The Hunt for Power

We have noted more than once that the Myth we are considering describes the “forced” development of mind as “hunting for Power”. At the same time, by “hunting” is meant any purposeful, active effort aimed at increasing awareness – the accumulation of Power. The two basic tasks of a magus – the purification of his mind and the actualization of his potentials – are manifested in two types of activity, which are traditionally described as battle (confrontation) and hunting (implementation). Just as “battle” does not imply aggression, “hunting” does not mean that there is a victim, and the use of these words refers precisely to the kinds of activity that a magus must manifest: in the case of “battle” it is tenacity and perseverance, in the case of “hunting” – attentiveness, alertness and plasticity.

In other words, every time a Magus expands his awareness – it is the result of a successful Hunt for Power, even if to an external observer he appears simply to be sitting in a corner of his room.

From the perspective of the Great Arcanum of Magic, one can say that the Hunt for Power can take place on three levels – “external”, “internal” and “deep” – and concern both changes in the psychophysical complex of conduits and the transformation of the stream of consciousness itself.

• At the external level, the Hunt can be carried out as a Journey for Power and involve changing where the mind functions, and therefore its state. Hunting as a Journey may include: visiting Places of Power; visiting places with heightened energies of a particular deity; visiting the dwelling of a particular spirit or other guiding being; visiting places with an active reshimo of a particular evolutionary event.
• At the internal level, the Hunt is carried out as a Ritual and consists in a search or a contest.
• At the deep level, the Hunt is carried out as illumination and may be conducted as scrying, “yoga of deities” or “inner goetia”.

At the same time, the result of the Hunt at each of the levels may be:

• Receiving inspiration;
• Induction of Power;
• Activation of the higher matrix of consciousness.

At the same time, another important characteristic of the Hunt is its “uncertainty”. A hunter never knows exactly who he will “run into” in the forest – a hare, a bear, or an old woman picking mushrooms. None of these results is guaranteed, and it is impossible to predict in advance how this particular Hunt will end – with the accumulation of vod or with merging with a deity – however, with sufficient experience and discipline, the Hunt always leads to at least one of them. One should not think that a Hunt that ended “only” with the gaining of inspiration is less successful than one that led to the transcendence of mind. The Hunt leads to obtaining the “prey” that the mind needs and is ready for, and therefore a mind that needs vod will obtain it, a mind ready to accumulate Power will receive its induction, and a mind ready to change its governing matrix will achieve this.

This is the peculiarity of magical quests – “daytime” mind may not see what it needs, and therefore, setting out on a Hunt, a magus must be impeccable, attentive and alert, and then success awaits him. It is very important not to “anticipate” the results of the Hunt, not to form expectations about its outcome, since such “programming” is likely to turn out false: an obscured mind, entangled in the bonds of a destructive force, will likely make a mistake in assessing both its state and its needs, and, moreover, having received a result different from the “desired” one, one can easily miss the real value that the Hunt can bring.

Thus, despite all the clarity and structure of Magic as a Path, the development of mind, the accumulation of Power and Authority on this Path always occur with an element of uncertainty, and many Masters pointed to this, including the last of the Great Magi, saying that “True desire is usually hidden from us”, where “us” means the “ordinary”, daytime, obscured state of mind. That is precisely why the term “Hunt”, reflecting the Path into the Unknown, most accurately reflects the state of the magus.