12-17-2007, 12:00 AM
I mentioned being involved with an attempt to recreate prehistoric ecstatic shamanism. There used to be a small cult of people involved with this recreation attempt in the Santa Cruz mountains in California.
More than half of the participants were young people from UCSC, a nearby university who were recruited from lectures on wildcrafting and drumming circles that we were involved with.
The initiatory ordeal of this group involved spending months in the nearby park at a time. There was a lot of time for stories amd talk.
We said among ourselves that silence was our password, and that it was a signal of recognition between us. I know that could seem like a contradiction, but spending months outdoors in the woods allowed for plenty of time for both.
On one occaision, a young man undergoing his ordeal was told about this "password of recognition between us", and he commented that his Qabalistic order had a similar feeling about silence.
With a few hours of talk, we found similarities and differences in our understanding of silence and secrecy.
I thought it might be worthwhile to talk about silence as a single idea that resides both in the Qabalah that my new friend Bob May understands, and the shamanisim I have been with.
Here is my understanding in a nutshell.
..................................................
Consider for a moment, a man who goes to a psychiatric counselor for help with raging emotional upset within him.
The counselor's strategy is to get the man to talk about his problems. If the man can address his emotional upset, the psychic pressure of his upset will lessen.
Should he deny, or otherwise be able to suppress his emotions, the psychic pressure from those feelings will increase.
Consider also for a moment, the Christian injunction to do charitible work in secrecy. If a man speaks about his charity out in the open, the psychic pressure of this virtue will lessen. Should he suppress his charity, it will grow within him. A man will grow more charitable
There is a principle being illustrated here.
In all cultures where it has existed, the entire range of human activity we think of as "magic" has been held as secret. The techniques and practices of the witch grow within "the power of silence". Talking too much can "empty your bag" so to speak.
Many commenters on magic have indicated a real paranoia of what others might do or think if they knew the secrets of a magical organization.
I propose here, that the real benefit of secrecy is that magic will not exist in the open. That which is kept within us unexpressed grows.
That to which we give naming, shrinks away.
Bob, would you mind giving a comparison of that above to the teachings about silence in the initiatory grade of the Golden Dawn?
Why did the Golden Dawn choose to keep secrets?
More than half of the participants were young people from UCSC, a nearby university who were recruited from lectures on wildcrafting and drumming circles that we were involved with.
The initiatory ordeal of this group involved spending months in the nearby park at a time. There was a lot of time for stories amd talk.
We said among ourselves that silence was our password, and that it was a signal of recognition between us. I know that could seem like a contradiction, but spending months outdoors in the woods allowed for plenty of time for both.
On one occaision, a young man undergoing his ordeal was told about this "password of recognition between us", and he commented that his Qabalistic order had a similar feeling about silence.
With a few hours of talk, we found similarities and differences in our understanding of silence and secrecy.
I thought it might be worthwhile to talk about silence as a single idea that resides both in the Qabalah that my new friend Bob May understands, and the shamanisim I have been with.
Here is my understanding in a nutshell.
..................................................
Consider for a moment, a man who goes to a psychiatric counselor for help with raging emotional upset within him.
The counselor's strategy is to get the man to talk about his problems. If the man can address his emotional upset, the psychic pressure of his upset will lessen.
Should he deny, or otherwise be able to suppress his emotions, the psychic pressure from those feelings will increase.
Consider also for a moment, the Christian injunction to do charitible work in secrecy. If a man speaks about his charity out in the open, the psychic pressure of this virtue will lessen. Should he suppress his charity, it will grow within him. A man will grow more charitable
There is a principle being illustrated here.
In all cultures where it has existed, the entire range of human activity we think of as "magic" has been held as secret. The techniques and practices of the witch grow within "the power of silence". Talking too much can "empty your bag" so to speak.
Many commenters on magic have indicated a real paranoia of what others might do or think if they knew the secrets of a magical organization.
I propose here, that the real benefit of secrecy is that magic will not exist in the open. That which is kept within us unexpressed grows.
That to which we give naming, shrinks away.
Bob, would you mind giving a comparison of that above to the teachings about silence in the initiatory grade of the Golden Dawn?
Why did the Golden Dawn choose to keep secrets?