Using Power

One of the most serious misconceptions that hinders both Magi in their progress and non‑Magi from understanding Magic is the idea of Power as a substance.

On the one hand, Magi who try to accumulate Power as if it were a material object become prisoners of Power rather than its masters. On the other, people on the threshold of Magic do not always understand why one should accumulate something at all if the Magus professes a desire for freedom.

We have said many times that a clear perception of the nature of Power shows that it is not a substance but a quality, a property, or, more precisely, a capacity.

Accordingly, both the accumulation and the use of Power are not the same as the accumulation or use of objects or substances.

Because all of Magic’s attention is concentrated on the accumulation of “personal” Power, or the Power of Awareness, it is obvious that the phrase “to accumulate Power” is identical with the phrase “to develop awareness” — that is, to expand its ability to describe the interaction of energies and to act on that description.

And if it is relatively easy to understand how awareness can be accumulated, it is much harder to grasp what Magi mean by the “use” of Power.

As we have already discussed, the development of awareness does not proceed linearly or continuously, but rather as a series of ascents and descents.

Accordingly, in order to climb to a higher peak, the mind must from time to time lower its level of synthesis, let go of certain concepts, and undermine established beliefs.

It is precisely this “lowering” of the mind’s level — when an understanding that once seemed complete diminishes or completely slips away — that is called the “expenditure” of Power, and expenditures of Power consciously undertaken to increase it are a conscious “shedding” — a renewal of awareness — are the “use” of Power.

And then it becomes clear why “Power grows from use.”

After all, in fact the use of Power is a profoundly conscious act, and it is itself a manifestation of the Power of awareness.

Again, we emphasize that it is precisely the awareness of any action that leads to an increase in Power, and conversely, the more aware any action is, the more it contributes to the growth of Power.

Accordingly, a conscious “descent” of the mind leads to its subsequent, even greater ascent, and the flexibility of a Magus’s mind — his non‑attachment to concepts — is a necessary condition for the accumulation of Power.

Another aspect of the use of Power involves accelerating its conversion from potential form — Life Power — into actualized form — the Power of awareness.

Accordingly, often by “use of Power” in this sense one means the expenditure of Life Power directed toward increasing awareness.

In this sense a Magus’s whole life is the use of Power, but the more awareness expands while using a smaller amount of Life Power, the more efficient the Magus’s existence.

And the most effective method in Magic for converting Life Power into the Power of awareness is considered to be the Ritual — a microcosmic imitation of macrocosmic processes.

In this respect a Ritual in the broadest sense is aimed precisely at maximizing the expansion of awareness with minimal expenditures of Life Power, and the “change of reality” that it effects is essentially only a change in the description of the nature of energy interactions — a change made possible by the increase in the level of awareness.

In any case, a necessary and sufficient condition for the growth of Power — that is, on the one hand, the expansion of perception of reality, and on the other, an increase in the degree to which that reality is under one’s control — is the maximum awareness of the Magus’s actions. The more a Magus controls himself and his manifestations, the more the “rest” of reality falls under his control.