ceremonial paths- what drew you?

[orissa]

For those who practice ceremonial magic (or however you would describe your own path), how did you end up where you are? Did you explore a lot of other paths first, and do you feel that a ceremonial style will probably always resonate the most with you? How did you sort through your choices?

[Alkhemia]

I got a copy of Modern Magick by Kraig when I was 12 (I think I got it the day it came out - I am 30 now) and the rest, as they say, is history. :lol:

At this point, I feel that CM is part of who I am - intrinsically. Like everyone who has spent a considerable amount of time within a particular path, I have had my 'dark nights of the soul' and contended with my own laziness, doubts and apathy. Still, I always come back to where I started and have accepted the fact that CM is a part of my life for the long haul.


Alkhemia

[RainInanna]

I actually wouldn't consider myself a ceremonial magician. I've been studying various forms of Paganism for about 8 years, and just recently got into CM. However, I think I will take some of the exercises, elements, and practices from CM and place them within a non-CM spiritual context. Ultimately the magical techniques are useful but I don't fit into the spirituality or various organizations, I think. Then again, I suppose that depends on what you mean by "ceremonial magician" as well.

What drew me? Well I've been Wiccan and generally eclectic neoPagan as well as Kemetic. I've been into Buddhism, Taoism, Chaos magic, Satanism, and I've been pantheistic, panentheistic, but then at times agnostic. I'm into comparative mythology, quantum physics, psychology, and their place in spirituality and magic.

Recently I realized that CM would be a good place to seriously explore and practice techniques such as yoga, meditation, visualization, banishing and cleansing, energy raising, etc. It provides frameworks such as the kabbalah and the tarot, alchemy, astrology, gematria, enochia, etc. on which one can study and grow. It seemed like the next step from where I was - vaguely spiritual, having practiced magic for years but never having made a serious study of it.

With CM I am almost rebuilding my foundation to grow on. Some of the exercises and techniques I've found in CM seem like purified versions of the tools I tried to use while in other religions. It's like going back to basics and making a serious and scientific study of magic, refining technique and strengthening abilities. But it's also, as I mentioned, taking the next step and using a framework to evolve. And yet I also know I'm not going to stay within CM. I'm all for the LBRP and angels, and definitely want to refine a lot of abilities, but ultimately I'll grow and learn and then take from CM and bring it back to my own spirituality. I've got one foot in low magic focused on the immanent and the physical, and now I'm getting the other foot into high magic, the transcendent, and spiritual alchemy.

[orissa]

Hey thanks for the replies so far, I'm definitely inspired to study some CM-related stuff. I've been checking out the links in this forum, and I do have one book by Lon Duquette that I picked up a while ago- I'm going to focus on that one after I get through my current book on solar returns. I've been terrible about accumulating books and not really studying them!

[SilverClaw]

For me it was a certain boyfriend who taught me about various things about Enochian magick,( that was 11 years ago now) from there my curiosity got the better of me and when in my hometown a new metaphysics shop opened, I found the Enochian Tarot and with the rituals in there I learned quiet a bit but did not feel it was smart to do any of the rituals at that time since in the book that accompanied the tarot deck gave a strong warning not to do any of the rituals unless you are familiar with ritual work...etc.

So I put it on hold and just worked with the tarot deck, and later found my way onto the Wiccan path, where I learned a lot about ritual basics and such, but did not feel satisfied and last year I had this real urge to get back to learning about Enochian magick that I started studying and reading information on another forum, not long after I started that the CM class here started and that was the sign I was looking for and going to get back on the path I was seeking.... and over the past year it has been somewhat of a learning experience :D


I'm getting the other foot into high magic, the transcendent, and spiritual alchemy.
RainInanna I was intruged by this comment of yours, what do you by spiritual alchemy?

[magickman12]

I started CM when I was thirteen. I had mysteriously acquired this occult catalog and the books that really stood out to me were the Magus and Sacred Magick of AbraMelin. They were my first books of any adult non-fiction subject. I studied and practiced for a few years, but quickly got in over my head. I came upon bad things. I quit and locked the books up. Almost two decades past and I never forgot my teachings. When I turned 30, I decided that I was more suited to the study and began again. I have been doing so ever since. I've studied most all paths and have gained from them all, but nothing ever so great as CM. When I discovered Modern Magick, even more doors were opened to me. I am extremely grateful for CM.

[Luminessence]

My full story is very long, so I won't get too in-depth with it. A longer, but still abbreviated, version is posted on the Belief Systems thread of the Warrior in Spirituality CoT class.

Ever since I was a kid, there's been something that I wanted. I didn't know what it was, but it felt like home to me. Some things seemed to hold echoes of this feeling - for example, the book The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper. But I assumed that this feeling didn't correspond to anything in the real world.

I was raised Buddhist, and became Christian when I was ten. I left Christianity when I was sixteen, and spent a couple of years without a formal religion. (I was still very spiritual, though, just like I'd always been. It's in my nature.) I felt dissatisfied with this - I wanted a religion to affiliate myself with, because what I really wanted was a spiritual home. Neither buddhism nor Christianity had been this home for me; neither of them had really fit my beliefs. That's why I left those religions.

Anyway, one day, when I was seventeen, I read something else that seemed to hold an echo of that feeling I'd always had, and that brought out my spiritual loneliness. So I asked the universe, "If there's a religion out there that fits my beliefs, send it to me." Then I thought, hey, as long as I'm asking for things that probably don't exist... So I sent that feeling at the universe and asked, "If this really is out there somewhere, send it to me."

The next day I started finding information on Western mysticism and ceremonial magic. And it was that feeling inside me. It was very strange, to have something that I'd thought didn't exist taken out of my head and given form and written about by other people. I kept reading things and thinking, Yes, I've thought that very same thing, only not in words...


However, I think I will take some of the exercises, elements, and practices from CM and place them within a non-CM spiritual context.

Funny... I seem to be doing the opposite of this. I'm very attracted to the philosophy of ceremonial magic, but I don't feel much of a need for its complex rituals... at least not right now. Later, maybe. Probably, in fact. But I'm not being led in that direction right now, and I think I should trust where I'm being led.

But that doesn't really make me a ceremonial magician, does it? I guess I'm still uncategorizable. *sigh* :)

[sidhe]

I was drawn to CM pretty early on. I'm ashamed to admit now that I started off as a pretty fluffy bunny, but that went out the window when I started practicing LBRPs...and more LBRPs...and more LBRPs. I'm with Crowley that, for all it's simplicity, the LBRP is one potent ritual. I'm only now starting to branch out into more CM (apart from doing the Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel back when I had a lot of free time), and I'm intrigued by all the possibilities. :)

[Alexie]

I know this thread is kinda old, but I thought that I would answer anyway. It started for me when I started looking into Coven training. I ran into some very nice and cool Alexandrians in my area and I wanted to know more about their Tradition.

I knew that Alex Sanders was a very good Qabalist so I figured I would read some sources on QBL. I started with the most basic like Modern Magick by DMK and The Witches Qabala by Ellen Cannon Reed, both highly recommended for beginner material as well as Dion Fortunes Mystical Qabala.

I had been working on just the LBRP and then started to move further with the rituals. The first time I tried the Middle Pillar Ritual I was HOOKED! It was so powerful!

Well, I am still working on the rituals, but I am also trying to know as much as I can about the history. I have applied for Outer Court with an Alexandrian Coven. They are very skilled CM as well as Priests/esses of British Traditional Witchcraft. So I figure for my ultimate goals, I am in good company!

Geniene

[SilverClaw]

Quote:
I'm getting the other foot into high magic, the transcendent, and spiritual alchemy.

RainInanna I was intruged by this comment of yours, what do you by spiritual alchemy?hey I am still wanting to know what you meant by that :santasmil

[Selah]

CM brings to me a wonder and a spectacular worldview, where anything is possible...BUT hard work and study comes right along with it. You'll never find a successful Ceremonial Magician who is also a slacker.

Enochian Magic especially dazzles me.