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Astrology
by Hand Week 16
The
Operation of Will
Last
week, we
explored the magical spell in very simple terms. We saw that the essence
of the spell involved an act of will that attempted to channel psychic
energy, or something like it, toward an intended end.
Now,
once again we are stuck with our old problem. Does an intense will send
some kind of unknown but basically natural energy out into the world,
something like “rays?” There is one problem with this idea. Those who
have experimented with these techniques have often found that they did
not have to be intensely, or passionately, desirous of bringing about
what they wanted. It would no doubt help, but obsession does not seem
to be required. Simple curiosity about the experiment seems to be all
that is required.
But
whatever level of intensity may be required, are the results something
that are really natural but merely not understood by science? Possibly,
but again, I think that we are in the realm here of something that, if
understood, would change science as we know it almost beyond recognition.
I believe that Lawrence Jerome and company (see week
12) were right in thinking of magic as beyond the scientific
pale. All they felt that what they had to do was to show that astrology
was magical to debunk it. But let’s put aside that question for a bit
longer.
Dion
Fortune was another student of ceremonial magic earlier in the twentieth
century. She, it is alleged, took Crowley’s definition of magic and added
something to it that I believe does a great deal to improve the definition.
She defined magic as “the art of bringing about changes in consciousness
in conformity with the will.” The part that distinguishes magic from technology
is the change in consciousness, the channeling of will being one of the
most common changes in consciousness that traditional magic has sought
to bring about. The role of consciousness is very evident in what I described
last week. The consciousness of the operator is saturated with the symbolism
of the energy that he or she is trying to evoke.
What
I particularly like about Dion Fortune’s variant on Crowley’s definition
is that it includes all forms of working on one’s own consciousness that
are designed to increase one’s level or awareness, and even one’s closeness
to the center—God, if you like. Magic is a technology of consciousness.
Are
Astrology and Magic Dangerous?
Magic
is not just something dark, primitive or barbaric. But it can be powerful
and dangerous. And you think ordinary technology is not any of these things?
The late John McCormick once asked the question in a lecture as to whether
astrology was dangerous. He said that it was, and that anything worth
doing like astrology (or magic, we might add) would be dangerous. But
then he asked which thing most of us had greater reason to fear, astrology
(or magic), or nuclear physics? Most of us do not understand most technology
any better than scientists understand magic! All we can say for certain
is that for a certain kind of “rational,” materialistic mind, consciousness
and its powers seem much more scary than H-bombs.
Consciousness
and Nature
We
are moving now to the center of the problem for both astrology and magic.
Both of them seem to involve consciousness and its relationship to nature.
What is that relationship? This is the central problem in any attempt
to understand these issues. And while we are at it, what is consciousness?
There is a gigantic problem, but gigantic as it may be, that is exactly
the problem that we must answer at least somewhat, if we are to get anywhere
with the question of what astrology really is.
While
I am putting this in a rather extreme form, what I am about to say lurks
in the scientific mind in its basic assumptions about consciousness and
nature, and lies, I believe, at the heart of the problem. To the traditional
scientific mind, whatever consciousness may be, it is not at the heart
of existence. Consciousness, like life itself, is an epiphenomenon (basically
a side-effect) of the laws of nature as understood by physics and chemistry.
It is an accidental by-product of these, and need not even have come into
existence. Now I am aware that this is not a point of view shared by all
scientists, and I am especially aware that the role of consciousness in
modern physics has become considered quite important. (See week
7.) Again, I say that this thinking is a tendency among
scientists, sometimes conscious (heh-heh!), sometimes unconscious.
Next
week, we will begin to try to define consciousness, at least at a primitive
level suitable for our purposes.
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