CEREMONIAL MAGIC

'Ceremonial magic' is a broad term used to encompass a wide variety of long, elaborate, and complex rituals; it is named as such because the works included are characterized by ceremony and a myriad of necessary accessories to aid the practitioner. It can be seen as an extension of ritual magick, and in most cases synonymous with it. Popularized by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, it draws on such schools of occult thought as Kabbalah, Enochian magic, Thelema, and the magic of various grimoires.

Contents

Renaissance magic

Modern interpretations

Goetia

The Book of Ceremonial Magic

The Secret Teachings of All Ages

Bygone Beliefs

Organizations

Influences

Francis Barrett

See also

References

Renaissance magic

Main articles: Renaissance magic

The term originates in 16th century Renaissance magic, referring to practices described in various Medieval and Renaissance grimoires and in collections such as that of Johannes Hartlieb. Georg Pictor uses the term synonymously with ''goeteia''.
James Sanford in his 1569 translation of Agrippa's 1526 ''De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum'' has
:''The partes of ceremoniall Magicke be Geocie, and Theurgie.''
For Agrippa, ceremonial magic was in opposition to natural magic. While he had his misgivings about natural magic, which included astrology, alchemy, and also what we would today consider fields of natural science, such as botany, he was nevertheless prepared to accept it as "the highest peak of natural philosophy". Ceremonial magic, on the other hand, which included all sort of communication with spirits, including necromancy and witchcraft, he denounced in its entirety as impious disobedience towards God.^[1]

Modern interpretations

There are a number of different interpretations of ceremonial magic by practitioners, as well as a number of grimoires, essays, texts or book on the subject.

Goetia

In defining ceremonial magic and its operations, Aleister Crowley writes:
:Magical phenomena, however, come under a special sub-class, since they are willed, and their cause is the series of "real" phenomena, called the operations of ceremonial Magic. (page 10: An initiated interpretation of ceremonial magic)
These consist of:
#Sight: The circle, square, triangle, vessels, lamps, robes, implements, etc.
#Sound: The Invocations.
#Smell: The perfumes.
#Taste: The Sacraments.
#Touch: As under (1).
#Mind: The combination of all these and reflection on their significance. (page 11)

The Book of Ceremonial Magic

In ''The Book of Ceremonial Magic'', A. E. Waite begins his interpretation thus:
:The main principles are summed in the conception of a number of assumed mysterious forces in the universe which could be put in operation by man, or at least followed in their secret processes. In the ultimate, however, they could all be rendered secondary, if not passive, to the will of man; for even in astrology, which was the discernment of forces regarded as peculiarly fatal, there was an art of ruling, and sapiens dominabitur astris became an axiom of the science. This conception culminated or centred in the doctrine of unseen, intelligent powers, with whom it was possible for prepared persons to communicate; the methods by which this communication was attempted are the most important processes of Magic, and the books which embody these methods, called Ceremonial Magic, are the most important part of the literature. (page 6: The Importance of Ceremonial Magic)
He then goes on:
:In a word, Ceremonial Magic reflects mainly the egregious ambitions and incorporates the mad processes of mediæval sorcery--of the Sabbath above all. The additional elements are debased applications of various Kabalistic methods, seering processes current among country people and fantastic attempts to reduce magical legends to a formal practice.

The Secret Teachings of All Ages

In the ''Secret Teachings of All Ages'', Manly Palmer Hall lends his interpretation as follows:
:Ceremonial magic is the ancient art of invoking and controlling spirits by a scientific application of certain formulæ. A magician, enveloped in sanctified vestments and carrying a wand inscribed with hieroglyphic figures, could by the power vested in certain words and symbols control the invisible inhabitants of the elements and of the astral world. While the elaborate ceremonial magic of antiquity was not necessarily evil, there arose from its perversion several false schools of sorcery, or black magic. (page 101: Ceremonial magic and Sorcery)

Bygone Beliefs

In ''Bygone Beliefs'', Herbert Stanley Redgrove states:
:What I regard as the two essentials of magical practices, namely, the use of symbols and the appeal to the supernatural realm, are most obvious in what is called "ceremonial magic". Mediaeval ceremonial magic was subdivided into three chief branches--White Magic, Black Magic, and Necromancy. (taken from chapter 7: Ceremonial Magic in Theory and Practice)

Organizations

Among the many organizations who practice forms of Ceremonial magic aside from the Golden Dawn are the A:.A:. (Argenteum Astrum), the O.T.O. (Ordo Templi Orientis), the B.O.T.A. (Builders of the Adytum), and in Canada, The Order of the Temple of Archallem.

Influences

There are many people who have influenced ceremonial magic, most of which were associated with the Golden Dawn, or influenced the members of the Golden Dawn.

Francis Barrett

Among the various sources for ceremonial magic, Francis Barrett's ''The Magus'' embodies deep knowledge of alchemy, astrology, and the Kabbalah, and has been cited by the Golden Dawn, and is seen by some as a primary source. But according to Aleister Crowley, perhaps the most influential ceremonial magician of the Modern era, much of it was cribbed from Cornelius Agrippa's ''Libri tres de occulta philosophia''.

See also

★ Magick

★ Hermeticism

★ Arthur Edward Waite

★ List of magical terms and traditions

References

★ Barrett, Francis. ''The Magus''

★ Hall, Manly P. ''The Secret Teachings of All Ages''

★ Mathers, S.L. MacGregor and Aleister Crowley. ''The Lesser Key of Solomon''

★ Waite, A. E. ''The Book of Ceremonial Magic''