Support and Sustenance
Understood in the narrow sense — not as a way of life, but as the set of skills required to sustain that way of life — Magic, as we have said, comes down to the art of choosing, creating, and strategically placing anchor points for the realization of the potentials of the mind.
In other words, any realization — that is, any transition of a potential reality into an actual state — requires interaction between the mind and its “support” — an already actualized part of being that is used as a foothold for further expansion of the mind. The more successfully the anchor point is chosen, the easier the induction of Power — that is, the process of expanding the mind and actualizing potentials.
At the same time, one must clearly distinguish between sustaining the flow of Power — its use — and expenditures and dissipations that don’t promote growth of the mind.
Put differently, interaction with Power is valuable only when its result is a cumulative increase. Accordingly, any system is harmonious and evolutionary only when its individual elements reinforce one another, and the result of their combination is not merely the sum of their capabilities but a geometric amplification — the overall level of the system must exceed the sum of the parts’ power levels. This applies to any systems — relationships between people, interactions with Places of Power, and, of course, the use of anchor points.
For realization to occur, an initial investment of Power is necessary — its use — and, as we have said, the use of Power leads to its increase, as the old alchemical aphorism sums up: “to make gold, one must have gold.”
However, this statement has a converse side that is often overlooked: Power not only increases through use, but Power diminishes through disuse.
This point concerns every aspect. We have already said that the stagnation of Power halts its Flow, and thus leads to a reduced intensity and quality of mental functioning, which means — loss of Power.
For the mind to develop, Power must flow freely and unobstructed, be induced and, in turn, induce, be used and grow in strength.
It follows that the use of anchor points — whether objects, ideas, places, or people — requires ongoing active interaction.
There is often an impression that an anchor point is something assumed to function indefinitely after creation.
Nevertheless, it is well known that a house left uninhabited for a long time gradually falls into ruin, and places not visited for years lose the ability to induce Power as they once could. If the current of Power is not maintained, any anchor points lapse into the “abomination of desolation” — they fall into disorder, are overrun and decay, and lose their vitality.
For the Magus it is very important to maintain “active engagement” with those anchor points that remain relevant: to visit the Places of Power periodically, to sort ritual artifacts used in Rituals, and to contact important people regularly.
The Master must teach, otherwise he deteriorates; if he does not drink from the Spring of Power — he becomes stagnant. The student must learn, otherwise he regresses. Neglect of the Way means not merely a halt in development; it means decline.
The failure to maintain connections inevitably leads to their gradual destruction and chaos. Again, we emphasize that one must sustain only connections that promote growth — those sources of Power that contribute to further realizations and whose interaction leads to development. Investing energy in keeping these systems active is an application of Power that increases it, and therefore it is an important part of the Way of development.
There is a question: how is ‘Doing’ worse than ‘Not Doing’?
I mean the interesting peculiarity of consciousness/mind, related to the conviction that by NOT DOING something specific, whether it be work, sports, cleaning the apartment, self-discovery, fighting one’s weaknesses (forgive the generalized list), and any other Necessary undertaking that involves the application of Force, a peculiar certainty arises that we are resting, gathering, so to speak, our strength.
At the same time, the situation in this case is exactly the opposite: by refusing to perform a specific Task, the necessity of which is conditioned by a specific situation or vector of the Path, we cultivate the atrophy of the opportunity for any realization of our Will. The opposite effect arises to that expected – internal fatigue, a swamp of consciousness and thoughts with a rather unpleasant taste of stagnation. In fact, we are not resting, but performing another work not conditioned by the requirements of the Path: watching TV, flipping through the first available reading material, engaging in passionate discussions about world economic problems, and… many other meaningless and, as it turns out, extremely labor-intensive tasks. NOT DOING turns out to be, upon verification, an illusion, a game of imagination.
Meanwhile, with the timely resolution of arising questions on the Path, a skill is formed, a conditioned reflex, the formula of which is as follows: task – conscious Doing – solution (result) – strength and skill for solving new tasks.
The same situation applies to the anchor points. Not using them with a certain systematized periodicity leads to forgetting their properties, and as a consequence, their separation and exclusion from the internal system of consciousness.
Hello! Right after reading, I became curious – if anchor points are everything that increases the effectiveness of consciousness realization, then in the most general sense, can states of consciousness also be considered as such? In the sense of trance, meditation is also a hunt for Force?
Consciousness is a stream, there are no static “states” in it, it is in constant motion. That is why it needs anchors – in the body, in the world, in objects – in what can “anchor” it when necessary. Conversely, liberation from all anchors means freedom of consciousness – but also absence of realization.
And anchors – should they always be something material, physical; or can they also be ‘anchored’ with illuminated images?
Well, perhaps only if creating a tulpa out of those images.
Am I correct in understanding that Power Points are a kind of markers that you leave for connecting with reality?
Important thoughts! Thank you.
Thank you.