Josephine McCarthy's Blog, page 3

Quareia and Kabbalah, and the Curious case of not knowing…..

Recently it came to my attention that a pair of leaders of a commercial magical temple had put up a blog post on the stance of Quareia and Kabbalah. I found it sad, misleading, and it brought many things into question.[image error]

If this post was simply aimed at me as a magician I would sigh, roll my eyes and ignore it, but as the magical integrity of Quareia is being called into question, I feel I have to respond, even though in a tardy way.  I will try to be as simple and to the point as possible. But be warned, this is long……..

I have copied into the body of this blog, large parts of the original post, broken down into sections… so it is a long read. The short version is, “know your shit before you open your mouth” or to put it better, ‘you don’t know what it is you don’t know.’

Before I answer the issues raised in the blog post, I want to have a brief look at the school in question where the blog originated from, and the leaders involved. The school is called, the Most Noble Order of the Masters of the Temple. Quite a heady title, which would bring one to assume the leaders were indeed magical masters, and were noble in their actions, intentions and teaching. The two ‘Masters’ are Miriam Fox and Peter Walters (formerly of the SOL)

[image error]Miriam (co Leader of a magical school) emailed me a year ago, and stated that she wished to join a private FB forum for Quareia Apprentice students, stating that she was studying the course. Now either she has advanced at breakneck speed from student to master in a year, or she was not wholly forthcoming with me. At no point did she say she was a ‘Master’ in a magical school, rather just that she was a practitioner with her partner who had reached adept level.(SOL)

I find it very strange that a person who is a leader of a magical temple with her partner, would feel it necessary to put herself in to a private student group designed for apprentices of another school. And in light of the following bio from their website, I seriously question the intent of wishing to have direct private access to students in a closed discussion group of another school.

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All coloured italics in this post are the words of Peter and Miriam.

We are Peter and Miriam, and we both have many years’ experience in spiritual work. Together we run the Order. The Order was initially set up as a way of us developing our own personal Magickal practice, and we later decided to open the Order up to other people who wanted to get to know the theory and practice of Magick. We offer an opportunity to learn about Modern Ceremonial Magick, to participate in and learn how to construct Magick ritual, and to find a safe and sane way to become a practitioner of Magick. We have been very involved in spiritual development for all of our lives, and our experience has been in Christianity, Judaism, Kabbalah, Shamanism and Paganism.

I would also like to add into this that the Most Noble Temple has a heady price tag with its training course. While that is the individual business of the school and their choice, again, the need of a magical school leader, who deliberately withheld that information (being a leader) to be lurking in the apprentice shadows of another, free, school, brings up the question of motives and intent. What is that about???

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The blog post which triggered me to write this response can be found here

http://mnomt.com/2017/06/17/wot-no-kabbalah/

in this post, the writer either innocently, or deliberately, misrepresents or misunderstands the comments, concepts and teaching that are about Kabbalah, and the approach of Quaeria.

Some of my comments on my approach to the system of Kabbalah, and intent, as explained to apprentices (i.e. beginners for the most part) can be found here…

if you do not wish to wade through that, this paragraph basically sums up my approach to the teaching of the external pattern of Kabbalah (i.e. paths, names, colours, and the Hermetic rituals and meditations that stem from that):

“For many years, I taught this aspect of magical learning from a Kabbalistic perspective, but slowly I came to realise that because Western magic has in general so bastardised the Kabbalistic system (in an effort to make it fit the Western worldview and its psychological theories), it is to all intents and purposes pointless to teach it that way: the student invariably wanders off into various offshoots of western Kabbalah and finds themselves stuck in mindless loops of magical babble.”

So taking off the external pattern reveals the gems that are hidden underneath. Peter and Miriam even own a Quareia Magicians deck that is used in the course. Did they not spot the Serifot hiding in plain sight, as all the Mysteries do?

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What the writer has failed to understand, is that the Quareia course is littered with Kabbalah throughout, just not the dogmatic surface pattern dressing of Hermetic Kabbalah – if he knew as much about Kabbalah as he says he does, he would instantly recognise page after page of magic that flows from the source of Kabbalah, and that underpins the whole system of Kabbalah.

Kabbalah is a system of understanding the universe and the Divine. The mystical magician works within that: and that may be the root of the problem here. Quareia is essentially mystical magic. What Peter constantly refers to is not.  The roots of the powers and magical systems that rise to the surface predate Kabbalah by at least two thousand years. Quareia works with the various deeper levels of the mystical system that flows through Kabbalah, and also its more ancient roots.[image error]

So let us have a look at what Peter has to say.

 Recently I read something by a well-known magician and occultist. It is from a course of magical training that this person has written. The writer is someone I respect hugely, and is, I believe, one of the foremost magicians in Britain at the moment. For this reason it is not easy for me to disagree with the writer; but I regret to say that I have to. This piece touched on kabbalah. The writer said:

“This course will have no kabbalah in it…[kabbalah] is not necessary for a full magical education.”

Obviously, kabbalah is not compulsory in a magical course. You can be a perfectly competent magician without incorporating kabbalah into your system. But, I wondered to myself, why wouldn’t you?

If you simply dip into the course for a nosey around and find a sentence that says “this course will have no kabbalah in it”, and then draw conclusions straight from that sentence, then yes, I can understand the knee jerk reaction. However, if he had taken the time to read a little further, he would have then understood what that sentence meant, and also the style of the course and how it is put together.

It is not a bullet point, surface teaching method, that is employed in Quareia. Quareia is written in a long classical way of teaching that slowly unfolds itself in the true spirit of the Mysteries. It also employs a Kabbalistic way of writing, known as PaRDeS. If he was the Kabbalist he claims to be, he would have spotted that. He would have also seen, had he moved beyond the page he was reading and had delved further into the course, the many references, teachings, and mysteries of Kabbalah embedded within the course.[image error]

What is not included in the course is the dressing of Kabbalah or its western Hermetic bastardised offshoot. So the names, paths, colours, dressings, and all the things that have had magicians running around in silly circles for years, are not in there. The dressing is removed completely. The student works in steps, and slowly begins to realise that not only is there a lot of Kabbalah in the course, it also reveals the melting pot that Kabbalistic thinking emerged from.

For me personally, I feel that the surface presentation of Kabbalah is best left, because of the Western bastardisation, to its mystical and religious community. That is just my personal opinion as a teacher, and does not reflect on how other teachers approach it. As a magical teacher, it is my job to help students evolve as magicians, and not constantly repeat the same mistakes.

The reason for this is to avoid what obviously happened to him in his magical training: the devolved understanding added to psychology = tick box system. So let’s look a bit further.

For at least the last five centuries, kabbalah has been deeply imbedded in all western European magical systems; and the Golden Dawn, whose approach is the basis of most current magical systems (including Wicca, in spite of their wish to deny it) was based on kabbalah.[image error] Unless you want to be a Druid or an Odinist, kabbalah will have influenced your thinking and practice to a great extent. Given that I have seen Yggdrasil shown with Norse sefirot, even the Odinists are not always immune to kabbalah’s influence.

 Let us have a look at a few things which are a major part of modern western magic and are derived from or influenced by kabbalah:

The four directions and the four elements

The four alchemical symbols of the elements

The four creatures – lion, eagle, bull and man

The four archangels

The twin pillars of the temple

The Tarot

The hexagram

The pentagram and its banishing and invoking rituals

The middle pillar ritual

The kabbalistic cross

If the writer thinks that all of these things come directly from Kabbalah, then he would be better served learning a bit more of ancient history and mysticism. For just one example, the magical pattern of the four directions heavily predates Kabbalah and Jewish texts. It appears in the Pyramid texts, the Amduat, and the Book of Gates, a mystical funerary text that is full of seeds that later flowered in magic. In fact one of the most confounding passages in Isiah (43) which has stumped many a theologian, is a clear example of much earlier aspects of the Justified One passing through the Duat, and includes, …wait for it….. the four directional pattern… but you have to read it in a Kabbalistic way, not psychologically. Of course the four directional magical pattern predates Pre Dynastic Egypt, and can be found in the temple structure of the Sumerian city states. They are the same, and they still work magically. And that is just one example from the list. I could tear the rest apart, but this post is already very long.

Also, the above list, with things like for example, the Kabbalistic cross, are surface patterns of a relatively modern specific branch of western hermetic system, they are not inherent to western magic or Kabbalah… if the writer thinks so, he needs to get out more.

his is not to mention the more obvious material, such as the sefirot, the Tree and the four worlds. So I have to repeat, why would you ignore kabbalah in a course on western magic?

If you read the course material properly, instead of skimming and trying to find something to disagree with, you will see that it is not ignored. Also, after your little list above, I would seriously question what it exactly is that you think Kabbalah and also Western Magic actually are, in the in depth forms… not just a side dressing of a branch of a side dressing.

The writer gives a number of reasons for this:

“The magician translates Hebrew words into English…and all you get is the outer meaning of the word. No power, no interface, no conductivity…all that happens is that…any engagement with that power is simply a psychological engagement with the self…this is not a magical use per se.”

This raises a number of questions for me. Firstly, I don’t know any magicians or magical systems who translate Hebrew terms into English. Obviously we do want to know the meaning of the words; but I have never seen any ritual using English words for kabbalistic terms. No-one I know says ‘crown’ instead of ‘keter’, or ‘glory’ instead of ‘tiferet’.

While my comments raise a number of questions for him, his answer in turn raises many questions about how he uses magic and what he thinks it is. The power of a formed magical utterance, where the language and sound has been used in the same way repeatedly over centuries during mystical and magical work builds up its own pattern of power and interface.

And if he has not come across magicians who cast the Hebrew to one side and use English, then maybe he would do better to come out of the echo chamber once in a while. The first magician I know of to cast the Hebrew to one side was W G Gray, a respected and skilled magician. I understand his reasons, and what he was trying to achieve. It’s not my way, but it was his and it worked well for him.

Secondly, is it correct to say that a psychological engagement with the self is not magic? Certainly it is not all that magic is; but psychological change, like any other change, is a vital part of magic, and a necessary part of any magical training or development. If the major magical and spiritual systems had had more psychological work embedded into them, they might not have so spectacularly failed in the ways they all did.

Well here we get to the foundation of the problem. Peters training in the SOL – a school which uses psychology in a major way in teaching. [image error]His understanding of psychology and magic is coming from a perspective of someone within that echo chamber,  who is also a therapist, and not looking from the outside in…. which is where you see all of the weaknesses such an approach makes. It has become a dogma within Western Magic, and one that has done irreparable damage. But that is a different discussion to this one, and is one where the magician who posits the heavy mix of psychology and magic needs to have experience of the other side of the fence before commenting. Also, as a man who makes his money from psychology, it would be very hard for him to step out of that mind set.

The writer says that kabbalah “…helps the kabbalist to engage with the power of [the sefirah] Netzach to learn how to endure, to be victorious, and consequently become strong and knowledgeable by overcoming adversity’. Fine aims, but aren’t they all psychological processes?

No they are not. Being a builder or a carrier of bricks, or being a medical student would essentially be working with the power of Netzach if that work was approached with mystical intent (and yes, people do that)… that is not a psychological approach. [image error]Endurance, strength and knowledge do not come from mirror gazing. They come from hard work and perseverance, both in the mundane and the magical.

The writer has become so enmeshed in the mix of psychology and magic that they cannot look outside of it nor understand that the powers of the Sefirot flow through everything that lives, moves and exists. The sefirot were not invented by Jewish people, they are words that are names for Divine powers that naturally exist as Divine expressions in the world. What Kabbalah is, on its surface is a vocabulary and map for looking at Divine creation and destruction. Those powers exist and always have done.

 I would say that internal psychological change is a crucial aspect of magic and needs to be integral to any magical training. I note that the writer does not say that engaging with the power of the sefirah helps the kabbalist to defeat enemies by purely magical means, such as sending the demon of the sefirah to terrify them. This goes against the writer’s previous assertion that ‘psychological engagement with the self…is not a magical use per se’.

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I am a little lost for words to answer this paragraph as it is essentially magical babble.

Thirdly, do we have to use Hebrew to have effective magic? Let me park that very important question until later.

Nope…… and I have never said that.

The writer goes on to say: “These sacred languages…you cannot change them, co-opt them or dabble with them.” The fact is that throughout history we have been changing, co-opting and dabbling with words, ideas and practices. This is not wrong: on the contrary, it is absolutely necessary. All creative change comes from this process, and there are no magical, spiritual and religious systems which have not been subjected to these changes. That’s how we got Judaism, Christianity, Islam, as well as Buddhism, Gnosticism, magic, Wicca and all the major spiritualities, past and present. Kabbalah itself has changed massively over the last three thousand years of its mythical history.

The use of mundane language and even magical language does evolve, yes. However, if you are working within a set system for a specific magical reason, then changes to the language will change the magical pattern and can subsequently destabilize the magic if the magician does not know exactly what they are doing if they are working within a specific system pattern. So if you are not going to follow the pattern properly, you have to work a different pattern approach, which is what Quareia does. [image error]Kabbalists who are worth their salt understand that, as did the Egyptian priests. If you don’t understand that, then maybe a few more years of study may help you.

It would be wise I think, at this point, to point out that these clips of text that the writer has used, are from Apprentice texts… for beginners….. you cannot explain the complexity of magic in theory to people most of whom are going to be beginners. First they learn boundaries, and basics. You do not explain the complexity of voltage to a toddler, you block up plug sockets. When they are a bit older, you teach them not to stick metal things into plug sockets. When they are older still, they can learn the fundamentals of electric circuits, what is safe and what is not, and how to wire things properly. It is a skill called teaching.

We always need to update systems to keep them relevant, and unless we live on a desert island we will be affected by the belief systems of other peoples and cultures. And that’s just great!

“When used magically by a Jewish kabbalist…[this] ability comes from a deep understanding and knowledge of Torah.”

Let me get this straight: are we saying that to do kabbalah we need to be Jewish, and have a background in traditional Jewish religion? I would very emphatically say no to that, on many levels and for the following reasons:

No, I am not saying that.

I am Jewish and spent many years learning and teaching traditional Judaism. My partner was born and brought up until age forty in the ultra-orthodox Chassidic community. We searched for a long time, over the world, including in the kabbalistic town of Sefat in Israel, for true kabbalah and true spirituality – and we did not find it. The reality is that no orthodox religion contains magical truth and practice, only the sad fragments of real spiritual connection; and Judaism is no exception.

Actually, a background in Judaism does not help in understanding kabbalah or making a connection with its real energies – in fact it is a hindrance. Like all occultism, kabbalah hides in plain sight by using terms to mean something very different from its mundane or religious counterpart. The meaning of Jewish religious terms have to unlearned by the traditional Jew before kabbalah can become meaningful; and this is nowhere truer than with native Hebrew speakers in Israel, who have huge disadvantages in learning Kabbalah because of their fluency with Hebrew.

Blink…..

Maybe the better phrasing of mine would have been, “When used magically by a skilled, knowledgeable mystical magical Jewish kabbalist…[this] ability comes from a deep understanding and knowledge of Torah.”

If you think for one minute that someone who has done a few years of a course in general magic that has Hermetic Western Kabbalah in it is going to know more than someone who has been immersed in first the exterior (Peshat) knowledge for many years of study, and progresses through the stages of understanding and practice to arrive at an understanding that engages Sod in its most mystical and magical form, then maybe you need to re evaluate your ideas a bit.

And as for finding the deep and powerful kabbalists hanging around on Israeli street corners, maybe reading Plotinus and his ventures in to finding a suitable teacher will give you an understandable parallel.

In fact the most effective magicians of Western Europe, since the Renaissance, who have used kabbalah, have not been Jewish. And this is because:

Kabbalah in its magical sense is not exclusively Jewish at all. It was created in the Renaissance by scholars who were mainly Christian and who did not need to get their kabbalah from Jewish Rabbis. [image error]Undoubtedly there was a cross-fertilisation of ideas as society became freer, but the Jewish kabbalists who conversed with Christian scholars were certainly no more orthodox than their Christian counterparts. Hebrew language, theology and mysticism has been part of Christianity since the time of Jesus, and has had a parallel development to that of traditional Judaism.

Oh dear. Either you do not understand the subtle body of early Kabbalah works, which were indeed magical (and heavily predate the Renaissance), or you do not know your history of when the Renaissance happened, or you don’t also understand that Kabbalah existed long before ‘Kabbalah’ books appeared, [image error]or that the shiny Kabbalistic styled grimoires that came out of Renaissance Europe were for the most part  (not exclusively) saleable mishmash of glitter to get money out of rich nobles.

or… which is what I suspect, what you term magical Kabbalah is the most surface debased magical dogma that subsequently emerged in popular Hermeticism. The very dogma that Quareia moves away from and instead peers more deeply into the roots of the mystical magical line.

Your pointing to the Renaissance as a starting point shows a glaring lack of knowledge of the texts from that period, where they came from, why they came into Europe and what they contained… and most importantly, how old they were. And the examples of mixed Christian and Jewish grimoire texts of that time that you offer as examples, were offshoots and often product, or fashion writing, or side shoot experimentation.

Kabbalah is a mixture of Jewish terminology, Christian mysticism, alchemy and Gnosticism (and much more) which created something distinct from Judaism or Christianity.

Look at this example: Christianity has always used the Hebrew bible and Hebrew words in its worship and theology. Does that make it a branch of Judaism? No.

Well, just to be awkward, it might be pedantic to point out that very early Christianity was in fact an exclusive Jewish sect (Gentiles need not apply).

does that mean that you have to have a background in Jewish religion to be an effective Christian? No.

Umm, you cannot make sense of the works of the New Testament if you do not understand the Old Testament (which is Jewish). So it all depends on what you consider a ‘good Christian’ to be, and also in relation to the current debate. [image error]If you do not understand the root and branch of where something comes from, you will not fully understand what it is you are doing in magic, why you are doing it, and how you are doing it. Quareia students have to study the NT, the Torah, along with Greek, Egyptian, Roman, and Sumerian patterns, texts and thinking. Know the roots of your magic, and you will not continue to make the same silly mistakes.

And so neither does being an effective kabbalistic magician mean that you need a background in traditional Judaism.

Nope.. that is your assumption, which is what comes from skim reading.

The writer goes on to say that:

“Kabbalah is a deep, powerful and mystical interface with Divinity…it does not find parking spaces for you.”

I know that this is a joke, of sorts. I’m not sure that magicians carry out ritual magic to find parking spaces – certainly I don’t. But let’s take it that this means ‘any low-level material benefit’.

Although all the systems we use are on their highest level ‘a deep, powerful and mystical interface with Divinity’, where they translate into practical magic they certainly are about material benefits. That’s the difference between magic and mysticism.

And here is the problem reveals itself.  This bit is long, but I thought it best to leave Peter’s words in, entirely ….

We are using spiritual and psychic forces to bring about changes, hopefully for the better, by our Will. This may be to create ‘a deep, powerful and mystical interface with Divinity’; or it may be to help us to become more developed people, or to get a better job, or to help pay the rent. All of these are legitimate goals for the magician and the kabbalist.

[image error]The writer seems to have a very elevated view of Jewish kabbalists; wise sages with long beards who, in between learning Talmud create ‘a deep, powerful and mystical interface with Divinity’.

this is all your own baggage, Peter, not mine. I have an elevated view of people whom I know to be very skilled, mystical Kabbalists.. people I have known for decades, the fact that some of them are also Jewish Rabbis is neither here nor there. I have a deep respect for them, for their individual skill, knowledge, wisdom, maturity and experience. I also know a lot of Jewish (and Gentile) kabbalists who are full of shit.

 As I said, in twenty years of seeking in the byways of Sefat and Meah Shearim, I never found any. But what I did find, in great quantity, were men (never women!) who did low magic. They wrote amulets, they created blessings and curses, they sold good-luck charms and they peddled strings and holy water.

Why am I not surprised?

Now I’m not saying this wasn’t legitimate magic; just that it certainly wasn’t ‘a deep, powerful and mystical interface with Divinity’.

Of course is isn’t… if the system is debased, misused, watered down, messed around with, or used to peddle wares, or is above and beyond the understanding of the practitioner, then it is nothing more than playing.

Any moron can ‘study’ kabbalah…. Any moron can study Hermetic western Kabbalah. It will go no further for them than their own level.

You are equating such practice with the highest tuning of a mystical magical and religious system, which indeed is a mystical interface with Divinity, as all religions have the potential to be. Why?[image error]

Perhaps you think that the kabbalists have gone down in the world from their original high-minded mysticism? So let me remind you that the most famous kabbalistic magical act was that of Rabbi Arieh Loew of Prague, who created a Golem to terrify local anti-Semites. A worthy act, to be sure, but not specifically ‘a deep, powerful and mystical interface with Divinity’.

Oh my….  Are you serious?  You sweep aside hundreds and hundreds of years, and various examples of deep mystical and magical texts and stories, and whip out a single popular story to make a point. That, Peter, is not a worthy act at all.

My partner has inherited a hand-written book of kabbalistic magic, handed down through the family, which claims to be around three hundred years old (although it may be a nineteenth century copy) and to contain the kabbalistic magic of a holy Jewish kabbalist.[image error] It does not contain any spells to get a parking space, obviously, but it is all about similar low-level material benefits – how to avoid being bitten by a dog, how to get your enemy to leave town (or die a horrible death), for a pain-free childbirth, how to make sure you have a son, how to cure illnesses, etc. in fact it is very similar to a traditional western Witchcraft book. Useful stuff, if it works (we haven’t tried) but certainly not ‘a deep, powerful and mystical interface with Divinity’.

Yes, that is known as ‘glitter and glamour’ magic mixed in with Jewish folk magic. And your point is? Do you seriously think that such magic, and the highest form of mystical magical Kabblah are the same? Really? Can you not tell the difference? And can you not tell the difference between a 19th century text (they were very common) and a 17th century text? What sort of adept are you?

So let me put my view: kabbalistic magic is not, historically or currently, exclusively Jewish. In the west it has predominately been used by non-Jewish magicians over the last five hundred years and as such it has formed the basis of the most important magical systems of recent centuries. It can be used effectively by anyone, without any Jewish or Biblical background; and it can be helpful even on a superficial level. I do not understand the writer’s prejudice against using kabbalah, and I do not accept that a course on western magic should exclude kabbalah.

No prejudice, just your skimming reading…..

Earlier on I asked: do we have to use Hebrew to have effective magic? Is Hebrew an especially sacred language whose very sounds and letters have an intrinsic magical power that other languages do not?

Orthodox Judaism would certainly say yes. Hebrew was the language that God used to create the world, and saying ‘Aur’ made light come into being. The very shapes of the letters have a mystical power to them. But is this true?[image error]

Less psychology and going back to magical training somewhere would do you the world of good. I am not being sarcastic, I truly mean it.

Hebrew and its alphabet are not unique. For example, Norse and Anglo-Saxon runes are similarly little pictures of things and they too have magical powers if used correctly. But I would suggest that all languages, spoken and written, have a magical power to create out of nothing, because they are vehicles of the human creative Will. Hebrew certainly sounds exotic and ‘authentic’; but so does Latin and Greek, both languages popularly used by magicians in the past. Ancient Egyptian is even more so. But whilst there is a numinous quality about using ancient languages, as well as a snob-value, there is actually nothing that cannot, if need be, be said in English; and English has just as much magical power as any of the rest – provided we believe that it has. The language, whichever one we choose to use, is merely a vehicle for stating the Will of the magician, and it is this Will that brings about change.

Again you completely misunderstand the reasoning, the methodology, and the magical structure of both Kabbalah, and Quareia. It would take another long blog to try and explain any of this to you in a way you would understand.

So next time you decide to critique a system, any system, ensure that first you have fully understood it, and that you also understand the subject matter you are contending. You do no justice to yourself or your own school if you approach it the way you have with your blog. And in light of your expensive fees, many people will of course question your motives.

מנא מנא תקל ופרסין‎

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Approaching the Magical Book of Gates

I thought it timely to introduce the Book of Gates: the mystical initiatory text of the Underworld and stars from Ancient Egypt.  The Book of Gates is a complex, enigmatic and coded book that acts as a signpost and guide to those who seek to evolve in life and also in death. It is a little known text – the most powerful of the mysteries always hide in plain sight, overlooked, misunderstood, or ignored: they are often a tiny voice in a loud choir of shouting. Many think it is a book that is only of consequence for the dead, but that is incorrect: it is also a guide book for the living who seek to transcend the base elements of humanity through living trials and initiation. Through this blog post, I hope to give those are interested in the Gates as a magical text, a few pointers on how to approach it.[image error]

The Book of Gates exposes the mystical truth that life and death are truly entwined with each other, and your passage through life is also your path through death: the separation is an illusion. This is not about religious morality or sanctity, it is about you as an individual and no one else. There are various funeral texts in Ancient Egypt, but none of them express the cohesive complete magical and mystical pattern that the Gates do – the Gates are the foundation text for magical evolution in Ancient Egypt. I strongly suspect the Gates was a text that was known and passed down for many generations within the Temple before it was exposed on a tomb wall at the beginning of the nineteenth dynasty. It was too developed, and too mature to be a new text when it first appeared on the tomb walls of Horemheb in 1292BC.

The Book of Gates is heavily connected with the Osirion initiations and mysteries, and I am guessing that it was the sequence of the Gates that was used during those initiations at Abydos (the Book of Gates is inscribed on the walls of the north passage leading down into the Osirion) and also likely used at the vast labyrinth at Hawara. I say ‘guess’ because I have no archaeological proof,… but magically? Yes, I have no doubt.

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An artists rendition of the Labyrinth of Hawara in Lower Egypt

“Workers of the Truth: when they are on earth, they are striving for their godhoods. They are those who are summoned to a post of the earth (the Geb posts), to an enclosure called ‘Living in Truth’. Scrutinized for them is their truth, Before the Great God who causes the destruction of sin”. – the seventh hour scene 43

The magical reading of the Book of Gates is a skill within itself. Like many magical tomes since, there are layers upon layers of meaning, something the Egyptians were very good at, and the top layer of meaning is there to deflect and distract the casual reader. But for those who persist, who ponder, who dig deeper, who allow inspiration to rise to the surface of their minds, they are rewarded by the mysteries that one by one reveal themselves to the seeker.

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Duat and Zemit – the underworld and inner desert personified

It is a book that needs many re reads. It is no coincidence that the two companions of Re as he passes into the Duat are called Sia and Heka: Perception and Magic – they are the personification of these two qualities. Having magical knowledge alone is not enough. Having perception alone is not enough, but when you combine magical knowledge with inner and outer perception, you have the ability to cast a deep eye into the shrouded mysteries.

In the Gates, Re, the sun god, descends down into the depths of the Duat, lighting each hour as he goes through the gates, and casting a brief glimpse of light to those who are resting, or traveling through the Duat, the path of death and regeneration through the underworld. Through his presence, the living and the dead can travel with him, and as he rises out of the Duat towards the sky, his presence allows others who are ready to ascend with him.

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Re passing through the Duat in the Barque, flanked by Sia, and Heka, with the serpent Mehen who protects Re. Note that Mehen is held by Heka (magic) as a staff.

This foundation dynamic of passage through the underworld and rising again in the company of a God is a constant theme in Egyptian Funerary texts, and laps over into the Christian mythos.

Everyone focuses upon Re with his two wing men, Sia and Heka. Few cast their eyes to the ones who tow the boat, the ones who shepherd the dead through the various stages, the ones who stand guard over serpents: there are many workers in the Duat, and to presume they are underworld spirits is incorrect: careful analysis of the text reveals that they are human, some dead, and some living.

Scene 58 from the ninth hour: the Swimmers

“Your Presences, which are on Earth (i.e. alive), they are at peace, meaning they breathe and there is no destruction for them. Their extension is the peace of the Earth. Now, putting forth what is theirs on Earth, means coming into the power of ones peace on Earth.

 When you are searching through magical texts, always pay attention to the people in the shadows, the people who are lowly; the workers.[image error] Look at seemingly ‘throw away references’ and follow them up. With the Book of Gates, not only do you look at the workers, at those resting in the caves, those pulling the tow ropes, also look at the actions, dynamics and events. What is in death is also in life: the magician walks through the hours and gates in his or her life, and they express through events and places. You are confronted by various challenges, gifts and choices: how you respond to those challenges dictates how you will proceed through the hours and gates.

Fear not, for I have called you by your name and you are mine. When you pass through the waters I will be with you, and the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fires you will not be burned, nor with the flame kindle upon you, for you are precious in my sight, and honorable, and I have loved you. – Isiah 43  (this section relates directly to the trials of the hours, walking through the rivers, swimming through the waters, and taking the trial of fire).

And you are truly walking through the hours and gates in life: the moment you step on to the magical path of development, you are walking the hours and passing through the gates through life initiations. True magical and powerful transformations do not come from rituals of initiation, they come from life events and choices around you every day. The rituals can trigger such events and trials, just as magical actions can: your whole life becomes a series of lessons, achievements, trials, failures, successes, more trials, and evolution.

Gnosis does not come from reading a book, or standing in a ritual space with a wand. Strength, wisdom, experience and true magical knowledge comes from facing the trials and overcoming them, it does not come from being comfortable in your armchair, or wafting around in the smoke of nice incense. It comes from facing yourself at times of great difficultly, and using the gifts for the good of all, not for getting rich or smiting your enemies. We can always be nice and spiritual on a full stomach and wearing a warm coat. When your back is up against the wall, then you are truly tested to see if you really are who you think you are.

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The captives of the Geb posts. When you are in a particular septenary of learning, you are ‘trapped’ in a pattern, a post, until you overcome it.

The Gates outline those key steps and challenges, and it is also a series of signposts, advisories, and warnings. The key steps towards Justification, to being ‘as a god’ (a Justified adept), to being one with the stars and the underworld, can be found in the seventh hour, scene forty five. On the surface it appears as a sequence of ‘enemies’ tied to Geb posts and overseen by spirits. But a closer inspection reveals seven steps from being the magical mystical seeker to becoming Justified and one with the stars –  They are those who are summoned to a post of the earth.  In Hermetic wisdom, we magicians all know about the magical sequence of seven, but few realise from whence it came – the seventh hour of the Gates.

In the Magical translation of the Book of Gates,

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Horus the Child using the right hand to signal silence

I outline and decode those seven steps, as they are vital to the whole journey of the Path of Hercules, the path of the magicians from apprentice to adept. There are many things I was not allowed to decode: overstepping the boundaries of necessary silence is the greatest sin in magical development and teaching:

You place the mysteries behind you? You withdraw from the governance of the Place of Mysteries? True of Voice is my father Seat of the Eye against you! True of Voice am I against you! You who decide to expose what is hidden, Being in the peace of he who ejaculated me, who is in the Duat. Rejoice, you who were Finishing, at being Finished!

This is a warning to those Justified Ones (adepts) who reveal secrets that should not be revealed, for them is the ultimate punishment – they cease to be in any world. This is not about breaking an oath of secrecy, this is about damaging the development of others by laying out that which they must find for themselves.  If they do not find certain keys of the mysteries for themselves, but rather have it spelled out for them, their passage of development is arrested and they cease to walk the path of mystical evolution. So for everything I have outlined in the Book of Gates commentary, it is still only barely ten percent of what can be found, discovered, understood, and recognized in relation to one’s own unique life path.

The ultimate lesson of the Gates is that curve balls are there to challenge you, to test your true integrity and truth both in life and in magic, to push you to your limits, and then some. By doing so, you break through in to deep understanding, if you do not degenerate down into victim-hood. From deep understanding comes wisdom, from wisdom comes true knowledge, and from true mystical knowledge comes mystical evolution – the light of the stars rest upon you and illuminate you.

The Book of Gates is available on Amazon in three different translations.

The Magical translation by Michael Sheppard, and commentary by myself can be found here .

The academic translation by Erik Hornung can be found here

And the original translation by Wallace Budge can be found here

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Easy is the descent to hell; all night long, all day, the doors of dark Hades stand open; but to retrace the path; to come out again to the sweet air of Heaven – there is the task, there is the burden.

— Virgil

A prayer for our time

At a time when such madness, destruction and fire is around us, it can be overwhelming. Heat waves, vast fires, stupid leaders threatening each other, deep corruption, and violence seem to stalk every headline. At times like this, the magician must be still, an oasis of balance. It is a time when daily recitation that is done from truth and not habit can awaken the soul, a time where communion with the Divine can light an energetic lamp to guide those stum[image error]bling in the darkness.

There is a passage in Isiah, of which parts of it pre-date the Biblical writing, and are terms, concepts and recitations that draw directly from New Kingdom Egypt.

The passage draws in particular upon the New Kingdom Egyptian Book of the Gates, from the ninth hour.

I have taken out the religious dogmatic aspects of the passages, and left what are the fragments that are directly relevant, and made them into a recitation that can be uttered daily, if you are so inspired.

Fragments of Isiah 43  taken from the book of gates 9th hour – the swimmer of the Nu

But this saith Gd that had created thee: Fear not, for I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine – (I know thy name). When thou passeth through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee, since thou art precious in My sight, and honourable, and I have loved thee.

Fear not, for I am with thee, I will bring thy seed from the east, and harvest them in the west, I will say to the north, give up, and to the south, keep not back.

All nations are gathered together, and the people are assembled; Let them bring their witness, that they may be Justified. Let them hear and say, it is Truth.

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For those who are interested in Egyptian magic, the directional reference is the ancient Egyptian pattern of: east/birth/utterance of life, west/harvest/doors into death, north/ancestors/the underworld, and south/path ahead/future.

The waters refer to the Nu, where the adept swims towards the isle of fire that they cannot touch, but will also not burn them – it is the brightness of Divinity (Re) in the Underworld.

The reference to the name at the beginning, says, I created you, I know you. It is a refrain where Divinity ‘claims you’ as a creation, as a child. It is a refrain that is repeated over and over in the Egyptian texts.

And finally, when the world or parts of the world go mad, which happens with depressing frequency as humanity never learns, the key to living, navigating and flourishing in such times, is Truth, the power of Ma’at, balance. The adept becomes the fulcrum that holds the scales of Ma’at present in the world. The recitation in its original meaning speaks to the Noble One, the adept as they pass through the hours of the underworld in death. But the trials of the dead are mirrored in the trials of the living, and vice versa – they are one and the same.

So remember…..

Thou art precious in My sight, and honorable, and I have loved thee

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Occult of Personality Podcast with Josephine McCarthy

For those interested in hearing my incoherent ramblings (it had been a very long day), here I am talking with Greg Kaminsky and Gnothi Seauton, accompanied by the Quareia editor Michael Sheppard….

Occult of Personality Quareia episode

LXXXI The Magician’s Deck: A Review

Wow..a wonderful review of the Quareia Magicians deck!

I received this deck around two months ago, and have read and studied the book carefully while using the deck exclusively on a daily basis. I like to involve myself with the decks I invest in, and I like to keep my collection small. I found this deck after listening to an interview by one of the creators, Josephine McCarthy, on the Runesoup podcast. You can listen to it here if you’re curious.

The Magician’s Deck was created by the exceptional artists Stuart LittleJohn and Cassandra Beanland, and the magical adept Josephine McCarthy. The card stock has a somewhat linen finish and it leans towards the non-glossy side. The cards are big, roughly the size of my hand (or the size of the Vampire Tarot by Robert M. Place) but I don’t riffle shuffle my cards anyway so overhand shuffling is fine with me, which can be done perfectly with…

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