Magick vs. Prayer
Magick vs. Prayer |
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<<Bill wrote regarding the Hierophant Tarot card:
Of the two additional persons on the bottom, the one on the right has his hands in supplication as if in prayer and the meaning of prayer is that you are asking an outside source to do something for you because you can't do it yourself. The one on the left has a hand on the keys as if to be saying "I have the key - - me, myself!" This is the difference in Magick and Prayer. Any comments on that idea?>>
<<I wrote back:
What it basically comes down to, IMHO, is the microcosm vs. the macrocosm. (the Many vs. the One; individual conscious vs. cosmic conscious, etc.) I recall Crowley said something in _Magick in Theory and Practice_ about a star in its proper orbit having the power and velocity of the Universe to propel it.
"the meaning of prayer is that you are asking an outside source to do something for you because you can't do it yourself." To me, that's like saying you use electricity from the power plant because your aura isn't bright enough to read by. What's the objection to an outside power Source? I buy bread, not because I can't make it myself, but because the baker is so much *better* at it :)
Prayer IS Magick, whether the one answering the prayer is God, you, God in you, your spirit guide, your Will, someone on another planet, or . . . who knows? It WORKS. I speak from personal experience. And I've seen that the most rapid and most observable results--the loudest answers--happen under the most drastic circumstances. The fulfillment of prayer, at least in my case, corresponds to the urgency of the need. Is this God's presence in my time of need, or is it the force of my Will driven by my urgency? Well, what's the difference? Does the light come on because the power plant is there, or because I flipped the switch?
Instinct is the quiet voice of God. Prayers do receive replies, but you have to listen closely and believe in the answer. God doesn't shout; He whispers, and in the whisper is the way.--Dean Koontz
Personally, I pray to God (Jehovah, or Jah for short--I always call people by what they introduce themselves as :). And I find it interesting that he has other names and aspects. So do I--as private me, public me, wife, daughter, sister, friend, co-worker, etc. Who can say that God is only one thing or one way? As you say, it's all ONE.
I pray every day. I give thanks and praises to the Creator and ask blessings and protection for all my people. I do magick mostly for personal reasons (in other words, for myself) and to keep in rhythm with the Wheel of the Year and other cycles. I also talk to animals and plants, and look for opportunities to help others, and think of these as prayer in a sense, like just appreciating the wonder and beauty and brotherhood of it all. All men are *created* (pause) *equal*
(9) A man who is doing this True Will has the inertia of the Universe to assist him.
(10) Nature is a continuous phenomenon, though we do not know in all cases how things are connected.
(11) Science enables us to take advantage of the continuity 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.
As Tyndall said, man might at any moment learn to perceive and utilise 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.
(17) A man may learn to use any force so as to serve any purpose, by taking advantage of the above theorems.
(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.
(19) Man's sense of himself as separate from, and oppose 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.
(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.
(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.
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