Fragment 20

In this "Fragment" I shall continue to examine important Magical Personalities of the past, and then shall switch topics for some hard earned practical advice. So let us begin our examination of a Magos totally unlike Gandhi yet a true Magos that sought to find his true-will, thus finding his true-self. Where Ghandhi's interests were political, and material,this Magi's interests were theoretical and artistic. So much so that in the book I am basing this essay on he says "if you want to be rich; forget this book." In these critical essays I an writhing, I am hoping to illustrate the path to Self-hood is not a one size fits all proposition. Also hoping to use some of the personalities I am examining as example in future "Fragments". The one size fits all spirituality is a lie of White Magic. The Collectivist dream of melting into an indistinguishable One. So without further ado. Before S.L. McGregor Mathers, Before Aleister Crowley, and before Gurdjieff; there was Josephin Peladan (1858-1918) one of the most important figures of the French Occult Revival of the Nineteenth Century. Peladan, Pappus, and Stanislas de Guaita form the triad of the last phase of the French Occult Revival. Peladan was also served as a role model for the Twintith Century triad, of Mathers, Crowley, and Gurdjieff. Peladan was flamboyant, outrageous, and brilliant. He was both a Magos, and a leader in the Symbolist art movement. Peladan's two passions of Magic and Art complemented. and enhanced each other. He wrote novels, history, and art criticism.The book that this "Fragment" concerned with is his Occult-Art manifesto " How to Become a Mage: I am using the English translation of "How to Become a Mage" translated and annoted by K.K. Albet with Jean-Loues De Biasi, forwarded by John Micheal Greer (Lewellyn 2019) this book should be on every Occultist's book shelf, as well as being read. I have chosen to include quite a few quotations from Peladan, because Peladan is his own best spokesman. Peladan was a follower of the L.H.P. before the L.H.P. even had a mane, he was pioneer. Let us go to Peladan's own words (Pg. 107): "Without being able to expound the theory in this book, I teach that a blessed outcome has no fixed destination , that the gravity that draws one upward is beyond time: the seeder is not resolved in God, but gravitates towards increasingly and without ceasing. The more one advances into the light, the more one is oneself, that is to say individual. This departs from the claims of many theosophists that the goal of evolution is a sort of nirvana or collective divinity" What a clear statement of the L.H.P.; that the goal is not to become one with the One. That the more we follow our True Will we shall find our True-Self. Peladan is no collectivist. He despised movements that led to standardizing people. There is no collective salvation, or melting into some cosmic feeling, instead the more you differentiate your self the closer you get to divinity. The one size fits all version of spirituality is a lie of White magic. Another quote (Pg.3): What is the aim of life?: it can only be for the thinking man, the occasion and the means of making a masterpiece from the block of the soul that God has given him to work upon..." So not lit the Christian language put you off. Peladan describes himself as Catholic decadent. Like all of us he had to use the language and framework that was available at the time. Peladan's message was to strip off all the encrustations and chains (sigils) and to become a Self. A Self apart and distinct from the mob. another occult truth that the above quote reveals is there is final destination. There is no made it. The work on Self is a never ending process. This is a truth that a lot of Occultists have either never learned, or have forgotten. Self-hood is not a noun, but a verb. It is a continual process. This mistake is illustrated in the later life of Gurdjieff where he descended into alcoholism and sadness. Gurdjieff had forgotten that the work never ends,there is no "made it". The moral for us is that whenever you meet some self proclaimed Magos, or Sage that tells you he-she has made it; alarm bells should go off in your psyche. Let us take a look at Peladan's views of pop culture, the media, and its influence (Pg.157): "To the degree that you can put up with the music of William Tell, the theater of the Scribe, the company of girls, the ambiance of a bar, the contents of the news, idle talk--you are nothing but an animal that is to say a Parisian" By Parisian substitute cosmopolitan city dweller. Another quote (Pg.33): "Moreover you read the news, which is idiocy itself. No perceptiveness is possible among journalists, they lie all the time about everything" To become a Magos (a Self) one must pry off and tear out the sigils that bind and control you. A very painful process, from what I have heard it is akin to pulling barbed hooks that have been festering in your flesh for years, or decades. You must find your True Will (passions) and follow them to your True Self. To create yourself: this is Magic. As Peladan says (Pg. 51: "forge one's own sword, and suit of magical armor." We must strip off the sigils that control us to do actions that are against, or frustrate our True Will. One more quote from Peladan on Necromancy; I cannot resist(Pg. 85): "The commerce with departed great ones, meditation on the texts of Moses, of Pythagoras, of Plato, and the Church Fathers, this is the only necromancy, and the great secret of power of magic." I was of course beyond pleased to get confirmation of my theory of necromancy from Peladan. As I said in the beginning of this "Fragment" I have chosen to let Peladan speak in his won words, he is far more eloquent than me. Peladan like all of us was a child of his age, he did not completely escape prejudices and attitudes of his age, but tried, and pointed to the path to Self-Hood. None of us can completely escape the prejudices and attitudes of our age, Peladan shows us that the work is worth the effort to liberate oneself. As Peladan clearly recognized there is no final destination only the continual process to greater awareness and freedom. Peladan was a colorful figure, who dressed flamboyantly, and promoted the Arts. His style of dressing and living was a true reflection of his Self, and quest. Like the Symbolist movement his credo was a the search for something greater. This examination has not been exhaustive it is only meant to whet the interest of aspirants Peladan is well worth study. To finish this "Fragment" I am going to talk about some hard earned practical knowledge, and since it is simple it is easy to forget. The advice is do the Banishing Ritual after all major and minor magical operations. There are astral entities that are attracted to and feed off magical power. The Rosicrucian Imperator David Griffin compares them to moths, to which I shall only add one addition and call them Vampire Moths. Griffin says they are like moths to a flame, but instead of being destroyed by the flame they feed on it. If you do not like the word "astral" feel free to substitute, metaphysical, thought, etc.; I need to say something about the astral realm before continuing with the Vampire Moths. The Astral realm is best thought of as a state of consciousness that manifests itself in various ways. The most visible manifestation of it today is Social media. Let us take Twitter as an example. The Vampire Moths can be thought of as old tweets that one has forgotten; but if the author of the tweets all of the sudden becomes famous, the tweets come back to life. To feed off the power of the fame. And as we can clearly see often consume the energy of the fame. Another way to think about the Vampire Moths is as empty abstractions that live in the unconscious that can all of the sudden become conscious when the right emotion is present. Like a nervous breakdown. Another thing Griffin got right was that there is an emotional sphere that circles the Globe, although it is not of uniform thickness. This is of course, the life world of Husserl, or Dasien of Heidegger. And in this emosphere live various entities. I can hear the scientific skeptic saying something like "if there were no humans there would be no emosphere, but this is like saying if there was no water there would be no fish. Anyways, back to the Vampire Moths they have been described as mostly harmless, which is partly true. They do not wish to injure the host they are feeding off of, the trouble is they also have a venom. This venom is not a deadly poison, instead it is like a drug that makes one feel self important and great euphoria. In other words the venom produces megalomania. They use this venom to cover up what they take. The energy they take is one's creative drive or motivation. We have all felt a sense of exhilaration after some magical operation and have gotten lost of good ideas to work on; whether it be writing, or art, etc. Yet when the euphoria recedes we also lose the motivation to do anything. This is the Vampire Moths sucking out one's creative energy. This is one of those topics if you do not believe me try it for yourself. I would also suggest to even artists, writers, mathematicians; who don't have any interest in magic to do the banishing ritual the feeding of the Vampire Moths is not restricted to those who do magic, but to all those who do creative work. Ask anyone who does creative work how often they have come up with great ideas then lost all motivation to realize them. The Vampire Moths feed on your creativity, and give you back euphoria, and megalomania