Elaborate Titles
written by David BerssonDo what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law
A title in a magical organization can be extremely elaborate. The main objections to all these regal titles is they are an exaggeration and blow up of the truth, of either the duty or the initiation. When such items are criticized, one should first consider the source of such reactions, and whether they are all ego based or constructive criticism. When one carefully observes the critics, they are a great percentage of the time jealous fools aping the objections of other critics who, in turn, are also so ego based that the base truth of the observation is clouded with, again, ego rather than fact.
Lets look a little bit closer and control our tendencies for the ego to intervene with a clear, honest view of this controversial subject of titles. Lets start from the beginning. A magical organization will have magical secrets that will manifest a certain bud-will that will manifest into a thought form and become a consciousness we call a Grade. A Grade is a level of initiation in a magical organization that is a consequence of a Great Work that involves a specialized field of magical gesture. The higher the Grade, the more closely that aspirant will be aligned to the original Initiations that are being aimed for by the will of the Order. The lower Grades are simply a step which assures that these eventual goals of Supreme Initiation are absolutely assured. Very well then, we are now in a position to state that each Grade must have a title that expresses the steps of this Initiation. If Grade is called (with no little objection, mind you) "Supreme and Holy Aspirant of the Garden of Earth" I might receive from the profane crowd boos and hisses that this title is too elaborate, pompous, unwieldly, clumsy, cumbersome, silly, presumptuous and a terribly gross exaggeration of the facts of initiation.
Now you see what a fine mess all these critics have created by these infernal objections? I now have to go to the trouble of explaining in detail why this is not so, and why they have no leg to stand or be silent or be considered a braggart and fraud. Either way, such sick egos smile how much power they must have over me by being able to trouble me so by there absurd and irrelevant vomit. Why not drop the "Supreme and Holy", one critic might exclaim with a clever sneer and darting eyes thinking naively he has finally outwitted the Master and may therefore be a Master himself.
Those who have studied my essay on magical mottoes should observe the self same principles involved with the process. You get what you invoke and become what you name yourself. You partake of the essence of that what you reach out to and attune yourself to whatever energy you will yourself to align with. These general perceptions hold sway with titles. The more elaborate, the carefully devised dramatic mottoes, the titles which emphasize the divine, the aspiration to attune to real legend, all these will assist the path of your Great Work.
Failure on the Path might be a poor choice of title or motto. You may not have set your sights high enough for the aspiration to stimulate the mysterious processes of Initiation. Look at the failure of that aspirant who called himself "333" compared to the success of the Initiate who called himself "Parzival". How can one expect Initiation to occur if one has created a title that corresponds to the demon worlds without the equal balance of the divine worlds?
So titles, elaborate as they may sound to the gullible are more of an asset than a liability. As long as they are not meaningless in content why should the critics care if they are sometimes unusually long?
I especially note the brainwashing that people undergo by people who let others do their thinking for them and establish Grade titles that are near replicas of other magical organizations. I won't mention any names, of course, but point out with a big cock of my right eyebrow that the name "Neophyte" is used by at least five organizations! Its unimportant who originated "Neophyte" first as a title. The point is, if the matter of manifestation of the Order's aim of Initiation is taking a unique direction why not use a unique title that expresses this? My objection is therefore not the use of elaborate titles at all but the monotony of plagiarism.
Can we at least be a little more original? If you're going to create a whole new magical organization at the very least dream up some creative titles that will give these critics something to gossip about.
Claiming Grades is a subject rarely touched upon. If someone founds a magical organization he or she can claim any Grade he or she wants and it is foolhardy to attempt to contradict anything. After all, the person who founds the Order has invented all the titles and worked out the Initiatic structure in detail.
We do have a real problem with people who have been expelled or resigned or have been cut with from an Order and they are claiming titles. After leaving the Order, they stopped working as Aspirants and became the most deceitful of all charlatans.
I have absolutely no objection if some Brother or Sister announces the successful self-promotion of accomplishing an Oath & Task and self-advancement in the Order if the Instructor is dead. It would be this Brother or Sister's karma and none of my concern. If you're positive that some Brother or Sister is deluded or insane concerning a Grade or title after his Superior's death and that Superior is also your own Superior then a decision must be made. Other than this, the general rule is to mind your own business and let success be the proof of any claim. With the many years of participating in Order work I have only twice had to object to such a situation and I did not enjoy it when it occurred.
After all, I have my own Path, my own Work, my own Initiations to consider and I have no desire to bother with the titles of others.
Love is the law, love under will
The Silence and the Speech
written by David BerssonDo what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law
There will be times of the proclamations publicly and there will be periods of silence. No doubt, those times to withdraw into the silence to tend to the business of spiritual enlightenment or the awakening of magical powers or the fulfillment of the Oaths & Tasks are vital for our growth with the Great Work.
Yet it is written to be taken as a Holy Task and Duty to gather the children into the fold to bring the glory of the stars into the hearts of man. For those who meditate carefully on such a sublime meditation this means the Temple of Nuit must hold priority over the tendency to become the old aeon Hermit who would permanently go to the forest or the mountain. How perfectly saturated with irony it is that in the past the Hermit went to the forest and the mountains not to attain to spiritual enlightenment but to escape the madness of persecution from the variant of inquisitions.
You should know now that you are reading how it all deteriorated to a point where those who had true wisdom and power were hunted down like animals and burnt at the stake for objecting to a lens that was considered contrary to the dogma of the monotheistic tyrants. We all know what occurred in 1518 e.v. in Germany and so forth where even the innocent alchemist who divined for water for farmers was persecuted and called the devil's spawn!! The dark ages meant there were few places to live where dark dungeons, the rake, the stake and torture did not exist.
So many of our spiritual ancestors escaped to rural areas to avoid the murder and torture of the heathen Church or the Jihad of the Caliph or the newly anointed King by the Church that the Church invented the word "Pagan" which means "country". This was not a word that we named ourselves in spite of the many who are like us who call themselves pagan. Therefore, although I do not object to be called pagan I have never referred it as a definition for myself. After all, I live in the city and not the country. Therefore, calling myself a pagan knowing how it originated I would not use the term at all.
For clarity purposes, and to not bother with those who would otherwise have so little educational background on the western esoteric system I have let it go to permit myself to be defined as pagan. Yet, this is not a word that is ordinarily used to define us.
Returning to my original point I note that when we now come into the open to offer the hand of fraternity we know where to draw the red line with regards to being overly dramatic. Any statements that are blatantly dramatic are simply a dramatic ritual in the form of a message that are specially designed to cause change in conformity with will which is the true magick.
Love is the law, love under will
Contemplations of the Invocations of the Gods
"Long, long ago I was a man who wanted to become a God, but I changed My mind."This quote is the irony of a Master who learned to become a universe and the secret of the microcosm. As a consequence of Liber Nu & Liber Had our perception of cosmic consiousness is perceived from the point of view of the New Aeon. Therefore, with this in due consideration I quote the Book of the Law...
"These are fools that men adore; both their Gods & their men are fools."written by David Bersson
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law
I write of the Gods in this essay. On the Path to discover the secrets of the universe I learned much from my Great Work as a magician & exorcist. How it all began with Me I will eventually expound in another essay. I prefer for this essay to simply expound a few insights on the advantages of experience and understanding of the mystical universe from the perspective of polytheism.
Without a doubt I who being the demeanor that would view from a lens that isn't perceived for those who haven't tread the Path I have I would react against the common dogma that so infatuates the multitudes. You cannot know what the ancient Priestess or Priest experienced in the ancient Temples unless you wear their robes, make those ancient gestures, utter the barbarous words and meet the unknown with courage conquering fear.
How weary it is to hear one, one, one from those who would try to discuss the dogma or creed of their deteriorated path. One, one, one!! That is all you will hear from others! How many incarnations do I have to put up with this? Didn't we go through this before in previous incarnations? Therefore, when I expound to all insights that have come from experiences beyond your wildest dreams I have a certain amount of satisfaction that where I was shall not be lost, and what I have become shall be known to all, and what it possible shall at last be known.
This essay will not go into the horrors of the transition of world civilization from glorious polytheism to the perceptions of inferior monotheism whose limitations with regards to perception of the mystical universe have been covered with such detail in my books. I give only the prelimary contemplations on this often complex subject.
In every case the Invocation of a God or Goddess must be deliberated on very concisely. The nature of the magick and powers of the God or Goddess must be made thoroughly familiar.
It is otherwise imperative that the image of the God mingle perfectly with the magician & the invocation be consistent with the magical current that would be so sacred to the God or Goddess's nature.
It is well that you would get what you invoke and therefore the invocation should be consistent with those principles of magick wherein the God or Goddess is known to you as you proclaim, "I who am Thou am He".
Making the various Gods or Goddesses familiar to you intellectually is only preliminary.
For the Gods are the symbolism of humanity's aspiration to perfection in whatever aspect that God or Goddess is in touch with the reality of some trait in human nature.
Therefore to invoke the Gods is to bring yourself in touch with such forces so that love might be divine for a Goddess of Love, or any of those other traits that would so need manifestation that the very aspects of the personality or nature of the person might be brought forth to a greater awakening of their humanity. Having done so you are in a position to align the volition of the divine with the true will of the individual nature making a true initiation to occur within the being.
How perfectly pathetic it is that when many write of the Gods they do not put the first letter in uppercase and do so even if they are atheist when they write of God.
This shows you something very important about how history is ignored with regards to the Gods. Civilizations have come and gone with as much as three thousand years of polytheism and yet when it comes time for the scholars to give us any real insight they give us blank stares.
This leaves only Men like Me who would try to expound My experiences and even if the scholars perceived this they have not entered the secret doorways that I have.
Love is the law, love under will