Learning to scry, part 5a

[Josh Norton]

Note: The following sections bring this series to a conclusion. 
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General Considerations for Scrying with the Enochian Magick

There are several considerations for Enochian magick work that do not apply
to scrying using other systems.

The first of these is the unquestionable power of the Calls and the divine
and angelic names. As Crowley once said, other systems require effort;
Enochian magick requires caution. While the power built up in any one
session is almost never of an unmanageable level, some effects of the
magick tend to accumulate across sessions; it is easy for an overeager
beginner to get in deeper than he expects. Added to this, the powers
invoked through the Calls seem to enter into the magician's field of
awareness along some spiritual dimension that is outside those we consider
"normal"; it seems to operate through some sort of meta-space with
qualities different from those that compose the magickal worlds to which we
are accustomed. 

The consequence of these factors is that any work with the magick places a
certain amount of stress on the magician's mind and body, and over-use can
lead to various stress-related forms of illness. Anyone working regularly
with the magick should keep an eye out for signs of this stress in himself.
The typical symptoms are similar to those that come from abusing methedrine
or "speed": nervous exhaustion, severely lowered immune response, inability
to concentrate, hypersensitivity, hyper-reactivity, reduced judgment,
flights of ideas, and paranoia.

One time in my own career, the stress of overusing this magick combined
with an equally stressful mundane occupation to give me the worst of both
the physical and mental consequences. On the physical side, I contracted
mononucleosis, effectively stopping all my magickal work for six months or
so. On the mental side, the changed viewpoint and loss of judgment caused
me to make seditious remarks to a class of Federal employees I was
training, resulting in the loss of my livelihood. 

So caution is well-justified. But with a few easy, obvious precautions,
these problems can be avoided. 

· Avoid using the magick at times when other parts of your life are
unusually stressful. Try to arrange your affairs so as to reduce the social
and economic pressures to the minimum level compatible with your needs. 

· Get regular exercise; a healthy body handles stress better.

· Don't use recreational drugs while working with the magick. Aside from
being illegal (jail is a poor place for magickal work), all of them add to
the stress on your body. Most stimulants and sedatives also reduce your
magickal sensitivity and ability to focus in your magickal space.
Hallucinogens make you _too_ sensitive, and reduce your level of control. 

· Learn to pace yourself. When first starting out, allow a day or two
between Enochian invocations to absorb the results and "cool off". Later,
when you get to the point where you need to accumulate power over several
day's worth of invocations, allow at least as many days off after the
series as you spent in doing the work. Take longer vacations from the work
every few months to keep yourself grounded.

The importance of pacing yourself cannot be overemphasized. When you begin
getting significant results from your Enochian work, it is very tempting to
keep going; the anticipation of even more amazing results drives you on.
But the extra-dimensional or meta-dimensional character of these forces
allows them to influence all levels of your being simultaneously, including
many levels of which you are not consciously aware. The cumulative effects
of this influence can cascade into a dangerous level of stress before you
become aware of it. Regular intervals of rest and relaxation, and of
immersion in the everyday world, are the only sure way to avoid the problems.

Another difficulty, which bears more directly on scrying, is that the Calls
allow you to invoke a force without having any knowledge of its nature. In
normal methods of invocation, one begins with a symbol or set of symbols,
and seeks by their use to bring about the manifestation of the
corresponding powers. The symbols you use define the power to be invoked.
In contrast, the Calls produce a manifestation of power regardless of
whether you comprehend their symbolic content. 

Adding to the confusion is the fact that, from a perspective accustomed to
the traditional magickal powers (i.e., the elements, planets, and zodiac)
the nature of the invoked powers seems to change depending on the depth of
one's penetration into their realms. Or from another angle, the Calls and
Names open up different realms, depending on the level of existence at
which you are operating. On the most superficial level, they appear to be
more or less "elemental" in nature, with an overlay related to the
functions of the angels' specific offices; but at "deeper" or "higher"
levels, this elemental aspect fades, to be replaced by a succession of
increasingly complex and inclusive expressions that may bear little or no
relation to the most superficial appearance.

Unless the magician supplies an explicit set of symbols to which the
invoked powers can be anchored, the powers will tend to remain in an
indeterminate state; a sort of "fuzzy cloud" of energy which contains all
the power's potential expressions, but which manifests none of them
explicitly. A visual symbol used as an anchor causes this indeterminacy to
"collapse" into that aspect of the power which is most nearly similar to
the symbol's innate associations. The congruency between the symbol and the
invoked power does not have to be very great. It is sufficient that some
small aspect of the symbol's associations be similar to the power's; the
major associations of the symbol can be entirely inappropriate, and this
collapse will still occur.

So the symbol the scryer uses will determine, in part, the initial
manifestation of an invoked Enochian power; the scryer's expectations or
preconceptions of the power's nature will also be partially determining.
This accounts for the documented fact that different magicians have
produced widely varying -- sometimes even contradictory -- results using
the system. However, it is my observation that with repeated invocations
and scryings, the true nature of the invoked power will break through these
initial, superficial expressions. The longer you work with a particular
Enochian power, the more closely your results will accord with that nature,
and the deeper you will penetrate into the realms to which the power
connects. 

Since penetration past the sometimes-deceiving surface manifestations takes
time, orderly, methodical work habits are necessary to get the most value
of your Enochian work. The fact that invocations have a cumulative effect
can be used to advantage if you plan out your course ahead of time, and
stick to it. The following suggestions will all enhance the effectiveness
of your Enochian scryings:

· For every angel or other power that you invoke, do several scrying
sessions. Allow time for a connection to be built up between you and the
angel, and for your mind to become accustomed to its power.

· Work for an extended period solely with powers from a single Tablet. Or
if you are working with the Aethyrs or the 91 Parts of the Earth, pick a
set of contiguous Aethyrs or Parts and do them sequentially.

· If you are invoking single squares of some angelic or divine name, plan
to do all the squares of that name in sequence.

· Plan out a series of invocations to investigate all the angels of a given
rank within one of the Tablets, in some logical sequence. Complete the
series before working with any other rank or Tablet. Alternately, plan out
a series to investigate all the powers within a given Lesser Angle, in
order of rank.

[continued in next message]
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Reality leaves a lot to the imagination. -- John Lennon

Josh Norton (aka Benjamin Rowe) -- browe@ctd.com or browe@one.net
Magick code: MEN/AS QO++++ 666* S G Y W C N+++ POT  <G>
Web site under construction at http://w3.one.net/~browe