‘The Hierophant is a human bridge between Divinity and Humanity. The Hierophant is the Keeper of the Greater Mysteries and is the one who keeps the deepest contact with Universal Divinity while still being human.’
In today’s magical/spiritual world which has great emphasis on money and power, magical groups/lodges can degenerate quickly. The magical lines begin to manifest power struggles, attacks, fundamentalist thought, and sometimes even a parasitical use of the student’s energy by the leader. The catapulting of magical groups into the public eye and popular new age culture has made it very difficult to sustain a quiet magical lodge of the Mysteries that is not drawn into the glamour and industry of the ‘alternative’ culture.
Similarly, in the last 100 years, a loosening of public moral opinion has made it easier for more experimental groups to delve into the more controversial areas of magic such as drugs and sexuality. While the breaking of such taboos and the willingness to explore less socially acceptable approaches to magic is long overdue and very brave, it also has a great deal of degeneracy of its own that can trap the practitioner if they are not careful.
As magicians of the 21st century, we all have a responsibility to resist the commercial tides, to step back and analyse exactly what is happening in the inner and outer magical worlds. From that analysis needs to come a ruthless cutting away of actions that degenerate magic in its many forms, and a willingness to reassess a given magical path to see if the actual practicalities are still in harmony with the original intent of the lodge.
There have been many brave attempts to move ritual magic closer to nature and bridge the large gap between ritualists and traditional witchcraft for example. Some have been successful, some raised interesting questions and some created stepping stones for future generations. Similarly certain magical lodges have moved to close the gap between religion and magic, reopening doors that have been closed for millennia.
I feel that in today’s world, long term practitioners have a responsibility to ‘do their bit’ by recognising the commercialisation and titillation of magic and doing something, however small, to help redress the balance and to initiate the next phase of development in magic. That is already happening in many places around the world.
One of the ways forward to offer service is to restore some of the more ancient ways of approaching magical inner work, particularly in the creation of magical lodges/groups and attempt construction methods without all the dressing that tends to create so many problems. This book is my offering to the pot — it is a concise handbook for adepts wishing to start a magical group from scratch to filter out all the old, degenerate and parasitical lines.
This book covers methods of reaching for inner magical lines of inner contact and power to bring them through into initiatory/consecrated lines. The book also looks in depth at the methods of building the inner temple and the egregore. The techniques in this book are not a ‘how to’ for practitioners/initiates/priests; rather it is book that explores alternative ways for the Hierophant/Magus/Magister to approach the inception and development of a fully contacted magical lodge. It is the structure behind the technique which is looked at and approached in a different light which is more harmonious with our 21st century consciousness. It is aimed at long term adepts or priests wishing to establish clean foundations for the future.
The methods in this book are a culmination of nearly twenty years of work in which I have nearly blown myself up many times and certainly created a few messes with ill thought out experiments. I have survived to tell the tale and pass on what actually works without killing anyone.
Clearing and changing the surface details only goes so far before there comes a day when the sleeves need to be rolled up and the whole thing torn down so that it can rebuilt from scratch.
Note: The visionary and ritual work in this book is designed to be undertaken by a group of adepts over a specified length of time. It is not designed for individual practitioners, and for an individual to attempt such a level of work alone is absolute folly. The work is structured to uphold a group, not an individual; and I strongly advise against using any of the work in this book without the structure and combined energy of a group.