Purity and the Fear of Being Tainted

We have already noted that, in the tradition of classical Magic, the notions of “good” and “evil” are replaced by the ideas of purity and impurity.

The idea of “spiritual purity” is highly popular both among religious fanatics and among those who aspire to the greatness of the “Enlightened”.

For some reason these groups consider anything that doesn’t involve matter to be clean, and conversely any interaction with it — and especially with the lower worlds — is perceived as impurity.

The ancient Sumerians introduced into magical practice the concept of “Ritual purity“. They understood it not as the absence of interaction, but as the absence of links with inverted beings.

In other words, they understood that one should not fear getting dirty, but one must exercise caution, and if impurity has been allowed — fight it. The notion of “Ritual purity” is very far from the modern idea of “spirituality”. Theoretically, a person may be horribly “sinful” from the point of view of contemporary religions and still be “ritually pure”. In fact, “Ritual purity” is selfhood. That is, if a person acts guided by his own motives (that is, not under the influence of “circumstances”, “opinions”, “customs” or other people and non-human beings), and at the same time does not refuse to acknowledge his actions as his own, he is ritually pure. And this meant that the way to interaction with the gods was open to him. The lengthy and elaborate procedures of purifications known since those times are aimed precisely at severing external ties, which were considered absolutely undesirable, since the world was conceived as inhabited by swarms of demons eager to manipulate man and the world.

However it is well known that two objects that have once interacted remain bound thereafter (this, in particular, is the basis of all contact magic). Therefore the art of Ritual purity implies precisely a mode of interaction in which the objects, while preserving the memory of their meeting and interaction (bearing an imprint, “reshimo” of each other), nevertheless exchange energy minimally. Such balancing is necessary, because the Magus seeks experience but must not get stuck in it and must not turn the accumulation of experience into an end in itself.

So — what is the way in? The alternative is either to recoil from any “impurity” and spend life in a refined void, reveling in one’s own sanctity, or to try to pass through the darkness in such a way as not to be infected by it. After all, the world is not as bright as the adepts of “high spirituality” would have it. Anyone who looks around soberly will conclude that the world is a harmonious coexistence of predators, where the only worthy course is to try to participate as little as possible in the general mutual devouring.

Unfortunately, very often those who, at every turn, proclaim their purity and spirituality turn out in practice to be the most treacherous predators.

The great art of the Magus, not given to megalomania and a thirst for power, consists precisely in the ability to find that razor-thin edge along which one can pass while remaining oneself. For by absorbing another’s power the predator also absorbs the other’s individuality and is forced either to expend effort on assimilating and mastering that power or to lose himself, becoming the sum of his victims (by the way, this is exactly what the Supreme Predator does, which is why he is a World Vortex).

Therefore the Magus, passing through Heaven and Hell, yields neither to the song of the one nor to the grinding of the other. But what if contamination has nevertheless occurred? Again, two ways are known: either to weep and grieve, lamenting one’s “sinfulness” and hoping for forgiveness from a capricious higher being, or to seek purification by active means. For millennia Magi have found a number of methods and ways of such cleansing which, although they do not restore the original innocence, nevertheless allow one to continue one’s path.

The Magus is all the more successful the better he manages to walk without getting dirty, to leap across puddles and to find firm tracks in the marshes. And, having become soiled — to make every effort to purify oneself. And yet, such a life, full of dangers but also of adventures, rife with abysses but also with bridges across them, for one whose heart has not frozen by the cold of absolute spirit, can become his Way to the summits of Power and Wisdom.