Black magic and the left-hand path: by Phil Hine

[darklordmidnight]

This is all by Selqet.. I take no credit at all

Black magic and the left-hand path: by Phil Hine

Postby Lemon » Fri Feb 15, 2013 12:06 pm
The supposed existence of 'black magic' is one of the more glamorous aspects of modern occultism, as the very idea acts as a psychological dark mirror - a breeding ground for individual's fantasies about the forbidden, mysterious, and the taboo. That which is not understood, is rejected or threatens one's own beliefs can be labelled 'black magic'. Some occultists even appear to need the idea of the existence of black magic and 'black magicians' to bolster their own self-image, in the way that some extreme Christians need to believe in the existence of a world-wide satanic conspiracy - which justifies their own beliefs and actions. The idea of the existence of 'black magicians' supports the reality of those who would call themselves 'white magicians'. Underlying this belief is the dualism of 'goodies' and 'baddies' familiar from cowboy films - the good guys wearing white and the bad guys wearing black - that some people only do good in their lives, whilst some people dedicate themselves entirely to evil. This is a rather narrow view of looking at the world. The idea of 'black magic' also implies that there are some magical methods which are inherently bad, and if one employs them, one is therefore, a 'black magician'.

Like many other aspects of occultism, what is termed to be 'black magic' depends very much on who is doing the defining. For example, a Christian might argue that whatever pagans and magicians might say, all magical practices are 'black'. It is more common however, for those who expound the reality of 'black magic' to define it in terms of that which they disapprove of. For example Gareth Knight, in his book A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism(1976) states unequivocally that:

"Homosexuality, like the use of drugs, is one of the techniques of black magic."
So by implication, anyone who happens to be homosexual is a 'black magician'!

In my own experience, I have found it to be very much the case that those who accuse others of being 'black magicians' are actually expressing their disapproval of something that person has done, or has been rumoured to have done. Accusing someone of being a 'black magician' is, in some sections of the occult subculture, similar to accusing someone of being a 'Communist' in 1950's America. A case in point - a person I knew slightly once approached me to help him with a 'magical battle' against a 'black magician' who had lured his girlfriend away from him using 'dark forces'. I looked into the matter for myself and discovered another angle on the story — that the lady in question had grown sick of this 'white magician's' pompous posturing, and quit him for another, who was more charming, & less concerned with saving the universe and crossing the abyss before breakfast. Naturally though, the white magician's ego couldn't accept anything so 'normal' and commonplace, so the whole thing became, for that person, a magical battle between the forces of good and evil. What is also interesting here is that the 'white magician' approached me with a view to help him win back his girlfriend through magical means - something which one might consider to be ethically questionable. But in this case, he felt justified because of course, he was the 'good guy' in this scenario.

Those who feel themselves to be the 'good guys' in a fight are often more dangerous than their supposed 'enemies' - as any means justifies the noble end of wiping out the bad guys. Pro-life campaigners feel justified in fire-bombing abortion clinics, white supremacists leave nail bombs in busy London streets, and, by extension, occultists who believe in 'black magicians' tend to feel no qualms about using magical methods to 'do battle' with them. Again, in my experience, this 'battle' may be somewhat one-sided. Over the years I have met several occultists who confidently (and rather proudly, it seemed) asserted that they were constantly doing battle with any amount of 'black adepts', 'satanic covens' and the like, but were curiously unable to name their foes or even say where they lived! One memorable example of this one-sided war involves a rather large magical organisation. Two friends of mine were running an occult mail-order business entitled 'SOL'. Apparently, this rather upset some members of the organisation whose grand title could be compressed into the acronym S.O.L., and they began writing letters of complaint to the various magazines in which my friends were advertising their business. Another friend who was a member of this organisation told me that he had been told that the mail-order business was a front for a 'black magic' group calling themselves the "Servants of the Outer Light" and that members should do all they could to defend the parent order against this 'black lodge'. Needless to say, the people running the mail-order company were somewhat bemused by all this, and, to my knowledge, did not suffer any awful calamities as a result of being targeted by the magical order, who were of course, the good guys.

There is for some occultists, an undeniable romanticism about becoming involved in this kind of thing. In part, this is due to popular occult fiction, particularly classics such as Dennis Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out and the works of the Edwardian occultist, Dion Fortune. In Fortune's fiction, the "Great White Brotherhood" - a body of adepts, working selflessly for the greater good of humanity, is arrayed against the various "Black Lodges" - fraternities of dubious individuals who dabble in politics, blackmail, cause large sums of money to flow towards them in unusual ways, and doubtless use Gareth Knight's techniques of 'black magic' - homosexuality and drugs. They are portrayed in Fortune's novels as being rather bohemian and decadent, as opposed to the austere, conservative, white adepts. Equally, there is a certain glamour for some occultists around declaring oneself to be a 'black magician' or 'satanic adept'. If a label has a significant taboo or shock value attached to it, then some individuals are going to be attracted to trying it on themselves.

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Books are windows into other people's heads and doors out of your own. Giving up books is criminal. It's a murder-suicide thing.

"We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love... and then we return home." ABORIGINAL PROVERB

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I... I said "Forget the Path!" and went running off into the trees to explore the rest of the world.

Sister of Maythen