Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.
This short epistel is about the magical wand. This instrument is one of the most known of the weapons of the magician. Also because of Hollywood productions and the popularity of Harry Potter one has a popular idea what a magical wand is. There is obviously a serious side on the story.
The wand is traditionally attributed to the element of fire. The traditional wand in the Golden dawn is the so called fire wand. There are many different wands for different purposes, a Lotus wand, Fire Wand, Solomonic magic wands, etc. Its the instrument to direct the Will of the magician. This Will is also connected to the Oath which is an affirmation of the magician in line with his True Will. Therefor the Oath and the wand are connected. Concerning the Will Crowley writes:
My personal Lotus wand
“It is therefore necessary to develop the will to its highest point, even though the last task but one is the total surrender of this will. Partial surrender of an imperfect will is of no account in Magick.
The will being a lever, a fulcrum is necessary; this fulcrum is the main aspiration of the student to attain. All wills which are not dependent upon this principal will are so many leakages; they are like fat to the athlete.
The majority of the people in this world are ataxic; they cannot coordinate their mental muscles to make a purposed movement. They have no real will, only a set of wishes, many of which contradict others. The victim wobbles from one to the other (and it is no less wobbling because the movements may occasionally be very violent) and at the end of life the movements cancel each other out. Nothing has been achieved; except the one thing of which the victim is not conscious: the destruction of his own character, the confirming of indecision. Such an one is torn limb from limb by Choronzon.”
How then is the will to be trained? All these wishes, whims, caprices, inclinations, tendencies, appetites, must be detected, examined, judged by the standard of whether they help or hinder the main purpose, and treated accordingly.
And:
‘Vigilance and courage are obviously required. I was about to add self-denial, in deference to conventional speech; but how could I call that self-denial which is merely denial of those things which hamper the self? It is not suicide to kill the germs of malaria in one’s blood.
Now there are very great difficulties to be overcome in the training of the mind. Perhaps the greatest is forgetfulness, which is probably the worst form of what the Buddhists call ignorance. Special practices for training the memory may be of some use as a preliminary for persons whose memory is naturally poor. In any case the Magical Record prescribed for Probationers of the A.’.A.’. is useful and necessary.
Above all the practices of Liber III must be done again and again, for these practices develop not only vigilance but those inhibiting centres in the brain which are, according to some psychologists, the mainspring of the mechanism by which civilized man has raised himself above the savage.
So far it has been spoken, as it were, in the negative. Aaron’s rod has become a serpent, and swallowed the serpents of the other Magicians; it is now necessary to turn it once more into a rod”. (Page 62 – 63 Liber ABA).
All these parts including the magical Oath are connected to our “Will”. To train this ‘Will’ one starts with binding him/herself with an Oath. The name of the Magical Wand is the Magical Oath. A confirmation of our highest aspirations together with the chosen motto, the Probationer should find. Once this Oath has been taken together with the energy of ‘going’ the Motto the Probationer starts his/her work. Then it seems that the whole universe is trying to avoid to do this Will, obstacles arise, our daily life seem to ruin our practices, we experience problems at school, at work or in our private life. All this come up and can be a part of matters that should be overcome. Then our daily practices, keeping the diary, doing our meditations, control our thoughts and emotions, practice Yoga are all part of this. The trick is to continue the work (to will) and not be distracted by all those obstacles and issues. Its easier said then done but this is the only way to do it. One cannot just conjure a spirit and ask to vanish all our problems. No one can, no god, angel or demon, we should work on our Karma, we should create ‘new’ Karma in order to accomplish the great Work. There is no substitute for this and that means that all the works should be come from inside. We should have our Will focussed and solve all the issues.
Therefore its very important to make up our mind before we get involved into a serious magical order like the A.’.A.’.. Too many people tend to think its all very romantic and willy wooly love and light. Yes, for the New age like groups it is. Its not within our Noble Order. A lot of commitment is asked and our actions are not with our results. We cannot see beforehand what the results are since we thread undiscovered territory of our mind and being. Therefore is the development of the Will important together with the directing instrument of our Wand. Care should be taken to formulate our Will, taking the Oath and execute our practices to deepen those insights and to map out our own inner life. In order to know our strengths and weaknesses. It all start with little things, little signs of awareness of executing will power on the long run. Not occasionally willed ambitions. No long term willed actions in order to be united with our True Will, (Knowledge and conversation of our Holy Guardian Angel) and act accordingly like King. Like our Order is selecting the fit and eliminate the unfit, likewise we should do with inner processes to become a perfect vessel for a God to indwell.
Love is the law, love under will.
Frater Parusha
alchemyparusha 