Loans of Power and Magical Chains
In all our previous conversations we spoke of the flow of Power as if that flow is already happening in the life of the Wayfarer.
However, the real situation is that the vast majority of people never encounter Power in its real manifestations.
For most people Power exists only in words and hypotheses, not in real agents participating in their lives.
The problem is that “you need gold to make gold,” — that is, acquisition and accumulation of Power begin only when Power already exists.
At the same time, a person almost never has any free Power: all the Power of awareness they possess is entirely tied to interactions with the world, to maintaining the picture of the world and its stability.
This observation was expressed in the well-known formula: “In much knowledge there is much sorrow”, — meaning the expansion of a person’s awareness inevitably brings greater burdens.
The magical description of the world proceeds from the view that although the original task of the cosmos is the realization of potentials and the accumulation of Power by embodied beings, the actual situation is that the world is not at all interested in Power growing beyond narrow limits.
The Mind Parasite, as a particular manifestation of the Supreme Predator, takes great care to ensure every last drop of Power emerging in the process of a being’s realization of potentials is immediately returned to the world in which that being dwells, and that all its surplus is thoroughly devoured by numerous predators surrounding every embodied being.
This idea is one of the cornerstones of Magic — a person lacks the Power to walk the Way. If they attempt to weaken the use of Personal Power for maintaining the picture of the world, the world will collapse, and with it the person’s personality would collapse, leading to the end of their incarnation.
In other words, to open the Way of Power the primary acquisition must occur first. It is no accident that in many traditions the beginning of the Way is effected by “initiation,” “consecration” — that is, the original, initiating transfer of Power.
We have already said that this opening of the Way of Power has an impulsive character, but now note that the primary source of Power always lies outside the being that receives it.
At the same time, this means that the initial jolt of Power to the Wayfarer always comes from someone else’s Power. Even shamanic initiations carried out by the inner Powers of the Psychocosm still require an external push — an elder shaman sending one on the Vision Quest.
It is obvious that such an outside Power, used in an individual’s Way, disturbs the overall balance of Power and therefore needs to be returned. Therefore it has traditionally been held that the Power that opens up the possibility of movement to a being is taken on loan. In other words, the Way always begins with a Loan of Power, which must later be returned.
Thus the traditional organization of Magic training was organized as Lines of Magical Succession, or Magical Chains, in which a surplus of Power is passed from one link to another, from one participant to the next.
It is clear that each Line, as well as a Magical family, school or other traditional organization, must possess such surplus Power, and that is why most Lines trace back to legendary founders — often gods who bestowed that surplus of Power upon the Line. The question of how and why gods grant Power to Lines lies far beyond the scope of our discussion; yet on their part it is not pure altruism: in giving Power they gain an opportunity denied them in ordinary states.
Thus, the only possibility of beginning movement along the Way of Power is that the Wayfarer must receive a loan of Power.
This situation has several important consequences.
The first and most essential of them is that everyone who had a Master must pass Power to a student. Without this, the balance of Power will be upset, further movement will be impossible, and their incarnation cannot be completed successfully. Moreover, even someone who obtained the opportunity for movement by any other means must either give this loan to a student or — return it to its source from which that Power was drawn. Unlike any other acquisitions on the Way, Power is exchanged only for Power except Power itself, so a simple sacrifice will not suffice here. It is well known that even witches must transfer their Power to someone, otherwise they cannot leave this world.
The second consequence lies in the repeatedly noted importance of associations without egregores that attract magi. Furthermore, the very meaning of the Master-Student relationship is complemented by the understanding that not only knowledge and skills but also direct transmission of Power occurs. Moreover, Traditional associations have developed many methods that help, first, to avoid the emergence of an egregore, and second, to bind Power into vortices of a different kind.
The third important consequence lies in the recently discussed necessity of transmitting Power along the human-to-human chain, since obtaining loans from interworld dwellers is hindered, firstly, by losses when crossing the Threshold, and secondly, by the need to return the loan to other worlds as well.
Thus, Magical Chains are aimed precisely at opening up for their participants the possibility of accumulating Power; to this end they give participants pushes in the form of a Loan of Power passed along the chain, sustaining the chain and advancing its participants.
It now becomes clear why maintaining the strictest secrecy under the threat of terrible punishment of signs and words communicated during initiation is so important in Western esoteric communities of Masonic and paramasonic nature. In fact, one who discloses that which constitutes the community’s secret, instead of returning the borrowed Power, dissipates it into nothing.
Enmerkar, could you please tell me why there might be a need for otherworldly inhabitants to give Power to the inhabitants of other worlds?
Most often, it is simply a subject of trade, or rather, even bait – people are given a portion of Power in exchange for trust and access to larger reserves of Power. In the case of the gods-founding Lines, it is part of their struggle against Predators…
And if we cease interactions with them, will the portion remain?
It depends on what stage these interactions are at.
How can these stages be determined?
Power can simply be returned until it has begun to be used; having passed the ‘point of no return,’ it must be returned ‘with interest.’
I’m curious to learn about self-initiation; it seems like such an option exists and some have taken advantage of it.
And also, as you love to repeat, Power flows where there is room for it. A borrowing of Power can be seen as an external action to create space for Power,
for if it isn’t created, there will be no point in transferring… but to whom does the transferred Power belong? Since personal Power cannot be transmitted and the transfer of Life Power does not make much sense, it means that some External Power is transferred in relation to both participants in the process, which the Initiator has access to, and this access is passed to the Initiated.
This External Power must possess the property of unattractiveness for Parasites, or possess protective properties against them; otherwise, the Initiated may easily lose it. At the same time, it must be constant, i.e., this is not quantity since using Power does not deplete it; otherwise, it would not be possible to demand the fulfillment of the main condition – the return/transmission to the next in the Chain of Initiations. What could serve as a source of such Power?
The Borrowing of Power is not a direct transfer of Personal Power; rather, it is providing the opportunity for acquiring it. Usually, physically, Borrowing consists of weakening the closedness of consciousness to the world, breaking the ties imposed by Parasites and Predators. In other words, Borrowing provides a Chance, and then the mage must provide that Chance to the next one in the Chain.
I strongly suspect that all human lines did not originate from our world :)))) And the emergence of new ones without the participation of ‘that’ side is impossible. How many Keepers are left now and how many were there? New lines will emerge to restore balance, and probably it is worth agreeing to an exchange to realize serious goals. With that said, of course, attentiveness and criticality are essential in such processes.
“A person lacks the power to walk the Path of Power. If he tries to weaken the use of Personal Power to maintain the world view, this world will collapse, and along with it, the individual’s personality will collapse, leading to the cessation of his embodiment.” – But this worldview is not unchanging throughout life, and its separate fragments can either be completed or collapse, which, as I understand it, may be accompanied by the release of some Power. The same applies to the personality, and you have already written that during one embodiment, personalities can replace each other in one body.
When I said that “there is no Power,” I meant precisely that there is not enough Power to take the first step. But when that first step is already taken (this is what the Borrowing of Power is for), then further advancement depends solely on the personal effectiveness and impeccability of the Traveler.
1. Does a person who has received a Loan of Power always recognize it as an important event, or can they confuse it with one of their better states? 2. Are there criteria for understanding this? ‘Signs’ of the Loan? 3. You will probably answer that it is all about the path, but still, is the Loan for the ‘chosen ones,’ those who are ‘noticed,’ for it is known that ‘volunteers are not needed’ (C. Castaneda), or does any person have a chance to receive it, and if yes, then again under what conditions, or rather at what level?
Anyone who does not betray themselves has a chance and firmly walks their Path.
What are the consequences for the person who lent and the one who received, but considered the loan as “one of their best states”?
How to understand ‘…The power that emerges in the process of realizing the potentials of a being immediately becomes locked onto the world in which that being exists…’ Please provide an example. Based on this, I will try to develop a tactic countering the outflow.
This means that all activity of consciousness is transferred into action, into the external world, and consciousness drowns in the images of this world, dissolving in them, without reaching concentration and wholeness.
I will try to approximately answer my question. For example, while studying something, after some time, a desire to distract appears… unclear desires arise, unrelated to specific activities, or just a monotonous motif starts playing in my head… That is, my concentration and thought are disrupted. The thought is lost, and accordingly, its power is too. Can this be considered as the action of a parasite? Or is it mental tension resulting from prolonged contemplation? And such mental interference is only a signal of fatigue. The most interesting thing is that such interference occurs just when I have shown strong interest in something. How to get rid of this pest, I still do not know. I apply the tactic of inner silence, then concentrate and only after that continue further studies calmly and without anyone’s interference. Is this comment a response to my comment above or am I mistaken?
Hello. The magical chain is the one described in “Practical Magic” by Papus? Will it work without initiation in the tradition? For example, let’s say that I feel closer to the Western tradition of the Order of the Golden Dawn, but I do not have initiation into the order itself. And if, according to Papus’s recipe, I try to form such a chain, choosing A. Beneta as a teacher at the head of the chain, or someone else, will such a chain have results?
Theoretically, one can “close” the Chain of Succession independently if one aligns closely enough with its carriers.
‘In much knowledge there is much sorrow.’ Good motto, primarily related to the fact that over time you start to understand processes, and these processes are not always ‘comfortable and favorable’ as they seem to ordinary mortals. It’s getting more complicated. Plus, increasing responsibility. And the Power… it is everywhere, sees and knows everything, asks-answers. With choice, we shape the power, and the Power influences us. A kind of cycle… And no one will answer what is primary, the chicken or the egg.