Newsgroups: alt.magick From: g93p5039@warthog.ru.ac.za (MR RG PUTTERGILL) Subject: Sociological model of magick Date: Wed, 1 Jun 1994 14:24:13 GMT Copyright 1994 Mr Puttergill. This is a brief article I wrote on magick very recently, I have put it on the board for constructive criticism, nothing else. If there is any flaming to be done, please do it by e-mail. This is my own approach. A Socio-Psychological Approach to Magick I have attempted to categorise occult practice into a variety of groups. I have taken a socio-psychological approach and used a model which I have dealt with in social-psychology. I feel that magick and general occult practice fit well into these categories and one can create a constructive framework for one's occult practice and thereby find the areas in which one might cope best. To begin with, I have broken up magick into three categories: a) collective magick; b) interpersonal magick; and c) intrapersonal magick. These three categories seem to cover all motivations, all fields, and all types of magick. *Collective Magick* This contains the aspects of what I call group-mind, and deals a lot with symbolism, representations and ideology. From it originate two groups, the ideological group and the positional group. In the ideological group, can be found much of the dogma attatched to magickal groups. In the positional group, lies issues of status, ranking, teaching etc. Here, one can see that the more structural aspects of the magickal orders come out. It appears that religious movements, fraternal sects, and covens all fit in at this level. The practices become group-minded and aim at a sense of connectedness. At this point, the two groupings merge into an intergroup situation. This allows one to feel a sense of belonging or membership to a group. It allows one the freedom to create a social identity, through such issues as giving one's self a magickal name, attaining certain rankings and becoming a creative being within the group. It also lets free the idea of what I call world-shaping, although this is also found in the inter/intrapersonal model. However, the difference lies in the fact that one allows the group to help create one's social identity, and shape who one becomes. One is in a sense, created by the group and one can only find one's existance as such within the group. Thus one finds oneself as part of a collective mind, and one suddenly finds a keen ability to tap into new aspects of that mind. This is taken from a very Jungian standpoint. *Interpersonal Magick* This is a very focussed area in magick and is often referred to as Sympathetic Magick. Frazer, who coined the term Sympathetic magic, describes it as the belief that one can affect things across space or distance using "invisible" means. He calls this the Law of Sympathy, and derives two other laws from it, namely the Law of Contagion and the Law of Similarity. From the Law of Contagion, he develops the notion of Contagious magick. This is the use of physical artifacts having direct association with the object (e.g. hair, finger-nails, blood, sex-fluids, clothing etc) that the magician wishes to affect. This arises out of a strong belief that these artifacts retain their connection with the person most closely associated with them. The Law of Similarity gives rise to Homeopathic or Imitative magick. This is the idea that one can cause things to happen using imitative means. For instance, if I want Joe Bloggs to die, I will create a homunculus of Joe and subject it to continuously destructive behaviour. Another example would be the Indian rain-dances, in which water is sprinkled over a fire (cleary representing rain over sun), and there is a lot of foot-stamping imitating thunder and hard beating rain. These are very important in modern magick as symbolism and contagion are commonly used today through everything from Kabbalah to Tantric Sex-Magick. Other aspects of Interpersonal magick lie in healing, love- spells, and any other one-on-one magickal works. It differs from intergroup in a variety of ways, but these should be evident to anyone who spends a short while thinking about it. Interpersonal magick finally merges with Intrapersonal magick in an Inter-Intrapersonal model which I will deal with later. *Intrapersonal Magick* This is perhaps one of the most common forms of magick and is often a cop out for people who claim to practice magick and have no effect on the physical world. This is the realm of Self-realisation and Self-actualisation. Meditation, divination and what I call self-bettering rituals are the main makeup on this level of magick. I feel that spiritism or chanelling also probably finds its place here, or possibly in the Collective magick sphere. The point is that this is "selfish" magick, as it revolves around the individual and the bettering of hir own self. My use of the term "selfish" is not intended to adopt the perjorative connatations of the word, as this is probably one of the most important sides to any magickal practice. *The Mergence of Inter- and Intrapersonal magick* *Inter-Intrapersonal magick* Interpersonal magick and Intrapersonal magick are dialectic, and through them I arive at Inter-Intrapersonal magick. This is the process by which the magician finds hir uniqueness, within which is contained hir Will and Imagination (what Jung calls the 'real imagination' and not just fantasy). These are fundamental tools for the practice of magick, and thus, through this process, the magician learns how to be creative and how to use these two tools. Beyond this, lies the formation of one's personal identity, one's "true-name", one's ultimate goals, and one's creative process. Once again we come across the notion of world-shaping, but this time it is the notion of one's self shaping the world. Through I-I magick, one finds one's individuality, and one imposes this on one's percieved reality. One uses the skills that one learns in I-I magick to shape this reality, and thus have a profound effect on the world around one. This form of magick is the magick of effect, while collective- intergroup magick is the magick of order and discipline. Together, they can interact to create a holistic approach to magick. *Collective-Intergroup magick and Inter-Intrapersonal magick* Once again, through a dialectical process, one aims at uniting these two spheres. Clearly, there is a definite line between social magick and personal magick, but an integration of the two seems sensible in that it provides some sense of balance in one's magickal practices. Thus in some obscure way, one has to balance these two processes out, according to the necessities of the self. For myself, I feel that someone who is new to magick should concentrate on building their own personal identities before approaching it on a more social level; however, there are many benefits for new-comers should they join an institution, as they can allow themselves to be shaped into a magickal way of thinking. Thus, one should choose according to one's personal needs, and perhaps allow oneself the goods on both sides. Thus magick can be defined in terms of social magick and personal magick, and ultimately these two terms seem headed in the same direction. There seems to be an ultimate goal in magick, perhaps this is what is called The Great Work. This goal to me, seems to be the discovery and accomplishment of one's Will, and both approaches to magick are directed in this manner. Thus it seems obvious to me that I can move more quickly to this goal if I adopt both routes without allowing myself to get caught up in either of them. *Authors Worth Looking At* Crowley, Aleister. Doise, ??. Feist, Raymond E. Fortune, Dion. Frazer, Sir James George. Jung, Carl Gustav. Regardie, Israel Sartre, Jean Paul. Tjafel, ??. Wilson, Colin. Criticism is welcomed Come at me Thyagi, Colin and co. (josh included ;) Rowan