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Manifestation of Magical Work

Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2021 6:45 pm
by Angolmois
In what way do you use your skills and talents in the manifestation of magical work? How do you manifest in the material world the accomplishments you gain internally from your esoteric practice?

I say, rune magic isn't an easy path. I'm glad I finally got my year long rune row done, since it started to feel in the end like hanging eternally in the odinic tree. My final realisations are that this went awfully and greatly, and the manifestations I finally got made mostly during the Ingwaz rune (creative burst) were quite pleasing for me personally. I finally got to use my natural and gained talents as an artist for making the 7 song long black metal album and five paintings related to rune work. These were the most important manifestations into physical and audial objects, and they have magical value subjectively very much. Changing the altar last night where I removed the runes felt like a final liberation from the runic energies in exoteric magical practice, and the most important manifestation again subjectively was that I finally arrived at peace with myself, and my long depression feels like it's finally gone without mania coming into its place.

Re: Manifestation of Magical Work

Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2021 9:59 am
by Nefastos
A vast but important & useful question to be sure.
Rúnatýr wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 6:45 pmHow do you manifest in the material world the accomplishments you gain internally from your esoteric practice?

Even though the exoteric & the esoteric worlds tend to collide easily, I consider one of the most important parts of one's esoteric working to keep it from such a collision. The energies are so great there that when things start to catch fire in a wrong way & the careful harmony is lost, things turn really ugly really soon. ("When this kind of fire starts, it is very hard to put out. The tender boughs of innocence burn first, and the wind rises, and then all goodness is in jeopardy.")

Because of this, I try to retain many different channels to stabilize the occult working, and make both its surplus energies & accomplishment to feed also the exoteric life. Frankly, the whole process of my life is such an attempt; there is nothing else. Personally I feel that every possible spark of energy has to serve the Work in one way or the other. This also brings some humorous results when some of my very surficial seeming hobbies (and one could say vices too?) become a part of the "manifestation of the occult accomplishments". Creativity is really something that cannot be either a master or a slave, but only one's co-pilot. It puts its input & intensity into everything.

In case this sounds very abstract, I can try to concretize with examples. In this context that might feel a bit exhibitionistic or self-serving, though, so hopefully this was enough.

Rúnatýr wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 6:45 pmmy long depression feels like it's finally gone without mania coming into its place.

This is great news, congratulations. Keep calm & stay in the chakras of serenity!

Re: Manifestation of Magical Work

Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2021 10:32 am
by Angolmois
Nefastos wrote: Sat Mar 06, 2021 9:59 am In case this sounds very abstract, I can try to concretize with examples. In this context that might feel a bit exhibitionistic or self-serving, though, so hopefully this was enough.
I don't think it's exhibitionistic or self-serving, so I would love to hear examples from fellow travelers. Aren't we here to share practical experiences also? (Of course I can understand if one doesn't wish to speak of personal things too much in a public forum.)

Re: Manifestation of Magical Work

Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2021 11:53 am
by Smaragd
I'm all too familiar with the destroying fire described in the quote shared by Nefastos. An example could be a relationship that one places so much focus on (forgetting and/or lacking other channels where to work at) that it becomes the foremost center of magical work. This could be a good thing, but if such a vessel does not contain enough abilities, structural soundness and readiness to receive such a burning focus it will be destroyed.
Rúnatýr wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 6:45 pm In what way do you use your skills and talents in the manifestation of magical work? How do you manifest in the material world the accomplishments you gain internally from your esoteric practice?
I've been thinking lately that every exoteric form of art has something, an idea or a spirit hidden within, pointed towards by the artist, but all of those objects are ultimately as non-magical and magical as any object in the sensory world. Thus the only piece of true art would be the human we are forging in the flames of occult work. But then again, what is human? Is the planet or solar system we live in the image of the divine man? Is the animals of this planet, the more precise carnal manifestations of the animal beings that also inhabit man? Then, are the art objects also something more in themselves than fingers pointing to the moon?
At the moment, I'm somewhere in the middle thinking that the art object is merely the finger, a symbol, but symbol is also some sort of being and thus having a place in the man. Thus the art objects also have some place in the forging of the human.

Why such ponderings matter to me is that I've often felt it hard to justify to seek perfection in creating art as objects, for there's the voice that says the life itself is what matters and where the true art is throbbing. Away from the "petty" ambitions of producing objects. But such notions ignore the preparing and training it takes to finish a piece of art, and how it can be like taking those inner forging processes to completion. But it takes hell of a lot of purifying to not leave the dross of pettiness or other vices to the end result.
The aversion from creating objects relates to the uneasy feeling of magnificent art being at the same time kind of limited that it has felt impossible to align such great artistic work with holistic occult practice. By limitations I guess I'm pointing to the dynamic process of the Red aspect, which I've not found a working personal relationship yet.

Re: Manifestation of Magical Work

Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2021 9:02 am
by Nefastos
Smaragd wrote: Sat Mar 06, 2021 11:53 amI'm all too familiar with the destroying fire described in the quote shared by Nefastos. An example could be a relationship that one places so much focus on (forgetting and/or lacking other channels where to work at) that it becomes the foremost center of magical work. This could be a good thing, but if such a vessel does not contain enough abilities, structural soundness and readiness to receive such a burning focus it will be destroyed.

One of the great realizations in my own occult working, I mean the Great Work of the life itself, has been to found out that the fire gets dangerous when I try to compress it, to focus it too narrowly. There is always enough fire, the struggle to live rightly itself summons it up & intensifies it. And thus, occult Work only gets easier if you put your creativity into everything else you do also. The whole life thus becomes magical.

Angolmois wrote: Sat Mar 06, 2021 10:32 amI don't think it's exhibitionistic or self-serving, so I would love to hear examples from fellow travelers. Aren't we here to share practical experiences also?

You make a good point, but the heart & meaning of things is easily lost in translation from actually doing to explaining what you do. This is especially true in the projects which have to do with the free flight of one's imagination & creativity (a subject we briefly touched in the last Lucifer lodge meeting about The Voice of the Silence, in case someone remembers that sidetrail). I've sometimes pondered upon possibility to open some new channel to share these wilder & weirder side projects, but energetically it would perhaps not be very smart. So I'm doing the weird in quite a cloistered way, almost like a sand mandala which is done carefully even though no one will see it.

As can be seen, this comes to the Black verge of the Red imagination astral: something is created but it is left unseen. But the miracle of creation works in such a womb very purely because it does not into account any kind of audience. A great vent indeed!

Re: Manifestation of Magical Work

Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2021 10:29 am
by Angolmois
Smaragd wrote: Sat Mar 06, 2021 11:53 amThus the only piece of true art would be the human we are forging in the flames of occult work.
This is a fine way to put it. "Every truly individuated being is an artwork of Satan."
Smaragd wrote: Sat Mar 06, 2021 11:53 amBut such notions ignore the preparing and training it takes to finish a piece of art, and how it can be like taking those inner forging processes to completion.
For me the creation of the latest musical work felt like liberation from the energies that were about to consume me, and especially when I got the song "The Hanged Man" made it felt as if I had fallen off from the tree I had hanged myself in the rune work. If the energies don't find some proper material channel they will start to eat oneself from the inside or stay forever in a mental loop that will make one mad. Of course it doesn't have to be a piece of art; it can take a whole lot of manifestations according to the abilities and talents a person has, but some form a crystallization and materialization is integral I believe.

Re: Manifestation of Magical Work

Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2021 10:38 am
by Angolmois
Nefastos wrote: Sun Mar 07, 2021 9:02 am So I'm doing the weird in quite a cloistered way, almost like a sand mandala which is done carefully even though no one will see it.
This brings to my mind one hermetico-alchemical axiom again, in which it is said that the work done in secret away from privy eyes is at least as important as public work, and it should be done even more carefully.
Nefastos wrote: Sun Mar 07, 2021 9:02 am As can be seen, this comes to the Black verge of the Red imagination astral: something is created but it is left unseen. But the miracle of creation works in such a womb very purely because it does not into account any kind of audience. A great vent indeed!
For myself as an artist this kind of mentality is quite foreign, since I have always thought that I'm doing something for others and not for myself only. I mean, if I create something I hope that people who'll listen or see the work get something elevating from it. Perhaps something like writing a diary or a dream journal would be closest for myself in this area of work that is left unseen.

Re: Manifestation of Magical Work

Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2021 10:41 pm
by Soror O
Nefastos wrote: Sun Mar 07, 2021 9:02 am the fire gets dangerous when I try to compress it, to focus it too narrowly.
Yes, too narrow of a focus is a mistake. Also being too serious, trying too hard. That's why sometimes almost half jokinly made spells unfold way more effectively than those that are made dead serious. My experience is that manifestation happens from the point of view of abundance and transendence. There is a lack of any lack. This is the paradox of creation.
Smaragd wrote: Sat Mar 06, 2021 11:53 am what is human?
What is a human and what is humane (= the realm of humans)... these are such relevant questions regarding manifestation. I liked fra Smaragds ponderings regarding human experience, art and the divine. I'd say that each piece of art is a symbol - a finger pointing to the moon - and a moon in itself. Manifestation is about closing all of the gaps and still operating in the verge of the howling gaps. (I don't know why the gaps howl in this vision. Maybe it's the voice of holy dissonance and separation.)

Re: Manifestation of Magical Work

Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2021 11:55 am
by Smaragd
Ave wrote: Sun Mar 07, 2021 10:41 pm
Nefastos wrote: Sun Mar 07, 2021 9:02 am the fire gets dangerous when I try to compress it, to focus it too narrowly.
Yes, too narrow of a focus is a mistake. Also being too serious, trying too hard. That's why sometimes almost half jokinly made spells unfold way more effectively than those that are made dead serious. My experience is that manifestation happens from the point of view of abundance and transendence. There is a lack of any lack. This is the paradox of creation.
Talking about skills of manifesting, the many different ways to incorporate the trickster in to the work is such in interesting topic! I don’t believe it is possible to envision anything without the presence of the Iocator. Hermes-Mercury is often depicted having sandals with wings on them, and there’s something humorous with that image, the kind of humour where a cartoon animal character tap dances, or alternatively the town folks fear of the unnatural cosmic horror of something that defies the law of gravity (Machen in his horror novel The White People presented the idea that gravity defying occurrences were unnatural and thus marking the presence of (absolute?) Evil) and by its presence threats with madness. It is this divinity in all its more elaborately visible and subtle forms that allows anything creative to manifest. There might be the subtlest tongue in cheek in the outpouring that even the creative artist himself has difficulty to recognize. In a normal day-to-day conversation, a poet might have a world of sparkling creativity hidden and ready to burst out the moment a step towards is taken together, like the cosmic horror lurking behind every wall and fabric of the physical reality.

Right now I’m in a place where I seem to find it possible and more satisfying to incorporate the Jester in to the work in a subtle way. Perhaps it is a bit wrong to say ’incorporate’, for it works in such an inner level that the "control" of it would be through ritualistic processes relating to the creation, but I don’t see a reason for me right now to mess with those delicate settings, as the libido towards work seems to be going through the course it needs to. I’m also a fan where the more coarsely jesterly approaches are taken, but there’s something that I personally seem to have to look through in the more subtle areas of creativity. Many times I’ve faced the wall of too serious, or ”dead serious” approach, as Ave said fittingly, but I don’t know. Something seems to have changed now that I seem to be able to find the abundance in very strict environment. So many things that are definitely part of creating such an environment for an individual. Just being able to create a pleasing environment, or ideal of creation through asking and answering questions like the ones in my previous post are a large part of it. It is kind of like setting up a stage for the vision to rush in and play the magnificent play.
Ave wrote: Sun Mar 07, 2021 10:41 pm Manifestation is about closing all of the gaps and still operating in the verge of the howling gaps. (I don't know why the gaps howl in this vision. Maybe it's the voice of holy dissonance and separation.)
I'm nodding to this vision of howling gaps, it seems accurate to me.