Thursday, March 1, 2012

Rule 1 of magical mottos

[Here is a peek of one of the small ebooks that I am currently working on.]

The first rule to remember about your motto is that it is supposed to be personal to you. The motto represents a channel which the spiritual and magical energies that you are exposed to during initiations and your private magical work are directed through. This channel should represent your spiritual aspirations, and not those of another person.


The fact that it should represent your own spiritual aspirations, and not another person’s, means that being given a motto by someone else, whether a guru or Order superior, is undesirable. After all, who knows your personal spiritual aspirations best? Hopefully, it is you.

Likewise, recycling the motto of a previous member of the Order is unwise, for the mottos of previous members represent their spiritual aspirations, not yours. Furthermore, a recycled motto carries with it part of the karma of its original possessor. A common initiate that many people recycle mottos from is Aleister Crowley, the founder of Thelema. While it is true that Crowley was a great Adept, and perhaps even the higher Grade that he claimed to possess, his mottos come with a heavy price. Before even remotely considering recycling a previously used motto, one needs to consider if they are willing to help another initiate (living or deceased) work on their karma while ignoring one’s own karma and aspirations.

3 comments:

Frater Yechidah said...

I agree completely. Choosing a motto held by a previous adept is a bad idea on many grounds, several of which you have outlined in this post. It's an easy way out, I think, and saves the Candidate a lot of hassle having to meditate on their magical goals.

Of course, it's possible for someone to accidentally pick a motto that someone else has previously used, but that's a different kettle of fish, as it wasn't a conscious choice to copy them.

LVX,
Dean.

Peregrin said...

Nice post, Morgan. Good points. Great points. Re e-book:

what / when / where?

ta :)

Rufus Opus said...

Also, be aware that when you choose a motto, its abbreviation will come to represent you, an aspect of your essential self that can and will be used by the wise to gain an instant understanding of you on sight.

Remember the lessons of the unfortunate Fr. POS.