The Authority of the Magus

We have discussed this that all magical practice, as a method of developing and realizing consciousness on the Western Way, boils down to two components – the accumulation of Power (that is, the activity of awareness) and Authority (its stability). However, despite the importance of such integrated development, individual wayfarers often lose their balance by chasing either energy or experience.

And whereas much has been said, from various angles, about Power (Lat. Potentia, “Ability”), the notion of Authority (Lat. Auctoritatis, “Power”) is one of those overlooked concepts — treated as if it were self-evident and therefore often misunderstood. We have already noted that in magical terminology Authority is called the “reshimo of Power,” that is, an ability imprinted in the stream of consciousness, an acquired, consolidated understanding, an experience regarded as energy.

It is precisely this energetic sense that is often lost when people reduce it to the psychology of “Authority.” Nevertheless, as we have mentioned before, Traditional Magic is more a matter of physics than psychology; its concepts and regularities are closer to physical laws than to the fashionable Jungian categories. Therefore it is worth reiterating that Authority is not simply a characteristic or a state of mind; it is a particular type of energy that the mind can possess and employ.

In a certain sense one can say that Authority is as objective a characteristic of mental development as the Degree of Initiation (its evolutionary position measured in sephirotic coordinates).

In this respect Authority is a form in the mind of that energy of mastery which, in terms of vitality, is expressed by Baraka. The energy of Authority is the “knowledge of the Way,” the “Knowledge of the Law,” impressed into the very fabric of the stream of consciousness, whereas Baraka is the outwardly spreading influence of that same energy — the atmosphere created by an authoritative Wayfarer.

Like any form of energy, Authority is developed through practice and consolidated in the mind once it has been made conscious and assimilated. In other words, Authority accumulates only from those actions that, on the one hand, result in successful realization, and on the other are accompanied by a qualitative awareness of the Way, the method, and the result of that realization. In turn, the accumulation of Authority is itself a Way and a method of the mind’s evolution; and just as the level of Power measures the “breadth” of the mind — the size of the cosmos “available for operation” — the degree of Authority measures its “depth,” the ability to “stay afloat” in that cosmos, the possibility and the “right” to operate it. This is precisely why the Latin term Potentia points to Power’s function of “opening possibilities,” while the notion Auctoritatis speaks to the capacity to govern the flows of energy and consciousness.

If Power is what forces the “fabric of worlds” to part, what unravels reality into the energies that compose it, then Authority is what helps to weave them into a new, more perfect pattern. For example, possessing sufficient Power, a Magus can establish contact, can “shout through” to an angel, a spirit or a god during a Ritual, but only Authority will make that spirit “respond” to the Magus’s words in the prescribed manner.

One could say that Authority is the complementary ingredient to “energy” understood narrowly as the “acting” part of Power, and so Power = Action + Awareness, is, realization + Authority.

Note that, strictly speaking, for an individual successful realization Authority can be transmitted to an operator along a Chain of Succession — from a Master or a School — but for the overall effectiveness of the Way itself it is absolutely necessary to develop one’s own Authority.

Thus the Magical Way is successful when it includes:

1. Understanding that a particular realization has “ripened,” that is, is a necessary condition for the further development of the mind;
2. The emergence of desire, i.e., an internal energetic resource for its fulfillment;
3. Finding a source of energy, i.e., an external resource;
4. Applying intention, which is conscious will, to carry out the realization;
5. Relying on one’s own Authority, developed in practice;
6. Assessing the result obtained and learning the lessons.

Having gone through these stages, as a result of successful realization the Magus acquires Power, and by correctly learning those lessons — Authority.

Both components are equally important and equally necessary on the Magical Way. Accumulation of Power without accompanying growth in Authority inevitably leads to a fall, either from a Stroke of Light or through error and drain. An increase in Authority without corresponding growth in Power turns a magus into a sage or philosopher unable to transform reality, apply their knowledge, or break free from the bonds of gilgul.