Words Before the Face of Power

We have already spoken about how seriously Magi regard words — as embodied thoughts and as support for the Power of Intention.

Nevertheless, at times it may seem that a Magus utters meaningless or needless words — for example, when he expresses approval or condemnation of those who have no need of such judgments. It creates the impression that the Magus is merely “grumbling” or lavishing praise. But such conduct is categorically incompatible with the cornerstone principle of Magic — the principle of ‘wasting nothing’ — Magi strive to conserve Power and should not perform actions unrelated to their Way.

A Magus never wastes words, understanding their extraordinary value and finality.

So why, then, does a Magus speak instead even when it would seem, “silence is golden”?

It turns out that, beyond the ordinary view of spoken words as attempts to influence the surrounding world, words serve another function — they express the Magus’s relationship to Power.

When a Magus, for example, says, “I am on the Way to Freedom,” he is not so much practicing self-suggestion as addressing Power and the cosmos, witnessing his intention clearly and unequivocally.

In other words, a Magus’s speech is not always addressed to listeners or even to himself; many of a Magus’s words are spoken to Power, to attest to his Way and his place on that Way.

This view explains why many Magi perished, for instance, for criticizing rulers, despots, and tyrants — they did not expect that hearing them would soften tyrants and more devout (though that possibility is not excluded) but felt bound before Power and on behalf of Power to bear witness to the mismatch between those rulers’ deeds and the cosmic order of things.

Such witnessing was also an affirmation that the Magus is in the Flow of Power and therefore can speak on behalf of Power, which, in turn, affirms the intention to be in that Flow, and thus constitutes a magical act directed at sustaining the Magus’s own Way.

It is clear that each Magus decides for himself when, in which situations, and with regard to what he may or should remain silent, and when silence is incompatible with his Way. He decides when silence is a wise strategy and when it is a cowardly retreat, unworthy of a warrior. And this way of acting is an effective support for the Magus himself, who navigates between skimming the surface of the world and plunging into its depths. Aware of his separation from everyday, “worldly” affairs, the Magus acts upon the world as an external, point of reference, and thereby asserts his belonging to Power.