Taken now from my Book of Shaows,original author not known
LIFE
"Beauty and Strength, leaping laughter and delicious languor, force and fire, are of us".
LIBER AL II.20
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Opportunity: The atheist looks for it, the Mystic waits for it, the Magician creates it.
It's easy to waste an incarnation looking and waiting. Doing and going are the functions of a God. There are many "arm-chair Magicians" who flatter their egos by amazing their friends; talking a great deal about Magick and about how efficient they have become in a particular Rite. But they forget the most important object in successful Ritual: THE MAGICAL LINK. All the power that ever was, and is, and is to come is here now. Ritual is ACTION. It is used to cause CHANGE in conformity with Will. Part of the Ritual has to involve physical movement, involvement in the particular area which you are trying to change.
For example: You might feel that you need to do a Ritual to change the environmental disaster which lies ahead. You can do Ritual until you are blue in the face; however, unless you protest the dumping of toxic waste into the ocean, or the spraying of pesticides on our food, or the deforestation of the Amazon, there is little chance that you will have an effect. YOU ARE THE MAGICAL LINK. The Magical Link is the object which connects the Higher Forces you have stimulated with the object which you are trying to effect.
What does this have to do with Life? Everything! If we are to assume that Magick is the art of living, then properly done Ritual is the key to a successful life. Every step of your every day life should be deliberate acts of worship.
You are the creator of your Universe, you mold it, shape it and make it what it will eventually become. If you stand idle; chances are others will shape it for you.
Live the moment now, it is the only thing that exists. The past is no longer here, and while it may have altered your evolutionary status, it is gone. The future is not here yet, so waiting for it to happen will only make you waste the precious now.
Live every moment like it is your last. Embrace life now! Experience all that is going on around you and enjoy it as a Sacrament unto the Goddess, for She is experience.
There are many people who are unhappy with their lives and they don't realize they hold the key to a better life in their hands! Shakespeare once said: "All the world is a stage"; if you don't like the part you are playing change scripts!
The successful Magician is one who easily adapts to their environment. It is not to be conquered! You must become one with it so that you are an active player in its fulfillment, thereby responding to situations, rather than reacting.
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DEATH
"Think not, o king, upon that lie: That Thou Must Die: Verily thou shalt not die, but live!"
LIBER AL II.21
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As if it wasn't enough to justify one's own existence, man has also tried to discover what lies ahead after the physical body ceases to cooperate in this thing we call "life".
The deity within us all constantly plays the game of "hide and go seek". And we, being jolly good sports, play the endless game knowing that we will probably not find it. After all, its not the kill, but the thrill of the chase. Hunters we are all.
Perhaps this fascination with this after-life comes from the subconscious knowledge that we are as Gods. Perhaps it is one of the necessary steps in self-discovery. A lot of maybes.
We have heard countless stories from people who have died, and for one reason or another; have returned. While not all remembered what it was like being "clinically dead", most who DID remember experienced images which were very similar in nature. The vision of the "white light".
We know that light is a reflection which changes color according to the speed of its vibration.
We see the Tree of Life as a glyph containing 10 colored Spheres (which have been called "the 10 faces of God") and the 22 Paths which connect them. Look at the uppermost Sphere which we know as Kether and let's call that "Light", fluid, moving, etc. The whole of the Universe concentrated and focused within one minuscule dot.
Now let's look at the bottom Sphere, Malkuth, The Kingdom, the material plane, the place where all Souls experience Life in human bodies. Let's call this "Physical Existence".
The pure Light which emanates from Kether slows down as it moves away from its nucleus, changing color and becoming more "solid" as it moves away from its source. Thus, we have the other Spheres on the Tree to display the different stages of this transmutation.
The Ancients have told us: "Kether is in Malkuth, and Malkuth is in Kether but after another manner", or "As above so below". They were trying to point out that Kether was Malkuth, Light was Darkness, Fluidness was Solid, after each had transformed by a separation which occurred within itself, a division, much like that of a cell. Malkuth is solidified Light. WE ARE that Light made solid.
Our Holy Book says:" For I am divided for love's sake, for the chance of union". The Great Work is the Path of return. The return to the source. Also; "There is no bond that can unite the divided but love", which tells us that the driving force of the journey back is love. The journey ends when we reach that Light from whence we came: Kether, Union with the Goddess. We must accomplish this Union consciously.
Death is the friend of the weary traveler who has lost his way, the initiating officer to the mysteries of immortality. It is not to be feared, but welcomed as an ally and respected as the teacher that will one day provide you with the opportunity of looking at Our Lady of the Stars face to face.
