Liber Null & Psychonaut: An Introduction to Chaos Magic - Peter J. Carroll 1987

Magic
Liber MMM

Success in this part of the syllabus is dependent on some degree of mastery of the magical trances and metamorphosis. This magical instruction involves three techniques: ritual, sigils, and dreaming. In addition, the magician should make himself familiar with at least one system of divination: cards, crystal gazing, runesticks, pendulum, or divining rod. The methods are endless. With all techniques, aim to silence the mind and let inspiration provide some sort of answer. Whatever symbolic system or instruments are used, they act only to provide a receptacle or amplifier for inner abilities. No divinatory system should involve too much randomness. Astrology is not recommended.

Ritual is a combination of the use of talismanic weapons, gesture, visualized sigils, word spells, and magical trance. Before proceeding with sigils or dreaming, it is essential to develop an effective Banishing Ritual. A well-constructed banishing ritual has the following effects. It prepares the magician more rapidly for magical concentration than any of the trance exercises alone. It enables the magician to resist obsession if problems are encountered with dream experiences or with sigils becoming conscious. It also protects the magician from any hostile occult influences which may assail him.

To develop a banishing ritual, first acquire a magical weapon—a sword, a dagger, a wand, or perhaps a large ring. The instrument should be something which is impressive to the mind and should also represent the aspirations of the magician. The advantages of hand forging one's own instruments, or discovering them in some strange way, cannot be over-emphasized. The banishing ritual should contain the following elements as a minimum.

First, the magician describes a barrier about himself with the magical weapon. The barrier is also strongly visualized. Three dimensional figures are preferable. See figure 1 on page 20.

Second, the magician focuses his will on a visualized image: for example, the image of the magical weapon, or his own imaginary third eye, or perhaps a ball of light inside his own head. A sound concentration may additionally or alternatively be used.

Figure 1. Different forms of three-dimensional barriers that the magician can create using the magical weapon.

Third, the barrier is reinforced with power symbols drawn with the magical weapon. The traditional five-pointed star or pentagram can be used, or the eight-pointed star of Chaos, or any other form. Words of power may also be used.

Fourth, the magician aspires to the infinite void by a brief but determined effort to stop thinking.

Sigils

The magician may require something which he is unable to obtain through the normal channels. It is sometimes possible to bring about the required coincidence by the direct intervention of the will provided that this does not put too great a strain on the universe. The mere act of wanting is rarely effective, as the will becomes involved in a dialogue with the mind. This dilutes magical ability in many ways. The desire becomes part of the ego complex; the mind becomes anxious of failure. The will not to fulfill desire arises to reduce fear of failure. Soon the original desire is a mass of conflicting ideas. Often the wished for result arises only when it has been forgotten. This last fact is the key to sigils and most forms of magic spell. Sigils work because they stimulate the will to work subconsciously, bypassing the mind.

There are three parts to the operation of a sigil. The sigil is constructed, the sigil is lost to the mind, the sigil is charged. In constructing a sigil, the aim is to produce a glyph of desire, stylized so as not to immediately suggest the desire. It is not necessary to use complex symbol systems. Figure 2 shows how sigils may be constructed from words, from images, and from sounds. The subject matter of these spells is arbitrary and not recommended. To successfully lose the sigil, both the sigil form and the associated desire must be banished from normal waking consciousness. The magician strives against any manifestation of either by a forceful turning of his attention to other matters. Sometimes the sigil may be burnt, buried, or cast into an ocean. It is possible to lose a word spell by constant repetition as this eventually empties the mind of associated desire. The sigil is charged at moments when the mind has achieved quiescence through magical trance, or when high emotionality paralyzes its normal functioning. At these times the sigil is concentrated upon, either as a mental image, or mantra, or as a drawn form. Some of the times when sigils may be charged are as follows: during magical trance; at the moment of orgasm or great elation; at times of great fear, anger, or embarrassment; or at times when intense frustration or disappointment arises. Alternatively, when another strong desire arises, this desire is sacrificed (forgotten) and the sigil is concentrated on instead. After holding the sigil in the mind for as long as possible, it is wise to banish it by evoking laughter.

Figure 2. Creating a sigil by A) the word method, B) the pictorial method, and C) the mantrical method.

A record should be kept of all work with sigils but not in such a way as to cause conscious deliberation over the sigilized desire.

DREAMING

The dream state provides a convenient egress into the fields of divination, entities, and exteriorization or “out of the body” experience. All humans dream each night of their lives, but few can regularly recount their experiences even a few minutes after waking. Dream experiences are so incongruous that the brain learns to prevent them interfering with waking consciousness. The magician aims to gain full access to the dream plane and to assume control of it. The attempt to do this invariably involves the magician in a deadly and bizzare battle with his own psychic censor, which will use almost any tactics to deny him these experiences.

The only method of gaining full access to the dream plane is to keep a book and writing instrument next to the place of sleeping at all times. In this, record the details of all dreams as soon as possible after waking.

To assume conscious control over the dream state, it is necessary to select a topic for dreaming. The magician should start with simple experiences, such as the desire to see a particular object (real or imaginary) and master this before attempting divination or exteriorization. The dream is set up by strongly visualizing the desired topic in an otherwise silenced mind, immediately before sleep. For more complex experiences the method of sigils may be employed.

A record of dreams is best kept separate from the magical record as it tends to become voluminous. However any significant success should be transferred into the magical diary.

Though one may get to fear the sight of it, a properly kept magical record is the surest guarantor of success in the work of Liber MMM: it is both a work of reference with which to evaluate progress and, most significantly, a goad to further effort.

The Initiate Syllabuses

3° IOT

LIBER LUX, LIBER NOX

The magic art may be subdivided in many ways: by the ethical tone of the intent, by the moralistic qualities of the effects, into high and low, and so on. The division favored here is more temperamental. White Magic leans more toward the acquisition of wisdom and a general feeling of faith in the universe. The Black form is concerned more with the acquisition of power and is reflective of a basic faith in oneself. The end results are likely to be not dissimilar, for the paths meet in a way impossible to describe.

Initiates are at liberty to work with material from either or both. The so-called middle way, or path of knowledge, consisting of the acquisition of secondhand ideas, is an excuse to do neither and leads nowhere.