Course Four: Rites 153
of Life itself.
This is why just any old ritual will not work. You
must be completely convinced—emotionally and sub-
consciously as well as consciously—that it will work.
To be that convincing, the ritual must reach below
the level of the conscious mind and arouse those psy-
chic powers and abilities little understood (or even
acknowledged) by modern science. When you are able
to do this successfully, you will create a “suspension
of disbelief” similar to the state you place your mind
into when you are deeply engrossed in a gripping
novel, or a good movie. You’re just “there”—im-
mersed in the scenario—and you leave your critical
faculties aside for the moment. This means you are
experiencing the ritual through your right hemisphere
rather than your left—as if you were dreaming, hal-
lucinating, or under hypnosis. And in this state, any-
thing becomes possible.
In doing rituals, some overlap and repetition is
intended. Rituals gain power through repetition; the
more you do them, the stronger they get. This is much
like with Gods—the more people believe in them, and
the more they are invoked and prayed to, the more
powerful they become.Theurgy: Prayer and Petition
As living beings, we are filled with the life force,
or Spirit, that sustains our existence. We fuel ourselves
with Elemental energies from the Sun (Fire), food
(Earth), drink (Water), and breath (Air). We release
these energies as we move, work, dance, play, exer-
cise—and do magick. And as conscious beings, we
are each reservoirs of great magickal power—most
importantly, the power to choose.
The individual cells in our bodies are organized
into organs, and organs are parts of the several sys-
tems that make up our bodies. In the same way, we
are all individual members of humanity, and human-
ity is a part of the greater Kingdom of Life on Earth.
Thus we are cells in the vast body of Gaea—Mother
Earth Herself. At each level of organization, there is a
synergic (“combined”) awareness or consciousness.
Each cell is a tiny creature, following its own little
agenda and making its own decisions. So are the or-
gans and systems. And so are we. But this synergic
process of ever-increasing manifestations of con-
sciousness doesn’t stop with us, as we also are parts
of larger systems, and at each level, new synergic
consciousnesses come into being. Also, of course,
many other beings—some with physical bodies and
some without—all have their own agendas and
consciousnesses. We refer to these entities as Gods,
Goddesses, angels, demons, djinn, saints, ghosts,
devas, Elementals, totems, faeries—or just spirits.
Prayer is based on contacting and communicat-
ing with these other consciousnesses, just as we would
with other people. And in the same way we might askfor help from our parents, teachers, or others who may
have greater authority or power in a certain area than
we have, so we might petition (“seek, ask”) wiser or
more powerful Spirit beings for help or guidance. This
is called theurgy, or religious magick—and it is prob-
ably the most universal and common practice of
magick, done by members of virtually every religion
in the world.
The most common form of petition Magick is
done by writing a request on a piece of special pa-
per—such as parchment, rice paper, or flash paper
(my favorite!). Then the paper is ceremonially burned
in your thurible, firepot, or with the Fire candle on
your altar—thus sending your request into the Astral
Realm.Lesson 5: Thaumaturgy:
Sympathetic MagickUnder the Law of Sympathy, a Wizard is able to af-
fect people and events through sympathetic magick—
the magickal manipulation of some object that is simi-
lar to or has sympathy (“affinity”) with the subject.
This principle states that “things that have an affinity
with each other influence and interact with each other
over a distance.”
Sympathetic magick is also called thaumaturgy
(“wonder-working”). This is the use of magick to ef-
fect changes in the reality of the outer world—what
we call practical magick. Thaumaturgy is also often
referred to as “low magick” or sorcery—especially
when it is provided in the service of others. All forms
of folk magick—which served the villages and com-
mon people—became known as low magick. This is
the magick practiced on an everyday basis to affect
matters of daily life, such as ensuring that one’s cows
give milk, that one’s illness is cured, or that one’s home
is protected from natural or supernatural disasters.Imitative and Contagious Magick
To create an effective spell, the ritual should in
some way imitate the result you want to achieve. For
instance, if you want it to rain, sprinkle water on the
ground, or spray it into the air. This is called imitative
or homeopathic magick. It is based on the Law of
Similarity, which states that “like produces like and
an effect resembles its cause.”
One of the most striking examples of imitative
magick is envoutement—a Voodoo term that refers to
the use of waxen images or poppets (proxy dolls) to
curse an enemy. The poppet is identified with the sub-
ject of the spell, and so named. As the Voodoo doll is
punished, so will the victim, represented by the doll,
be hurt. Of course, the same principle works for help-
ing or healing someone by proxy.
There is more to it than that, however. An object-- Rites.p65 153 1/15/2004, 9:08 AM