Daily Practices
Since Magic is the path of development through conscious action, practice occupies a central place: practice. One way or another, everything a Magus does is directed toward seeking and establishing contact with an ever-widening circle of energies; conscious interaction with these energies allows him to expand his awareness into ever deeper layers of the macro- and psychocosm, and thus to achieve development and the harmonization of the mind. We have already said that all a Magus’s efforts are therefore aimed at eliciting reality (both macrocosmic and psychocosmic) to reveal its potentials, possibilities, new energies — discovering these energies in both realms, establishing correspondence between them, and thus integrating reality into a single, indivisible, actual, unified state.
In this light, the exceptional role of ritual activity, which has always been characteristic of Magic, is entirely understandable. Ritual for the Magus is not merely a way to achieve a specific result; it is, above all, a means of self-development and self-improvement. By altering the fabric of reality, the Magus purposefully and steadily transforms his own current, relative nature, bringing it closer to its potential and absolute nature.
Accordingly, the magical formula “practice often” means that only after attaining the necessary intensity of development, only after heating his will white-hot, can the Magus achieve this double transformation — as both world and mind.
All magical schools, lines and currents have always insisted on the importance of daily practice, and any pupil of these schools would receive from the Master a set of obligatory actions and vows, the strict observance of which was the most important condition of his development.
Many modern Magi often forget the importance of such “anchors” that keep the mind within the continuity of the stream of practice, preferring to practice “as inspiration strikes” or “when necessary.” And, of course, it is no surprise that the actual pace of their development leaves much to be desired.
For the Magus who aspires to the maximum acceleration of his evolution, to the fullest use of the opportunities and resources afforded by his being embodied in this dense world, productive use of those resources and time is, of course, key. Therefore, on the one hand, it is extremely useful to establish for oneself (or to receive from the Master) a set of daily actions that are performed steadfastly and regardless of any circumstances or conditions. On the other hand, these “basic” practices should not replace or negate the “large” ritual work — grand Rituals that do not observe such strict periodicity but are performed for and as a result of significant realizations. An indispensable daily practice will serve both as an anchor, holding the mind in the evolutionary flow, and as a springboard, allowing one to reach the high intensities of “revolutionary” ritual activity. It is precisely the combination of such supportive approaches and practices, which produce breakthroughs and lead to transcendent states of mind, that is the guarantee of the steady development of the mind.
At the same time, it is important to remember that daily practices should not reduce the intensity of the moving imbalance that serves as fuel for development. In other words, the Magus must, on the one hand, remember that these practices are his foundation, and must not abandon them under any circumstances. But, on the other hand, he must not forget that this basis is only a necessary, but not sufficient condition for development. He must not fall into the feeling: “well, I’ve done my daily practices, so everything is fine, I’m on the Way, I don’t need to worry.” For these vows to be effective, the main structure of development must be built on that foundation: the Magus must make leaps, it must be filled with life, he must feel a persistent dissatisfaction with his current state, still far from perfect; an ocean of potential must boil within him, striving to be realized. It is precisely the combination of firm resolve and sharp dissatisfaction that creates the necessary conditions for movement with due intensity. The Magus must not forget for a moment that he is a Wayfarer, steadily walking his Way, yet at the same time he must feel that the Way is not mere passive existence; it is a flow of living fire, for which calmness leads to extinction. “I walk” — this basic orientation of the Magus must not slip into the complacent “I’m almost there,” nor into the despairing “I will never make it.” By practicing, the Magus does what he must, what is in his nature; he actualizes what must be realized, without fear, without hope, but with unwavering resolve and diligence.
Hello! Perhaps I misunderstood you a bit, but this approach seems to me to somewhat replace cause and effect. If we assume that the practice itself is a manifestation of some pure impulse/Great Spirit/Absolute, etc., expressing itself as an intuitive need and filtered through the experience of our imperfect manifested consciousness, coming to us specifically as we grow. Then being outside of this, let’s say, “ray”, the question of practice as an attempt to “be a magician” or “be in the flow” falls away by itself, as internal honesty, the supporting pillar and the main navigational instrument will know that it is being deceived; the peak has not yet been reached to begin the descent, and forcing oneself to attempt this is like a rural mechanic trying to fit his dirty greasy fingers of external “must” into the delicate internal tuning of foreign electronics. And being “in the ray”, one can of course ignore one’s subtle tuning, connection with reality at this moment, in this place and at this time, one’s Game, using socially trodden roads of schools, orders, traditions, but again, the question will always loom – on this Path were wiser, more knowledgeable, there were geniuses, so why am I here? And the personal battle of spirit with the material world is already lost internally, while the proclaimed revolution of the spirit is carefully rolled into a progressive scientific approach. Or everything is individual, and there are no verified maps for all cases of life, the only thing that leads the Guiding Thread is you. In any case, this creates a kind of vicious circle, like “the knower does not speak, the speaker does not know”, but even without such dialectics, it seems to me helpful to shake the beads of one’s experience, playing both in familiar and unfamiliar games, perfecting and supplementing oneself as some eternal improving algorithm.
Practice is not an “attempt to be a magician”; it is an image of actions and a way of life for a magician. Nevertheless, the degree of accessibility of the impulse of the Great Spirit, manifesting through actions, depends on the amount of free energy, and sometimes there are situations where this energy is insufficient for practice to arise as a natural flow. In those situations, the memory of the necessary daily action helps, the will to carry it out engages, and thus compensates for the lack of energy.
In my opinion, it is said extremely clearly that in order to be someone significant, it is important to have a stable education not only in the space of the macrocosm, the space of psychocosmos, but also in the space of time. In other words, if one has that desire, it is necessary to have a schedule for the day, week, month, year, etc. In reality, such a “schedule” is also established by itself (automatically) under the pressure of external factors (for instance, the change of day and night, social settings). But such a life is the life of an elemental, not a magician.