Consilium II: Book of Consiliums

The journey of any course is remembered through time orally and written; eventually the oral traditions are derailed into written texts preserved ever into history. Zoroastrianism is one of the oldest monotheist religions in the world and all we truly know is from the surviving controversial texts we have left of this unique religion, despite our age of information with electronic information, a lot of the material we have in the occult is meant to be outer order information made only for the public. When reading occult books they are merely personal accounts that are from the perspective dictated by the experiences of the author. We must take into consideration what writings do offer to our spiritual practices as a whole. Writings in history provides the mindset of the culture, what knowledge was offered at the time, discoveries unveiled before man, many facets of opinions on one subject, personal experiences of the author, methodologies of an individual or group, and the results which have came from the techniques of the singular systems used for the period in time. Writings are so treasured in the occult because of the validity they hold true for results today, so the writings we Crystallites used are called Consiliums or “advice” in Latin. Advice as a whole had its origins as an oral tradition.

Oral traditions have been around since the beginning of human origin to uphold language, when primal man could not write they had words and gestures to pull a point across to their clan or family. As man developed through out history the pictographs evolved into words as man transcended the communication of grunts and gestures into an organized dialect. Written words were no long an abstract art or expression. We have found ancient cultures that had a government and rapid growth had a writing system, examples of this can be found withing the realms of Sumeria, Egypt, Rome, early Greeks, Aztecs, Mayans, and other great countries of the past. The day they adopted a systematic language was the day religions, governmental hierarchy, and science were all documented; these cultures were still in superstition and the supernatural due to the fact science was not advanced as it is today, the modern alien theorists would disagree with this very idea by the means of their belief. It is a well known fact many of the spiritual practices were still kept in secret forbidden to be in writings, the most these cultures with spiritually based information only leaked a few sparing amounts of the data to the public, the druids in the realms of the the Celtic culture were very much this way and served as the primary positions to keep order. The religions of the past and the bits and pieces we revealed show the influence of belief on the society for that time.

Information is power, that is why many people try to reserve data received for themselves; ‘A good magician never reveals his secrets’ is a great example of this concept. The shamans, magicians, priests, medicine men, and other folks who held positions notoriety were observant of their surroundings and how they functioned; they may not have understood the sciences of the environment, but they knew the idea of cause and affect. The advantage many of these religious individuals of knowing the ideas of cause and effect allowed them to access the laws that governed these physical forces. The magicians of the past were so much in tune with environment they were able to form a religion around the external environment to explain parts of life. The ancient Egyptians worshiped the sun, of course, the sun dictated life or death in the desert, therefore it had to be respected. The Celts worshiped the nature around them, of course they had an abundance of wild life and a beautiful green scenery. It was the men of the past who knew the process and how peoples mind worked to produce such wondrous religions, yet they found a way to make it math the cosmic vibrations and add some moral lesson to each which passed in nature. Religion sinks in when a genius can make a part of daily life in the external environment and intertwine it with a beautiful religion or belief. The more secrets which are revealed in the information the more power the upper echelon loses, so only general information is released to the public.

One of the most secretive orders orders with inner order information was the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, we only truly have outer order data. The Druids rites are completely lost in history because they taught orally and even the Vatican has hundreds of records in the vault that few people have actually read. In every religion there is a form of restriction due to currency of information streaming to the public. Edgar Cayce even had his moments when he would keep his sources for his information private and he made thousand from doing readings for politicians, rich folks, and other fortunate financially stable folk in the latter end of the society; the only source he spoke of with his readings and there accuracy he projected back to the Akashic Records, though it is still a very general answer. Edgar Casey tapped into the same source all the magicians of the past had tapped into while exploring the inner self, also known as the astral plane. The 1950’s offered very little to the metaphysics compared to the modern times and the little information that was offered remained secretive until the uprising of the 1960’s in America, yet the information obtained still lacked a substance, so occultists must search deeper and further to into all view points to catch a glimpse of the inner information the public information rooted from in the origins. The information produced in occult book all rooted from other sources, thus, we may never find the true sources to a lot of the information given. As an occultist  they can use the texts as guide to search deeper within themselves for the answers for lacking of the origins of the original data. The occultist must read, study, take the displayed data with a grain of salt, and experiment. Every magician has their own thoughts and ideas to convey, but occultists are still inspired by other magi of the past.

The time and anguish it takes to read through an authentic occult book can be time consuming and sometimes dry; but the occult uses scientific methods and instructs the readers to use the methods to experiment with accordingly. The experimental process has transformed alchemy into chemistry, astrology to astronomy, the concept of the Tao into dark matter, and so on and so forth; the occult studies very heavily rely on the writings of magicians, no matter how small they may seem to the practitioner at that time. The occult has utterly turn to science in a fast paced manner, but started to lack the wisdom of controlling it; but it was needed to get rid of the supernatural forces man put behind the studies prior. Needless to say magick is all around us everyday without us knowing what is going on sometimes. It was the very sun that sprays UV rays, heat, and other resources to earth for us to survive; so were the Egyptians too far off from calling the sun the father? They knew they sun provided heat and the night was colder, these very facts alone are very well a science, but were originally a spiritual belief or unexplained superstition. Magick is all about the experimentation, which is not dabbling; dabbling means there is no prior study or practice, but experimentation is based on study and practice. The basis of the occult is strictly firm on the experimental practice with the spiritual and the physical worlds alike, as the emerald tablet says “that which is above is to that which is below.” Magicians gain the foothold they have now in the world due to the fact they asked why and they recorded each of their experiences, experiments, and opinions. Knowledge does change over time, as advancements come do new discoveries.

Man is an ever evolving species and require a lot of resources, we as humans revolve around finding answers, exploring outside of our animal nature, and search for the never ending quest to find truth. It was only 300 years ago we sought out spirits or demons to cure people of illness, disorders, or other health defects; yet the spread of the medical field answered the majority of these questions through psychology, psychiatry, general health, and basic health concepts we know of today. The paradox is man has evolved to quick outside of our animal nature of survival and became a species ruled by information, rather then superstition as time still goes on earth. Discoveries like the earth being round over being flat was a major discovery astronomers like Galileo have been saying for centuries, but the hand of the church would not allow this fact as it contradicted the religious superstitions. As science progresses, so must spirituality for better understanding of the forces we cannot see, this is the very reason as to the leap in quantum physics has been used spiritually. The spiritual realm is being explained now by scientists in documentaries like What the Bleep Do We Know: the Rabbit Hole. The marriage between the spiritual and science is getting closer everyday, the supernatural is being explained with new break through from quantum physics, geology, astronomy, theoretical physics, and hundreds of other studies in science; but are lacking the myths and mysticism man has placed on these forces of the physical world in the past. Magick and science are ever evolving; both have rules that are changing from scientists and magicians everyday,there are as many magical theories as there are people in this world thanks to the recorded texts of the past and current.

Magick is specifically an open ended study of an eclectic study that transcends the narrow mind. Demonology is a controversial subject that has as many theories that attracts people, rather then a one way street. Satanists have a form of study within demonology to the method of befriending demons, Christians use the method in ceremonial magick to oppress them for answers, there are those who judge demons not as good or bad, a psychologist may call it a from of schizophrenia, and a spiritualist may say those are our inner demons; the many theorems produced on demonology are like any topic and based on personal experience. When we do research on other peoples experience and experiments in science and magick we find we may come to similar or different conclusions. One magician cannot see through another magician’s eyes until he has read and experimented with his work. All magical progress is expounded information being added, even if it is your own theorem. Comparing certain theorems side by side will show you what method is best worked in your own practices. The idea of individuality is spread in these many opinions backed by research, study, and practice from the works of others.

Reading from another perspective achieves the goal of killing the ego and being open minded to different views so we can form our own experiments for an opinion. The works of another occultist we read does not mean we have to fully agree with them, but allow us to expand our own mind. Every religion, government, organization, company, and organized groups have founding fathers; most of these ideas conveyed in the founders teachings are found in writings. The most simple texts (like poems) can alter the psyche of a person forever and the same goes for the complexities of writings distinguished in the Iliad, Shakespeare, and etc; writings are the doorway to knew beginnings and they all start from individual minds. Personal writings have a very different methodology over group writings that are produced as well.

Group writings, and collaborations are certainly unique. The Collaborations bring an essence styles, ideas, and diversity into one master piece. The Golden Dawn certainly had beautiful material from many different authors, the IOT has great texts from many diverse schools of thought, and even Buddhists working for the same goal are found in many text books. The most beautiful part in writing is when there are many authors on the same path, but carry unique thoughts and practices that compliment each other to the Tee. The concept of unity through diversity can be found in any organization that compliments a commonality among members is a beautiful and unifying thought, especially when it does not kill anyone’s Will. When in a union of methodology forms from individuals or groups a great magical method can be provided in a text.

Results have always been a key in magick from a technique and the very reason as to why magicians do magick in the beginning of their studies. Magick can produce results, Crowley found out the results in magick and pushed the idealism to the extreme. The lust of results can be disastrous, when a quarterback tries to force a ball into double coverage in American Football his team will lose the ball by an interception if he is not careful. Results of the metaphysics have been written from mundane scientists like Isaac Newton and other alchemists to show the results that can be produced by the methods used, the motivator for any movement is strictly based on results. The occult would not have persevered for thousands of years if great men did not write about the results of cause and affect. When doing a spell there is no problem in experimenting with symbols, vigils, spirits, invocation, evocation, alchemy, astrology, deities, entities, and believe; but beware and always be well researched on the many practices of theorems that produced results before you do your own experiment. Societies beliefs have changed and this can also affect the outcome. If we look at the use of the Clavis in the 16^th century it produced results because Christians believed they could gain knowledge from a demon through calling God, but since advancements have been placed spiritually and scientifically we will not get the exact results from the Keys of Solomon, unless you are a devout Christian. As times change so do beliefs as is recorded, pagans used to do sacrifices like any other religion, but now most pagans cherish animals rather then butchering them for their gods. If occultists were to practice animal sacrifice we may not get the same results as those in the past, but only due to our views on animal sacrifice in general. The results with the many methods have varied from the Holy Bible, Wiccan Rede, Emerald Tablets, and other books (no matter how old or new).

The personal consilium of the Crystallite is a method of their own belief and background through unique practices in their own eyes. So when we give a Consilium we are only offering advice in our writings, no more or no less; nothing is written in stone in regards to progress. For progress to happen nothing can be engraved, but it can be written; you can not replace the stone chiseled from the stone, but you can smear ink. The writings of a magician are a part of a history, unique thought, and personifies the meaning of individuality.  Writings have changed the views of hundreds in the world of occult, and mankind in general; we must not hold back some information that can help our peers around us. Enlightenment must not be preserved to only one person with information, but all who are looking for it. The occultist will travel all ends of the earth to get a taste of something new spiritually or scientifically, the occultist wants to expand his mind and work to know himself by his own experiences and testing other methods outside of his own. Writing is a way to preserve the word for the future, not hinder or block success. Growth comes from all of us and our works we reveal to the world. Write your own advice on paper for others today and show the world true progress, even if it may seem small to you.