As part of the universe, when your mind changes, the universe has been changed as well. What an amazing power to have. Aim carefully. Aim well.
— Heart of Light, Blade of Thunder – Stephen K. Hayes
Drop a pebble into a pond, and you will see the ripples travel outward from where it struck the water.
Drop a second pebble, and the ripples from it will interact with the ripples from the first one, causing them to change.
Drop another pebble and another and another, and soon you won’t be able to tell where the ripples started.
Eventually you end up with the pond overflowing and nothing but a pile of pebbles.
Actions have consequences.
I may have mentioned I’m not part of the love and light crowd. If you can really make that work for you, fantastic. The universe probably needs more of that with horrifying monsters like me walking around.
Let me know how that works out with hexing the patriarchy or the Supreme Court or Donald Trump. Not saying that’s a bad thing, just posing a little thought experiment. It goes something like this.
Donald Trump, against all odds and the sanity of the universe, got elected President of the United States. There followed a great groundswell of anger and hatred, including many people who practice witchcraft actively cursing him in an effort to remove him from office.
There followed an inexplicable worldwide plague and poof, no more Donald. Orange man gone.
But wait, you say. That’s not how it happened.
But what if it was?
A lot of pebbles got dropped in that pond. Can you be sure you know where that ripple came from?
Here’s another story.
I did not have an enjoyable youth. I am sure many of you have experienced the frustration of growing up in a small town, which is backward, rigid, and narrow-minded. Anyone with an interest in ideas beyond the day-to-day or sports, was looked upon as strange. And I think I was considered the strangest in the bunch.
Many was the time I wished great harm come upon that town and all its inhabitants. You do this kind of thing when you’re a lonely weird kid and lonelier weirder teenager.
Eventually, though, I left the town, grew up, got over it, and got on with my life.
A few years ago the town was nearly destroyed by a rogue tornado.
My first thought was “Did I do that?”
Now, logically, tornadoes happen (just like inexplicable worldwide plagues).
They are the result of weather conditions coming together in specific ways that are still somewhat unpredictable. They may be more likely due to cyclic climatological changes, or the result of the widespread impact of human industrialization and environmental exploitation.
But they don’t happen because a kid was hurt and angry several decades ago. Even if that kid had a penchant for the occult, and on occasion whistled up thunderstorms. Still, in the back of my head, I wonder.
Did I do that?
If we believe in our personal power; if we believe that we can make our thoughts manifest and alter reality, then we must consider that answer might be yes.
And if the answer is yes, what kind of horrifying monster does that make me?
My child is fond of saying “Don’t put that idea out into the universe”. Usually that’s when I posit the more absurd outcome of an otherwise normal situation as my strange bent on a dad joke, but that bears consideration.
If we believe in our personal power; if we believe that we can make our thoughts manifest and alter reality, then what we do – all that we do – has an impact.
Truth be told, you aren’t sure that the person you muttered should have a horrible accident for cutting you off in traffic actually made it home alive.
So what kind of horrifying monster does that make you?
Actions have consequences.
We may not see where the ripple we started ends up. We may not know how many other ripples it will encounter, crash into, and alter. Or how long that ripple keeps going.
So we need to be very focused when we drop that pebble.
Even if that pebble is a curse, or other malevolent magic. Oh, yes, you can drop that pebble.
There is evil in the world. There is evil and chaos and things that don’t bend to the laws of man or the laws of physics and sometimes those things need smiting.
Some times deeds must be done that best be done in the dark.
Many modern renditions focus on how the hero gets out of the contract, tricks the Devil, and avoids Hellfire and Damnation. But the real message of the story is the slow and inexorable corruption of Faust as he delights in seduction and sadism – not prompted by his patron Mephistophiles, but coming from his own wanton nature.
Certainly this message about the corrupt state of the human soul was in line with the Church’s teaching, and many versions have Faust repenting at the end and gaining the last minute reprieve.
This also showed the Almighty’s dominion over the Fallen Angels, and allowed for “pious” experimenters to follow in Faust’s footsteps, in the 17th and 18th centuries because summoning demons for fun and profit was thereby made a “godly practice”.
The hero, or anti-hero, is inheritor to an ancient black magic tradition, which he has eschewed initially for more “nature-based” work with elementals and animal spirits. Ultimately, he chooses to seek out the demon lords his ancestors served, in order to gain the power to defeat his enemy.
The story ends tragically, as one would expect, but it is not presented as Christian moralism. Rather, the multiverse (and I think Moorcock is among the first to use that term) is completely random, subject to the whims of beings of power, who use all less powerful without any qualms, and are all in turn used by those who can dominate them.
I find the similarity between Clarke and Russell’s artwork quite striking. When I first encountered the Faust images I thought it was a version done by Russell. Intriguing that they both deal with similar themes.
I have no issue with this, because as I said, I am aware that I am some sort of horrifying monster. And rapists and child molesters and murderers and evil people ought rightly to fear that, because when I let loose and get going, well, it’s not a pretty sight.
So it’s a good thing that it’s takes one whole hell of a lot to get me going. Like exhausting all possible reasonable normal options. That’s not easy. I’m Scorpio with Aries Moon and Aries rising so my basic inclination is to smite first, then go to the bar for a round of drinks.
When you can move mountains, you may find it easier to just go around them. While I spend a good deal of time in the study of magic and the occult, I am sure my active spellcasting is minimal compared to most of you. Honestly, I don’t find it necessary for every little thing. And I am frequently concerned about what the ripple touches.
That doesn’t mean I don’t try to bend things in my favor from time to time. The point of living a sacred life is to tune into the universe and improve the mutually beneficial tendencies of things to happen.
You should question everything. You shouldn’t, for that matter, just automatically believe anything that I write. For all you know, I could be the most evil self-serving psychopath ever loosed upon society, using my clever words to manipulate your thinking and enslave your mind. I’m not, of course. As far as you know, anyway.
Such people do exist. You have but to look to history and the great dictators and cult leaders. People are routinely charmed into committing horrible atrocities and self-destruction at the behest of a charismatic leader using the right words.
Adolf Hitler, considered one of the most horrible dictators of all time, actually trained in the use of his voice and mannerisms to extract the most effect out of the crowds he drew to him. The great Nazi rallies that inspired an otherwise rational nation to commit the Holocaust were designed and derived from occult and pagan traditions.
Frighteningly the Nazi ideologies are still extant in some pagan circles. I see swastikas pop up in “magic” posts on Pinterest. While the symbol is an ancient sun sign, and common to cultures around the world, these are thinly veiled attempts to de-stigmatize the Nazi version of the symbol in the seeking community. It’s vile.
We use the term “silver-tongued devil” as a half-compliment, to describe one whose way with words can convince someone to contrary behavior. Usually we mean minor escapades that are harmless but the devil’s still in there.
The beguiling power of the magician is an age old belief and an age old fear. There’s ample evidence that tones and sounds influence our perceptions of the words being spoken, and of the person speaking them. These skills are part of what we seek. It is part of what we gain from that inner confidence and stability that results from our journey of self-knowledge.
It is precisely because of this that we are obliged to be constantly aware of how we speak things into the universe. The mantra, the chant, and the spell are obvious. We are focusing our intent in these situations. But we are also capable of subconsciously or even unconsciously projecting power, which may be fearsome and malefic, if we are not watchful.
We do not know where the ripple will go.
Actions have consequences.
There is a road, no simple highway
— Ripple – The Grateful Dead (Robert Hunter/Jerry Garcia)
Between the dawn and the dark of night
And if you go, no one may follow
That path is for your steps alone
Thank you for reading this week’s article. I hope that it may be of help to you. But I do encourage you to question it. I do.
I will return next week.