Basic Sigil Magic - Phillip Cooper 2001

Red Magick
The Psybernomicon

The nature of red power is energy and action. It also governs ambitions, blood complaints, disputes, self-defense, dealing with enemies, personal energy, drive and stamina, getting rid of anger, aggression and other destructive impulses, and selfreliance. It can be a dark force, but not an evil one.

Red magick is the power of war, so they say. It is a safe bet that given energy, the human race will misuse it and then hold the results up as the accepted norm. War, killing, destruction, and other negative tendencies have no place in reality, let alone in magick, so let us forget about wars and strife and look at the real power of red magick.

Red magick represents a person's driving force. It is the energy that motivates a person into action—the warrior-self. Red power gets things done. It pushes aside obstacles using determination and strength. All acts of bravery and daring are governed by red magick.

Black power asks to be understood, and you must apply this understanding to the reality of life's energies and the red power, or you will face the consequences of cause and effect.

Wasted or uncontrolled energy is usually due to lack of understanding. It results in anger, unwanted force, antagonism, and even war. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, according to the laws of physics. This is true on all levels. Life's energies should produce action along the right paths, provided that you think first and then act.

Red power, and its energy, needs and implies control, for every action must cause a result. Better to plan and organize than to be impulsive, for we are always responsible for our actions, whether mental or physical. Cause and effect are little understood, so we find useless excuses to cover up our lack of control, or we create convenient "escape clauses" so that we can blame something or somebody else—usually the gods, fate, destiny, or, if you really want to indulge in passing the buck, karma. The latter excuse is now an accepted belief pattern for millions of people who have not even thought about the concept, who have failed to realize the true implication of what they believe. To claim that it is not your fault, it is your karma, may seem like a good way to dodge the issue, but it is not. Neither is it any longer a valid excuse for not doing anything about life's problems. Any problems you have are truly yours. You caused them, in the same way that you are now learning how to cause far better things to happen. Thinking is the cause. Wrong thinking produces undesirable effects. Change your thinking and you are bound to change your life for the better.

Although the unconscious projection of malice and aggression is all too commonplace, genuine cases of real magical .attack are rare. Most apparent magical attacks are not true magical attacks, but are quite often the result of acute paranoia induced by our own mundane afflictions or depression, negativity or frustration. Very often, however, it may prove expedient to devise some form of magical self-defense techniques. Even though it may never happen to you, it can do no harm to practice and elaborate on the Cosmic Sphere (see page 32), as it serves for magical protection as well as for centering. The stamp of individuality can only serve to help. Any magician worthy of the name will always be prepared for real or imag

ined imminent magical attack. It is interesting to note that even Jesus made use of cursing techniques as mentioned in the Bible, when he cursed a fig tree.¹ The key to the energies of red power is to stop, think, and then act in a responsible manner, using the assertive power of your warrior-self.

Red power may be invoked in many ways by using the magical paradigms given in previous chapters. These can, of course, be modified by using the correspondences for red magick and directing your attention to the upper point (crown). See the red power that is allowed into the ritual area. Feel yourself surrounded by this energy, then charge your sigil. All you need to do is to plan a series of rituals to last over a period of time—a week, ten days, or more.

¹ And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, "Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away" (Mark 11:21). This, and all following Biblical quotes, are from the authorized King James Version of the Bible.