Smoothing and Sharpening Corners
In the art of carving runes and in creating synthetic realizational symbols based on them, two skills are of great importance — skills that are, broadly speaking, essential components of the Magus’s Way: the ability to smooth or to sharpen corners at the right moment.
The existential meaning of these concepts is fairly obvious: by smoothing we mean the ability to circumvent or defuse contradictions and conflicts within a system or between that system and other systems; by sharpening — conversely — to make such conflicts more explicit.
A socially accepted form of “advanced” existence is usually the ability to “round off” corners, and often the degree of development of this maneuver is taken as a measure of a person’s wisdom, their “life experience.”
At the same time, for the Magus, as we have already mentioned, reconciliation of incompatible things is only one side of his activity — in practice, it comes down to the ability to neutralize binaries by finding their androgynes. The second component of the Magus’s Way in this sense is the ability to integrate binaries, and this latter skill in Magic often requires a very clear delineation of a binary’s poles to find in each pole a reflection. We have already discussed that this detail is precisely what distinguishes the Magus’s Way from the mystic’s path. Only by bringing the magnitude of the potential difference in a binary to the greatest possible level does the Magus gain access to the “tail of the Ouroboros,” closing the binary and integrating it at the peak of contradiction.
A clear understanding of when one should attempt to “smooth” and when to “sharpen” corners is important for all areas of Magic, including, as we have already mentioned, the runic art.
Indeed, depending on the strength and orientation of the effect required from a Runic sign, one may need either to round it off — turning it into a Galdrastaf — or, conversely, to sharpen it, using as many angles as possible, as in certain Bind-runes.
When an eril seeks the gentlest, least traumatic effect, it makes sense to round corners and use Galdrastafs; moreover, it is very important to understand which angles and in which directions they should be rounded.
If, conversely, a rapid, pronounced effect is desired, it makes sense to use sharp, angular Bind-runes.
It should be noted that this strategy further demonstrates the importance of a comprehensive approach to the Way of Magic, in which the same principles apply at different levels of the Magus’s mind and being. If a Magus effectively chooses when to smooth and when to sharpen corners in his social life, he will be able to reflect this balance in creating signs of power; conversely, an eril who senses the logic of creating staves will find an effective approach in “ordinary” life.
The wise is not he who knows a lot, but he who is able to apply his knowledge in time. Thank you for the article.
Unfortunately, in the total chaos of the current cycle of evolution, in the so-called ‘modern magic’ and among contemporary ‘magicians’, finding such a resource is a great chance for attaining at least a little sobriety. Undoubtedly, the impulse of such sobriety is quite beneficial for those few ready for the Magic path, as well as for the mass consciousness as a whole. Saving the world is definitely not among your tasks, but if inspiration and the need to implement your experience visits you, perhaps you can shed light on several very topical issues for the social, near magical, human masses, obsessed with the idea that they are all, without exception, magicians and are moving towards freedom. (Among which, there are certainly their own nuggets and diamonds.) A simple analysis and observation of the world shows a very large intentional tendency towards an active profanation (parasitic play) with such a concept as Freedom. This misleads and leads into the illusion of freedom, not only people with herd (animal) levels of consciousness, which is the norm for their evolution, but it also seeks to absorb those very young, unformed nuggets and unique units, of which too few are left by the end of the eon… The principle of ‘freedom,’ ‘free will,’ ‘free personality,’ and other principles of Aquarius become the main active idea in the most various teachings, authorities, singers, and cults. The idea of freedom is speculated upon, under the guise of total freedom – total slavery is offered, that is, the replacement of concepts and distortion of essence. All this is taught under various magical slogans and attempts to label their currents as ‘magic,’ as a movement towards ‘freedom,’ and so on.
Any unification is already a step towards Freedom. (It would be more accurate to call it Will; the word “freedom” is a construct of the liberals of the 19th century and derives from “sloboda” – settlements, with the easing of generally accepted norms of behavior and adherence to customs. And free will is precisely what the mage operates with, both in terms of the vector of applying Force and in terms of independence)
Any concept should be considered but should not be forced into.
The Free Shooter, what freedom are we talking about? We humans are extremely dependent beings. The need to satisfy the needs of the body to maintain the state of life forces us to direct attention, spend strength on obtaining means for this, to be involved in many processes of an egregoric nature, and thus to be unfree and dependent. Where is our freedom? It is a Dream.
I didn’t know – very logical – thank you.