     appearances less ferocious and frightful, and become more submissive and
     tractable.  When the forms of conjuration have in this manner been
     sufficiently repeated, the spirits forsake their bestial shapes, and
     enter the human form, appearing like naked men of gentle countenance and
     behavior, yet is the magician to be warily on his guard that they



                                                                             844

     deceive him not by much wild gestures, for they are exceedingly
     fraudulent and deceitful in their dealings with those who constrain them
     to appear without compact, having nothing in view but to suborn his
     mind, or accomplish his destruction.  With great care also must the
     spirit be discharged after the ceremony is finished, as he has answered
     all the demands made upon him.  The magician must wait patiently till he
     has passed through all the terrible forms which announce his coming, and
     only when the last shriek has died away, after every trace of fire and
     brimstone has disappeared, may he leave the circle and depart home in
     safety.  IF the ghost of deceased person is to be raised, the grave must
     be resorted to at midnight, and a different form of conjuration is
     necessary.  Still another, is the infernal sacrament for "any corpse
     that hath hanged, drowned, or otherwise made away with itself"; and in
     this case the conjurations are performed over the body, which will at
     last rise, and standing upright, answer with a faint and hollow voice
     the questions that are put to it.
       Eliphas Levi, in his `Ritual of Transcendent Magic' says that
     "evocations should always have a motive and a becoming end, otherwise
     the are works of darkness and folly, dangerous for health and reason."
     The permissible motive of an evocation may be either love or
     intelligence.  Evocations of love require less apparatus and are in
     every respect easier.  The procedure  is as follows: "We must, in the
     first place, carefully collect the memorials of him (or her) whom we
     desire to behold, the articles he used, and on which his impressions
     remains; we must also prepare an apartment in which the person lived, or
     otherwise, one of similar kind, and place his portrait veiled in white
     therein, surrounded with his favorite flowers, which must be renewed
     daily.  A fixed date must then be observed, either the birthday of the
     person, or that day which was most fortunate for his and our own
     affection, one of which we may believe that his soul, however blessed
     elsewhere, cannot lose the remembrance; this must be the day for the
     evocation and we must provide for it during the space of fourteen days.
     Throughout this period we must refrain from extending to anyone the same
     proofs of affection which we have the right to expect from the dead; we
     must observe strict chastity, live in retreat, and take only modest and
     light collation daily.  Every evening at the same hour we must shut
     ourselves in the chamber consecrated to the memory of the lamented
     person, using only one small light, such as that of a funeral lamp or
     taper.  This light should be placed behind us, the portrait should be
     uncovered and we should remain before it for an hour, in silence;
     finally, we should fumigate the apartment with a little good incense,
     and go out backwards.  On the morning of the day fixed for the
     evocation, we should adorn ourselves as if for a festival, not salute
     anyone first, make but a single repast of bread, wine, and roots, or
     fruits; the cloth should be white, two covers should be laid, and one
     portion of the bread broken should be set aside; a little wine should
     also be placed in the glass of the person we design to invoke.  The meal
     must be eaten alone in the chamber of evocations, and in the presence of
     the veiled portrait; it must be all cleared away at the end, except the
     glass belonging to the dead person, and his portion of bread, which must
     be placed before the portrait.  In the evening, at the hour for the
     regular visit, we must repair in silence to the chamber, light a fire of
     cypress wood, and cast incense seven times thereon, pronouncing the name
     of the person whom we desire to behold.  The lamp must then be
     extinguished, and the fire permitted to die out.  On this day the
     portrait must not be unveiled.  When the flame is extinct, put more
     incense on the ashes, and invoke God according to the forms of the
     religion to which the dead person belonged, and according to the ideas



                                                                             845

     which he himself possessed of God.  While making this prayer we must
     identify ourselves with the evoked person, speak as he spoke, believe in
     a sense as he believed; then, after a silence of fifteen minutes, we
     must speak to him as if he were present, with affection and with faith,
     praying him to manifest to us.  Renew this prayer mentally, covering the
     face with both hands; then call him thrice with a loud voice; tarry on
     our knees, the eyes closed and covered, for some minutes; then call
     again thrice upon him in a sweet and affectionate tone, and slowly open
     the eyes.  Should nothing result, the same experiment must be renewed in
     the following year, and if necessary a third time, when it is certain
     that the desired apparition will be obtained, and the longer it has been
     delayed the more realistic and striking it will be.
       "Evocations of knowledge and intelligence are made with more solemn
     ceremonies.  If concerned with a celebrated personage, we must meditate
     for twenty-one days upon his life and writings, form an idea of his
     appearance, converse with him mentally, and imagine his answers; carry
     his portrait, or at least his name, about us; follow a vegetable diet
     for twenty-one days, and a severe fast during the last seven.  We must
     next construct the magical oratory.  This oratory must be invariably
     darkened; but if we operate in the daytime, we may leave a narrow
     aperture on the side where the sun will shine at the hour of the
     evocation, and place a triangular prism before the opening, and a
     crystal globe, filled with water, before the prism.  If the operation
     be arranged for the night the magic lamp must be so placed that its
     single ray shall be upon the alter smoke.  The purpose of the
     preparations is to furnish the magic agent with elements of corporeal
     appearance, and to ease as much as possible the tension of imagination,
     which could not be exalted without danger into the absolute illusion of
     dream.  for the rest, it will be easily understood that a beam of
     sunlight, or the ray of a lamp, colored variously, and falling upon
     curling and irregular smoke, can in no way create a perfect image.  The
     chafing-dish containing the sacred fire should be in the center of the
     oratory, and the alter of perfumes close by.  The operator must turn
     toward the east to pray, and the west to invoke; he must be either alone
     or assisted by two persons preserving the strictest silence; he must
     wear the magical vestments, which we have described in the seventh
     chapter (of Levi`s "Ritual of Transcendent Magic"), and must be crowned
     with vervain and gold.  He should bathe before the operation, and all
     his under garments must be of the most intact and scrupulous
     cleanliness.  The ceremony should begin with a prayer suited to the
     genius of the spirit about to be invoked and one which would be approved
     by him if he still lived.  For example, it would be impossible to evoke
     Voltaire by reciting prayers in the style of St. Bridget.  For the great
     men of antiquity, we may see the hymns of Cleathes or Orpheus, with the
     adjuration terminating the Golden Venus of Pythagoras.  In our own
     evocation of Apollonius, we used the magical philosophy of Patricius for
     the ritual, containing the doctrines of Zoroaster and the writings of
     Hermes Trismegistus.  We recited the Nuctemeron of Apollonius in greek
     with a loud voice and added the following conjuration:-

       "Vouchsafe to be present, O Father of All, and thou Thrice Mighty
     Hermes, Conductor of the dead.  Asclepius son of Hephaistus, Patron of
     the Healing Art; and thou Osiris, Lord of strenght a vigor, do thou
     thyself be present too.  Arnebascenis, Patron of Philosophy, and yet
     again Asclepius, son of Imuthe, who presidest over poetry.
               *             *           *             *
       "Apollonius, Apollonius, Apollonius, Thou teachest the Magic of
     Zoroaster, son of Oromasdes; and this is the worship of the Gods."



                                                                             846

       For the evocation of spirits belonging to religions issued from
     Judaism, the following kabalistic invocation of Solomon should be used,
     either in Hebrew, or in any other tongue with which the spirit in
     question is known to have been familiar:-

       "Powers of the Kingdom, be ye under my left foot and in my right hand!
     Glory and eternity, take me by the two shoulders, and direct me in the
     paths of victory!  Mercy and Justice, be ye the equilibrium and
     splendor of my life!  Intelligence and Wisdom, crown me!  Spirits of
     Malchuth, lead me betwixt the two pillars upon which rests the whole
     edifice of the temple!  Angels of Netsah and Hod, strengthen me upon the
     cubic stone of Jesod!  O Gedulael!  O Geburael!  O Tiphereth!  Binael,
     be thou my love!  Ruach Hochmael, be thou my light!  Be that which thou
     are and thou shall be, O Ketheriel!  Tschim, assist me in the name of
     Saddai!  Cherubim, be my strength in the name of Adonai!  Beni-Elohim,
     be my brethren in the name of the Son, and by the power of Zebaoth!
     Eloim, do battle for me in the name of Tetragrammation!  Malachim,
     protect me in the name of Jod He Vau He!  Seraphim, cleanse my love in
     the name of Elvoh!  Hasmalim, enlighten me with the splendors of Eloi
     and Shechinah!  Aralim, act!  Orphanim, revolve and shine!  Hajoth a
     Kadosh, cry, speak, roar, bellow!  Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, Saddai,
     Adonia, Jotchavah, Eieazereie: Hallelu-jah, Hallelu-jah, Hallelu-jah.
     Amen.
       It should be remembered above all, in conjurations, that the names of
     Satan, Beelzebub, Adramelek, and others do not designate spiritual
     unities, but legions of impure spirits.
       "Our name is legion, and we are many" says the spirit of darkness in
     the Gospel.  Number constitutes the law, and progress takes place
     inversely in Hell - that is to say, the most advanced in Satanic
     development, and consequently the most degraded, are the least
     intelligent and feeblest.  Thus, a fatal law drives the demons downward
     when they wish and believe themselves to be ascending.  So also those
     who term themselves chiefs are the most impotent and despised of all.
     As to the horde of perverse spirits, they tremble before the unknown,
     invisible, incomprehensible, capricious, implacable chief, who never
     explains his law, whose arm is ever stretched out to strike those who
     fail to understand him.  They give this phantom the names of Baal,
     Jupiter, and even others more venerable, which cannot, without
     profanation, be pronounced in Hell.  But this phantom is only a shadow
     and remnant of God, disfigured by their willful perversity, and
     persisting in their imagination like a vengeance of justice and a
     remorse of truth.
       "When the evoked spirit of light manifests with dejected or irritated
     countenance, we must offer him a moral sacrifice, that is, be inwardly
     disposed to renounce whatever offends him; and before leaving the
     oratory, we must dismiss him, saying: "May peace be with thee!  I have
     not wished to trouble thee; do thou torment me not.  I shall labor to
     improve myself as to anything that vexes thee.  I pray, and will still
     pray, with thee and for thee.  Pray thou also both with and for me, and
     return to thy great slumber, expecting that day when we shall wake
     together.  Silence and adieu."
       Christian, in his "Historie de le Magic" (Paris, 1871) says: "The
     place chosen for the evocation is not an unimportant point.  The most
     auspicious is undoubtedly that room which contains the last traces of
     the lamented person.  If it be impossible to fulfill this condition, we
     must go in search of some isolated and rural retreat which corresponds
     in orientation and aspect, as well as measurement, with the mortuary
     chamber.



                                                                             847

       "The window must be blocked with boards if olive wood, hermetically
     joined, so that no exterior light may penetrate.  The ceiling, the four
     interior walls, and the floor must be draped with tapestry of emerald
     green silk, which the operator must secure himself with copper nails,
     invoking no assistance from strange hands, because, from this moment, he
     alone may enter into this spot set apart from all, the arcane Oratory of
     the Magus.  The furniture which belonged to the deceased, his favorite
     possessions and trinkets, the things on which his final glance may be
     supposed to have rested - all these things must be assiduously collected
     and arranged in the order which they occupied at the time of his death.
     If none of these souvenirs can be obtained, a faithful likeness of the
     departed being must be procured, it must be depicted in the dress and
     colors which he wore during the last period of his life.  This portrait
     must be set up on the eastern wall by means of copper fasteners, must be
     covered with a veil of white silk, and must be surmounted with a crown
     of those flowers which were most lived by the deceased.
       "Before the portrait there must be erected an alter of white marble,
     supported by four columns which must terminate in bull`s feet.  A five
     pointed star must be emblazoned on the slab of the alter, and must be
     composed of pure copper plates.  The place in the centre of the star,
     between the plates, must be large enough to receive the pedestal of a
     cup-shaped copper chafing-dish, containing dessicated fragments of
     laurel wood and alder.  By the side of the chafing-dish must be placed a
     censer full of incense.  The skin of a white and spotless ram must be
     stretched beneath the alter, and on it emblazoned another pentagram
     prawn with parallel lines of azure blue, golden yellow, emerald green
     and purple red.
       " A copper tripod must be erected in the middle of the Oratory; it
     must be perfectly triangular in form, it must be surmounted by another
     and similar chafing-dish, which must likewise contain a quantity of
     dried olive wood.
       " A high candelabrum of copper must be placed by the wall on the
     southern side, and must contain a single taper of purest white wax,
     which must alone illuminate the mystery of the evocation.
       "The white color of the alter, of the ram`s skin, and of the veil, in
     consecrated to Gabriel, the planetary archangel of he moon, and the
     Genius of mysteries; the green of the copper and tapestries is dedicated
     to the Genius of Venus.
       "The alter and tripod must both be encompassed by a magnetized iron
     chain, and by three garlands composed of the foliage and blossoms of the
     myrtle, the olive, and the rose.
       "Finally, facing the portrait, and on the eastern side there must be a
     canopy, also draped with emerald silk, and supported by two triangular
     columns of olive wood, plated with purest copper.  On the north and
     south sides, between the each of these columns and the wall, the
     tapestry must fall in long folds to the ground, forming a kind of
     tabernacle; which must be open on the eastern side.  At the foot of each
     column there must be a sphinx of white marble, with a cavity in the top
     of the head to receive spices for burning.  It is beneath this canopy
     that the apparitions will manifest, and it should be remembered the the
     Magus must turn to the east for prayer, and to the west for evocation.
       "Before entering this little sanctuary, devoted to remembrance, the
     operator must be clothed in a vestment of azure, fastened by clasps of
     copper, enriched with a single emerald.  He must wear upon his head a
     tiara surrounded by a floriated circle of twelve emeralds, and a crown
     of violets.  On his breast must be the talisman of Venus depending from
     a ribbon of azure silk.  On the annular finger of his left hand must be
     a copper ring containing turquoise.  His feet must be covered with shoes



                                                                             848

     of azure silk, and he must be provided with a fan of swan`s feathers to
     dissipate, if needful, the smoke of the perfumes.
       "The Oratory and all its objects must be consecrated on a Friday,
     during the hours which are set apart to the Genius of Venus.  This
     consecration is performed by burning violets and roses in a fire if
     olive wood.  A shaft must be provided in the oratory for the passage of
     the smoke, but care must be taken to prevent the admission of light
     through this channel.
       "When the preparations are finished, the operator must impose on
     himself a retreat of one-and-twenty days, beginning on the anniversary
     of the death of the beloved being.  During this period he must refrain
     from conferring on anyone the least of those marks of affection which he
     was accustomed to bestow on the departed; he must be absolutely chaste,
     alike in deed and thought; he must take daily but one repast, consisting
     of bread, wine, roots, and fruits.  These three conditions are
     indispensable to success in evocation, and their accomplishment requires
     complete isolation.
       "Every day, shortly before midnight, the Magus must assume his
     consecrated dress.  On the stroke of the mystic hour, he must enter the
     Oratory, bearing a lighted candle in his right hand, and in the other an
     hour-glass.  The candle must be fixed in the candelabra, and the
     hour-glass on the alter to register the flight of time.  The operator
     must then proceed to replenish the garland and the floral crown.  Then
     he shall unveil the portrait, and erect it immovable in front of the
     alter, being thus with his face to the east, he shall softly go over in
     his mind the cherished recollections he possesses of the beloved and
     departed being.
       "When the upper reservoir of the hour-glass is empty the time of
     contemplation will be over.  By the flame of the taper the operator must
     then kindle the laurel wood and alder in the chafing-dish which stands
     on the alter; then, taking a pinch of incense from the censer, let him
     cast it thrice upon the fire, repeating the following words:- ~Glory be
     to the Father of life universal in the splendor of the infinite
     altitude, and peace in the twilight of the immeasurable depths to all
     spirits of good will !"
       "Then he shall cover the portrait, and taking up his candle in his
     hand, shall depart from the Oratory, walking backward at a slow pace as
     far as the threshold.  The same ceremony must be fulfilled at the same
     hour during every day of the retreat, and at each visits the crown which
     is above the portrait, and the garlands of the alter and tripod must be
     burnt each evening in a room adjoining the Oratory.
       "When the twenty-first day has arrived, the Magus must do his best to
     have no communication with any one, but if this be impossible, he must
     not be the first to speak, and must postpone all business till the
     morrow.  On the stroke of noon, he must arrange a small circular table
     in the Oratory, and cover it with a new napkin of unblemished whiteness.
     It must be garnished with two copper chalices, an entire loaf, and a
     crystal flagon of the purest white.  The bread must be broken and not
     cut, and the wine emptied in equal portions into the two cups.  Half of
     this mystic communion, which must be his sole nourishment on this
     supreme day, shall be offered by the operator to the dead, and by the
     light of the one taper he must eat his own share, standing before the
     veiled portrait.  Then he shall retire as before, walking backward as
     far as the threshold, and leaving the ghost`s share of bread and wine
     upon the table.
       "When the solemn hour of the evening has at length arrived the Magus
     shall carry into the Oratory some well-dried cypress wood, which he
     shall set alight in the alter and the tripod.  Three pinches of incense



                                                                             849

     shall be cast into the flame in honor of the Supreme Potency which
     manifests itself by Ever Active Intelligence and by Absolute Wisdom.
     When the wood of the two chafing-dishes has been reduced to embers, he
     must renew the triple offering of incense on the alter, and must cast
     some seven times on the fire in the tripod; at each evaporation of the
     consecrated perfume he must repeat the previous doxology, and then
     turning tot he East, he must call upon God by prayer of that religion
     which was professed by the person whom he desires to evoke.
       "When the prayers are over he must reverse his position and with his
     face to the West, must enkindle the chafing-dishes on the head of each
     sphinx, and when the cypress is full ablaze he must heap over it well
     dried violets and roses.  Then let him extinguish the candle which
     illuminates the Oratory, and falling on his knees before the canopy,
     between the two columns, let him mentally address the beloved person
     with a plenitude of faith and affection.  Let him solemnly entreat it to
     appear and renew this interior adjuration seven times, under the
     auspices of the seven providential Genii, and endeavouring during the
     whole of the time to exalt his soul above the natural weakness of
     humanity.
       "Finally, the operator, with closed eyes, and hands covering his face,
     must call the invoked person in a loud but gentle voice, pronouncing
     three times all of the names which he bore.
       "Some moments after the third appeal, he must extend his arms in the
     form of a cross, and lifting up his eyes, he will behold the beloved
     being, in a recognizable manner, in front of him.  That is to say, he
     will perceive that ethereal substance separated from the perishable
     terrestrial body, the fluidic envelope of the soul, which Kabalistic
     initiates have termed the `Perispirit'.  This substance preserves the
     human form but is emancipated from human infirmities, and is energized
     by the special characteristics whereby the imperishable individuality of
     our essence is manifested.
       "The departed soul will give counsel to the operator; it will
     occasionally reveal secrets which may be beneficial to those whom it
     loved on earth, but it will answer no question  which has reference to
     the desires of the flesh; it will discover no buried treasures, nor will
     it unveil the secrets of a third person; it is silent on the mysteries
     of the superior existence to which it has now attained.  In certain
     cases, it will, however, declare itself either happy or in punishment.
     If it be the latter, it will ask for the prayer of the Magus, or for
     some religious observance, which we must unfailingly fulfill.  Lastly,
     it will indicate the time when the evocation may be renewed.
       "When it has disappeared, the operator must turn to the East, rekindle
     the fire on the alter, and make a final offering of incense.  Then he
     must detach the crown and the garlands, take up his candle, and retire
     with his face to the West till he is out of the Oratory.  His last duty
     is to burn the final remains of the flowers and leaves.  Their ashes,
     united to those which have been collected during the time of retreat,
     must be mixed with myrtle seeds, and secretly buried in a field at a
     depth which will secure it from disturbance of the ploughshare."



                                                                             850

       The last two examples are, of course, those of "white" necromancy. 
     The procedure followed by savage tribes as of course totally different.
     Among certain Australian tribes the necromants are called Birraark.  It
     is said that a Birraark was supposed to be initiated by the "mrarts"
     (ghosts) when they met him wandering in the bush.  It was from the
     ghosts that he obtained replies to questions concerning events passing t
     a distance, or yet to happen, which might be of interest or moment to
     his tribe.  An account of a spiritual seance in the bush is given in
     "Kamilaroi and Kurnai" (p. 251): The fires were let down; the Birraark
     uttered the cry "Coo-ee" at intervals.  At length a distant reply was
     heard, and shortly afterwards, the sound as of persons jumping on the
     ground in succession. A voice was then heard in the gloom asking in a
     strange intonation "What is wanted?"  At the termination of the seance,
     the spirit voice said "We are going."  Finally, the Birraark was found
     in the top of an almost inaccessible tree, apparently asleep.
       In Japan, ghosts can be raised in various ways.  One mode is to "put
     into an andon" (a paper lantern in a flame), "a hundred rushlights, and
     repeat an incantation of a hundred lines.  One of these rushlights is
     taken out at the end of each line, and the would-be ghost-seer then goes
     out in the dark with one light still burning, and blows it out, when
     their ghost ought to appear.  Girls who have lost their lovers by death
     often try that sorcery."
       The mode of procedure as practiced in Scotland was thus.  The haunted
     room was made ready.  He , "who was to do the daring deed, about
     nightfall entered the room, bearing with him a table, a chair, a candle,
     a compass, a crucifix, if one could be got, and a Bible.  With the
     compass he cat a circle on the middle of the floor, large enough to hold
     the chair and the table.  He placed within the circle the chair and the
     table, and on the table he laid the Bible and the crucifix beside the
     lighted candle.  If he had not a crucifix, then he drew the figure of a
     cross in the floor within the circle.  When all this was done, he rested
     himself on the chair, opened the Bible, and waited for the coming of the
     spirit.  Exactly at midnight the spirit came.  Sometimes the door opened
     slowly, and there glided in noiselessly a lady sheeted in white, with a
     face of woe and told her story to the man on his asking her in the name
     of God what she wanted.  What she wanted was done in the morning, and
     the spirit rested ever after.  Sometimes the spirit rose from the floor,
     and sometimes came forth from the wall.  There was one who burst into
     the room with a strong bound, danced wildly round the circle, and
     flourished a long whip round the man's head, but never dared to step
     into the circle.  During a pause in his frantic dance he was asked, in
     God`s name, what he wanted.  He ceased his dance and told his wishes. 
     His wishes were carried out, and the spirit was in peace."



                                                                             851

       In Wraxall`s "Memoirs of the Counts of Berlin, Dresden, Warsaw, and
     Vienna" there is an amusing account of the raising of the ghost of
     Chevalier de Saxe.  Reports had been circulated that at his palace at
     Dresden there was secreted a large sum of money, and it was urged that
     if his spirit could be compelled to appear, interesting secrets could be
     extorted from him.  Curiosity, combined with avarice, accordingly
     prompted his principal heir, Prince Charles, to try the experiment, and,
     on the appointed night, Schrepfer was the operator in raising the
     apparition.  He commenced his proceedings by retiring into the corner of
     the gallery, where kneeling down with many mysterious ceremonies, he
     invoked the spirit to appear.  At length, a loud clatter was heard at all
     the windows on the outside, resembling more the effect produced by a
     number of wet fingers drawn over the edge of glasses than anything else
     to which it could well be compared.  The sound announced the arrival of
     the good spirits, and was shortly followed by a yell of a frightful and
     unusual nature.  Schrepfer continued his invocations, when "the door
     suddenly opened with violence and something resembling a black ball or
     globe rolled into the room.  It was enveloped in smoke or cloud, in the
     midst of which appeared a human face, like the countenance of the
     Chevalier de Saxe, from which issued a loud and angry voice, exclaiming
     in German,"Carl, was wollte du mit mich?" - "Charles, what would thou do
     with me?" By reiterated exorcisms Schrepfer finally dismissed the
     apparition, and the terrified spectators dispersed fully convinced of
     his magical powers.
                             - end -  



                                                                             852

                    _REACTIVE_RESPONSE_AND_PROACTIVE_ENCOUNTER_
                            _Dealing_with_the_Media_
      
             This is a description of what WindFire Coven does to attract
     positive media coverage:
      
             During the latest period of Satanism hysteria the energies were
     flowing  in a negative  direction as far  as Wicca is  concerned. The media
     loves controversy and knows that to have controversy they must present more
     than one side  of any given issue.  Consequently when planning  some report
     that may be  negative in context they will  go out of their way  to present
     another view of that same issue.
      
             Reactive Response
      
             This, of course, is reactive not pro-active in nature. This is how
     WindFire got the media  exposure the last two times. I'll start with the   
     Denver channel first.
      
                     It was a few weeks after File 18 was given toeach member of
     WindFire that  we dedicated a full  moon ritual for magickal  work toward a
     solution.   WindFire is not structured  so every member got  to focus their
     power in their  own way toward the solution. The solution  was to promote a
     positive understanding of Wicca in the local mundane communities.
      
                     The verynext day,not 24hours afterthe ritual, wegot acall  
     from channel 7, Denver.  They were in the Springs and wanted to  talk to   
     some witches about ley lines  and power spots.  The two person  crew was at
     Celebration Book  Store  but the  attendant didn't  want to  be on  camera.
     Fortunately the  store attendant had our  number and called us.   We talked
     with the camera crew and arranged an immediate interview.
      
                     Twoconsiderations areimportanthere. Thefirstis thatjustlike
     any other form  of magickal work  the magick takes  it's own  form.  So  be
     ready for anything. And two, when the media calls they usually will not
     wait around for interviewees. Be prepared for anything, at any moment.
         When the lightning strikes...
      
             Channel 7 told us that they were doing the interview to balance out
     some of the reporting on Satanism, but they didn't stress the fact that the
     report was  about Satanism. Further we  didn't know enough to  ask what the
     focus and content  was for the report.   Always ask  what the focus of  the
     report is.  You may find yourself, just like  WindFire, shocked that we are
     being visually, if not verbally, associated with Satanism.
      
                     Forthe interview,bepositive. Ican'tstress thatenough. Smile
     and let them see that you are sincere in your faith in the Goddess.  Laugh.
     All the reporters see in  Satanism is somber faces, confessing  their sins.
     Let them  know that  you are  happy with your  path. Stress  the difference
     between  patriarchal  monotheism  and  pre-Christian,   pre-Hebrew  Goddess
     religion.   Have your resources ready  for the reporter to  look at if they
     need a quote for something. Trot out your tools and instruments if you feel
     comfortable with that.  They love to  see the various tools. You don't have
     to show them all or any of your  tools but it sure helps them get a picture
     of what is going on.
      



                                                                             853

             The media people like robes so wear your best. Covert groups that
     have  fears about discovery of illegal  activities will not don their robes
     or  show their tools. By  doing so you  show that you are  not aligned with
     covert,  illegal, fearful groups. And  by disassociation you  show that you
     are doing nothing illegal or dangerous.
      
             There are three parts of the interview: the preview, the personal
     interviews and the ritual. In some or perhaps most cases, the ritual can be
     left  out. [Please note that these terms are descriptive of their function,
     not their technical  names. The  reporters may have  a different  technical
     name for them.]
      
             The preview is a time for the reporter to get to know the members
     of the group, circle  or coven. They will talk to you for a period of time.
     For  WindFire that was about an hour  for each camera crew. Please remember
     to be civil  as a group and not  blurt things out all at once.   Believe me
     it's hard not to do that in the excitement. During the preview the reporter
     will select who they want to interview.
      
             Personal interviews last about 10 minutes. The reporter will
     generally select different questions for each interviewee. Be prepared  for
     some hard and personal questions. At  the end of the personal interview the
     reporter will sometimes ask if  you have anything particular to say  to the
     public.   Please don't waste  this opportunity.   Have  a personal  message
     ready for the public.
      
             The ritual can be anything you feel comfortable with. We generally
     choose  a related  focus such  as increasing  understanding in  the mundane
     public.  The camera crews seem to like  this. Be patient, they may want you
     to   duplicate  some   particular  action   for  different   camera  angle.
     accommodate  them when you can.  We got through a partial ritual before the
     second  camera crew ran  out of tape.  Don't forget to  complete the ritual
     before them before you let them leave. Be complete.
      
             Remember that there are generally two people in a camera crew, the
     reporter and the camera operator. When the reporter is previewing the coven
     have another witch talk to the camera operator, telling them what the tools
     are  for and what incenses and  crystals are used. Be  discrete but talk to
     each  and every  camera crew member  because they  all have  input into the
     editing of the tape. If the reporter has a good feeling about the coven but
     the camera person thinks you stink you may have visual problems later. Make
     sure each and every camera crew member goes away with a warm fuzzy feeling.
      
             Offer them refreshments. They will generally refuse alcohol but
     water, sodas, coffee and fruit juices are  welcomed.  Help the crew as much
     as they will let you. If they need cables or furniture moved, do so.
      
             Now for Channel 13 in Colorado Springs.  This reporter was doing a
     report on Satanism alone. Unfortunately the ONLY resource she had was James
     McCarthy in  Boulder. The reporter used the "S"  word, the "W" word and the
     "P"  word  all in  the same  sentence  without differentiating  between the
     three.  Admittedly  the context  of  the sentence  was  ritual.   Still  no
     differentiation  was made. We started a telephone campaign and had about 15
     people call the newsroom at the station and complain.
      



                                                                             854

             Here it is especially good to not bitch unless you have a solution.
     If  you complain to  a reporter do  not leave  them hanging with  no way to
     clean up the mess.  Talk to them, give them  your phone number so  they can
     call you  back  later. They  are busy  people. Try  to make  sure they  can
     successfully  reach you, not your  children, not your  message machine, not
     your  dog. If you give them your number  and they don't call you back, call
     them. Find out what the problem is.
      
                     Duringthephone campaignwe leftthe reporternumerous waysto  
     contact  us.   She  did and  we  scheduled a  time for  the  interviews. We
     scheduled it  for our regular weekly  meeting time so that  all the members
     could  be there and a generic  ritual could be filmed.   Members who didn't
     want to  be on film were situated  so that their faces  were not on camera.
     The camera  crew will do  this for  you. They don't  want to  inadvertently
     expose unwilling and innocent people to possible harassment.
      
             On the appointed day the camera crew showed up fashionably late.
     We went through our usually horror story about being butchered by the media
     in the past and they (both crews)  were sympathetic to our concerns.  Don't
     be afraid to stress how badly the media has treated witches, but don't bore
     them; everyone has a story to tell but boredom is out these days.
      
             Let them see a generic ritual with a generic focus. The immediate
     focus was  understanding in the  local community.  That works  well so  you
     might want to try that with your  group or coven.  It impresses the  camera
     crew so that they will be a little more interested.
      
             Proactive Encounter
      
             Proactive means acting before something happens and puts you in
     reactive response mode.
      
             Perhaps the best thing to do is to put together a packet that you
     can send to your local media: Tv. stations, radio stations, and newspapers,
     which also include your local neighborhood weeklies if you're brave enough.
      
             Send a well put together packet to these medias and be sure they
     can get in touch  with you on a few  days notice. You might have  more than
     one contact for your group, circle or coven. WindFire has three or four.
      
             I suggest for this packet that you include three or four brief
     statements  from  willing  coven members,  a  longer  essay  on Wicca  with
     resources, the New Woman article, some  artwork and poetry. Include also  a
     reading list  of your favorite Wiccan authors. Be sure to include names and
     numbers to call back.  While the reporters won't read  everything they will
     probably read the brief statements from  your coven members and look at the
     reading list.  You might  suggest book stores  the reporters  can find  the
     reading list books at.
      
             The main time of the year for reactive procedures is Halloween.
     Funnymentalist just love to hammer us during Samhain.  So  be proactive and
     let the  media know how you  view Samhain. Send the media  an article about
     Samhain about  two weeks before. Let  them know that there  are other views
     and that the funnymentalist are slandering a perfectly good holiday.
      



                                                                             855

             In fact you could emphasize any holiday/s that seems appropriate
     for your area or group. Include your resources and/or xerox copies of other
     articles you  may find, with copyright  if needed, on any  holiday you deem
     appropriate.
      
             Reactive Response Summary
      
             Be prepared to act at any moment if they should call you. Be
     positive, smile and laugh a lot.  Talk to all the camera crew members.  Let
     them know your  concerns, stress the problems of the  past but don't offend
     the media  people.  Make  it a magickal  time for  all the people  involved
     including  the  camera crews.  Remember  to augment  your  mundane activity
     (interviews) before hand with magickal work.
      
             Proactive Encounter Summary
      
             Prepare a good information packet. Sound like you know what you are
     talking about. Don't be mousey. Be aggressive and call them if you feel the
     need.  Make sure they can return a call to you successfully. If you  get an
     interview be positive and  firm. Media people are strong  people, they like
     other strong people. Be prepared to  act at any moment when they call  you.
     Devote  some personal  and collective  magickal time  for magickal  work to
     attract positive media attention.
      
             I'm sure that you will be challenged by the opportunities your
     magick will bring you.   The Goddess will bring your efforts to  full fruit
     if  you are ready to support Her when  the time comes. It's not an overused
     saying to  state that  we should be  prepared for  the effects  of our  own
     magick.

             AN UPDATE OF IMMEDIATE CONCERN
             
             Just before Halloween Channels 5/30 in Colorado Springs interviewed
     WindFire Coven in the pro-active mode. The  reporter was concerned that her
     boss wanted  a sensationalized segment  on witches to  go with  segments on
     Satanism and  various local New Age  groups and psychics. She  told us that
     she would  try to  talk her  boss out of  sensationalizing the  segment. No
     guarantees were given and we accepted her word that she  would try her best
     to represent  us fairly. WindFire Coven  was filmed for four  or five hours
     for the 3 minute segment and some promotional footage.
             
                     Some problems arose inthe promotionals and broadcastthat we
     didn't anticipate. 

             In the promotionals various members were visually associated with
     Satanism by default, that is, Wiccans and Satanists were  shown together in
     the same promo without distinction. This caused quite a lot of concern when
     clients  and associates  of those involved  either refused to  speak to the
     involved or blamed  them for some unspecified hardship in  their lives.  To
     complicate the matter one members face was overdubbed with a hags cackling.
     This hurt the member greatly as she is nothing like the voice indicated.
             
             MAKE SURE THAT YOUR PROMO IS YOUR OWN WITH NO VISUAL ASSOCIATION TO
         ANY OTHER SEGMENT WITHOUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND PERMISSION. MAKE SURE THAT
         YOUR MEMBERS FACES AND VOICES REMAIN INTACT THROUGH THE PROMO AND
         BROADCAST. GET IT IN WRITING UNLESS YOU ARE WILLING TO SEE THIS HAPPEN
         TO YOUR COVEN. REFUSE THE INTERVIEW IF NECESSARY.
             



                                                                             856

             During the broadcast and promos various tools, icons and artifacts,
     including  a piece  of copyrighted  artwork, were  used in  others segments
     without our permission.
             
             MAKE SURE THAT YOUR TOOLS, ICONS, ARTIFACTS AND ARTWORK ARE NOT
         USED IN ANOTHER CONTEXT WITHOUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND PERMISSION. GET IT
         IN WRITING UNLESS YOU ARE WILLING TO SEE YOUR TOOLS, ICONS, ARTIFACTS
         AND ARTWORK PROFANED BY USE IN AN INAPPROPRIATE CONTEXT.
             
             Another problem arose when the editors inserted a Christian into
     our  segment who  said  that  Wicca was  inappropriate  because  it is  not
     Christian. When asked  why such was  done the reporter  replied that it  is
     good  journalistic practice to offer two  sides of an issue. WindFire Coven
     feels  that  should a  contemporary religion  be  represented, such  as the
     Jewish or the Mormon  faith, the station  would not be as  quick to put  in
     dissenting  views. We feel that  Channels 5/30 leaned  toward promoting the
     stereotypical image of witches by having a Christian define what we are and
     are not. Such cannot be allowed to continue any longer.
             
             MAKE SURE THAT YOUR SEGMENT IS YOURS AND YOURS ALONE. DO NOT ALLOW
         THE EDITORS TO INSERT DISSENTING VIEWS IN YOUR SEGMENT. DISSENTING
         VIEWS CAN BE PRESENTED IN ANOTHER SEGMENT DEDICATED ENTIRELY FOR
         DISCUSSION OF DIFFERENCES. MAKE SURE THAT WICCA IS REPRESENTED BY
         WICCANS, NOT BY CHRISTIANS, NOT BY NEW AGERS, NOT BY LOCAL PSYCHICS.
         TAKE CONTROL OF THE INTERVIEW BEFORE IT TAKES CONTROL OF YOUR COVEN.
             
             Blessed Be!
      
             Copyright (c) Ammond Shadowcraft Oct. 1988



                                                                             857

             --------
             This is an sample form to be used when reporters come to your home
     to interview your circle or coven.
         
             --------
             WRITTEN AGREEMENTS AND GUARANTEES FOR INTERVIEW WITH WINDFIRE COVEN
                           Dated: ________________________
      
             Note: For the purpose of this Agreement WindFire Coven is termed
     the Interviewee and ______________________ is termed the Interviewer.
                     
             
                     TheInterviewee agreesto acceptreporters fromthe Interviewer
     into their homes and/or sacred space to witness and report seasonal  and/or
     generic rituals, to photograph  and film tools, icons,  artifacts, artwork,
     poetry and  songs, to  interview the  Coven and  individual members, for  a
     period not to exceed 24 hours,  providing that the following agreements are
     made:

             
             The Interviewer will employ the usable or airable video footage
     filmed,  photographs and/or  recordings  of/during this  interview for  any
     segment and/or report as  a singular complete segment and/or report  and in
     such a way as to retain the original context and atmosphere intended by the
     Interviewee.    No other  individuals,  religious  faiths and/or  religious
     groups  will  be  included  in  this  segment/report  without  the  express
     permission of the Interviewee.
             

             The Interviewer will employ the usable or airable video footage
     filmed, photographs and/or recordings of/during this interview for any
     promotion as a singular  complete promotion and in such a  way as to retain
     the original context and atmosphere intended  by the Interviewee.  No other
     individuals,  religious faiths and/or religious groups  will be included in
     this promotion without the express permission of the Interviewee.
             
                             
             The Interviewer will treat all persons, tools, icons, artifacts,
     artwork, poetry and music filmed, photographed or recorded as integral
     parts of the interview and will not use any cassette, video or photographic
     representations of  these persons/items  in any  other context  or external
     segment,  report  or  promotion  without  the  express  permission  of  the
     Interviewee.
             
            
             ____________________________________________________
             For WINDFIRE COVEN                     (Interviewee)
             
             ____________________________________________________
             For __________________________________ (Interviewer)

             ____________________________________________________
             Witness
             ____________________________________________________
             Witness
             ____________________________________________________
             Witness



                                                                             858

                               QUANTUM MAGIC 


     REALITY AS DESCRIBED BY QUANTUM MECHANICS

     In quantum mechanics, reality is described by waves defining the
     probabilities of different outcomes from the same interactions.
     These waves manifest as what we have been taught to call matter,
     energy, particles, and/or waves when observed.    

     These probability waves overlap and continue forever.  The
     interactions between different entities constitute a single
     structure of linked wave patterns, so that the entire universe
     can be thought of as an unbroken whole.  The waves form a matrix,
     with all parts of the system affecting all other parts.  Non-
     local relationships exist between parts of the system that are
     distant from each other [1].  It is impossible to distinguish 
     two particles of the same type in a region of space in which they
     may be found simultaneously [2].  Particles loose their
     individual identity in such regions.  Thus, the physical universe
     is fundamentally unified.

     The basic equation of non-relativistic quantum mechanics is
     Schrodinger's Wave Equation  [2]:

                            2         2            
       i h (p)Q /(p)t  = - h /2m Delta Q + V(x,y,z) Q


     satisfying the normalizing condition:

       Integral      2     
       over all   |Q|  dx dy dx = 1
       space               


     where:

            h = 6.63E-34 joule sec / (2 pi)

           pi = 3.14...
      
     V(x,y,z) = Potential energy, as a function of 
                coordinates x, y and z

            m = Mass

            t = Time
           
          (p) = Partial derivative of
                                                2  
            Q = Wave function of the particle, where Q dx dy dz is    
                the probability that the particle may be found in the 
                volume element dx dy dz at a particular time.  Values 
                of Q are components of the "state vector."



                                                                             859

     Values of Q are quantum mechanically defined states and
     constitute components of the "state vector."  These quantum
     mechanically defined states define the probabilities of various
     results from quantum mechanically defined interactions [2].  In
     one orthodox interpretation of quantum mechanics, a system exists
     simultaneously in all quantum mechanically possible states until
     an observer (or apparatus outside the system) interacts to
     "collapse" the state vector" and obtain an observation.

     Quantum mechanical systems can go from one configuration to
     another instantly, without passing through any states in
     between.  Quantum mechanical movement is discontinuous, with all
     actions occurring in discrete amounts (quanta).

     Schrodinger himself discovered one of quantum mechanics' more
     distinctive features:  whenever two systems interact, the
     mathematical waves that represent the two systems do not separate
     but remain linked.  The link does not drop off with distance and
     the link acts instantaneously at both locations, but the
     specificity of the link can be diluted through interactions with
     other objects  [7].


     WHAT UNDERLIES QUANTUM MECHANICS?

     There are lots of hypotheses on the nature of the underlying
     reality described statistically by quantum mechanics.

     o Some scientists are content with the hypothesis that there is
       no more subtle structure than the probability waves described
       by quantum mechanics; and reality, at its most basic level, has
       a large amount of randomness whose limits are described by the
       quantum mechanical wave function, making the wave function
       itself the fundamental reality.  This is called the probability
       doctrine.  It asserts that such indetermination is a property
       inherent in nature and not merely a profession of our temporary
       ignorance, from which we expect to be relieved by a future
       better and more complete theory  [2].

     o Einstein speculated that there must be some underlying
       mechanism, some hidden variables,  that uniquely determines
       the outcome of the interactions quantum theory can only
       statistically predict.  

     o J.S. Bell showed mathematically that, if such a mechanism
       exists, and the math of quantum mechanics is strictly correct,
       hidden variables must not have any functional dependence on the
       separation of events in space and time [3].



                                                                             860

     o According to David Bohm, from both a consideration of the
       meaning of the mathematical equations and from the results of
       experiments, particles can be understood as projections of a
       higher-dimensional reality.  This reality can not be accounted
       for by any force of interaction between independent entities,
       but can be understood as a process of enfoldment in a higher
       dimensional space  [1].  Information within the quantum wave
       determines the outcome of the quantum process.  This
       information is potentially active everywhere but only actually
       active when and where it enters into the energy of an observed
       particle, implying that all particles have complex inner
       structures [10].

     o Recently, superstring theory has been proposed, describing a
       ten dimensional webwork of space-time at an incredibly small
       scale (1E-33 cm) underlying the phenomenon described
       statistically by quantum mechanics, relatively, particle
       physics etc. 

     Some scientists consider speculation about the nature of the
     underlying reality to be irrelevant, since the predictions of
     quantum mechanical equations match the statistics of the results
     of experiments.  To the best of my knowledge, experiments have
     not been performed that unambiguously distinguish between these
     alternative world-views.  On the other hand, experiments have
     been proposed; and some work is underway to check some
     predictions of superstring theory.  Eventually, from the results
     of experiments, some of these hypotheses may be screened out and
     others elevated to the level of scientific theory.

     We are one and the same as the structures that underlie the
     matter and energy that we manifest as; and that structure is
     continuous, interconnected, and non local in nature.  Whatever
     the underlying structure behind the interconnected wave pattern
     described by quantum mechanics (if any), we are that.  


     QUANTUM MECHANICS AND CONSCIOUSNESS

     Getting back to established scientific theory, normal waking
     consciousness occurs when the nerve cell firing rate (synaptic
     switching rate) is high enough to spread out the waves associated
     with electrons to fill the gaps between nerve cells (synaptic
     clefts) with  waves of probability of similar amplitude.  This is
     described mathematically by the quantum mechanical mechanism of
     tunneling.  These waves are interconnected throughout regions of
     the brain through resonances, resulting in a large, complex,
     unified, quantum mechanically defined resonance matrix filling a
     region in the brain.  The waves are interconnected with each
     other and with information storage and sensory input mechanisms
     within these regions of the brain.  



                                                                             861

     The nerve cell firing rate (v') at which this occurs has been
     modeled mathematically by Evan Harris Walker (at the U.S. Army
     Ballistics Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground) and corresponds to
     the threshold between waking and sleeping consciousness in people
     and animals.  For normal waking consciousness to exist, the
     synapse transmission frequency for the brain (v') must satisfy
     the condition:

                                             2/3
       v' must be greater than or equal to  N    /T


     where:

       N =  The total number of synapses in the brain (in humans,
            about 5E11)

       T =  Synaptic transmission delay time (the time interval
            required for the propagation of the excitation energy
            from one synapse to another)


     This theory ascribes consciousness to an association of the
     events occurring at any one synapse with events occurring at
     other synapses in the brain by means of a quantum mechanical
     propagation of information.  The sense of individual identity is
     an aspect of the continuity of the wave matrix residing in the
     brain [4].  



                                                                             862

     QUANTUM MECHANICS AND PSYCHOKINESIS

     By merely observing a phenomenon (resonating ones brain with it)
     one can affect the outcome, since the physical mechanisms in your
     brain are part of the wave matrix described by quantum mechanics. 
     The information handling rate in resonance determines the amount
     of effect, along with the elapsed time of resonance and the
     probability distribution of the phenomenon you are observing 
     [5].  According to Evan Harris Walker, quantum mechanical state
     selection can be biased by an observer if [5]:


       W te  is greater than or equal to  -Log  P(Qo-Qi)
        Q                                     2

     where:


          P(Qo-Qi) = Probability that state Qi will occur by chance   
                     alone

               W   = Information handling rate in process in brain
                Q    associated with state vector selection (bits/sec)
       
                te = Elapsed time

                 Q = Overall state vector

                Qo = Initial physical state of system    

                Qi = State that manifests "paranormal" target event
      

     The effect of consciousness is incredibly small on macroscopic
     systems; but it can be measurable when it occurs on quantum
     mechanically defined and divergent systems, where a slight change
     can amplify itself as it propagates through the system.  The
     effect is about 1E-17 degrees on the angle of the bounce of cubes
     going down an inclined plane.  Changes in the angle of bounce
     result in changes in displacement of the cubes that increase
     about 50% on every bounce, and the effect is measurable after
     many bounces [6].  The theory successfully and quantitatively
     modeled the differing amounts of displacement observed in
     experiments on cubes of different weights and weight
     distributions  [5].  

     Walker also modeled information retrieval in "guess the card"
     experiments.  Simple, classical, random chance would predict a
     smooth, binomial curve for the probabilities of getting the right
     answer versus the number of subjects making successful
     predictions at these probabilities.  Walker's model predicts that
     the curve would have peaks at certain levels of probability of
     getting the right answer above those predicted by chance alone. 
     Experimental data showed peaks at the locations modeled. 
     However, more people were successful at the higher probability
     levels than Walker's model estimated.  This is considered to be
     evidence of learning enhancement  [5].



                                                                             863

     SCIENTIFIC THEORY

     Mr. Walker's ideas and equations would only be hypotheses if it
     weren't for the fact that they have been tested experimentally
     and found to predict the results of experiments with reasonable
     accuracy [4,5].  The evidence meets the usual rules of proof for
     scientific theory, and this makes Walker's equations legitimate
     scientific theory.  

     The non-local underlying wave patterns beneath manifestations of
     matter and energy that we hold in common with our surroundings
     allow us to influence reality and to obtain information about it
     using the power of the mind.  This underlying interconnecting
     pattern is the very stuff of consciousness  and manifests, not
     only as matter & energy, but also as psychokinesis, precognition
     and other phenomenon that are only now beginning to be recognized
     and embraced by some theories of modern physics. 


     IMPLICATIONS OF QUANTUM CONSCIOUSNESS THEORY

     Deflections caused by consciousness are not caused by force or
     energy in the conventional sense; but by something more subtle,
     namely effects within the underlying wave structure out of which
     matter and energy are manifestations (collapse of the state
     vector) [5].  

     To psychically obtain information about a target or to
     psychically influence events, one has to have one's brain
     resonating with aspects of reality interconnecting the brain with
     the target.  The more one's brain resonates with non-local
     aspects of reality connecting with a target, the more
     communication and direct influence one can have on it.

     The more fundamentally diverse the potential outcomes of a
     process targeted are, the more effect one gets from resonating
     ones brain with it  [5].  Also, the more small changes in the
     system tend to amplify as larger changes in the end result, the
     more effect one can get.  This provides an explanation of why
     patterns exist within seemingly random events and why successful
     magic often results in a chain of synchronicities.

     For a given subject (performing under optimum conditions and
     having no difficulty visualizing the nature of the experimental
     target nor psychological aversions to the target), the
     magnitudes of the results obtained in tasks to affect the
     readings on measuring devices (such as magnetometers, radiation
     detectors, Josephson effect devices, balances, etc.) can be
     related to one another by calculating the probability of the
     reading based on the standard physical principles of quantum
     mechanics  [5].

     The sporadic nature of psi phenomena can be explained as a
     matter of outside observers randomizing the process, causing
     dilution of will data channels and randomizing the results  [5]. 
     Thus, the need for secrecy in magical operations.

     One can no longer maintain the division between the observer and



                                                                             864

     observed or between consciousness and the physical world. 
     Rather, both observer and observed, along with both consciousness
     and the material world, are merging and interpenetrating aspects
     of one whole indivisible reality  [1].  

     Whatever the subtle level of reality underlying matter and
     energy, we are that (including our consciousness).  If hidden
     variables exist, we are the hidden variables.  It has been
     theorized that consciousness is an inseparable aspect of this
     underlying reality.  When our awareness connects with the deepest
     layer of reality interconnecting everything, we may experience
     the level of consciousness beyond time and form reported by many
     mystics.  It is this non local structure that we share with
     nature that makes it possible to "attune to nature," to
     psychically participate in nature, and to live in accordance with
     it. 

     What we are usually aware of (normal waking consciousness) is a
     relatively superficial movement in the order of things.  Behind
     the things we are aware of in waking consciousness are a vast
     array of less strongly linked phenomena.  This latter realm is
     commonly called the unconscious (and parts of it the
     subconscious).  The unconscious is not very accurate, since it
     forms a kind of ground of consciousness  [8].  Our awareness can
     link with this ground of consciousness to gain information and to
     influence events.


     THE GODS, GODDESSES AND NATURE SPIRITS

     At this point, I diverge from theory and describe some plausible
     hypotheses.  Consciousness, at a fundamental level, is associated
     with the continuity of the underlying structures out of which
     matter and energy manifest.  Everything shares this continuous
     structure; therefore everything has consciousness to some degree
     (though not necessarily normal waking consciousness).  

     Quoting from Evan Harris Walker (4):  "Consciousness may exist
     without being associated with either a living system or a data
     processing system.  Indeed, since everything that occurs is
     ultimately the result of one or more quantum mechanical events,
     the universe is 'inhabited' by an almost unlimited number of
     rather discrete, conscious, usually non-thinking entities that
     are responsible for the detailed working of the universe.  These
     conscious entities determine (or exist concurrently with the
     determination) singly the outcome of each quantum mechanical
     event, while the Schrodinger equation (to the extent that it is
     accurate) describes the physical constraint placed on their
     freedom of action collectively."

     In shamanic and in religious practice, one resonates with other
     intelligences to get their assistance, inviting them to join in
     the work at hand.  These intelligences can be thought of as
     consciousness resonance matrices.  Some may be localized, as we
     are (such as other biological intelligences, plant divas, power
     spot spirits, some deities, etc.); and some may be non localized
     (spirit animals in the other world, some deities, etc.). 



                                                                             865

     The personalities of the Gods, Goddesses and spirits that many
     practitioners of religion relate to can also be thought of as
     consciousness resonance matrices.  They can be very non-specific
     and disperse, or very specific (such as the Orishas and other
     deities that can manifest in full possession of those who invoke
     them).


     QUANTUM MECHANICS AND MAGICAL RITUAL

     Consider a typical structure of magical ritual and its quantum
     mechanical explanation:

     o Purify one's mind  and one's surroundings, freeing them of
       interfering resonances, quieting the static so that one can
       get a clear and strong resonance on the target desired.

     o Achieve a non-localized state of consciousness, often by
       resonating ones mind with ones inner being, with the Earth,
       the sky, and ones surroundings. 

     o Meditate on the elements (Earth, Air, Fire, Water)
       representing non-local essences.  This helps your mind to
       resonate powerfully non-locally.

     o After reaching out with one's mind and connecting its
       resonance pattern intimately with the non-local web of wave
       patterns connecting everything, invoke deities whose natural
       function is related to the purpose of your ritual.  If
       successful, this connects your mind to a powerful,
       established, non-localized, intelligent resonance matrix that
       (hopefully) joins in the magic.

     o Focus on the target of the work, connecting with the target. 

     o While connected with the target, visualize the end result
       desired, thus creating a resonant template for the phenomenon
       one wants to achieve.

     o Energize the resonance through dance, drumming, chants, pure
       channeling of will power, or other means.

     o Release the energy into the target while strongly visualizing
       the target achieved (energizing the resonance in the target).

     o Ground,  removing ones mind from the direct, resonant link
       with the target, so that the patterns you have set in motion
       in the target can continue with minimum interference  (to
       throw a ball, one has to let go).

     o Thank and say goodbye to the intelligences one works with, thus
       disconnecting ones mind further from other resonance matrices.



                                                                             866

     There are other forms of magic, and much more detail to the
     forms I described.  There are also ethical considerations.  This
     paper provides a description of some aspects of the integration
     of quantum mechanics with magickal thinking, but it does not
     cover everything.




     SO WHAT?
      
     To read about theories of magic is like reading about sports.
     You may pick up a few ideas; but to become proficient, you must
     participate and play the game.  People have been teaching and
     performing magic for thousands of years, without the benefit of
     quantum theory.  Many magicians have had to separate their
     scientific training from their magical practice.  Now, magical
     theory has been merged with scientific theory, and more of the
     mind of those trained in science can resonate with magic.  Also,
     critics of magic can be shown the scientific theory and data
     validating it, to show that there is more to magic than
     superstition.

     I have not seen any other quantitative scientific theories that
     explain the results of experiments on psychokinesis, extrasensory
     perception, and consciousness as accurately as Walker's theory,
     or that give as satisfying of an explanation of the
     synchronicities that I, as a worker of magic and a scientist,
     have observed from personal experience.  This is not to say that
     these ideas represent ultimate truth, that alternative theories
     no not exist, or that flaws will not be found and that
     alternative theories will not replace them.  I would welcome
     hearing from others who have additional information and insight
     into the applicability and limitations of the theories of modern
     Physics as applied to the occult.


     MULTIPLE UNIVERSES?

     One interesting hypothesis is that of multiple universes.  As I
     understand it, this hypothesis states that all of the alternative
     possibilities allowed by quantum mechanics actually occur, but in
     different universes.  Magicians can interpret their magic as
     moving their awareness between these alternative universes.  I
     have never seen the multiple universe theory set up
     mathematically in a way that would allow it to be quantitatively
     tested, using physical measurements (like was done with Mr.
     Walker's theory),

     It  would be interesting to determine if and to what extent the
     multiple universe hypothesis can be integrated with Mr. Walker's
     theory.  Consciousness, acting at a gross level, seems to be
     relativistic - something experienced by observers relative to
     their frames of reference.  Consciousness, at its ultimate level,
     seems to be subtler than time and location.  



                                                                             867

     When two observers see the same thing, they both may have certain
     experiences in common, they both may affect the thing observed,
     and they may report some of the events the same and some
     differently.  Experience may be categorized in a multiple
     universe mode and/or in a single universe mode.  If would be
     interesting to know which mode is most useful for various
     purposes.  

     It is obvious that some people have such a different personal
     perception of reality as to be seemingly out of touch with the
     world we experience around them.  Their self-world image becomes
     more important than anything, and they adjust their memories and
     perceptions to meet whatever emotional needs they have at the
     time  [9].  Delusions of personal reality and the high
     probability that such realities are real for the person
     experiencing that reality can result in interesting questions
     about what is real and what is unreal.

     Although the universe may be a seamless whole, most physicists
     describe it in two different modes, depending on whether things
     are being observed or not  [7]:
      
     o A classical, mechanistic mode for the definite attributes of
       observation, and 

     o A statistical, mathematical, quantum mechanical mode for the
       wave patterns described by quantum mechanics.

     David Bohm has begun to develop new terminology that integrates
     both the process of observation and quantum theory  [1].



                                                                             868

     REFERENCES

     1.     Bohm, David.  Wholeness and the Implicate Order, ARK
            Paperbacks, London, 1983.

     2.     Merzbacher, Eugene.  Quantum Mechanics, John Wiley and
            Sons, Inc., New York, 1967.

     3.     Bell, J.S.  "On the Problem of Hidden Variables in Quantum
            Mechanics, Review of Modern Physics 38, 447-452, 1966.

     4.     Walker, Evan H.  "The Nature of Consciousness,"
            Mathematical Biosciences 7, 1970.

     5.     Walker, Evan H.  The Complete Quantum Mechanical
            Anthropologist. U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratories,
            Aberdeen Proving ground, Maryland, presented at the 73rd
            Annual American Anthropological Association Meeting,
            Mexico City, November 19-24, 1974.

     6.     Walker, Evan H. and Nick Herbert.  "Hidden Variables:
            Where Physics and the Paranormal Meet," Future Science,
            edited by John White and Stanley Krippner, Anchor books,
            Garden City, New York, 1977.

     7.     Herbert, Nick. "Notes Toward A User's Guide to the Quantum
            Connection," Psychological Perspectives 38,  Jung
            Institute of Los Angeles, Spring-Summer 1988.

     8.     Bohm, David. "Consciousness and Self-Consciousness-A
            Working Paper," Psychological Perspectives 38,  Jung
            Institute of Los Angeles, Spring-Summer 1988.

     9.     Bohm, David. "Beyond Relativity and Quantum Mechanics,"
            Psychological Perspectives 38,  Jung Institute of Los
            Angeles, Spring-Summer 1988.

     10.    Bohm, David and Peat, David. Science Order and Creativity,
            Bantam, 1987.




     ***************************************************************

     I used WordPerfect to write this article, and I used CompuServe B 
     protocol, Procomm 2.4.1 and an Everex Evercomm 24 modem to transmit it. 
     I don't know how to transmit Greek and many mathematical symbols with 
     this software and hardware.  As a result, I had to use non-standard 
     symbols in the equations.  Any suggestions?

     Note that "E" in numbers like 5E11 stands for five "times ten to
     the" eleventh power.



                                                                             869

                           Personal Effects of Magic Ritual 
                                      By Nihasa 
      
      LC> I am exploring the power of change, as applied to 
      LC> ritual. When I step out of my suit and tie and into my 
      LC> ceremonial robe, then step out of my rooms and into my 
      LC> temple, then leave behind my everyday life and enter 
      LC> into the sacred space, what is it that makes it 'work' 
      LC> for me? 
     . 
     One part of the effect seems to come from an unconscious pact 
     you make with your many-faceted mind. When you remove your 
     "street" clothes, you give your mind permission to likewise 
     "put off" important thoughts about "mundane" life until you 
     return to those clothes. Notice that I don't say "compel 
     your mind" to avoid those thoughts...that generally doesn't 
     work very well. Instead, you acknowledge the importance of 
     the mundane thoughts and promise to return to them after the 
     ceremony (gee, did you know you were being so polite to your 
     self? <-;). 
     . 
     Likewise, when you don your ceremonial robes you invite your 
     mind to start focusing on the ceremony ahead and the general 
     context of such ceremonies and their associated mental 
     states. For those who work 'skyclad', this effect is often 
     achieved by tieing on a cord or putting on ritual jewelry. 
     When you step into the ritual chamber, you reiterate those 
     invitations while you step out of the transition and into 
     the magick. 
     . 
     These dynamics are fairly universal...they are the same for 
     a Christian priest and his vestments or a Toreador and his 
     Suit of Lights; from an actor slipping into his costume and 
     character to a couple slipping into those "special" night- 
     things. The mechanics vary from a simple "change clothes and 
     walk in" to elaborately formal vesting rituals with 
     prescribed chants and gestures at each stage. In NLP we call 
     the clothes and places "anchors", while others call them 
     reminders, Mnemonics, or talismans. They can be constructed 
     consciously or evolve unconsciously. 
     . 



                                                                             870

                                 THE HERETIC'S CORNER 
                                  (c)1986, Buck Jump

          Greetings, my Pagan friends; may your Gods be well disposed
     to you.  May the rain fall gently on your rhubarb.  May the hail
     fall in a lake or on a parking lot.  May our little six-legged
     friends develop an allergy to your pickle patch.

          Now is the sweet season of our year.  Our Mother the Earth
     is pregnant with the harvest to come.  The days are long and the
     thoughts of the season are long, long thoughts.  In the soft
     afternoon sky the white thunderheads sail serenely on like ships
     of dream in dreamland seas.  Surely even such as I can be
     forgiven for dreaming a bit, for letting the fancy roam free.

          In dreams I see a world set free.  I see the human race
     living in peace, with each one going his own way but with
     courtesy to all who go another way.  I see us as one species,
     which we are, and all of us acknowledging that fact.  I see each
     walking in beauty, with dignity, and respecting the other
     person's dignity.  I see us loving one another, helping our
     fellow men along their way.  When I dream, I don't mess around -
     I rear back and dream up a doozy!

          So much for dreams; back to the world we live in, back to
     the life we know.  Before I spring my question for the day, a
     little background, a few facts:

          Every one of us must come to terms with his environment and
     his heredity.  We all live on one Earth.   That is the main part
     of our environment, or at least the location of it.

          We are all human beings, homo occasionally sapiens.  That is
     the basis of our heredity.  
     
          Anything that is done to one of us is done to all of us. 
     Anything that happens in one place on this planet has some effect
     on every place on the planet.

          We are, all of us, stuck with our whole species.  Here we
     are with a bunch of people we wouldn't willingly walk down a
     country road with.  Indeed, we are as ship- wrecked mariners in a
     lifeboat with a bunch we wouldn't sit down to eat a free meal
     with.  To jump out of the boat is to drown.  To try to toss those
     _______________s out is very apt to upset the boat and drown all
     of us.    These facts are self-evident, axiomatic.

          I have always held that we should all walk the path of life
     with our hands outstretched in fellowship with respect and love
     for all.  Of course, I have a caveat - keep a Bowie knife handy
     in case they haven't all heard the message.

          As the Ultimate is reported to have said when the mountains
     were made, "Now for the background".  The present situation is a
     mess.  Violence is everywhere.  Not even foolish violence, but
     violence without reason.  Surely a leopard is in our streets and
     a shark loose in our swimming pool.



                                                                             871

          An armed bandit shoots down an unarmed clerk who is
     cooperating.  A litigant in court shoots down an attorney.  A
     parent beats a child to death.  A driver gets cut off coming onto
     the freeway and guns down the chap in the pickup who did the
     off-cutting.  An otherwise reasonable young man is annoyed by the
     sounds of traffic on a mountain road and starts shooting at the
     cars passing.  Those are only a few examples culled from the news
     in recent months.  In truth, senseless violence is loose in the
     land.

          As it is with the individual, so with groups.  From the
     racist fringe movement on to great governments. Violence for the
     sake of violence is epidemic.  Each age of history has had a
     plague - the plague of this age is senseless violence.  I have
     friends of the "born again" persuasion who tell me that it is the
     Devil doing it.  I don't think so.  As far as I can determine,
     devils are a disorganized bunch.  Satan Mekatrig Lord of Chaos is
     a confusion in terms.  Seen another way, that's organized
     confusion.  As I see it, the flow of the power of the Universe is
     organized and rational.  So it seems to me that any force opposed
     to that flow must be disorganized and irrational.  That is to say
     nothing of the personal devils within us.  They must have a hand
     in at least some of this senseless violence.

          I have other friends who blame it on some as yet
     unidentified virus.  Could be, but it's a rare virus that has no
     fever, nor nausea accompanying its onset....

          Others hold that it is all explainable by Sigmund Freud and
     others of that ilk.  Again I say could be, but what mental
     discomboomeration comes on suddenly with no sign of
     disorientation nor disturbance until it suddenly manifests itself
     in the acute stage?

          For all I know, none of the above are correct.  The fact re-
     mains that a wild unreasoning violence is loose among us, a
     danger to us all.  The fact is, we are all in the same boat, and
     the boat is encountering some heavy weather.  Don't you think we
     should do something about it?  I personally can think of a whole
     lot of folks who I don;t really care to rescue, but being as we
     are all in the same boat, I am sure going to do my best for
     them....... But what?

          In case this is all some psychosis, maybe we should engage a
     firm of head shrinkers to drag in a trainload of couches and get
     everyone to undergo psychoanalysis.  I refuse to consider the
     logistics of this.  The idea by itself causes my mind to boggle.

          Or, suppose it is a virus.  In that case when the
     virologists and immunologists have a bit of spare time from their
     search for the cause and cure of AIDS, they could do the same for
     the senseless violence virus.  In view of the fact that we are
     all at greater risk from senseless violence than from AIDS, it
     might be a worthwhile task.

          Or, just in case the gnostics have some truth in their
     ideas, and it is Auld Clootie, maybe a mass general exorcism is
     in order.  Once again, my mind refuses to consider the logistics.



                                                                             872

          In view of the fact that the cause of senseless violence is
     still unknown, we might get a government grant to study the
     problem.  Considering the speed that such grants usually get
     results, I would expect a definite answer by the twenty-second
     century.  Of course, such a grant would have the added advantage
     of keeping a large number of researchers out of the pool halls
     and off the streets.

          Now I am going to go against my usual custom and make a
     suggestion; only a suggestion, mind, and not to be taken as a
     dictum, but only as an idea to be considered.  It has been my
     observation that there are only two occasions when magic is apt
     to work.  One is after all other methods have been tried and
     found ineffectual.  The other is when there is no other method. 
     Now I believe that I have explored the other methods and found
     them impractical if not impossible.  So I feel that I am safe in
     saying it's going to take magic to stop this purposeless killing.

          So how to go about it?  What spell, what charm, what
     ceremony shall we use?  What power shall we invoke?  What power
     evoke?  Magic works, the proper ceremony at the proper time, done
     for the proper reason, will work.  True for you, you may well
     say, but which ceremony?  When?  Why?

          I just told you.  The proper one.  The one that is proper
     for you is the one you yourself believe is proper.  This is not
     an essay on morals and ethics, so I refrain from putting in my
     two cents worth on what is in my estimation proper.  When you are
     fighting a grass fire is no time to discuss what sort of shovel
     to use.

          In my dream we were all walking each in his own way, each
     helping the others as much as possible.  So here let us not try
     to all walk in one path.  No point in the universe can be reached
     from only one direction.  Let us rather each from where it seems
     most right and comfortable, try by magic means to stop this
     senseless violence.  Not-ice I said senseless violence, not just
     violence.  Some who follow the old Norse way could hardly be ex-
     pected to endorse some anti-violent intention, but I know of none
     who do not deplore reasonless violence.  We have our differences,
     but surely no one objects to improving all our chances of kissing
     our grandchildren.

          So, what I propose is this.  Sometime in the next quarter
     year, whenever it seems most proper, let us in our various ways
     by whatever means one believes in, try by magic means to stop
     this epidemic of senseless violence.



                                                                             873

          I have noticed a few things about power on the unseen side. 
     For a ceremony to be more than a mere charade, everyone involved
     in it must believe in the ceremony and in whatever power is used
     in it.  Everyone must believe that the ceremony can and will
     work.  Everyone must want the ceremony to work.  If anyone
     involved in the ceremony does not so believe and want, that
     person will be a dead weight on the others that do.  When I say
     everyone, I mean everyone, all, each one with one belief and one
     resolve.  What can be done by a group acting in true spiritual
     harmony is indeed amazing, but first you must have that true
     spiritual harmony.

          That is why I suggest we go at this not as some sort of
     super- coven ecumenical pagan group.  I have seen a few of these
     "lets all get together" bunches back in the sixties, and they
     couldn't even get drunk.

          I personally am in favor of any religion that don't practice
     human sacrifice, interfere in the private lives of the
     nonbelievers, or use force in conversion.  I love 'em all, but
     I'm not fool enough to yoke the ass and the ox together.  So
     let's all go, but let's not try to make it a parade.

          That is my suggestion, and my question is why not?  I'd
     appreciate your ideas on this, I truly would.  If you have any
     ideas on the subject, please communicate them to the editors of
     the RMPJ.  Even if the ideas are along the lines of, "You're
     Nuts!!", just say why you think so.  I'd appreciate it.

          May your dreams come true; may the wind cool without
     chilling, and may you reap a harvest even richer than the seed
     catalogue said you would.  May your shadow fall long on the
     Earth.  Go in peace, remember your fellows, and with these words
     I do part now from thee.
            ________Buck Jump.       ....from RMPJ 8/86



                                                                             874

                                 The Heretic's Corner 

          Greetings, my Pagan friends, may your Gods be well disposed
     to you.  May the sad and ugly in your lives be covered by the
     blessing of beauty even as the trash of Autumn is covered by the
     beautiful snow.  May all that is sad in your lives decompose
     beneath the blessings even as the dry leaves decompose beneath
     the snow; out of the dead past a living future.  The flower of
     hope ever springs from the mulch and compost of dead regret. 
     Remember, a curse may force its way into your citadel, but a
     blessing only enters through an opened door.  In other words, my
     blessings upon you, may your Gods bless you, but do your part
     too.

          Samhain has come and past, the leaves of autumn have fallen
     to the ground, the veil between the worlds is once more grown
     thick.  It is winter now, early winter, but winter none the less. 
     Our mother the Earth is now the old woman by the fire- side, past
     all passion now, but also past regret.  She is the loving wise
     woman, the old one who looks back in order to show us the path
     ahead. Youth is the time for courage and hope, but courage
     without caution is spectacular suicide and hope without wisdom is
     gentle madness.  The  fruitful Mother Summer changes the snow-
     baby's diaper, but Grandmother Winter shows her how.  The Romans
     dedicated this quiet season to Janus who looks back into the past
     and ahead into the future with good reason.  It is the season of
     history and prophesy.    The sound of the pipes dies in a wail,
     the nimble fingers of the harper are still upon the strings, a
     hush falls over the hall and the blind seer of things unseen
     makes his way slowly up the length of the Ard Righ's great hall,
     tapping with his staff before him.  It is the hour of telling the
     King's fortune,  the tribe's fortune.  When the blind seer begins
     to chant all tongues are stilled, all ears are straining to catch
     every word.  So it was, so it still is, and my guess is, it will
     be so as long as men walk the earth.

          Now for my questions.  A heretic without questions is a
     confusion in terms.  I may be confusing and even [some say]
     confused, but I am a bona fide heretic here to question any faith
     - even my own.

          First question:  What do you see up the road before us? 
     There are Tarot cards, there are Runes, there are crystal balls
     and dark mirrors, peep stones and visions in the mind.  I can't
     even begin to list all the ways of looking into the future, but
     whatever method you use, won't you tell us what you see?  As a
     voting member of the human corporation you owe it to your fellows
     to share your vision with us all.       So come on all you
     astrologers, scryers, mystics and shamanic prophets, give us the
     word.  Now I know how hard it is to go out on a limb, I lived in
     a tree house for a while.  No one but a masochist or a publicity
     hound wants to be proved wrong in public.  Even the delphic
     oracle used to state her predictions in ambiguous terms.  The
     fact that any prophet can at times be wrong tends to make serious
     prophets a rather close-mouthed bunch.  I understand how that is,
     no one's complexion is improved by egg on the face.



                                                                             875

          Now I think I have a way for you to share your vision
     without going out on a limb and falling like Lucifer if the limb
     breaks.  Write your prediction to the editors of the R.M.P.J. and
     ask that your name be kept confidential.  It will be.  I know
     Kyri and Gary and I give you my word and oath, they are honorable
     people who will respect your confidence.  A Pagan Priest or
     Priestess is no more apt to break the seal of confession than a
     Christian one.  In the case of astrologers this is hardly the
     case.  The stars are a matter of public knowledge and any error
     in an astrological prediction is a matter of interpretation
     rather than false vision.  To some degree readers of cards and
     runes are the same as astrologers - the error is more apt to be
     in the reading than in what is read.    Anyway, in these troubled
     times [that is a redundancy] we all can use any guidance we can
     get, so please pass on to the rest of us any vision you have. So
     that is the first question.  What do you see, and that's a public
     question.

          Here is the next question, and it is a private question -
     that is, answer it, but don't pass the  answer on.  If you do, it
     can only  lead to quarrels, argument and sorrow.  We have enough
     trouble in the world without adding to it.  Answer, but keep your
     answer where you found it.  The question is this:  Is the future
     you saw the only future possible?

          The idea that the future is fixed, that the last day's
     doings were inevitably programmed before the first day's dawn did
     not begin with John Calvin.  If the future is fixed then it can
     be known - however, if it's fixed, knowing it won't help.  In
     fact in a totally known or knowable future even your finding out
     is part of the programme.

          Now as for me, I'm a heretic.  I truly can't call myself a
     Pagan and I'm sure not part of anything else either.  I wouldn't
     try to get anyone to share my beliefs.  For one thing, being "a
     poor seeker after the truth, whatever it may be" is lonely, for
     another it is apt to give a person lots of shocks.  So if I toss
     in a bit of private faith at this point don't think I'm trying to
     make any converts.  I only bring this up for your consideration.

          If you see a coyote chasing a rabbit and the coyote is
     gaining, you can predict rabbit dinner.  The odds are you will be
     right unless...  You didn't see the hole one jump ahead of the
     rabbit, or you may have overlooked the hawk already stooping on
     the rabbit.  All of these, coyote, rabbit, and hawk, are living
     creatures, self-directed by minds, so we must consider these
     possibilities too.  The coyote may become a vegetarian, the
     rabbit may take a quick course in judo and the hawk may become a
     guru and announce that she has become a butterfly.  The future
     will probably be a continuation of the past, what is in motion
     will probably stay in motion, but so long as minds are a part of
     the future, the future is changeable.  The ability to change is
     the chief attribute of a mind.



                                                                             876

          So, if I'm right any vision of the future, even if it cannot
     be totally exact will be of value to me.  If I'm wrong and the
     future is fore-ordained, prearranged, fated or kismet, I would be
     wasting my time even considering it.  The worst part of that is
     even my wasting my time must also be fated.  I don't believe
     that, but it is a consoling thought when I've lost the rent money
     shooting pool.

          Now the last question.  This one can be public or private as
     you prefer.  I can't see how the answer or how you answer would
     in itself cause any real trouble.  Oh, those who agree with your
     answer will call you wise and those who disagree will call you a
     blind fool, but that goes on all the time anyway.  The question
     is this:  How did some of the old-timers in the game of
     prediction roll up their impressive scores?
     There was the oracle at Delphi, the Roman spurinna, St. Malachy,
     and Coinneach Odhar the Brahan seer;  they all rolled, so far as
     we know, a perfect score.  How did they do it?  Or did they?  It
     may well be that their hits have been remembered and their misses
     swept under the rug.

          Then there are others; Nostradamus, Homer Lee the hunch-
     back, Roger Bacon and Robert Nixon the cheshire idiot, to name a
     few.  These all proved quite accurate after the fact.  That is,
     their pre-dictions have been seen to be accurate after the events
     predicted have come to pass, but difficult to understand before
     they happened.  This in spite of the fact that both Lee and Nixon
     were quite plain spoken.  

          Some have had dream visions, some have been suddenly granted
     knowledge, some have had visions in trance and some of them were
     correct. Others by the same methods or means have been totally
     wrong.  Is there a way to tell the true from the false before the
     predicted event either comes to pass or passes beyond
     possibility?  If so how?  Did they, the visionaries whose visions
     were accurate beyond the laws of chance, see the real and only
     future, or the most likely future?  Did they perceive the causes
     in their times and follow them logically to their final efforts,
     or did they physically go forward in time?

          No big deal, but something to while away the hours when the
     snow keeps all but those employed outside (and brave fools)
     isolated by the fireside with nothing but a bunch of books to re-
     read and the idiot box to look at.  When the white blanket cuts
     us off from society it is well to have something to occupy the
     mind.  Figuring out the prophets of old ought to last even a busy
     mind through a day of blizzard.

          Any way, let us have a bit of prophetic prediction from the
     readers. I have no doubt that there is at least one Michel de
     Nostredame out there and probably several William Millers. 
     Miller, if you don't know, was the gent who predicted the end of
     the world for Oct. 22, 1844.  If you haven't noticed, he was
     wrong.  Let us hear a word from the future from these Rocky
     Mountains.



                                                                             877

          The snow grows deeper up in the hills; old Yuler skiis over
     the mountains and through the canyons, his long red cap trailing
     behind like the tail of a comet and his merry laugh ringing in
     the crisp air.  Yuler of the winter stars, friend of wolves,
     fools, drunks and children - enemy of armies, noble princes, and
     "the brave of mouth, coward of heart", - may he take a liking to
     you.  Even more, may you be the sort of person he likes,
     cheerful, full of laughter, not boastful, simple of heart, open
     of mind and blessed with a generous giving hand.

          Be of good cheer dear friends; listen to the voice of our
     Mother.  The longest coldest winter will end one day in spring. 
     However deep beneath the snow the seeds are buried, in time the
     flowers will bloom again.  I don't need a crystal ball to see
     some rough times ahead.  Times are hard and getting harder, but
     we humans have weathered some bad times getting this far.  We can
     make it.  My blessings on one and all, with which words I do part
     now from thee.
     __________Buck Jump
     .......from RMPJ 12/86



                                                                             878

                                 THE HERETIC'S CORNER 
                      Copyright (c) 1987 by Buck Jump

          Greetings my Pagan friends; may your Gods be well disposed
     to you.  May the smoke go lightly up your chimney, taking the
     ills and sorrows of your house with it.  May your wood pile
     diminish slowly and your fire kindle quickly.  May you not lack
     for ale nor friends to share it with.

          Yule has come and passed, the sun has once more turned North
     and the short winter days grow longer.  For all that, the wolf of
     winter howls the louder around our doors.  The sky holds a
     promise of spring; the wolf howls louder and prowls closer around
     our doors for he knows his time is short.

          We people of the North Intemperate Zone are the children of
     the seasons.  Our special magic is weather magic.  Out of the
     cold hard winter and the hot blazing summer we have fashioned our
     arts and our inventions.  All the strength under the sky is of no
     avail without some-thing to push against.  Yet for all our clever
     inventions we are still shaped by the seasons, ruled by the
     weather.  here in the rockies, all our promises and our contracts
     carry the unspoken clause, "If the road is open and the crick
     don't rise."

          Our Mother the Earth speaks to us by the seasons, in the
     ever changing, ever repeated weather.  Hereabout when Mother
     speaks all men listen.  Now in the hard season be-tween the
     winter solstice and the vernal equinox the lesson Mother teaches
     is one of patience and introspection.

          Consider, my friends, how it is this time of year.  We walk
     abroad in a world that seems dead, or at least dormant and
     sleeping.  Yet out of this seeming death will spring the life of
     the summer to come.  Life into death, death into life the seasons
     roll on.  Under the frost the seeds of the plants to come are
     waiting.  Deep in their roots the grass and the greenwood trees
     are gathering strength for the green to come.  A person who won't
     learn from nature won't long cast a shadow on the earth.

          Now is the time for planning and preparation.  Now, when
     every thing is moving slowly is the time to set our minds for the
     quick decisions to come.  The time to plan for a journey is
     while the road is blocked with snow.  Perspiration without
     preparation is a waste of effort.  Now in this quiet time we
     should prepare for the busy season ahead.  In this life the quick
     and the dead are judged.  Those who ain't quick are judged dead. 
     True enough, but quick alone won't get it.  The frog that means
     to survive must be ever ready to jump, but he has to jump in the
     right direction.  Old Blue Heron gets many a meal from frogs who
     jump the wrong way.  We live in a hard world where to do nothing
     is to die, and to do the wrong thing is suicide.  The eyes that
     look not ahead are soon stopped with grave dust.



                                                                             879

          Look into the future to plan for the future, but don't
     forget the past.  Old defects and mistakes are a better teacher
     than old triumphs.  Remember what went wrong in the past, so it
     won't go wrong again.  Anyone alive to read these words must be
     at least fair at for-seeing the future, or have luck beyond the
     ordinary.  Now is the time to get out the crystal ball, cast the
     horoscope, shuffle the Tarot cards, consider the predictions of
     sages and experts, read the record to establish a pattern, and
     then meld them all into some sensible plan of action.  It's not a
     bad idea to have a contingency plan or two on hand just in case.

          Enough of this, I am beginning to sound like a guru, and I
     only meant to pass the time of day.  I have no certificate of
     appointment signed by the ultimate and witnessed by our Mother
     the Earth appointing me councillor to the human race.  No, I'm
     just the asker of questions, and I don't need an appointment for
     that.  Does a bird need an appointment to fly?

          Don't pay too much attention to me, or to any other tribal
     elder.  We are all of us ever tempted to sit in the seat of the
     oracle, and reveal to the young the words of the Gods, that we
     heard in the age we call golden.  If the elder is really good at
     it he can even recall an age when every goose was a swan and
     every goat a gazelle.  The flower children who said "don't trust
     anyone over thirty" had good reason for saying it.  I would add
     "Don't trust anyone under thirty, either."  If you can't trust
     your own observations and intelligence, you have a real problem.

          I trust you to know the difference between gold and bull-
     plop.  I will propose questions, you will have to find your own
     answers.  If I, or any other old crock,knew the answers to all of
     life's questions, do you think we'd be here casting our pearls of
     wisdom to the winds?

          When, and if you have a bit of time to consider general
     questions, after considering your own specific problems, here are
     a few good ones.

          What should our relations be with one who has gone wrong? 
     We should love all life, even the self made mess, the scoundrel
     who knows no law save his own appetites, the seeker after free
     lunches, the T.V. evangelist and all the self proclaimed "great
     leaders".  We should love them, but how close should we get? 
     Holding hands with a fool who insists on standing under a tall
     tree during a thunderstorm just isn't bright.  The laws of nature
     have no pity, and being an innocent bystander is the most
     dangerous employment known to man.  So the real question is, how
     close should we get?



                                                                             880

          Another to ponder, how far should we go in turning one of
     our fellows from the wrong path?  "No effort to great to promote
     the right" sounds good but is it?  Consider: When does a
     friendly word of warning become a pack of alarmist lies?  How far
     does friendly persuasion go, before it becomes `unfriendly
     coercion?  It's all very well to be the dedicated teacher, but
     when does the teacher become the demagogue?  How far can a
     teacher go before he is interfering with the student's free will? 
     Where does seduction end and rape begin?  Just how far can one go
     in correcting a friend gone wrong without buying in to a real bad
     deal?  I was once picking apples with a fellow who was color-
     blind.  With the best intention he picked a small round hornets
     nest.  We learn by observation.

          Here's one to ponder on long cold nights when old Fenris
     howls outside the door, and ghost lights gleam in the northern
     sky.  Can right ever be wrong?  At first glance, it looks like
     the Old Heretic has drunk too deep from the good plum wine. 
     Could be, but consider before you judge.  Take for instance the
     statement "The Earth is our mother, we should all love, cherish
     and protect her."  Now, I don't think you can find a sane person
     anywhere who don't agree with that statement, at least in spirit. 


          Self-preservation demands that we try to save our home and
     our heritage.  So far so good, but just how far should we go in
     our protecting?  What weapons should we use, and how use them? 
     Adolph Hitler had the idea that over-population was our big
     problem, and he set out to fix it.  The laws of nature don't need
     a bunch of petit bureaucrats to enforce them.  No judge and jury
     are needed to sentence a fool to dismemberment for failing to
     show the proper respect for high explosives.  It doesn't take the
     hand of Lud to drown a fool who shoots a hole in the boat.  The
     laws of nature have no pity, you who know better and are in the
     boat with the armed idiot will drown along with him if he fires
     the shot.  The trick is to save the boat.  In a case like that,
     anything that works is right and proper--if it works.  Throwing
     the armed lunatic overboard is fine if you can do it without
     upsetting the boat.  
     Anyone can cure a dog of running away by shooting him in the
     head.  
     It's a poor medicine that causes more pain than it cures.  It is
     not enough to know right and defend it, you must still be right
     after your defence triumphs.  The end would justify the means
     always, except any end must reflect the means and be a part of
     them.  So I lied a little, right can become wrong.  The real
     question is how does one defend right without destroying the
     right defended?  That's one we all damn well better have an
     answer for every day.



                                                                             881

          These grey days that keep me indoors have gotten me full of
     questions; a house-bound heretic is a menace to man's peace of
     mind.  Here is a question to discuss with friends by the fire
     over a mug of ale.  I toss this in as a gift.  After you have
     discussed the weather and displayed your knowledge of sports
     you'll need a topic of conversation.  That boring lull in the
     conversation is all too easy to fill with remarks about the
     neighbors, and that leads all to often to digging a grave in the
     frozen ground.  So here is my gift to the peace of the
     neighborhood.  When is it proper to work weather magic?

          I won't bore you with a discourse on the ways and means of
     weather magic, they are many and for the knowledgeable person
     they all work.  I know that there are a few world-class weather
     fixers in my audience.  Most of us are somewhere between poor and
     fair at weather magic.  In terms of snow we range from a white
     frost to an occasional ground hider.  The real adept can bring on
     a real road-blocker at will.  The question is not "can it be
     done?", the quest-ion is "When should it be done?"
     Why? Before you answer it might be well to consider another one
     of those laws of nature.  There is one that can be stated
     `whatever you do by whatever means is your responsibility', or in
     the vulgate "if you order it you have to take de-livery on it and
     pay for it."

          My first three questions are intended for private answers, 
     I don't want to know your answers, but I hope you do.  As long as
     your personal moral code doesn't endanger me, I'm in favor of
     you keeping it personal.  I have trouble enough with my own moral
     code.  I'm not interested in yours, but I hope you are.  

          I'd like some input on the last question.  If you have any
     ideas on the subject please pass them on to our ever-tolerant
     editors.  We who love our Mother Earth, and practice a bit of
     benign magic owe it to each other and to humanity generally to
     share our ideas.  Some of the magi of the old times seem to have
     worked out the morality of weather magic, but that was then, this
     is now.  Or does that make a difference?

          I have done my best to give you something to think about,
     something to keep boredom at bay and break the monotony of the
     cold grey days.  If this doesn't work you can shovel snow and
     keep your body so busy that your mind won't have time to grow
     bored.  If you don't have any snow of your own to shovel I'll let
     you come over to my house and have at the drifts with a shovel.

          My blessing to one and all; may the green grass of spring
     know your shadow - with these words I do now part from thee.

     P.S.  Women:  Please read mankind for man, and Hers or His for
     his.  I respect all of you persons, but I plead `non culpa' to
     the charge of male chauvinism - I did not invent the English
     language, I only use it.



                                                                             882

                           THE HERETIC'S CORNER 
                               by Buck Jump

          Greetings, my Pagan friends; may your Gods be well disposed
     to you; may the bugs flee your patch as from a crow; may the
     gentle rain fall softly on your flower beds; and may your lovers
     be all you wish them to be.  Now at the season of long lovely
     days and short passionate nights, when our Mother the fair Earth
     is at her richest and most bountiful, it is hardly the season for
     deep thinking.

          When nature is at its very best and the season most
     enjoyable are we not all of us tempted to shut of maymental
     processes and enjoy life in a purely sensual mammalian way?  Of
     course we are, to do less would be an insult to creation.

          At this glad time, here comes that old pest, the heretic,
     like the ghost at Ceasar's feast.  Consider, dear friends, even
     as the screech owl is put into this world to scare goose bumps on
     our backs, the here-tic is put into the world to ask hard
     questions and discomboomerate the quiet mind.  The only place on
     this sweet earth where we can look for a quiet unchanging stay is
     a graveyard.  It is so with me, even as with you.

          The other day when I was minding my own business [a most ha-
     zardous occupation], a stranger came to me with a request.  He
     wanted me to magically restore to him a lost love.  It seems that
     he had, by his own actions, turned his lady's love if not to
     hate, at least to an active dislike.  He was sorry.  He knew it
     was all his own fault.  He agreed that she was justified in
     leaving him.  He beat his chest and cried `mea culpa', but he
     wanted her back, and he wanted me or someone to, as he put it,
     "push the right button", and change the situation.  Before he
     came to me he had been to a friend of mine.  The friend is a
     scholar and practical magician who is rather more daring than
     most- he had by magic means caused the lady to recall the best of
     the past.  With that, the lady consented to talk with her ex-
     inamorata, and discuss, in a civilized fashion, her decision to
     be done with him.  At that, the magician bowed out.  He pointed
     out to the petitioner that from there on, it was up to him.  My
     friend maymagician can be, when he has to be, a most impressive
     man, and I gather he dismissed the `lorn lover' with a definite
     dismissal.

          Then he came to me.  I pointed out that there ain't no free
     lunch in the universe and I had no intention o    making on a
     karmic debt of considerable proportion for his possible benefit.
     I told him that it is easier to move a mountain than to move a
     human mind if it will not be moved.  I told him that he was
     trying to find someone to do for him what could only be properly
     done by himself.  I pointed out to him that his situation was an
     effect of a cause, a cause that he was responsible for.  I told
     him that magic is fine as a last resort, but hardly to be
     considered as first aid.  I told him ......  I wasted my breath.
     Such a one hears only what he wants to hear.



                                                                             883

          The petitioner only said, "I just need someone to push the
     right button - she used to love me.  I am not asking much, I just
     want things to be like they were."

          I refrained from pointing out that Hitler could have said
     the same thing in the bunker.  Then he said, "I am willing to pay
     you.  Just tell me how much it's going to cost." Some things are
     an insult from a knowledgeable person, and a joke from a fool.  I
     laughed.  He was the sort who would ask "How much?", referring to
     one's head.

          Now I am, I think, a reasonable sort, patient, and in my own
     way polite, but enough is enough, and this chap was rapidly
     becoming too much.  I told him flatly, that I was not about to do
     any button pushing.  I gave him what I felt was good advice.
     That is, I told him that if he was determined to further his
     amours by magic means to learn to do it himself.  I referred him
     to a most knowledgeable teacher.  I was in that way certain that
     he would either learn what was involved in his request and give
     it up, or more likely abandon the whole thing as too slow and too
     difficult.  (The teacher informs me that he never bothered to
     even go around to see what the teacher had to offer.  A case of
     "Gimme my daily bread, I'm willing to wait with my mouth open".)

          Then he countered that if I wouldn't "push the button" could
     I refer him to someone who could, or would.  I inquired around.
     One col-league I know is willing to try just about anything.  He
     once did a weather spell out on the high plains in tornado season
     and another time worked a charm to rid a field of grasshoppers in
     hail season.  I add, both were successful in a disastrous way.
     When I contacted him with the case, his words were, "I'd like to
     but I'm going on a trip to South America."  Surprised, I asked
     about the trip, adding I hadn't known about it.  He replied, "I
     didn't know about it either, but if that dude shows up here, I'm
     going!"

          Failing to find a genuine scholar and practicing magician
     to attempt the matter, I tried a couple of unethical charlatans.
     In view of the fact that the petitioner was a large muscular sort
     who would expect instant results, they regretfully declined.


          I was beginning to feel like Sinbad the Sailor when he
     carried the old man of the sea piggyback around the island.  At
     wit's end (where I have lived for years), I suggested that he try
     religion.  I offered to introduce him to some nice Pagan folks,
     or even get him in touch with some T.V. type evangelists.  He
     refused on the grounds that they would be too slow and uncertain. 
     He wanted instant gratification.

          At last, thanks be to the power that watches over well-
     meaning fools like me, another lady hove into sight, and he took
     off in her direction with deep breath and flashing eyes.  This
     sad fellow is but one of many I've had my misfortune to meet.  I
     am sure most of you could recount similar sad males.  We'll all
     have to get together and I'll haul out the portable wailing wall,
     and we can share a cup of tea and all sympathize with each other.



                                                                             884

          I wouldn't have bored you with this all too familiar tale
     except I have a question.  How does one deal with such people?
     Is there some way to tell a person with a real problem who can be
     helped from the person who has an endless amount of wants and no
     energy to help himself?  That is, some way, without finding out
     the hard way?  I can handle skeptics (I am one myself), I can
     handle cynics, I can handle atheists and deal with convinced true
     believers of all sorts, but how do I deal with a person who
     believes that I can work miracles?

          One question leads to another.  I have a few more on the
     same line.  How comes it that as soon as people, some of them at
     least, find that one is not part of some main line orthodox
     church, they straightway want you to work some magic?  Are Roman
     Catholic and Episcopal priests pestered by miracle seekers?  Are
     T.V.  evangelists?  If not, why not?  They deal in magic as much
     as any Pagan or free thinker.  Is the prevalence of lazy
     freeloaders the reason that Christianity for the last fifteen
     centuries or so has been down playing the magical basis of the
     early Church?  This is a topic worthy of our consideration.

          Another question comes to mind at this point.  A question
     about magic in general.  I am sure you know what magic is, just
     is I am sure I know what it is.  The definitions are many and
     varied, but they all basically state in one way or another, that
     magic is the practical side of religion, and the practice of
     magic is the art of causing changes in the tangible by intangible
     means.  Or, to put it another way, magic is a mental way of
     changing the physical by means o    the spiritual.  That is what
     magic is, no question there.  The question is what does the
     uninitiated, uninformed layman think magic is?
          If you are going to make a living repairing televisions and
     radios, it is not enough that you know electronics.  You must
     also know what your customers believe about electronics.  The
     degree of success in the TV-Radio repair business is generally in
     direct proportion to the amount of customer knowledge the
     proprietor of the business has.  The rule is, if you deal with
     the run of humanity, you must understand the general run of
     humanity.  You must not know only what you know, but also what
     people ignorantly suppose you know.

          I pass this bit of wisdom on to you, for I think it has
     value to any serious student of matters intangible.  An old
     doctor of medicine told me this some forty years ago.  The
     occasion was a patient of his inquiring about an operation for a
     then inoperable condition.  I, only an army medic, was astounded
     at the fellow's ignorance and when the Doc and I were alone, said
     as much.  "Son," the old doctor said, "Here is something to
     remember  Anything that works that you don't understand is magic
      and a magician can do anything.  That's not the truth, but
     ninety per cent of the human race believe it is." That is how
     people who have never studied the arts of magic see it.  To them
     it is a power without cost and without limit.



                                                                             885

          Now, the final question for this time is, what should we do
     about this situation?  How should one handle a request made in
     good faith, to do something clearly impossible?  Don't tell me
     the answer is nineteenth century elitist secrecy.  Even if one
     is a member of The Mystic Confraternity of the Aureate, six
     fifteen A.M. some well intentioned ill informed citizen is going
     to crawl out of your woodwork either begging for a miracle or
     demanding one.  Secrecy restricts the free flow of information
     and the cross fertilization of ideas, besides which it don't
     work.  I fear that people more or less like the chap I described
     at the start of this will ever be with us.  What can we do about
     them, how should we do it?  I am as always serious with my ques
     tions.  If anyone has some idea on the subject please let us all
     know.  Write the editorial staff of the RMPJ.  Don't hide your
     light in this dark world.

          Now, having done my best to dispel the boredom of too much
     of a good thing, I part now from you.  May the sunshine fall
     softly on you, tanning but not burning.  May our sweet Mother the
     Earth long know your shadow.  May you go ever with the current of
     the power of the Absolute.  My blessings on one and all.
              (c)1986, by Buck Jump  .........from R.M.P.J. 8/86



                                                                             886

                               THE HERETIC'S CORNER 
                          Copyright 1987, Buck Jump & RMPJ

          Greetings, my Pagan friends--may your Gods be well-disposed to you. 
     May the rain be sufficient unto the needs of your gardens but not so much
     as to change the creek bottom geography.  May the fish be attracted to your
     bait and the deer flies and mosquitos find you nauseating.  

          Now is the sweet season of our year when our sweet Mother the Earth is
     at Her most satisfying, must nurturing aspect.  Ripe Summer just a moon to
     come, Spring with her fickle teasing just a moon past.  Now the days are
     long and our thoughts are longer.  The nights are short and our sorrows
     even shorter.  To add my blessing to the blessing of being alive in this
     glad season would be to lay a penny on a gold-piece.  Rejoice and be glad
     that you are alive in this season.

          According to my Almanac, which holy writ I have so far found to be
     true, on the night of June 25 the Sun and Moon will both be in Cancer. 
     That night if the clouds are not intervening we will be treated to the
     sight of the new moon with the old moon in her arms.  The earth light then
     is so bright on the moon that we can see it from here.  

          The Teutons call it the geigenschine, and, in the old times at least,
     believed it was the time when one might peer through the veil of time, to
     see both past and future.  The Celts held that the new moon was pregnant
     with the harvest to come on these nights.  Those who follow the seasons in
     their doings hold it a grand time for beginnings.  A good time for marrying
     and giving in marriage.  The Hebrideans hold it to be the luckiest of times
     for launching a fishing boat.  Come to think about it those two things are
     not very different.  

          Any way it's a fine night for a bonfire and a picnic.  I must confess
     in my own case it's hard to think of a night that isn't good for a fire and
     a feast, but when the new moon holds the old moon in her arms seems the
     best of nights for partying and feasting.  It is a time without equal for
     blessing ceremonies -- especially ceremonies to bless the beginning of
     something.  
     Most of you, I am sure, know more about this than I do, but I thought I'd
     just give you all a gentle reminder.  Another thing -- it is generally said
     to be ill luck to start the new cider in the fall with over half the old
     cider still not drunk.  Party time, friends!!



                                                                             887

          Now I may seem to change the subject.  I have found that only the
     Absolute Ultimate Intelligence and the tables of mathematics can be trusted
     totally.  That is why I trust the Almanac, the axioms of geometry, and the
     equations of physics more than the revealed words of all the prophets.  Not
     that I think prophets are liars, far from it, but one man's truth may be
     another man's fairy tale.  If you don't think that is so, consider:  Three
     honest, fair, sober citizens witness the same event, say a wreck on the
     highway.  One is a farmer from the San Luis Valley, one a Denver truck
     driver, and one a sheep herder from Craig; they tell their story in what
     they all fondly believe to be standard English.  What do we hear?  Three
     different stories that don't even seem to concern the same event.  Now take
     three metallurgists, or chemists, or physicists - any three people all
     knowledgeable in the same physical discipline.  Let one be a Swede, one a
     Chinese and one an American; let them all make the same observation and
     report on it each in his own language.  The equations they use explaining
     the observation will be identical.  That is why I hold Almanacs and such to
     be holy writ.

          Interesting, but what has that piece of information to do with a feast
     by a bonfire or a ceremony under the new moon?  Music is what.  Music is
     that form of mathematics that describes and evokes emotion.  A ceremony
     without music is like a feast without food, a confusion in terms.

          I can't speak the highland Gaelic, but when a good piper blows "I will
     see ye no the more" I understand what it is to go bravely into a battle
     knowing you won't win, and can't win, but can't avoid either.  They had no
     piper, but I wonder if someone didn't whistle that sad brave tune inside
     the Alamo that morning when Santa Anna's trumpeter blew "Death and Glory." 
     A native American blowing on a bone flute can tell you more about the Hopi
     nation and what the coyote's song means than a whole library full of
     anthropological studies.  A classic Chinese orchestra playing "Dragons
     Crossing a River" will put you more in tune with China than a year spent
     studying Kung Fu Tse in translation.  A drummer from the Congo banks and a
     drummer from the Shetlands don't have the same beat, nor do they carry the
     same message, but each can understand the other.

          Magic is at least in part emotion, a mood-thought or as we say in the
     country `you have to hold your mouth right.'  So if you do plan some
     ceremony for the night of the double moon, give a thought to the music.  It
     is not enough that a ceremony "work" it has to "work right."

          Now for my question.  I am not just being silly with this, I ask it in
     hope that we can establish some uniformity of terms.  At the night of the
     new moon we who count time by moons begin a new count.  Different folk in
     different places name the moons differently.  That is, the full moon
     occurring when the Sun is in Cancer or first after the Summer solstice is
     called Green Corn moon, Catfish moon, Strawberry moon, or First Heat moon,
     to name only a few designations.  I am not trying to establish any
     uniformity in these names.  As the heart feels let the mouth speak.  Any
     way a list beginning with the Full moon next after the Vernal Equinox is
     easily translated from one name system to another.   



                                                                             888

          What I'd like to know is something else.  The other day I was playing
     trivial pursuit and one of the questions was "what is the second full moon
     in a month called?  I missed it.  The answer was a "blue moon."  I lost
     fair and square, a game is played by the rules of the game and damn the
     facts.  In fact, a blue moon occurs whenever there is a cloud of volcanic
     dust in the stratosphere. We had several after St. Helens blew up.  There
     were some emerald sunrises at that time too.  We had `blood on the moon'
     some fifty years ago during the dust storms.  That red moon phenomenon
     occurs during forest fires too.  Signs in the moon of impending doom and
     disaster are too well known to warrant comment, so I won't make any.

          What I want to know is what does one call the second full moon
     occurring in the passage of the sun through a single sign of the Zodiac? In
     four full years there are 48 sun signs, but 49 full moons.  What does one
     call that extra full moon?  For instance it happened now would it be
     "second full moon", or "early currant moon", or "more catfish moon", or "If
     you didn't catch 'em last time moon get 'em now moon"?  Being as I'm not
     color blind I know it's not a "blue moon" but what is it?

          So dear friends the year rolls on.  Enjoy the good green days when
     Summerland is here and not hereafter.  To look ahead at the cold to come
     will spoil the enjoyment of Summer but it won't make Winter any less sharp.
     So enjoy the sweet days while you may.  May you so live that the Summer
     days will live in your hearts throughout the whole cycle of seasons and be
     with you even when you pass this way again.  May our Mother bless you and
     guide you.  With these words I do now part from thee.
                                                                     --Buck Jump
      



                                                                             889

                           THE HERETIC'S CORNER 
                           (c)1986, Buck Jump

          Greetings, my Pagan friends; may your Gods be well disposed
     to you.  May your harvest be bounteous, may your winter meat be
     fat and easily gotten, and may the autumn sun warm you for the
     cold to come.

          Now is the time of the grand payoff when what we have worked
     for throughout the long summer is at last laid in the granary.  A
     little while to enjoy the sweet earth, the time between harvest
     and wood chopping. Our Mother is especially sweet just now - past
     bearing but not yet the wise old grandmother, our Earth is still
     warm with passion, a lover of pleasure without consequence. 
     Autumn is the year's reward.  May yours be rich and filled with
     ecstasy. 

          The black birds flock for the long trip south; the wild
     geese return from the arctic barrens.  The coyotes sing their
     wild song of life and love.  A night wind rustles the drying
     leaves under the Hunter's moon, and I hear the horn of the wild
     hunt rushing over the land.  The veil between the worlds grows
     thin and the past comes back into the present.

          There is a sweet nostalgia in the past.  Old loves still
     warm the cooling blood; old triumphs still make the heart beat
     faster; old mistakes still bring a blush to the cheek.  "Old
     mistakes", as the English sailor said in the Japanese bath house,
     "Aye, there's the rub."  
          I hope the wild hunt in passing your house, starts only such
     game as you will want to see.  I fear that old Herne has started
     a hare in my woods that I neither knew was there nor wanted to
     see.

          My Pagan friends, forgive me... I goofed.  Mea Culpa, and I
     should have known better.  At least I give thanks that I can
     acknowledge my goof before it goes farther, and thanks too that I
     haven't entirely dislocated my arm patting myself on the back.

          When last I wrote in these pages, I suggested that we all
     work some magic to put an end to senseless violence.  I thought I
     was being reasonable, I thought my idea would perhaps inspire an
     outpouring of spiritual power that might well improve our common
     environment.  It seemed like such a good idea.  I was proud of
     myself.  Well, pride goeth before a forced landing.



                                                                             890

          I have a friend with whom I've debated many an issue of
     moral philosophy over many a cup of coffee. He shall remain
     nameless here, but I can identify him as a Talmudic scholar who
     has taken a post graduate course in human nature in the "second-
     hand" business.  He is a master schooled in both theory and prac-
     tice.  As soon as you issue of the R.M.P.J. came out, I
     rushed down to the coffee shop to gloat and play `one-up' with my
     friend.  I went in like a falcon and got shot down like a goose. 
     He read my prose carefully, and re-read parts of it.  He is a
     scholar and a gentleman.  The former kept him from agreeing, the
     latter kept him from being nasty about it.  Every philosopher
     should have such a friend, someone to keep our feet on the
     ground.

          "I agree with your position", he told me, "I think you have
     a noble idea, but your first premise is false.  There is no
     senseless violence -- all violence seems sensible to the one who
     does it.  Now you, I, and every well intentioned reasonably
     intelligent person must agree the examples you cite are
     senseless.  To us they are senseless, but to the people who did
     them they were sensible."

          Then he proceeded to show how, from the warped viewpoint of
     these violent people their actions were, to them, both sensible
     and justified.  He convinced me that I was making a moral and
     value judgement rather than a positive statement of natural fact. 
     In order to achieve what I wanted, I now realize, would require
     some drastic reshaping of a lot of minds, an overhaul of millions
     of psyches.  I didn't realize what I was asking.  Well, when I
     dream, I dream big....

          If all the moral philosophers, gurus, religious leaders,
     prophets and shamans who have tried and failed to re-shape
     humanity en masse were gathered together in a single place, it
     would take a Texas wheat field to hold them.  In order to stop
     senseless violence it will be necessary to get everyone to agree
     on what is senseless.  I know what is right, you know what is
     right, but that wierdo next door has some other idea.  Before we
     can feel safe around him we have to get him to agree with us. 
     I'm not too optimistic about a mass mind change even by magic. 
     It is worth a try, but recall - in the past, some real eternity
     class magicians have tried and failed.  Some of those old boys
     could control the weather, transmute metals, turn juice or water
     in to wine instantly and levitate, but they couldn't change the
     mind set of mankind.  It's easier to move a mountain than a mind. 
     To use force either real or implied, either physical or social,
     is only to replay the inquisition, and we've already had too many
     remakes and sequels to that.  Education seems to be the only
     method that works, and that's as slow as evolution.



                                                                             891

          Right and Justice are not to be had in job lots, even with
     magic.  Every case must be approached individually one by o@e. 
     To change minds in mass lots can be done magically; however
     people who are so changed are not really changed, but only
     suppressed -- what you get are a bunch of zombies.  So far as I
     know this sort of thing is only done by magicians on the dark
     side.  Adolph Hitler and Jim Jones are two examples that come
     readily to mind.  For all I know both of the named examples may
     well have started with the highest motives.  When you start
     superimposing your mind o@ the mind of another or others, things
     have a way of coming unglued.  History is full of examples of
     groups that acted with one mind for a while and then unravelled
     when the guru leader either died or ran out of gas.  No my
     friends, it won't work, even with the noblest of motives it just
     won't work.

          I knew all this from long ago, but I was misled as to what
     was going on.  I thought the senseless violence I saw around me
     was from some outside source.  A mad spirit, a virus or some sort
     of "dis-harmonic vibration".  If that were the case my idea would
     have been a good one.  On the off chance that something like that
     is now afoot in our world a general intention for reason and
     against violence can't hurt, and may well do some constructive
     good.  I'm all for anyone who tries to clean up our environment,
     seen or unseen.  Considering the sort of good folk who read the
     R.M.P.J. I'm not too worried that anyone who read my last little
     effort will be misled by it.  I fear that at worst, those of you
     who followed my suggestion may have wasted both time and effort -
     - I hope that at best, you may have done some good by promoting
     reason and discouraging confusion.  Cleaning the house won't stop
     a fire, but it will lessen the chances of spontaneous combustion,
     and make a fire easier to fight if it does break out.  As I see
     it, my mistake was in supposing we all have more or less the same
     values and in externalizing he source of senseless violence.

          Enough of apology and explanation.  Breast-beating and
     patting your back are both good exercises   .....in futility. 
     One good bray from the donkey, o@e good hoot from the owl, and
     then back to work.  We are still at risk from some angry fool
     armed and dangerous.  What can be done?  What should be done?

          I can think of several things to do.  First, learn to
     perceive the violent odes.  Some of us can see auras, some can
     pick up on "bad vibes", some can "smell" trouble --  however,
     whichever, my advice would be to use it.  An antelope don't long
     survive in the veldt without looking, listening, smelling and
     generally  keeping on the alert.  Second, surround yourself with
     protection.  Some walk in a sphere of protection, some are guided
     by some unseen force, I rely on my guardian spirit, guardian
     angel or however you call her.  In any case, whatever protection
     you have, use it.  Whatever ceremonies, prayers, incantations or
     deep meditations you use, don't neglect them.  That is about it. 
     We're back where we were when we wore fur bikinis and hunted with
     stone-tipped spears, but haven't we always been there?  Safety
     is, in this life, I fear only an illusion.



                                                                             892

          One thing more we can do, and should do -- we can teach. 
     Part of the debt we all owe to life is to clean the place.  Non
     only should we pick up the trash, but we should also clean up the
     vicious bull-shit wherever we find it.  Like it or not we are all
     teachers.      Whatever we do, whatever we say is part of the
     lesson we teach.

          Before all the Gods I wish I had some magic formula to give
     you that would clean up the world both seen and unseen, but I
     don't.  The life of mankind is a hard road to travel, that is why
     the ultimate designed a hard bunch to travel it.  My blessings on
     you one and all.  May you find enlightenment.  You are smart, may
     you find wisdom.  Let this subject now be closed between us.  If
     you have any ideas on this subject pass them on to our long-
     suffering editors.

          Now it may be that I can resume my clown suit and once more
     arm myself with my gadfly stinger and get back to the heretic
     business and leave metaphysics to those better equipped to deal
     with it.  A silversmith shoeing a horse rarely does a good job of
     it.

          In the spring the wild plums were a'blooming.  White
     blossoms on the bough, lace for the bride.  In the long summer
     the little green plums grew and changed to a lighter green color. 
     When the first frost was still up in the high country the plums
     grew sweet and turned a lovely purple-pink shade.  Then at the
     time of the autumnal equinox, they were picked and crushed.  Now
     the new wine works behind the air seals in the fermenter.  The
     promise of spring blossoms is redeemed in the good strong wine of
     winter.  What we learn in any one place we can use in another
     place.  The wild plums are a part of life; from them we can learn
     about other parts of life.  When the wine falls clear, a drink
     all around, a toast to life.  May we all go our separate ways
     bound for a common goal.  May the flowers bloom where we have
     passed.  Go in peace, well disposed to your fellows.  With these
     words I do now part from thee.____Buck Jump
     .......from RMPJ Oct '86



                                                                             893

                                  THE HERETIC'S CORNER 
                                Copyright 1987, Buck Jump
                          and the Rocky Mountain Pagan Journal

             Greetings my Paganfriends; may yourGods be welldisposed to you. May
     the breeze  of Autumn cool your  sun-browned skin while the  heat of summer
     past  still warms  your heart.   May you  find pinon nuts  in plenty -don't
     forget to leave a  few for our furry friends.  May the cider of your apples
     be finer than the best champagne.  May the  sacred blue corn from your corn
     patch be enough to see you through the winter, enough to plant next spring,
     and still  enough to make  cornbread for  all your friends  when your  next
     year's corn is as high as your knees.

             The full moon of Libra  rides now in the sky.  The  Blood moon, the
     Hunters' moon, time  for such  of us as  are not vegetarians  to go on  the
     hunt.  Now is the time to make proper apologies and then lay in  the winter
     meat.  The fine days of Autumn are upon us.  Enjoy the beauty of the season
     even as you work like  one bailing a leaking boat in the middle  of a large
     lake, to prepare for the cold to come.  These are fine days, these are hard
     days.  Our Mother the Earth loves us, but she is a stern parent.  It's work
     or die for us  Her children.  Be glad that this is  so; if Mother only gave
     what a bunch of spoiled brats we would be.  So dig your potatoes  and while
     you dig remember the folks  who held this land  before us.  Bless them  for
     the  potatoes and the sacred  blue corn.  Tread  lightly on the ground -who
     knows whose graves we walk upon.

             The  other day a lady inquired of me  as to where to get some clear
     quartz  crystals.  I  referred her to  a couple of  rock shops that  I have
     found to both reasonable and reliable.  In the course of our talk she began
     to question me about the ghostly and magic qualities of crystals generally.
     I had  to tell her  that as to  crystals, my knowledge  was rather  like my
     knowledge of electronics-- purely academic.  I know that both are useful in
     the hands  of one knowledgeable  about them,  and I know  that I am  not so
     knowledgeable.  I advised her to get some of the good  books on the subject
     and to enroll in a class to study that discipline.

             I wonder  why it  is that  people assume that  because I  have some
     incomplete knowledge of magic  sticks and enchanted rings that I would know
     about  crystals. Some  folks  suppose  that since  I  can  play a  mountain
     dulcimer I can  also play an indian flute - I  can't.  Do they also suppose
     that  a  stone mason  knows  the  cabinet  maker's  trade?    Most  of  the
     definitions of magic I have read were written by magicians,  from within as
     it were.  Here is  one written by one not at all knowledgeable about magic,
     from  without.  It is this, "Magic is anything that I don't understand that
     works."   It also has  a corollary: "A magician  can do anything."   That's
     another  good reason to soft-pedal your  pagan beliefs.  Besides the people
     who want to throw  stones at you, you have  to contend with a pack  of nuts
     who expect you to turn their leaden lives into fine
     gold with no effort on anyone's part.  I digress, but I feel this paragraph
     may be of use to you.

         So back to my conversation with the crystal seeking lady.  She next
     remarked that  I probably had  never had a lucky  piece nor a  lucky stone.
     Again, I surprised her.  I told her that I had several such.  That led to a
     discussion  of lucky  stones in  general, and  the difference  in crystals,
     metals, and shapes that will work for any knowledgeable person, and special
     talismanic  tokens that have power usable only  by an individual or a small
     group of people.



                                                                             894

             A true lucky stonehas a value,at least to itsowner, that hasnothing
     to do with its price.  A natural crystal has a price fixed more or less in
     relation to its value.  Such a stone is rather like any other tool or piece
     of  equipment.  Personal  lucky stones are  another matter - I  know a good
     deal about  them, learned by both  study and experience.   Any solid object
     may be a  lucky piece.   Usually  it is  a natural  object, but  it can  be
     something manmade.   There is extensive literature on the  subject.  If you
     are  interested you can  look up talismans,  mazels, gluckenstinen, destiny
     stones, Indian medicine rocks,  lucky stones, they are all  the same thing,
     no  matter the  language.   I personally  prefer "lucky stone",  the common
     American  term, and  why  not?   I  am  a common  American.   So  much  for
     nomenclature, how do they work and where can you get one?

         As for the first question, life is too short to give a good positive
     answer.   I have a private guess, but for  anything definite you'll need to
     study   cosmology,  physics,   metaphysics,   geology,  psychogeology   and
     "energyology."  If you should come up with a good positive answer, one that
     can be proved by demonstration, please let me know.  

             Now for whereto obtain alucky stone or luckypiece.  First,you can't
     buy one - oh,  you might buy the stone,  but the seller loses the  luck and
     the  buyer don't get it.   I guess  it goes back to  wherever it came from.
     Second, you  can't steal  it.   True,  a clever  thief can  lift any  solid
     object, but the act of theft reverses the luck.  If you doubt that, I refer
     you to the history of the Hope diamond.  So, having forewarned you what not
     to do, I'll  proceed to what you can  do.  You can obtain a  lucky stone by
     gift.  You can  be given a lucky stone  provided the gift is made  in love,
     without  fear nor hope of  future favor.   I have one such,  which I got by
     inheritance.  The best and cheapest way to acquire a lucky stone is to have
     it thrust upon you.  A gift from the hands of the Gods, as it were.  To put
     it another way, a lucky stone becomes a lucky stone at some moment  in time
     when you  and the stone  come together in some,  to you, great  event.  For
     example,  bringing  down  a  deer  when  you  are  really  starving;  being
     near-missed by a bolt of lightning; a truly monumental moment of love.

             By wayof illustration, here'show two ofmine came tobe lucky stones.
     The first is a sort  of family lucky stone,  the one I got by  inheritance.
     One day in early June some sixty years ago a gang of relatives were putting
     up the hay crop on my grandfather's farm.  Purely by chance, everyone there
     was a  member of my  mother's family.   You may wonder  what a boy  not ten
     years old was doing  there.  In those days  a kid to load the  stacker pony
     was a regular  part of most haying  crews.  Suddenly  there was a flash  of
     greenish light,  a sonic boom, the earth shook and  a thin wisp of smoke or
     steam rising from the  meadow.  One of my uncles took a shovel and ran over
     to investigate.  A wisp of smoke was rising from a hole in the ground.   He
     dug up  a red hot meteorite, rare  enough in its self,  but this particular
     one is an isotropic form of  copper.  It is somewhat cylindrical in  shape,
     about the size of a large salt shaker.  That is the family lucky stone.  It
     has  been  handed down  in  the  family ever  since.   All  I  can  say is,
     comparatively we have had better luck  since then than most other families.
     The  keeper or custodian of the piece  has always been favored with unusual
     good fortune.



                                                                             895

         The other that I will describe is a piece of red and white Oregon beach
     agate.  It is about the size of the first joint of my thumb, polished and
     shaped by the random  tumbling of the waves and  sand - it seems to  have a
     sort of Salvador Dali  eye on one side.   What a certain lovely lady  and I
     were doing in an Oregon beach cave at low tide I leave to your imagination;
     when  we again returned to the world we  usually live in I was gripping the
     stone in my hand.  My own personal love charm.

             I know a manwho carries with himeverywhere a watch, meltedand fused
     into a  worthless chunk of  brass, but still  recognizable as a  watch.  He
     found it smoking  in his pocket as  he hastily shed  his pants after  being
     knocked off his feet by a bolt of lightning.  That is his lucky piece.


             Soit is withall lucky stones,they are souvenirsof a great occasion.
     Magic sticks  are made, the  result of human  intention.  Lucky  stones are
     given or  granted by power or  powers outside the ken  of man.   If you are
     fortunate enough to get one, you will  know it.  We have an instinct  about
     some things.  If you  have one,  guard it well.   Remember,  the difference
     between worthless  and  priceless  is in  that  inner wisdom  that  only  a
     superior person possesses.  

         My question this time rises from this: In the regalia and equipage of
     Kings,  the royal orb and  scepter of royalty are  second only to the crown
     itself in importance.  Now what I'd like to know is this... In the old time
     of "the simple rule and antique plan - of him to take who has the power and
     him to keep who can", was the scepter the head man's shillelagh and the orb
     his lucky  stone?   Along the  same line another  related question.   Would
     kings still rule as  well as reign if the scepter were cut with appropriate
     ceremony from a living tree and the orb of power was a true lucky stone?  I
     have noted in history  that royal power began to wane about  the time kings
     began to  rely on courtiers and  craftsmen for things they  had better done
     them-selves.  

             It is well to have friends, it is well to be a part of a group, but
     when you inwardly  begin to identify  your self with  some thing or  person
     outside yourself, you  begin to inwardly diminish.  Yours  should be a part
     of you while you have custody of it, otherwise it's  only trading stock and
     capital.

             So much  for magic sticks, and lucky  stones for history and kings,
     autumn  is upon us.  The  wild hunt rides the night  wind, the veil between
     the worlds grows  thin, it's time to prepare for the  cold to come.  Now is
     the time when the long long thoughts rise in our minds unbidden.  

         May you have food and fire for the winter and thoughts to meditate upon
     when  your paths are blocked  with snow.   May you be  blessed, may neither
     boredom nor hard living  trouble you, with which  words I do now  part from
     thee.
               ___ Buck Jump



                                                                             896

                           THE HERETIC'S CORNER 
                           (c)1986, Buck Jump

          Greetings, my Pagan friends; may your Gods be well disposed
     to you.  May your harvest be bounteous, may your winter meat be
     fat and easily gotten, and may the autumn sun warm you for the
     cold to come.

          Now is the time of the grand payoff when what we have worked
     for throughout the long summer is at last laid in the granary.  A
     little while to enjoy the sweet earth, the time between harvest
     and wood chopping. Our Mother is especially sweet just now - past
     bearing but not yet the wise old grandmother, our Earth is still
     warm with passion, a lover of pleasure without consequence. 
     Autumn is the year's reward.  May yours be rich and filled with
     ecstasy. 

          The black birds flock for the long trip south; the wild
     geese return from the arctic barrens.  The coyotes sing their
     wild song of life and love.  A night wind rustles the drying
     leaves under the Hunter's moon, and I hear the horn of the wild
     hunt rushing over the land.  The veil between the worlds grows
     thin and the past comes back into the present.

          There is a sweet nostalgia in the past.  Old loves still
     warm the cooling blood; old triumphs still make the heart beat
     faster; old mistakes still bring a blush to the cheek.  "Old
     mistakes", as the English sailor said in the Japanese bath house,
     "Aye, there's the rub."  
          I hope the wild hunt in passing your house, starts only such
     game as you will want to see.  I fear that old Herne has started
     a hare in my woods that I neither knew was there nor wanted to
     see.

          My Pagan friends, forgive me... I goofed.  Mea Culpa, and I
     should have known better.  At least I give thanks that I can
     acknowledge my goof before it goes farther, and thanks too that I
     haven't entirely dislocated my arm patting myself on the back.

          When last I wrote in these pages, I suggested that we all
     work some magic to put an end to senseless violence.  I thought I
     was being reasonable, I thought my idea would perhaps inspire an
     outpouring of spiritual power that might well improve our common
     environment.  It seemed like such a good idea.  I was proud of
     myself.  Well, pride goeth before a forced landing.



                                                                             897

          I have a friend with whom I've debated many an issue of
     moral philosophy over many a cup of coffee. He shall remain
     nameless here, but I can identify him as a Talmudic scholar who
     has taken a post graduate course in human nature in the "second-
     hand" business.  He is a master schooled in both theory and prac-
     tice.  As soon as the last issue of the R.M.P.J. came out, I
     rushed down to the coffee shop to gloat and play `one-up' with my
     friend.  I went in like a falcon and got shot down like a goose. 
     He read my prose carefully, and re-read parts of it.  He is a
     scholar and a gentleman.  The former kept him from agreeing, the
     latter kept him from being nasty about it.  Every philosopher
     should have such a friend, someone to keep our feet on the
     ground.

          "I agree with your position", he told me, "I think you have
     a noble idea, but your first premise is false.  There is no
     senseless violence -- all violence seems sensible to the one who
     does it.  Now you, I, and every well intentioned reasonably
     intelligent person must agree the examples you cite are
     senseless.  To us they are senseless, but to the people who did
     them they were sensible."

          Then he proceeded to show how, from the warped viewpoint of
     these violent people their actions were, to them, both sensible
     and justified.  He convinced me that I was making a moral and
     value judgement rather than a positive statement of natural fact. 
     In order to achieve what I wanted, I now realize, would require
     some drastic reshaping of a lot of minds, an overhaul of millions
     of psyches.  I didn't realize what I was asking.  Well, when I
     dream, I dream big....

          If all the moral philosophers, gurus, religious leaders,
     prophets and shamans who have tried and failed to re-shape
     humanity en masse were gathered together in a single place, it
     would take a Texas wheat field to hold them.  In order to stop
     senseless violence it will be necessary to get everyone to agree
     on what is senseless.  I know what is right, you know what is
     right, but that wierdo next door has some other idea.  Before we
     can feel safe around him we have to get him to agree with us. 
     I'm not too optimistic about a mass mind change even by magic. 
     It is worth a try, but recall - in the past, some real eternity
     class magicians have tried and failed.  Some of those old boys
     could control the weather, transmute metals, turn juice or water
     in to wine instantly and levitate, but they couldn't change the
     mind set of mankind.  It's easier to move a mountain than a mind. 
     To use force either real or implied, either physical or social,
     is only to replay the inquisition, and we've already had too many
     remakes and sequels to that.  Education seems to be the only
     method that works, and that's as slow as evolution.



                                                                             898

          Right and Justice are not to be had in job lots, even with
     magic.  Every case must be approached individually one by one. 
     To change minds in mass lots can be done magically; however
     people who are so changed are not really changed, but only
     suppressed -- what you get are a bunch of zombies.  So far as I
     know this sort of thing is only done by magicians on the dark
     side.  Adolph Hitler and Jim Jones are two examples that come
     readily to mind.  For all I know both of the named examples may
     well have started with the highest motives.  When you start
     superimposing your mind on the mind of another or others, things
     have a way of coming unglued.  History is full of examples of
     groups that acted with one mind for a while and then unravelled
     when the guru leader either died or ran out of gas.  No my
     friends, it won't work, even with the noblest of motives it just
     won't work.

          I knew all this from long ago, but I was misled as to what
     was going on.  I thought the senseless violence I saw around me
     was from some outside source.  A mad spirit, a virus or some sort
     of "dis-harmonic vibration".  If that were the case my idea would
     have been a good one.  On the off chance that something like that
     is now afoot in our world a general intention for reason and
     against violence can't hurt, and may well do some constructive
     good.  I'm all for anyone who tries to clean up our environment,
     seen or unseen.  Considering the sort of good folk who read the
     R.M.P.J. I'm not too worried that anyone who read my last little
     effort will be misled by it.  I fear that at worst, those of you
     who followed my suggestion may have wasted both time and effort -
     - I hope that at best, you may have done some good by promoting
     reason and discouraging confusion.  Cleaning the house won't stop
     a fire, but it will lessen the chances of spontaneous combustion,
     and make a fire easier to fight if it does break out.  As I see
     it, my mistake was in supposing we all have more or less the same
     values and in externalizing he source of senseless violence.

          Enough of apology and explanation.  Breast-beating and
     patting your back are both good exercises   .....in futility. 
     One good bray from the donkey, one good hoot from the owl, and
     then back to work.  We are still at risk from some angry fool
     armed and dangerous.  What can be done?  What should be done?

          I can think of several things to do.  First, learn to
     perceive the violent ones.  Some of us can see auras, some can
     pick up on "bad vibes", some can "smell" trouble --  however,
     whichever, my advice would be to use it.  An antelope don't long
     survive in the veldt without looking, listening, smelling and
     generally  keeping on the alert.  Second, surround yourself with
     protection.  Some walk in a sphere of protection, some are guided
     by some unseen force, I rely on my guardian spirit, guardian
     angel or however you call her.  In any case, whatever protection
     you have, use it.  Whatever ceremonies, prayers, incantations or
     deep meditations you use, don't neglect them.  That is about it. 
     We're back where we were when we wore fur bikinis and hunted with
     stone-tipped spears, but haven't we always been there?  Safety
     is, in this life, I fear only an illusion.



                                                                             899

          One thing more we can do, and should do -- we can teach. 
     Part of the debt we all owe to life is to clean the place.  Non
     only should we pick up the trash, but we should also clean up the
     vicious bull-shit wherever we find it.  Like it or not we are all
     teachers.      Whatever we do, whatever we say is part of the
     lesson we teach.

          Before all the Gods I wish I had some magic formula to give
     you that would clean up the world both seen and unseen, but I
     don't.  The life of mankind is a hard road to travel, that is why
     the ultimate designed a hard bunch to travel it.  My blessings on
     you one and all.  May you find enlightenment.  You are smart, may
     you find wisdom.  Let this subject now be closed between us.  If
     you have any ideas on this subject pass them on to our long-
     suffering editors.

          Now it may be that I can resume my clown suit and once more
     arm myself with my gadfly stinger and get back to the heretic
     business and leave metaphysics to those better equipped to deal
     with it.  A silversmith shoeing a horse rarely does a good job of
     it.

          In the spring the wild plums were a'blooming.  White
     blossoms on the bough, lace for the bride.  In the long summer
     the little green plums grew and changed to a lighter green color. 
     When the first frost was still up in the high country the plums
     grew sweet and turned a lovely purple-pink shade.  Then at the
     time of the autumnal equinox, they were picked and crushed.  Now
     the new wine works behind the air seals in the fermenter.  The
     promise of spring blossoms is redeemed in the good strong wine of
     winter.  What we learn in any one place we can use in another
     place.  The wild plums are a part of life; from them we can learn
     about other parts of life.  When the wine falls clear, a drink
     all around, a toast to life.  May we all go our separate ways
     bound for a common goal.  May the flowers bloom where we have
     passed.  Go in peace, well disposed to your fellows.  With these
     words I do now part from thee.____Buck Jump
     .......from RMPJ Oct '86



                                                                             900

                                 THE HERETIC'S CORNER 
                                  (c)1986, Buck Jump

          Greetings, my Pagan friends; may your Gods be well disposed
     to you.  May the rain fall gently on your rhubarb.  May the hail
     fall in a lake or on a parking lot.  May our little six-legged
     friends develop an allergy to your pickle patch.

          Now is the sweet season of our year.  Our Mother the Earth
     is pregnant with the harvest to come.  The days are long and the
     thoughts of the season are long, long thoughts.  In the soft
     afternoon sky the white thunderheads sail serenely on like ships
     of dream in dreamland seas.  Surely even such as I can be
     forgiven for dreaming a bit, for letting the fancy roam free.

          In dreams I see a world set free.  I see the human race
     living in peace, with each one going his own way but with
     courtesy to all who go another way.  I see us as one species,
     which we are, and all of us acknowledging that fact.  I see each
     walking in beauty, with dignity, and respecting the other
     person's dignity.  I see us loving one another, helping our
     fellow men along their way.  When I dream, I don't mess around -
     I rear back and dream up a doozy!

          So much for dreams; back to the world we live in, back to
     the life we know.  Before I spring my question for the day, a
     little background, a few facts:

          Every one of us must come to terms with his environment and
     his heredity.  We all live on one Earth.   That is the main part
     of our environment, or at least the location of it.

          We are all human beings, homo occasionally sapiens.  That is
     the basis of our heredity.  
     
          Anything that is done to one of us is done to all of us. 
     Anything that happens in one place on this planet has some effect
     on every place on the planet.

          We are, all of us, stuck with our whole species.  Here we
     are with a bunch of people we wouldn't willingly walk down a
     country road with.  Indeed, we are as ship- wrecked mariners in a
     lifeboat with a bunch we wouldn't sit down to eat a free meal
     with.  To jump out of the boat is to drown.  To try to toss those
     _______________s out is very apt to upset the boat and drown all
     of us.    These facts are self-evident, axiomatic.

          I have always held that we should all walk the path of life
     with our hands outstretched in fellowship with respect and love
     for all.  Of course, I have a caveat - keep a Bowie knife handy
     in case they haven't all heard the message.

          As the Ultimate is reported to have said when the mountains
     were made, "Now for the background".  The present situation is a
     mess.  Violence is everywhere.  Not even foolish violence, but
     violence without reason.  Surely a leopard is in our streets and
     a shark loose in our swimming pool.



                                                                             901

          An armed bandit shoots down an unarmed clerk who is
     cooperating.  A litigant in court shoots down an attorney.  A
     parent beats a child to death.  A driver gets cut off coming onto
     the freeway and guns down the chap in the pickup who did the
     off-cutting.  An otherwise reasonable young man is annoyed by the
     sounds of traffic on a mountain road and starts shooting at the
     cars passing.  Those are only a few examples culled from the news
     in recent months.  In truth, senseless violence is loose in the
     land.

          As it is with the individual, so with groups.  From the
     racist fringe movement on to great governments. Violence for the
     sake of violence is epidemic.  Each age of history has had a
     plague - the plague of this age is senseless violence.  I have
     friends of the "born again" persuasion who tell me that it is the
     Devil doing it.  I don't think so.  As far as I can determine,
     devils are a disorganized bunch.  Satan Mekatrig Lord of Chaos is
     a confusion in terms.  Seen another way, that's organized
     confusion.  As I see it, the flow of the power of the Universe is
     organized and rational.  So it seems to me that any force opposed
     to that flow must be disorganized and irrational.  That is to say
     nothing of the personal devils within us.  They must have a hand
     in at least some of this senseless violence.

          I have other friends who blame it on some as yet
     unidentified virus.  Could be, but it's a rare virus that has no
     fever, nor nausea accompanying its onset....

          Others hold that it is all explainable by Sigmund Freud and
     others of that ilk.  Again I say could be, but what mental
     discomboomeration comes on suddenly with no sign of
     disorientation nor disturbance until it suddenly manifests itself
     in the acute stage?

          For all I know, none of the above are correct.  The fact re-
     mains that a wild unreasoning violence is loose among us, a
     danger to us all.  The fact is, we are all in the same boat, and
     the boat is encountering some heavy weather.  Don't you think we
     should do something about it?  I personally can think of a whole
     lot of folks who I don;t really care to rescue, but being as we
     are all in the same boat, I am sure going to do my best for
     them....... But what?

          In case this is all some psychosis, maybe we should engage a
     firm of head shrinkers to drag in a trainload of couches and get
     everyone to undergo psychoanalysis.  I refuse to consider the
     logistics of this.  The idea by itself causes my mind to boggle.

          Or, suppose it is a virus.  In that case when the
     virologists and immunologists have a bit of spare time from their
     search for the cause and cure of AIDS, they could do the same for
     the senseless violence virus.  In view of the fact that we are
     all at greater risk from senseless violence than from AIDS, it
     might be a worthwhile task.

          Or, just in case the gnostics have some truth in their
     ideas, and it is Auld Clootie, maybe a mass general exorcism is
     in order.  Once again, my mind refuses to consider the logistics.



                                                                             902

          In view of the fact that the cause of senseless violence is
     still unknown, we might get a government grant to study the
     problem.  Considering the speed that such grants usually get
     results, I would expect a definite answer by the twenty-second
     century.  Of course, such a grant would have the added advantage
     of keeping a large number of researchers out of the pool halls
     and off the streets.

          Now I am going to go against my usual custom and make a
     suggestion; only a suggestion, mind, and not to be taken as a
     dictum, but only as an idea to be considered.  It has been my
     observation that there are only two occasions when magic is apt
     to work.  One is after all other methods have been tried and
     found ineffectual.  The other is when there is no other method. 
     Now I believe that I have explored the other methods and found
     them impractical if not impossible.  So I feel that I am safe in
     saying it's going to take magic to stop this purposeless killing.

          So how to go about it?  What spell, what charm, what
     ceremony shall we use?  What power shall we invoke?  What power
     evoke?  Magic works, the proper ceremony at the proper time, done
     for the proper reason, will work.  True for you, you may well
     say, but which ceremony?  When?  Why?

          I just told you.  The proper one.  The one that is proper
     for you is the one you yourself believe is proper.  This is not
     an essay on morals and ethics, so I refrain from putting in my
     two cents worth on what is in my estimation proper.  When you are
     fighting a grass fire is no time to discuss what sort of shovel
     to use.

          In my dream we were all walking each in his own way, each
     helping the others as much as possible.  So here let us not try
     to all walk in one path.  No point in the universe can be reached
     from only one direction.  Let us rather each from where it seems
     most right and comfortable, try by magic means to stop this
     senseless violence.  Not-ice I said senseless violence, not just
     violence.  Some who follow the old Norse way could hardly be ex-
     pected to endorse some anti-violent intention, but I know of none
     who do not deplore reasonless violence.  We have our differences,
     but surely no one objects to improving all our chances of kissing
     our grandchildren.

          So, what I propose is this.  Sometime in the next quarter
     year, whenever it seems most proper, let us in our various ways
     by whatever means one believes in, try by magic means to stop
     this epidemic of senseless violence.



                                                                             903

          I have noticed a few things about power on the unseen side. 
     For a ceremony to be more than a mere charade, everyone involved
     in it must believe in the ceremony and in whatever power is used
     in it.  Everyone must believe that the ceremony can and will
     work.  Everyone must want the ceremony to work.  If anyone
     involved in the ceremony does not so believe and want, that
     person will be a dead weight on the others that do.  When I say
     everyone, I mean everyone, all, each one with one belief and one
     resolve.  What can be done by a group acting in true spiritual
     harmony is indeed amazing, but first you must have that true
     spiritual harmony.

          That is why I suggest we go at this not as some sort of
     super- coven ecumenical pagan group.  I have seen a few of these
     "lets all get together" bunches back in the sixties, and they
     couldn't even get drunk.

          I personally am in favor of any religion that don't practice
     human sacrifice, interfere in the private lives of the
     nonbelievers, or use force in conversion.  I love 'em all, but
     I'm not fool enough to yoke the ass and the ox together.  So
     let's all go, but let's not try to make it a parade.

          That is my suggestion, and my question is why not?  I'd
     appreciate your ideas on this, I truly would.  If you have any
     ideas on the subject, please communicate them to the editors of
     the RMPJ.  Even if the ideas are along the lines of, "You're
     Nuts!!", just say why you think so.  I'd appreciate it.

          May your dreams come true; may the wind cool without
     chilling, and may you reap a harvest even richer than the seed
     catalogue said you would.  May your shadow fall long on the
     Earth.  Go in peace, remember your fellows, and with these words
     I do part now from thee.
            ________Buck Jump.       ....from RMPJ 8/86



                                                                             904

                                 THE HERETIC'S CORNER 
                                   by Buck Jump

          Greetings, my Pagan friends; may your Gods be well disposed
     to you; may the bugs flee your patch as from a crow; may the
     gentle rain fall softly on your flower beds; and may your lovers
     be all you wish them to be.  Now at the season of long lovely
     days and short passionate nights, when our Mother the fair Earth
     is at her richest and most bountiful, it is hardly the season for
     deep thinking.

          When nature is at its very best and the season most
     enjoyable are we not all of us tempted to shut off the mental
     processes and enjoy life in a purely sensual mammalian way?  Of
     course we are, to do less would be an insult to creation.

          At this glad time, here comes that old pest, the heretic,
     like the ghost at Ceasar's feast.  Consider, dear friends, even
     as the screech owl is put into this world to scare goose bumps on
     our backs, the here-tic is put into the world to ask hard
     questions and discomboomerate the quiet mind.  The only place on
     this sweet earth where we can look for a quiet unchanging stay is
     a graveyard.  It is so with me, even as with you.

          The other day when I was minding my own business [a most ha-
     zardous occupation], a stranger came to me with a request.  He
     wanted me to magically restore to him a lost love.  It seems that
     he had, by his own actions, turned his lady's love if not to
     hate, at least to an active dislike.  He was sorry.  He knew it
     was all his own fault.  He agreed that she was justified in
     leaving him.  He beat his chest and cried `mea culpa', but he
     wanted her back, and he wanted me or someone to, as he put it,
     "push the right button", and change the situation.  Before he
     came to me he had been to a friend of mine.  The friend is a
     scholar and practical magician who is rather more daring than
     most- he had by magic means caused the lady to recall the best of
     the past.  With that, the lady consented to talk with her ex-
     inamorata, and dis-cuss, in a civilized fashion, her decision to
     be done with him.  At that, the magician bowed out.  He pointed
     out to the petitioner that from there on, it was up to him.  My
     friend the magician can be, when he has to be, a most impressive
     man, and I gather he dismissed the `lorn lover' with a definite
     dismissal.

          Then he came to me.  I pointed out that there ain't no free
     lunch in the universe and I had no intention of taking on a
     karmic debt of considerable proportion for his possible benefit.
     I told him that it is easier to move a mountain than to move a
     human mind if it will not be moved.  I told him that he was
     trying to find someone to do for him what could only be properly
     done by himself.  I pointed out to him that his situation was an
     effect of a cause, a cause that he was responsible for.  I told
     him that magic is fine as a last resort, but hardly to be
     considered as first aid.  I told him ......  I wasted my breath.
     Such a one hears only what he wants to hear.



                                                                             905

          The petitioner only said, "I just need someone to push the
     right button - she used to love me.  I am not asking much, I just
     want things to be like they were."

          I refrained from pointing out that Hitler could have said
     the same thing in the bunker.  Then he said, "I am willing to pay
     you.  Just tell me how much it's going to cost." Some things are
     an insult from a knowledgeable person, and a joke from a fool.  I
     laughed.  He was the sort who would ask "How much?", referring to
     one's head.

          Now I am, I think, a reasonable sort, patient, and in my own
     way polite, but enough is enough, and this chap was rapidly
     becoming too much.  I told him flatly, that I was not about to do
     any button pushing.  I gave him what I felt was good advice.
     That is, I told him that if he was determined to further his
     amours by magic means to learn to do it himself.  I referred him
     to a most knowledgeable teacher.  I was in that way certain that
     he would either learn what was involved in his request and give
     it up, or more likely abandon the whole thing as too slow and too
     difficult.  (The teacher informs me that he never bothered to
     even go around to see what the teacher had to offer.  A case of
     "Gimme my daily bread, I'm willing to wait with my mouth open".)

          Then he countered that if I wouldn't "push the button" could
     I refer him to someone who could, or would.  I inquired around.
     One col-league I know is willing to try just about anything.  He
     once did a weather spell out on the high plains in tornado season
     and another time worked a charm to rid a field of grasshoppers in
     hail season.  I add, both were successful in a disastrous way.
     When I contacted him with the case, his words were, "I'd like to
     but I'm going on a trip to South America."  Surprised, I asked
     about the trip, adding I hadn't known about it.  He replied, "I
     didn't know about it either, but if that dude shows up here, I'm
     going!"

          Failing to find a genuine scholar and practicing magician
     to attempt the matter, I tried a couple of unethical charlatans.
     In view of the fact that the petitioner was a large muscular sort
     who would expect instant results, they regretfully declined.


          I was beginning to feel like Sinbad the Sailor when he
     carried the old man of the sea piggyback around the island.  At
     wit's end (where I have lived for years), I suggested that he try
     religion.  I offered to introduce him to some nice Pagan folks,
     or even get him in touch with some T.V. type evangelists.  He
     refused on the grounds that they would be too slow and uncertain. 
     He wanted instant gratification.

          At last, thanks be to the power that watches over well-
     meaning fools like me, another lady hove into sight, and he took
     off in her direction with deep breath and flashing eyes.  This
     sad fellow is but one of many I've had the misfortune to meet.  I
     am sure most of you could recount similar sad tales.  We'll all
     have to get together and I'll haul out the portable wailing wall,
     and we can share a cup of tea and all sympathize with each other.



                                                                             906

          I wouldn't have bored you with this all too familiar tale
     except I have a question.  How does one deal with such people?
     Is there some way to tell a person with a real problem who can be
     helped from the person who has an endless amount of wants and no
     energy to help himself?  That is, some way, without finding out
     the hard way?  I can handle skeptics (I am one myself), I can
     handle cynics, I can handle atheists and deal with convinced true
     believers of all sorts, but how do I deal with a person who
     believes that I can work miracles?

          One question leads to another.  I have a few more on the
     same line.  How comes it that as soon as people, some of them at
     least, find that one is not part of some main line orthodox
     church, they straightway want you to work some magic?  Are Roman
     Catholic and Episcopal priests pestered by miracle seekers?  Are
     T.V.  evangelists?  If not, why not?  They deal in magic as much
     as any Pagan or free thinker.  Is the prevalence of lazy
     freeloaders the reason that Christianity for the last fifteen
     centuries or so has been down playing the magical basis of the
     early Church?  This is a topic worthy of our consideration.

          Another question comes to mind at this point.  A question
     about magic in general.  I am sure you know what magic is, just
     is I am sure I know what it is.  The definitions are many and
     varied, but they all basically state in one way or another, that
     magic is the practical side of religion, and the practice of
     magic is the art of causing changes in the tangible by intangible
     means.  Or, to put it another way, magic is a mental way of
     changing the physical by means of the spiritual.  That is what
     magic is, no question there.  The question is what does the
     uninitiated, uninformed layman think magic is?
          If you are going to make a living repairing televisions and
     radios, it is not enough that you know electronics.  You must
     also know what your customers believe about electronics.  The
     degree of success in the TV-Radio repair business is generally in
     direct proportion to the amount of customer knowledge the
     proprietor of the business has.  The rule is, if you deal with
     the run of humanity, you must understand the general run of
     humanity.  You must not know only what you know, but also what
     people ignorantly suppose you know.

          I pass this bit of wisdom on to you, for I think it has
     value to any serious student of matters intangible.  An old
     doctor of medicine told me this some forty years ago.  The
     occasion was a patient of his inquiring about an operation for a
     then inoperable condition.  I, only an army medic, was astounded
     at the fellow's ignorance and when the Doc and I were alone, said
     as much.  "Son," the old doctor said, "Here is something to
     remember  Anything that works that you don't understand is magic
      and a magician can do anything.  That's not the truth, but
     ninety per cent of the human race believe it is." That is how
     people who have never studied the arts of magic see it.  To them
     it is a power without cost and without limit.
