Being Beset by Demons

We have said more than once that the Western magical worldview is far from a benign attitude toward the world, which in this system is understood as, more or less, a harmonious coexistence of predators.

In other words, this Myth is marked by a tendency to distinguish the “roots of good” from the “roots of evil,” i.e., the primordial impulses that arise in the macro- or psychocosmos and set its development in one direction or another. Moreover, the Magical Myth, built on a sense of universal interconnectedness and interdependence, strives to find the maximum number of causal links arising from the action of those impulses. So our mind can identify and interact with such “drivers” of the processes of being and mind; the Myth describes them not just as forces, nor just as activities but as concrete agents. This is hardly surprising, since people tend to describe themselves as objects, although each person can more accurately be represented as a process unfolding in the macro- and psychocosmos and coupling them to one another.

We have also said that the individual mind may be described as a focus of perception arising within the universal mind, a particular modality of that mind with a complex multilevel structure, its own centers and its own horizons. At the same time, according to the myth under consideration, it is precisely Ahet, the Horizon of mind, that is the layer in which new operative impulses enter the psychocosmos; therefore it is described as a permeable wall endowed with Gates, and the Myth counts 72 such Gates. It makes no difference whether we consider Ahet as the “inner” reality of mind or speak of it as a Threshold, a perceptual barrier that separates worlds in the macrocosmos.

Each Gate is a specific opportunity for the manifestation of a force, a new impulse, a new attraction in the macro- or psychocosmos. If that opportunity is realized constructively, we speak of the manifestation of a Genius; if it leads to destruction, then one speaks of the influence of a demon.

For the Western Magus, speaking of the influence of a “Genius” or a “demon” does not mean abdicating responsibility by shifting responsibility to an “external” force. On the contrary, the Magus understands that the possibility of such influence — its prerequisites and consequences — depends entirely on the mind itself: it is the mind that decides which influences to accept and which forces to activate, and which to resist.

Nevertheless, more often than not the mind chooses to cede power, because the Way of development, the Way of accumulation, demands effort and discipline — qualities it does not wish to exert.

Therefore such a mind activates the “destructive” aspects of the Gates and finds itself surrounded by destructive impulses and drives, and it feels as if it has been “attacked,” as if dark forces have “closed in” around it.

Indeed, most people are surrounded on all sides by destructive influences that drain their energy, tearing them in every direction. Such a situation, which looks very bleak and sad, is, of course, ultimately the result of the choices and agreements made by the mind itself. However, this does not mean that it can be changed or resolved with a simple “wave of a magic wand.” Although the mind surrounds itself with destructive influences and attractions step by step, the connections formed by them become quite persistent and are reluctant to break. A person must understand that to reach the current state he is in he spent time and considerable energy, and that in order to untie the knots that limit his possibilities he must show persistence and creativity, and expend at least as much energy as went into tying them.

Accordingly, if the mind wants to rid itself of being beset by demons, it must follow one of two Ways — either the evolutionary, gradually untying knot after knot, solving one problem after another, gradually disentangling itself from the tenacious tentacles of the thousand-armed octopus; or the revolutionary, by developing within itself sufficient intensity to burn all limiting agreements and choices.

Which Way to take is the mind’s decision; both Ways are fairly well worked out and mapped, but the person must understand that no one will do this work for them, and they must free themselves from their demons.