Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard

58 Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard

Religious Epochs

Approx. Religion Founding Prophets Key Events

c.2000 Gaian Earth Religion Zell (1942), Lovelock (1919) Gaea Thesis 1970

c.1500 Protestantism (Germany) Martin Luther (1483-1546) Reformation 1517

c.1000 Roman & Orthodox Church Pope Leo IX (1002-1054) Great Schism 1054

c.500 CE Islam (Arabia) Mohammed (570-632) Hejira (flight) 622 CE

1 st century Christianity (Roman Empire) Jesus (4 BCE-29 CE) Crucifixion 29 CE

c.500 BCE Buddhism (India) Buddha (490-410 BCE) Sutras

Confucianism (China) Confucius (551-479 BCE) Analects of Confucius

Taoism (China) Lao Tzu (6th century BCE) Tao-Te Ching

Pythagorean Mysteries Pythagoras (580-500 BCE) Parthenon in Athens 438 BCE

Zoroastrianism (Persia) Zoroaster (628-551 BCE) The Gathas

c.1000 Judaism (Israel) Solomon (970-928 BCE) Great Temple in Jerusalem

c.1500 Monotheism (Hebrews) Moses (1668-1548 BCE) 10 Commandments 1628 BCE

tsunami (“tidal wave”). At these times the powers of

magick are greatly augmented, and—like a surfer riding

a huge breaker—magicians and Wizards of all types

can accomplish amazing things that would be more

difficult at any other time. These dawning years of the

21 st century are such a time, and 2012 is the next “Jack-

pot” year.

Lesson 7. Time Traveling

Imagine you are walking along a path through a

rolling countryside. Sometimes the path takes you into

deep valleys, with forests on either side of you. You

cannot see to the sides, and you cannot see far ahead.

But you have a map that you are following, and land-

marks along the way are marked on the map. Eventu-

ally, your path brings you to the top of a hill. From

there, you can look back over the path you’ve already

traveled; and you can look ahead over the path yet

before you—as far, at least, as the next hilltop. So,

from this high vantagepoint, you take out your note-

book and draw a new map of the road ahead. You mark

on it the rivers, forests, rocky outcroppings, villages,

deserts, swamps and other features you will have to

pass or cross to reach that distant peak.

This is how our path through Time appears to a

Wizard. As the various Cycles of Time turn and turn

again, each time we come round to the same season, it

is like coming to the top of the next high hill. And if we

know how to look out, that vantage point allows us to

see the next cycle—the path through the valley to the

top of the next hill. Throughout the ages, many Proph-

ets, Seers, and visionaries have viewed the coming

ages from such peaks of history’s synchronicity waves

and cycles. They have left recorded prophecies—

which may be seen as “roadmaps of time.” But while

the visions of such seers as Nostradamus, Edgar

Cayce, and Mother Shipton have provided intriguing

“maps” of the times from their days to ours, they have

only been able to see to the top of the next peak from

where they stood. And that peak is where we now

stand. Those pro-

phetic maps are now

obsolete and can chart

our path no further. It

is now time for the mak-

ing of new maps, and

the charting of a new

future—a future that

we can create through

Wizardry. Let me tell

you a little story about

changing the future by

magick...

In the middle of

the 20th century, when

I was a young man,

most people in the world believed unquestionably that

a global nuclear holocaust (destruction by fire) was

inevitable and immanent (due any moment). Every

movie about the future made in those days pre-sup-

posed that civilization would soon be destroyed in a

nuclear war, and any survivors would be battling hid-

eous mutants in the radioactive ruins. This conviction

ran so deep that in 1960, when George Pal made an

excellent movie of H.G. Wells’ novel, The Time Ma-

chine, he naturally had to include a nuclear war as the

time traveler journeys into the future. But an impor-

tant part of that story is showing the temporal “odom-

eter” on the dashboard of the time machine, indicating

the date. So Pal had the time traveler make a stop just

as the great nuclear holocaust was being unleashed.

And the date on the dial read: “1966”—only six years

from the release of the film!

But when 1966 arrived, we didn’t have a nuclear

war. Instead, something happened that changed our

future forever. That September a new TV show pre-

miered—with a completely new vision of the future in

which there had been no holocaust, and a united hu-

manity was traveling among the stars. This show, as

I’m sure you have guessed by now, was Star Trek. Its

creator, Gene Roddenberry, is said to have explained

his intention as: “I’m trying to present a new vision of

the future that will be so compelling that people will

choose it over a global nuclear holocaust.”

And so he did—one of the greatest acts of magick

in our time. Nearly forty years, six TV series (all con-

tinuing in syndication), and ten movies have created a

future that has inspired both our imagination and our

technology towards the exploration of space, and gave

us the greatest Mission Statement of magickal intent

ever articulated: “To explore strange new worlds; to

seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go

where no one has gone before!”

So mote it be. True Wizards know that the best

way to predict the future is to create it.

Lesson 8. The Great Work

Corrected pages PM.p65 3 3/25/2004, 2:27 PM