Many schools of Initiation hold that the state of dense matter is a condition from which to escape. The notions of rising to a higher plane of spiritual vibration, getting off the Karmic Wheel of death and birth, attaining to the state of pure Spirit, etc., all foster the assumption that participation in the life of Matter is undesireable and inferior to "higher" conditions of being.

It's easy to understand how this attitude developed and was maintained over the millenia--the human imagination operates beyond the restrictions of the laws governing matter; what can be imagined, but not manifested physically, generates desires doomed to frustration. Frustration in turn generates anger, which eventually refines itself into disdain. The imagination provides an alternative, albeit illusory, course of action for those unwilling to accept the governance of physical law--a posited state of existing beyond matter in which desire either doesn't anise, or, in some variations, can be satisfied with no difficulty.

The frustrated imagination's course of action is a regimen of meditations, deeds, and seeking an ascension of the individual from Matter to Spirit. Extremes of asceticism, even to the point of self-injury, have been pursued over the ages in the quest for freedom from matter's perceived restrictions.

In contrast, those who have accepted the physical laws as "real," have learned how to use them to advantage and have overcome the restrictions seemingly imposed by them. Instead of seeking to overcome the restrictions of weight, mass, and gravity by fasting and discipline, the aerospace engineer builds a vehicle capable not only of flight, but with the ability to escape earth's gravitational pull entirely. Instead of aspiring to the multiplying of loaves and fishes, the agricultural researcher works patiently to develop higher yields from the food crop varieties of plants.

The examples are numerous. As a species, Man is constantly overcoming former restrictions in the physical plane through science, technology, art, and engineering.

In Western occult tradition, the disdain for Matter appears with great frequency among those who classify themselves as members of the "Great White Brotherhood." Concerning the area of Magickal practice, antimaterialism translates as antisexuality, an automatic horror of the flesh and of using the genitals as means of generating Magickal power.

This horror may originate, in part, from the Apollonian prudery associated with Christianity--early training in morality can color one's viewpoint for life. More importantly, though, is the frustration-anger-disdain sequence arising from the unintegrated imagination. There are natural laws that govern the application of effort to a situation, and only a correct understanding of these laws permit effective action.

The Materia Magicka in any situation is used as a handle or link connecting the operator with the components in need of change. Magick operates on the principle of directed synchronicity, in which the seemingly-unconnected events happen as though there were a causal relationship existing between them. One creates a talisman, charges it and destroys it in a two-step process by which a physical object is used to create an impression on the nonmaterial, or astral menstruum, which later (or simultaneously, or previously) influences material events to occur in conformity with the operant's will. One formulates a seed of change, codes it into the proper materials, releases the coded desire by any of a number of methods, and goes on to the next task, confident that the astral sowing has been effective.

The physical plane and its laws provide the means, methods, and ends for the working of Magick--the source of our sorrow/frustration is also the source of our joy. Beings of pure spirit can be Mystics, but not Magickians.

The earth, solar system, the Universe of physical reality is our home, temporarily; a blessed gift of and to our being--that we might experience Change and enjoy the working of Will in it.

Nema

Copyright © 1983 Nema