Mr. Christopher thank you for your work. Frater Xavier sent us your way. I finished the program in your book last year and it has transformed my life in ways I cannot even begin to describe. Looking forward to content on this channel. Cheers
I have had your book for 7 years and have finally taken the dive and am currently in Zelator. It would be helpful for almost all new practitioners if in a future video, you go into the specifics of exactly what the pentagram and hexagram rituals are doing, as your book leaves out a concrete explanation.
From one whos been working through the curriculum with many questions and little material put out from yourself, its very exciting to see this video/ channel pop up. I look forward to more. Thank you 🙏❤️
It’s a way to show others what comments you like, if you just hit the like, people won’t know who liked it. A heart is something only the video creator can do, so everyone can see that they liked the comment. Or the way I use it is, if it’s not good enough for a heart, it gets a like. 😂
I don't know where this video came from or who you are, but it came at the right time. I am going through a lot right now in my life as I found out about some shocking things about my life that forever changed me. As I watch your stuff, I feel more and more drawn to it. . I will order your book because I kinda want to know more. You look and sound like a guy who knows what he is talking about and not parroting stuff like most people who talk about these topics do.
Thank you so much for your book, it has been a life saver for me. Words cannot describe how much I have changed, and the perspectives that I have gained. Currently still in Zelator and looking forward to see what the future holds. All the best!
Oh whoa. I’m grateful for your channel appearing now, and especially grateful for your book. To say that it changed me is a profound understatement 🙏 thank you 🌟
Frater Xavier made me find you. Your book opened a whole new world for me. One thing then led to another. Now it has led me further into deeper studies and practice with others. Thank you very much
I'm noticing less and less of a need to practice rituals daily. Things seem to look after themselves. What scared me was the idea that I might lose whatever enlightenment came about from the curriculum if I stopped doing daily banishings and invocations. This fear still lingers in the background for now. I heard you say elsewhere that there is always a need for practical magic. That's encouraging!
I’ve had to take time away from my daily formula of rituals to recover from some dental surgery. It’s the first time I’ve seen evidence of the transformation being permanent - no longer dependent on banishings and invocations. What a wonderful discovery! Still something I’d like to warm up to.
Good to hear. The comment about "always a need" refers to how the magician lives "backward." It's not that the ritual results in the desired phenomena. It's more like the desired phenomena results in the ritual. Special ritual practices arise in tandem with the phenomena they supposedly produce.
Thank you for starting this channel. I've been working through your book since July. Im really grateful that I will now be able to gain some of your insight as I go along.
Lyam, the course has been incredible! It's hard to describe my experience but life seems to adapt "circumstantially" to embody the challenges of each grade in the curriculum. Or maybe viewing life through the magical lens converts mundane difficulties and "suffering" into opportunities to "wake up". Either way it's been challenging, strange and isolating but so inexplicably worth the treasure it bestows. Thank you. So far I've managed to stick to the course inspite of the many alternative paths that are outlined in the required reading. However in one of the required books (living the tree) Gray provides an alternative tarot/tree of life correspondence map that makes much more sense to me than the GD tarot placements on the paths. (which I read were numerically assigned to the tree rather than basing their placement on the tarot meanings- map is on 223 of my copy of living the tree). In regards to not "going off on your own" would you still recommend sticking to GD placements if Gray's tree map resolves my dissonance between the tree and tarot? I'm currently working through the philosophus grade if that helps answer my question.Thanks again, Matt
Learn both, for now. Practice only the GD version for now. You can always journal about the apparent dissonance you are experiencing. After the Portal grade, you'll be fee of the requirements. :) And you might be onto something beyond Gray at that point. Who knows!
Hello Lyam, thank you for writing your book and for making these excellent videos. I have a topic request for a future video: would you make a video on addictions? That's a broad topic/term but I trust you would filter it in a way that would be of use and intetest to many of us. Huzzah!
i dont think im initiated (yet), (i just started around 6-7 months ago), but as you said, i do start to see things i did not see before. Particularly in movies and songs. One band for example, i liked the songs before, but because of the music. The words just sounded out of place to me, like the song salsa tequila. Now when i listen to it. I can see almost the entire meaning of the song
A few years ago, I was doing an experiment with some basic pendulum dowsing incorporated into my meditation and chi gong practice. My first time using a pendulum. Upon asking myself all sorts of questions and inquiry, and using the pendulum as a yes/no gauge to indicate the answers, I began receiving bizarre "downloads" of data and symbols. One significant symbol was the lamen of the GD. My familiarity with the GD system at the time was very basic and strictly of a historical backround. I am not a western occult practitioner, but am somewhat familiar with the general topic. But I had to acquire and refer to Regardie's book to know what some of the data and symbols actually meant. It would seem I unintentionally wandered into and extracted a bit of this knowledge stream. At the same time my "guidance" has instructed me to ignore or avoid a majority of the GD system as it does not apply as to be anything useful for me to consider. About 80% of what is in Regardie's book I am to disregard for myself. The tarot, the ritualistic theurgy with the magical tools, the banishing rituals and the Egyptian deities are just a few aspects for which I am not to be concerned. It would seem the alchemical, planetary, zodiacal, kabbalah symbology, the use of Hebrew, and angelic aspects of the GD are what have been revealed to me. Some limited use of Enochian was permissable, but I have not gotten around to determining the extent of that information I am to pursue as of yet. I am still learning as to how I am to use this information. It serms it has layers to it starting from a low magic to a high magic type of gestalt. It has been an interesting spontaneous experience. It would seem this material found me just as much as I found it.
What about initiation into gnostic/independent catholic priesthood? I'm exploring "Christian occultism," and a lot of people hold the idea that one shouldn't perform the eucharistic liturgy without initiation and holy orders. But I come from a protestant perspective with the priesthood of all "believers". Im curious why people outside contemporary catholicsim still hold to the idea of initiatory succession as a prerequisite, and what changes when a person who receives it
Lineage is only important in that it demonstrates direct contact with people who have undergone the jumpstarting of the individuation process themselves (Individuation in the Jungian sense I mean, of course). Whether that shift into the process has been activated in the student is quite another matter entirely. Some people are simply not ripe for it, and they will fuss and fight to get away from the initiates that they encounter. They will quickly depart and, perhaps, misuse what they have learned to create a strange, paranoid version of the magical system that they saw.
I used your book many years ago. However, for new people trying to work their way through the grades, can you give an "updated" list of works to read? Some of your original "required reading" are no longer readily available due to books going out of print, etc.
I’ve started with the Self Initiation book by the Ciceros, but recently found your book which resonates with me more. I’m currently in the Zelator grade which is when we start with the invoking version of the LRP. I’ve been wanting to start over in your book, but I see you state not to use the invoking LRP. Using both forms have really benefited me, so I’m wondering if I start your course, would still doing the LIRP in the morning be alright?
In the Kabbalah Magic book, invocation is reserved for each of the elemental grades. Invoking earth happens in the Zelator grade--in a carefully controlled fashion. If you watch the latest video about the LBRP, you might get a glimpse of why this is so.
Yeah, no amount of pentagram rituals balanced me. It was only when I got committed and actually listed my traits one by one and tackled them relentlessly that I made any difference. Also the Lbrp can “backfire” if there is junk to clear.
Mr. Christopher, in the 90's I started using modern magick by Kraig. Everything was going fairly smooth until one of my brother's who is an ardent Christian fundamentalist started to interfere with me. I did nothing more than the lbrp & occasionally the middle pillar and even with that I had astounding experiences & I had achieved a level of control over my reality. I stopped practicing because I abused the technology and altered my reality in a way that hurt an individual. I regret it deeply but there's nothing I can do about it now. I fear however I'm stuck between worlds as described in your book and I would like a bit of guidance. Can I simply just start from scratch ANY guidance would be helpful.
Regarding the banishing pentagrams functioning as a scarecrow; is there something to be said for “drawing earth to spirit” to banish thought forms in Assiah back to Atziluth, as well as the concept of the “upright pentagram” symbolizing dominion of spirit over the elements? Those are the first explanations I heard from other Golden Dawn teachers.
Banishing via the LBRP automatically invites complexes to materialize so that they can (possibly) dissolve back into unmanifestation. But if you don't help them do that (because you don't have a teacher to remind you), the complexes and linger, and you can become the stereotypical ceremonial magician who has lots of haughty opinions about magic. 😆 The idea of the top point of the pentagram representing spirit is perfectly feasible. However, I do recommend questioning the idea that inverting the pentagram is somehow evil. You'll note that the Golden Dawn tends to ignore inverted interpretations of Tarot cards. I recommend the same view applied to the pentagram. And note the feeling of freedom that results when you adopt the belief that the pentagram cannot truly be "inverted." You've prompted me, maybe, to give the next talk on the subject of evil. 😈
Because in the book you state, and I’m paraphrasing, “the secret of initiation into the inner tradition is limiting exercises to just what is necessary for spiritual progress at the current moment.”
Like I said in the Twitter feed, "straight up the middle." :) For those of us on a mystical path, it might be important to remember the virtue of "inclusiveness" (a modern-day code word for love). As we proceed up the center of the Tree of Life, it's important to accept, allow, and "include" the forces of the outer pillars. To love them. The attitude to adopt is to observe , appreciate, and sympathize, but to decline invitations to become caught up in their dramas.
Primarily, the LBRP and the Middle Pillar, but you should combine these with a dream journal, day-world practices, and nighttime induction techniques. See the articles in Forbidden Realms.
I have so, so many questions for you. It amazes me how far the power of my imagination has come in 4 months. There STILL seems to be no sense of plateauing, even with only 2 rituals: LBRP and MP. Frankly, it's my favorite part of my day. You seem to advise against deviation from the prescription in your book. Yet there seems to be long term impetus to 'making it your own.' I've done some of that, but I still stick to the meat and bones of it. So here's a question: how do you feel about ambient drone music use during ritual? What is your take on Chaos Magick principals? Is the difference between banishing and invoking primarily rooted in expectation or placebo-ish effect, or is there some objective difference in the directionality of drawing with mudra/dagger/wand? In an earlier video, you seemed to cast doubt on GD's emphasis on tattwas for astral projection? For me, astral projection is a serious goal, or a thing that I look forward to. THank you...
Magic is not a means of forcing reality to conform to one’s personal demands (the will). It’s a means of making peace with reality just as it is (the Will). If that sounds unmagical to me, then I have yet to settle down and drop the futility of the personal will.
@@lyamchristopher2393 So that's a very interesting question, one that I've thought about a lot actually. The old school response would be to abstain completely ala AA. However, there's some doubt that this is always the appropriate strategy, or even if it's usually the appropriate strategy. For hard drugs like meth, or for many alcoholics, perhaps blanket abstinence is the only solution that works. On the other hand, some problem drinkers might be better off to develop consciousness and BOUNDARIES around their consumption. However, to answer your question, I'd say if they are going to quit, they might as well start sooner than later, because scratching the itch only perpetuates it. Then again, sometimes people need to set up their situation for success. Like they need to get away from bad influences or something like that. Addiction is tricky. I do, however, believe that ritual magic might actually be very effective in dealing with addiction. I don't know exactly why, but in my case, it has worked wonders. Elevated consciousness? Yeah. Probably.
@@lyamchristopher2393 I think that makes sense to me, although I can't articulate exactly why. You said it's like rebuilding, restructuring the psyche. In my limited expereince, I feel this to be the case. It's a subjective line to walk; experiment, but don't drift too far away from the prescribed structure. I'm doing my best to stick to the structure in your book; am thoroughly enjoying the Egyptiona Pantheon rabbithole that I'm working on. Every aspect of imagery that I can build into my practice brings just enhances the richness of it. You had stated that there comes a point that you won't want to stop. I do not want to stop. Although I'll be starting residency in a few months, I'm a little concerned that my time will be limited. Time and energy are the most valuable of resources.
I recently started the Neophyte curriculum from "Kabbalah, Magic" and am wondering if I should replace my Thoth deck (that I'm familiar with) with a Waite/Angelis-style deck?
Is this process about things going from things not happening for a reason in your life to happening for a reason or would you say it is more about bringing clarity and self awareness so that we are simply ready to receive what a higher intelligence has always wanted to give us in regard to what we really want?
Is life just things happening for no reason? No. Do things always happen for a reason? No, not exactly. Do things happen AS IF they happen for a reason? Yes. When you enter the "as if" mode without taking the "as ifs" literally, you have arrived.
Lyam what is your perspective on healing through Magic? I love your approach to Magic in terms of enlightenment, but do you think that Magic can actually heal sicknesses and make such changes in the world? If so, how do we not have any notable documented evidence of such endeavors?
If I can prove the fairies with dragonfly wings don't literally exist, then fairies simply don't exist. Right? And if magic doesn't heal me in exactly the way I say it should, then magic simply doesn't work. Right? Can you see the fallacy?
@@lyamchristopher2393 Yes I see it. I guess in a way I am "intellectualizing all over my magic" right now ha. I do see stories of direct healers though like Pachita in Mexico. Just can't help thinking how we did not do more "controlled" observations there to demonstrate that it could happen (assuming it indeed did happen), which would've opened up way more people / research to that space.
@@moufawad We have only scratched the surface here of how our attempts to control magic--in ways that don't relax into it and trust it--cause it to withdraw from our lives. "Light in extension" can be a very real phenomenon, unless we try to measure it in terms of dick size.
@@lyamchristopher2393 yeah i guess it's a whole paradigm shift and it's not the most productive thing trying to apply the thought process /experience of one paradigm on the other
Quick question. Your book suggests not undertaking any other meditative work while going through the course. Would this include something like Buckland's candle magic books? I ask because there are no real spiritual development practices in the book(s).
I’ve been wanting to start your book however Ive heard from adepts that some of what you do is not Golden Dawn. And there are a lot of differences from the Golden Dawn I’ve seen. Other adepts like Samuel Scarborough who have written books on the GD say it’s not because of these changes and that it can’t initiate one to the GD current. Also they mention the lack of the initiation rituals. I’m not trying to be antagonistic I am just curious that if I do the work in this book will I actually get initiated into the golden Dawn current even with all the changes made to curriculum?
Ah yes, the purists. No surprise. There is a natural and completely understandable tendency to claim that the Golden Dawn is something special. As though it is some kind of rare catch. A special kind of trophy kill that, once you "have" it, you can now drag into the corner and eat it. This tendency--to focus on the outward, grabbable trappings of a tradition--will make the "Golden Dawn current" into something special that you must now go "out there" to obtain in its "true" form. As though it is not already present right now, within you. Or it presents the Golden Dawn as something that is not present right now, and that you must go into the past to get. You can see, then, what this ends up doing. It makes the Golden Dawn into a commodity that a historian can keep to himself, away from you, necessitating that you must go to him to get--because he has the true system and "all those others" do not. It would also make him special--because he can then define himself as a guardian of the "one, true" system of magic. In its "original" form. That being said, the curriculum presented in the book is not mine. It is a method presented from a Golden Dawn temple with lineage (with its own vibrant Middle Pillar) that goes back to the "original" Golden Dawn. That curriculum is a living thing that continuously evolves right now. It does not exist in its previous manifestations anymore. A butterfly that clings to the remnants its earlier manifestation (as a caterpillar) will forget to spread its wings and fly. It clings to something dead and neglects the vibrant life force that is operative in its own present form. Magic does not exist in the past. It is evolving and unfolding right here and now. The old, dead forms of a tradition serve merely as the launching pad.
Hey I read your comment somewhere that you don’t believe in creating the body of light to house your conciousness after the physical death as Damien Echols says
When you say "believe," what do you mean? While karmic processes do seem to continue after death--as they do in the dream world--the better pursuit would be to free yourself from as many compulsive dualistic scenarios as you can, including the idea of needing and seeking after a body of light. That way, the after-death experience can become lucid instead of clingy and frantic. This kind of freedom in the dream world can make it SEEM as though you have constructed and mastered a body of light--when in fact your freedom from all such bodies has made you conscious enough to appear in any emanation you choose.
Due to the four elements, the four letters name and the four Qabalistic worlds, let me say first that your book is a God send for the self initiate; but it seems to be, that the godnames for the "The Body In (world)" are off. Should they be as written, or as the godnames for the four lower sephiroth? I have no problems following directions, just curious as a now Zelator.
Overcome? No, ultimately not. Would be better to use magic to explore these feelings and have them play themselves out, speak their pieces, take on various scary forms, and so on.
this is not my favorite video of yours, and I think it's how you're mixing the ideas of mystic and Magick. Mysticism is the goal of divine union and gradual awakening, while magick is making reality conform to ones will, now mysticism is very magical but it is more of a goal a good practitioner of magic, some people don't want the mysticism and they just want the magick unfortunately, and chaos magick really does open up magick to those with non-mystical aims for instances, but you are right about progress on the Mystical journey, which I prefer mysticism than magicka for magicks sake, although I started in the later camp and drifted into mysticism.
Remember that Tantra is so way-cool and "evil" because it combines the supposed magic with the supposed mysticism. Or more accurately, it restores the magic to the mystical practices, rendering them more powerful. When the student starts out seeking control, power, security, etc...he eventually sees the futility of it all and flees from the "magic" into the "mysticism." A typical dead end. Or nearly so. When a student starts out pursuing mysticism, he makes very little "progress" because the practical (magical) techniques have been removed from his mystical practice. When the magic is restored to the mystical practice, then the charmed life can possibly result. A life in which the magician APPEARS to get whatever he needs when he needs it. In other words, the charmed life led by the magician is not what it seems. He appears to get whatever he needs, and he enjoys the apparentness of that kind of life as it unfolds. This "not what it seems" kind of wizardry is far more desirable than the control, power, security, etc. that he originally might have sought. It's not the void or emptiness of the mystic. It's more like an ever-blooming flower with the void at its center...kind of like an endless striptease.
@@lyamchristopher2393 it's true no one is control, people manipulate by pulling strings, and I tend to agree that the best results come from the mixture of mysticism (a goal), and magick ( a means); but I have had so many conversations with other occultist's over what is perceived as a major misconception between mystic and magick, mostly because they are very easy to get mixed up, and the diffrence often has to be explained for clarification.
Mr. Christopher thank you for your work. Frater Xavier sent us your way. I finished the program in your book last year and it has transformed my life in ways I cannot even begin to describe. Looking forward to content on this channel. Cheers
What benefits did you see from following the path? I am a newbie
Frater Xavier sent me.
This is so frickin awesome.
youtube.com/@mindandmagick?si=QImH0HtOUx4KB_2t
Same here
I have had your book for 7 years and have finally taken the dive and am currently in Zelator. It would be helpful for almost all new practitioners if in a future video, you go into the specifics of exactly what the pentagram and hexagram rituals are doing, as your book leaves out a concrete explanation.
Good suggestion. Thank you.
From one whos been working through the curriculum with many questions and little material put out from yourself, its very exciting to see this video/ channel pop up. I look forward to more. Thank you 🙏❤️
Frater Xavier mind and magic sent me here
Welcome from Frater Xavier!
What's the difference, algorithmically, between loving a comment and liking it? I'm torn between loving and liking you guys. 🤣
It’s a way to show others what comments you like, if you just hit the like, people won’t know who liked it. A heart is something only the video creator can do, so everyone can see that they liked the comment. Or the way I use it is, if it’s not good enough for a heart, it gets a like. 😂
Ur the goat bro 5=6
Finally! This was a great intro man! PS: My ego is happy now that I had the first comment on your channel 🤪
Incredible. Magnificent. These topics can be very confusing yet you made it so clear. Ty
I don't know where this video came from or who you are, but it came at the right time. I am going through a lot right now in my life as I found out about some shocking things about my life that forever changed me. As I watch your stuff, I feel more and more drawn to it. . I will order your book because I kinda want to know more. You look and sound like a guy who knows what he is talking about and not parroting stuff like most people who talk about these topics do.
Whoooooa im so stoked!!!! I love your book! Ive been slowly working my way through it!
Came here from frater Xavier. Great video!
Great video, I’m glad there’s more people who actually understand magic making videos on here, still only a few of you guys.
I've come across several of your videos, but never realized this was "You"! Lol. Thank you, for all you've done and continue to do.
Thank you so much for your book, it has been a life saver for me. Words cannot describe how much I have changed, and the perspectives that I have gained. Currently still in Zelator and looking forward to see what the future holds.
All the best!
I left the GD/magic path. But I am happy to see you speak about this.
Oh whoa. I’m grateful for your channel appearing now, and especially grateful for your book. To say that it changed me is a profound understatement 🙏 thank you 🌟
Just found out about this channel thanks to Frater X over at Mind and Magick. I luv the book and look forward to any content you want to share 😊
And thank you for being you and for your book!
You got a youtube channel! yaaaaaaasss this book changed my life!
Frater Xavier made me find you. Your book opened a whole new world for me. One thing then led to another. Now it has led me further into deeper studies and practice with others. Thank you very much
I'm noticing less and less of a need to practice rituals daily. Things seem to look after themselves. What scared me was the idea that I might lose whatever enlightenment came about from the curriculum if I stopped doing daily banishings and invocations. This fear still lingers in the background for now. I heard you say elsewhere that there is always a need for practical magic. That's encouraging!
I’ve had to take time away from my daily formula of rituals to recover from some dental surgery. It’s the first time I’ve seen evidence of the transformation being permanent - no longer dependent on banishings and invocations. What a wonderful discovery! Still something I’d like to warm up to.
Good to hear.
The comment about "always a need" refers to how the magician lives "backward." It's not that the ritual results in the desired phenomena. It's more like the desired phenomena results in the ritual. Special ritual practices arise in tandem with the phenomena they supposedly produce.
Thank you for starting this channel. I've been working through your book since July. Im really grateful that I will now be able to gain some of your insight as I go along.
Thank you for the incredibly simple and direct explanations on what is going on throughout ritual. Very rich content! Keep on posting please! 😊
Thank you for sharing this content.
Looking forward to more.
Thank you so much Lyam, I am loving your videos !
Thanks can’t wait to see more of your content
Ive been lambasting your book (as i practice), had no idea this was you but your name seened familiar. Im happy to have you here!
Did you mean a word other than "lambasting"? 😆 I hope so! 😉
@lyamchristopher2393 definitely did not! But I don't know any students that are in love with their textbooks 😂
Thank you very much for this.
Great video! I'm grateful for you making this and I'm excited for the next one. Cheers!
Lyam, the course has been incredible! It's hard to describe my experience but life seems to adapt "circumstantially" to embody the challenges of each grade in the curriculum. Or maybe viewing life through the magical lens converts mundane difficulties and "suffering" into opportunities to "wake up". Either way it's been challenging, strange and isolating but so inexplicably worth the treasure it bestows. Thank you.
So far I've managed to stick to the course inspite of the many alternative paths that are outlined in the required reading.
However in one of the required books (living the tree) Gray provides an alternative tarot/tree of life correspondence map that makes much more sense to me than the GD tarot placements on the paths. (which I read were numerically assigned to the tree rather than basing their placement on the tarot meanings- map is on 223 of my copy of living the tree). In regards to not "going off on your own" would you still recommend sticking to GD placements if Gray's tree map resolves my dissonance between the tree and tarot? I'm currently working through the philosophus grade if that helps answer my question.Thanks again, Matt
Learn both, for now. Practice only the GD version for now. You can always journal about the apparent dissonance you are experiencing. After the Portal grade, you'll be fee of the requirements. :) And you might be onto something beyond Gray at that point. Who knows!
Thank you very much, will do.
Fascinating. Thank you for creating this.
Thanks ☺️
Your explanation about how initiation changes you is interesting. Could you talk more about it?
Good to hear. Will see whether each video can touch upon that.
Hello Lyam, thank you for writing your book and for making these excellent videos.
I have a topic request for a future video: would you make a video on addictions? That's a broad topic/term but I trust you would filter it in a way that would be of use and intetest to many of us.
Huzzah!
Thank you for presenting this information.
ohhh that initiation..as in to initiate a process🤯 right I totally knew that this whole time
🥰
i dont think im initiated (yet), (i just started around 6-7 months ago), but as you said, i do start to see things i did not see before. Particularly in movies and songs. One band for example, i liked the songs before, but because of the music. The words just sounded out of place to me, like the song salsa tequila. Now when i listen to it. I can see almost the entire meaning of the song
That’s just the beginning. There’s a whole world out there of people and entities shouting at us to wake up.
Xavier's student here too!
Good intro thanks for the explanations ❤
A few years ago, I was doing an experiment with some basic pendulum dowsing incorporated into my meditation and chi gong practice. My first time using a pendulum.
Upon asking myself all sorts of questions and inquiry, and using the pendulum as a yes/no gauge to indicate the answers, I began receiving bizarre "downloads" of data and symbols. One significant symbol was the lamen of the GD.
My familiarity with the GD system at the time was very basic and strictly of a historical backround. I am not a western occult practitioner, but am somewhat familiar with the general topic. But I had to acquire and refer to Regardie's book to know what some of the data and symbols actually meant.
It would seem I unintentionally wandered into and extracted a bit of this knowledge stream. At the same time my "guidance" has instructed me to ignore or avoid a majority of the GD system as it does not apply as to be anything useful for me to consider. About 80% of what is in Regardie's book I am to disregard for myself.
The tarot, the ritualistic theurgy with the magical tools, the banishing rituals and the Egyptian deities are just a few aspects for which I am not to be concerned.
It would seem the alchemical, planetary, zodiacal, kabbalah symbology, the use of Hebrew, and angelic aspects of the GD are what have been revealed to me. Some limited use of Enochian was permissable, but I have not gotten around to determining the extent of that information I am to pursue as of yet. I am still learning as to how I am to use this information. It serms it has layers to it starting from a low magic to a high magic type of gestalt.
It has been an interesting spontaneous experience. It would seem this material found me just as much as I found it.
What about initiation into gnostic/independent catholic priesthood? I'm exploring "Christian occultism," and a lot of people hold the idea that one shouldn't perform the eucharistic liturgy without initiation and holy orders. But I come from a protestant perspective with the priesthood of all "believers". Im curious why people outside contemporary catholicsim still hold to the idea of initiatory succession as a prerequisite, and what changes when a person who receives it
Lineage is only important in that it demonstrates direct contact with people who have undergone the jumpstarting of the individuation process themselves (Individuation in the Jungian sense I mean, of course). Whether that shift into the process has been activated in the student is quite another matter entirely. Some people are simply not ripe for it, and they will fuss and fight to get away from the initiates that they encounter. They will quickly depart and, perhaps, misuse what they have learned to create a strange, paranoid version of the magical system that they saw.
@@lyamchristopher2393 thanks for the reply! It's kind of what I was thinking just not in words.
I hope to see more videos from you in the future!
I used your book many years ago.
However, for new people trying to work their way through the grades, can you give an "updated" list of works to read?
Some of your original "required reading" are no longer readily available due to books going out of print, etc.
Noting that down for a possible video. I know that there's at least one title that has become rare, and the price of which has gone sky-high.
Some of them I found on thrift books and PDFs online
oh wow thanks lyam
I’ve started with the Self Initiation book by the Ciceros, but recently found your book which resonates with me more. I’m currently in the Zelator grade which is when we start with the invoking version of the LRP. I’ve been wanting to start over in your book, but I see you state not to use the invoking LRP. Using both forms have really benefited me, so I’m wondering if I start your course, would still doing the LIRP in the morning be alright?
In the Kabbalah Magic book, invocation is reserved for each of the elemental grades. Invoking earth happens in the Zelator grade--in a carefully controlled fashion. If you watch the latest video about the LBRP, you might get a glimpse of why this is so.
Lyam! 🧐😲❤
Hello, my dear! How is life is Australia?
Yeah, no amount of pentagram rituals balanced me. It was only when I got committed and actually listed my traits one by one and tackled them relentlessly that I made any difference. Also the Lbrp can “backfire” if there is junk to clear.
I no longer tell people what is wrong with them. I lost a lot of friends that way lol
Thanks for sharing.
Mr. Christopher, in the 90's I started using modern magick by Kraig. Everything was going fairly smooth until one of my brother's who is an ardent Christian fundamentalist started to interfere with me. I did nothing more than the lbrp & occasionally the middle pillar and even with that I had astounding experiences & I had achieved a level of control over my reality. I stopped practicing because I abused the technology and altered my reality in a way that hurt an individual.
I regret it deeply but there's nothing I can do about it now. I fear however I'm stuck between worlds as described in your book and I would like a bit of guidance. Can I simply just start from scratch ANY guidance would be helpful.
Message me on Twitter.
❤
It would be wonderful to hear your views about karma 🙏🏻
See the video on "Sidestepping Karma."
Regarding the banishing pentagrams functioning as a scarecrow;
is there something to be said for “drawing earth to spirit” to banish thought forms in Assiah back to Atziluth, as well as the concept of the “upright pentagram” symbolizing dominion of spirit over the elements?
Those are the first explanations I heard from other Golden Dawn teachers.
Banishing via the LBRP automatically invites complexes to materialize so that they can (possibly) dissolve back into unmanifestation. But if you don't help them do that (because you don't have a teacher to remind you), the complexes and linger, and you can become the stereotypical ceremonial magician who has lots of haughty opinions about magic. 😆
The idea of the top point of the pentagram representing spirit is perfectly feasible. However, I do recommend questioning the idea that inverting the pentagram is somehow evil. You'll note that the Golden Dawn tends to ignore inverted interpretations of Tarot cards. I recommend the same view applied to the pentagram. And note the feeling of freedom that results when you adopt the belief that the pentagram cannot truly be "inverted."
You've prompted me, maybe, to give the next talk on the subject of evil. 😈
Where does “the path of the arrow” fit into this framework?
Because in the book you state, and I’m paraphrasing, “the secret of initiation into the inner tradition is limiting exercises to just what is necessary for spiritual progress at the current moment.”
Like I said in the Twitter feed, "straight up the middle." :) For those of us on a mystical path, it might be important to remember the virtue of "inclusiveness" (a modern-day code word for love). As we proceed up the center of the Tree of Life, it's important to accept, allow, and "include" the forces of the outer pillars. To love them. The attitude to adopt is to observe , appreciate, and sympathize, but to decline invitations to become caught up in their dramas.
@@lyamchristopher2393 Thank you. 🙏🏾
Which ritual helps to learn astral travel? Maybe the HBR?
Primarily, the LBRP and the Middle Pillar, but you should combine these with a dream journal, day-world practices, and nighttime induction techniques. See the articles in Forbidden Realms.
@@lyamchristopher2393 is it useful , not only for astral travel, to repeat the LBRP and the LIRP 10 times in a row or 100 times in a row each day?
I have so, so many questions for you. It amazes me how far the power of my imagination has come in 4 months. There STILL seems to be no sense of plateauing, even with only 2 rituals: LBRP and MP. Frankly, it's my favorite part of my day. You seem to advise against deviation from the prescription in your book. Yet there seems to be long term impetus to 'making it your own.' I've done some of that, but I still stick to the meat and bones of it. So here's a question: how do you feel about ambient drone music use during ritual? What is your take on Chaos Magick principals? Is the difference between banishing and invoking primarily rooted in expectation or placebo-ish effect, or is there some objective difference in the directionality of drawing with mudra/dagger/wand? In an earlier video, you seemed to cast doubt on GD's emphasis on tattwas for astral projection? For me, astral projection is a serious goal, or a thing that I look forward to. THank you...
I’ll be talking about the non-deviation thing in the next video-since it grates on the philosophical sensibilities of the times.
When an addict says she’s going to quit drugs but says she’s still going to indulge in them here and there, what would your response be?
Magic is not a means of forcing reality to conform to one’s personal demands (the will). It’s a means of making peace with reality just as it is (the Will). If that sounds unmagical to me, then I have yet to settle down and drop the futility of the personal will.
@@lyamchristopher2393 So that's a very interesting question, one that I've thought about a lot actually. The old school response would be to abstain completely ala AA. However, there's some doubt that this is always the appropriate strategy, or even if it's usually the appropriate strategy. For hard drugs like meth, or for many alcoholics, perhaps blanket abstinence is the only solution that works. On the other hand, some problem drinkers might be better off to develop consciousness and BOUNDARIES around their consumption. However, to answer your question, I'd say if they are going to quit, they might as well start sooner than later, because scratching the itch only perpetuates it. Then again, sometimes people need to set up their situation for success. Like they need to get away from bad influences or something like that. Addiction is tricky. I do, however, believe that ritual magic might actually be very effective in dealing with addiction. I don't know exactly why, but in my case, it has worked wonders. Elevated consciousness? Yeah. Probably.
@@lyamchristopher2393 I think that makes sense to me, although I can't articulate exactly why. You said it's like rebuilding, restructuring the psyche. In my limited expereince, I feel this to be the case. It's a subjective line to walk; experiment, but don't drift too far away from the prescribed structure. I'm doing my best to stick to the structure in your book; am thoroughly enjoying the Egyptiona Pantheon rabbithole that I'm working on. Every aspect of imagery that I can build into my practice brings just enhances the richness of it. You had stated that there comes a point that you won't want to stop. I do not want to stop. Although I'll be starting residency in a few months, I'm a little concerned that my time will be limited. Time and energy are the most valuable of resources.
🎉
I have a new channel. Thank you for your work
Welcome!
I recently started the Neophyte curriculum from "Kabbalah, Magic" and am wondering if I should replace my Thoth deck (that I'm familiar with) with a Waite/Angelis-style deck?
I would recommend keeping the Crowley deck as a study tool. The Cicero deck is also good for studying, not so much for magic.
Is this process about things going from things not happening for a reason in your life to happening for a reason or would you say it is more about bringing clarity and self awareness so that we are simply ready to receive what a higher intelligence has always wanted to give us in regard to what we really want?
Is life just things happening for no reason? No.
Do things always happen for a reason? No, not exactly.
Do things happen AS IF they happen for a reason? Yes.
When you enter the "as if" mode without taking the "as ifs" literally, you have arrived.
I had this man's book, until my car got stolen and it was in the back seat😭
😭
@@lyamchristopher2393 - yup that's how I felt
what magical system should I use to perform
the materialization spells you spoke on?
Folk witchcraft and Wicca are traditions that provide spells.
Thanks! Also when you say materialize what exactly do you mean? @@lyamchristopher2393
Lyam what is your perspective on healing through Magic? I love your approach to Magic in terms of enlightenment, but do you think that Magic can actually heal sicknesses and make such changes in the world? If so, how do we not have any notable documented evidence of such endeavors?
If I can prove the fairies with dragonfly wings don't literally exist, then fairies simply don't exist. Right? And if magic doesn't heal me in exactly the way I say it should, then magic simply doesn't work. Right? Can you see the fallacy?
@@lyamchristopher2393 Yes I see it. I guess in a way I am "intellectualizing all over my magic" right now ha. I do see stories of direct healers though like Pachita in Mexico. Just can't help thinking how we did not do more "controlled" observations there to demonstrate that it could happen (assuming it indeed did happen), which would've opened up way more people / research to that space.
@@moufawad We have only scratched the surface here of how our attempts to control magic--in ways that don't relax into it and trust it--cause it to withdraw from our lives. "Light in extension" can be a very real phenomenon, unless we try to measure it in terms of dick size.
@@lyamchristopher2393 yeah i guess it's a whole paradigm shift and it's not the most productive thing trying to apply the thought process /experience of one paradigm on the other
@@moufawad The two are not mutually exclusive. Science is not something other than magic. It is simply a subgenre of it.
Quick question. Your book suggests not undertaking any other meditative work while going through the course. Would this include something like Buckland's candle magic books? I ask because there are no real spiritual development practices in the book(s).
Yes, it would include that. However, you can read about anything you want to, as well as journal about it.
@@lyamchristopher2393 thank you for your quick response
I’ve been wanting to start your book however Ive heard from adepts that some of what you do is not Golden Dawn. And there are a lot of differences from the Golden Dawn I’ve seen. Other adepts like Samuel Scarborough who have written books on the GD say it’s not because of these changes and that it can’t initiate one to the GD current. Also they mention the lack of the initiation rituals. I’m not trying to be antagonistic I am just curious that if I do the work in this book will I actually get initiated into the golden Dawn current even with all the changes made to curriculum?
Ah yes, the purists. No surprise. There is a natural and completely understandable tendency to claim that the Golden Dawn is something special. As though it is some kind of rare catch. A special kind of trophy kill that, once you "have" it, you can now drag into the corner and eat it.
This tendency--to focus on the outward, grabbable trappings of a tradition--will make the "Golden Dawn current" into something special that you must now go "out there" to obtain in its "true" form. As though it is not already present right now, within you. Or it presents the Golden Dawn as something that is not present right now, and that you must go into the past to get.
You can see, then, what this ends up doing. It makes the Golden Dawn into a commodity that a historian can keep to himself, away from you, necessitating that you must go to him to get--because he has the true system and "all those others" do not. It would also make him special--because he can then define himself as a guardian of the "one, true" system of magic. In its "original" form.
That being said, the curriculum presented in the book is not mine. It is a method presented from a Golden Dawn temple with lineage (with its own vibrant Middle Pillar) that goes back to the "original" Golden Dawn. That curriculum is a living thing that continuously evolves right now. It does not exist in its previous manifestations anymore.
A butterfly that clings to the remnants its earlier manifestation (as a caterpillar) will forget to spread its wings and fly. It clings to something dead and neglects the vibrant life force that is operative in its own present form. Magic does not exist in the past. It is evolving and unfolding right here and now. The old, dead forms of a tradition serve merely as the launching pad.
Hey I read your comment somewhere that you don’t believe in creating the body of light to house your conciousness after the physical death as Damien Echols says
When you say "believe," what do you mean?
While karmic processes do seem to continue after death--as they do in the dream world--the better pursuit would be to free yourself from as many compulsive dualistic scenarios as you can, including the idea of needing and seeking after a body of light. That way, the after-death experience can become lucid instead of clingy and frantic. This kind of freedom in the dream world can make it SEEM as though you have constructed and mastered a body of light--when in fact your freedom from all such bodies has made you conscious enough to appear in any emanation you choose.
Due to the four elements, the four letters name and the four Qabalistic worlds, let me say first that your book is a God send for the self initiate; but it seems to be, that the godnames for the "The Body In (world)" are off. Should they be as written, or as the godnames for the four lower sephiroth? I have no problems following directions, just curious as a now Zelator.
Which names are "off"?
Dear sir,
Do you think magick can help a person overcome his feelings of guilt, regret and deep sorrow. If ap how can one start in the path
Overcome? No, ultimately not. Would be better to use magic to explore these feelings and have them play themselves out, speak their pieces, take on various scary forms, and so on.
🖤☯️🤍
this is not my favorite video of yours, and I think it's how you're mixing the ideas of mystic and Magick. Mysticism is the goal of divine union and gradual awakening, while magick is making reality conform to ones will, now mysticism is very magical but it is more of a goal a good practitioner of magic, some people don't want the mysticism and they just want the magick unfortunately, and chaos magick really does open up magick to those with non-mystical aims for instances, but you are right about progress on the Mystical journey, which I prefer mysticism than magicka for magicks sake, although I started in the later camp and drifted into mysticism.
Remember that Tantra is so way-cool and "evil" because it combines the supposed magic with the supposed mysticism. Or more accurately, it restores the magic to the mystical practices, rendering them more powerful.
When the student starts out seeking control, power, security, etc...he eventually sees the futility of it all and flees from the "magic" into the "mysticism." A typical dead end. Or nearly so.
When a student starts out pursuing mysticism, he makes very little "progress" because the practical (magical) techniques have been removed from his mystical practice.
When the magic is restored to the mystical practice, then the charmed life can possibly result. A life in which the magician APPEARS to get whatever he needs when he needs it.
In other words, the charmed life led by the magician is not what it seems. He appears to get whatever he needs, and he enjoys the apparentness of that kind of life as it unfolds. This "not what it seems" kind of wizardry is far more desirable than the control, power, security, etc. that he originally might have sought. It's not the void or emptiness of the mystic. It's more like an ever-blooming flower with the void at its center...kind of like an endless striptease.
@@lyamchristopher2393 it's true no one is control, people manipulate by pulling strings, and I tend to agree that the best results come from the mixture of mysticism (a goal), and magick ( a means); but I have had so many conversations with other occultist's over what is perceived as a major misconception between mystic and magick, mostly because they are very easy to get mixed up, and the diffrence often has to be explained for clarification.