Attraction and Repulsion of Power

We have said more than once that for a mind that is not sufficiently awakened, it is extremely difficult to determine the direction of the Power flowing in it — whether it is flowing into it or out of it.

Indeed, there are many examples when a Magus who intends to attract a certain Power to himself and is confident that he is truly attracting it, in fact repelled that Power from himself, as well as the reverse — when a Magus trying to repel something from himself actually attracted it to himself.

Although such an error is characteristic of all people who come into contact with large-scale flows of Power, it is especially dangerous for magicians, since it is obvious that a Magus, for example, who attracts a Demon to himself instead of banishing it, and likewise a Magus who repels Me instead of receiving it, is doomed to failure.

The reason for such a mistake is obvious — it stems from the Magus’s insufficient discernment and attentiveness.

Even the greatest magical system that ever existed — the teachings of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn — was unable to protect the members of that organization from the error in question, and it was precisely this error that led the Order in its original form to collapse.

The problem is that both the procedure of attracting Power and the ritual of banishing it require the same conditions — contact with that Power and entering into alignment with it.

At the same time, any flow of Power has a biner structure, including direct and reverse currents. In other words, when entering such a flow one may not understand whether one is moving toward the source of the Power or away from it.

Accordingly, having mistaken the direction, a summoning becomes a banishment, and a rejection becomes an attraction.

A simple example: any Demon is most effectively banished by the Power of those spirits or divine names that serve as an expression of the same Power of which that Demon is a distortion. However, it is equally clear that by that same Power one can most easily attract the Demon corresponding to it.

The story is similar — a god or angel is summoned by contacting the flow that it governs, but that very flow can carry the Magus’s Power far away from the corresponding god or angel.

In order to avoid misjudging the direction of the flow with which the Magus is working, one must, first and foremost, clearly understand the structure of the flow itself and its influence on the operator. Since the operator’s primary magical instrument is the body, it is precisely by the changes in its sensations that one can determine the direction. In other words, even when it seems that you are moving toward light and goodness, if the body feels discomfort, it is necessary to recheck your direction.

An even more reliable method is to analyze the mind’s reaction to interacting with the flow, but that, of course, requires great inner discipline.

In any case, the key is precisely the intent to avoid error, and the attentiveness it brings to all indicators that show the correctness of movement. Carelessness is the Magus’s chief enemy, and it can be too costly not only for him but for the cosmos as a whole.