CHAPTER 1
Liber MMM
This course is an exercise in the disciplines of magical trance, a form of mindcontrol having similarities to yoga, personal metamorphosis, and the basictechniques of magic. Success with these techniques is a prerequisite for anyreal progress with the initiate 3° syllabus.
A magical diary is the magician's most essential and powerful tool. It should belarge enough to allow a full page for each day. Students should record the time,duration and degree of success of any practice undertaken. They should makenotes about environmental factors conducive (or otherwise) to the work.
Those wishing to notify the Order of their intention to begin the work areinvited to do so via the publisher.
MIND CONTROL
To work magic effectively, the ability to concentrate the attention must bebuilt up until the mind can enter a trance-like condition. This is accomplishedin a number of stages: absolute motionlessness of the body, regulation of thebreathing, stopping of thoughts, concentration on sound, concentration onobjects, and concentration on mental images.
Motionlessness
Arrange the body in any comfortable position and try to remain in that positionfor as long as possible. Try not to blink or move the tongue or fingers or anypart of the body at all. Do not let the mind run away on long trains of thoughtbut rather observe oneself passively. What appeared to be a comfortable positionmay become agonizing with time, but persist! Set aside some time each day forthis practice and take advantage of any opportunity of inactivity which mayarise.
Record the results in the magical diary. One should not be satisfied with lessthan five minutes. When fifteen have been achieved, proceed to regulation of thebreathing.
Breathing
Stay as motionless as possible and begin to deliberately make the breathingslower and deeper. The aim is to use the entire capacity of the lungs butwithout any undue muscular effort or strain. The lungs may be held empty or fullbetween exhalation and inhalation to lengthen the cycle. The important thing isthat the mind should direct its complete attention to the breath cycle. Whenthis can be done for thirty minutes, proceed to not-thinking.
Not—Thinking
The exercises of motionlessness and breathing may improve health, but they haveno other intrinsic value aside from being a preparation for not-thinking, thebeginnings of the magical trance condition. While motionless and breathingdeeply, begin to withdraw the mind from any thoughts which arise. The attempt todo this inevitably reveals the mind to be a raging tempest of activity. Only thegreatest determination can win even a few seconds of mental silence, but eventhis is quite a triumph. Aim for complete vigilance over the arising of thoughtsand try to lengthen the periods of total quiescence.
Like the physical motionlessness, this mental motionlessness should be practicedat set times and also whenever a period of inactivity presents itself. Theresults should be recorded in your diary.
The Magical Trances
Magic is the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with will.The will can only become magically effective when the mind is focused and notinterfering with the will. The mind must first discipline itself to focus itsentire attention on some meaningless phenomenon. If an attempt is made to focuson some form of desire, the effect is short circuited by lust of result.Egotistical identification, fear of failure, and the reciprocal desire not toachieve desire, arising from our dual nature, destroy the result.
Therefore, when selecting topics for concentration, choose subjects of nospiritual, egotistical, intellectual, emotional, or useful significance—meaninglessthings.
Object Concentration
The legend of the evil-eye derives from the ability of wizards and sorcerers togive a fixed dead stare. This ability can be practiced against any object—a markon a wall, something in the distance, a star in the night sky—anything. To holdan object with an absolutely fixed, unwavering gaze for more than a few momentsproves extraordinarily difficult, yet it must be persisted in for hours at atime. Every attempt by the eye to distort the object, every attempt by the mindto find something else to think of, must be resisted. Eventually it is possibleto extract occult secrets from things by this technique, but the ability must bedeveloped by working with meaningless objects.
Sound Concentration
The part of the mind in which verbal thoughts arise is brought under magicalcontrol by concentration on sounds mentally imagined. Any simple sound of one ormore syllables is selected, for example, Aum or Om, Abrakadabra, Yod He Vau He,Aum Mani Padme Hum, Zazas Zazas, Nasatanada Zazas. The chosen sound is repeatedover and over in the mind to block all other thoughts. No matter howinappropriate the choice of sound may seem to have been, you must persist withit. Eventually the sound may seem to repeat itself automatically and may evenoccur in sleep. These are encouraging signs. Sound concentration is the key towords of power and certain forms of spell casting.
Image Concentration
The part of the mind in which pictorial thoughts arise is brought under magicalcontrol by image concentration. A simple shape, such as a triangle, circle,square, cross, or crescent, is chosen and held in the mind's eye, withoutdistortion, for as long as possible. Only the most determined efforts are likelyto make the imagined form persist for any time. At first the image should besought with the eyes closed. With practice it can be projected onto any blanksurface. This technique is the basis of casting sigils and creating independentthought forms.
The three methods of attaining magical trance will only yield results if pursuedwith the most fanatical and morbid determination. These abilities are highlyabnormal and usually inaccessible to human consciousness, as they demand suchinhuman concentration, but the rewards are great. In the magical diary, recordeach day's formal work and whatever extra opportunities have been utilized. Nopage should be left blank.
Metamorphosis
The transmutation of the mind to magical consciousness has often been called theGreat Work. It has a far-reaching purpose leading eventually to the discovery ofthe True Will. Even a slight ability to change oneself is more valuable than anypower over the external universe. Metamorphosis is an exercise in willedrestructuring of the mind.
All attempts to reorganize the mind involve a duality between conditions as theyare and the preferred condition. Thus it is impossible to cultivate any virtuelike spontaneity, joy, pious pride, grace, or omnipotence without involvingoneself in more conventionality, sorrow, guilt, sin, and impotence in theprocess. Religions are founded on the fallacy that one can or ought to have onewithout the other. High magic recognizes the dualistic condition but does notcare whether life is bittersweet or sweet and sour; rather it seeks to achieveany arbitrary perceptual perspective at will.
Any state of mind might arbitrarily be chosen as an objective for transmutation,but there is a specific virtue to the ones given. The first is an antidote tothe imbalance and possible madness of the magical trance. The second is aspecific against obsession with the magical practices in the third section. Theyare:
1) Laughter/Laughter
2) Non-attachment/Non-disinterest
Attaining these states of mind is accomplished by a process of ongoingmeditation. One tries to enter into the spirit of the condition wheneverpossible and to think about the desired result at other times. By this method, astrong new mental habit can be established.
Consider laughter: it is the highest emotion, for it can contain any of theothers from ecstacy to grief. It has no opposite. Crying is merely anunderdeveloped form of it which cleanses the eyes and summons assistance toinfants. Laughter is the only tenable attitude in a universe which is a jokeplayed upon itself.
The trick is to see that joke played out even in the neutral and ghastly eventswhich surround one. It is not for us to question the universe's apparent lack oftaste. Seek the emotion of laughter at what delights and amuses, seek it inwhatever is neutral or meaningless, seek it even in what is horrific andrevolting. Though it may be forced at first, one can learn to smile inwardly atall things.
Non-attachment/Non-disinterest best describes the magical condition of actingwithout lust of result. It is very difficult for humans to decide on somethingand then to do it purely for its own sake. Yet it is precisely this abilitywhich is required to execute magical acts. Only single-pointed awareness willdo. Attachment is to be understood both in the positive and negative sense, foraversion is its other face. Attachment to any attribute of oneself, one'spersonality, one's ambitions, one's relationships or sensory experiences—orequally, aversion to any of these—will prove limiting.
On the other hand, it is fatal to lose interest in these things for they areone's symbolic system or magical reality. Rather, one is attempting to touch thesensitive parts of one's reality more lightly in order to deny the spoiling handof grasping desire and boredom. Thereby one may gain enough freedom to actmagically.
In addition to these two meditations there is a third, more active, form ofmetamorphosis, and this involves one's everyday habits. However innocuous theymight seem, habits in thought, word, and deed are the anchor of the personality.The magician aims to pull up that anchor and cast himself free on the seas ofchaos.
To proceed, select any minor habit at random and delete it from your behavior:at the same adopt any new habit at random. The choices should not involveanything of spiritual, egocentric, or emotional significance, nor should youselect anything with any possibility of failure. By persisting with such simplebeginnings you become capable of virtually anything.
All works of metamorphosis should be committed to the magical diary.
MAGIC
Success in this part of the syllabus is dependent on some degree of mastery ofthe magical trances and metamorphosis. This magical instruction involves threetechniques: ritual, sigils, and dreaming. In addition, the magician should makehimself familiar with at least one system of divination: cards, crystal gazing,runesticks, pendulum, or divining rod. The methods are endless. With alltechniques, aim to silence the mind and let inspiration provide some sort ofanswer. Whatever symbolic system or instruments are used, they act only toprovide a receptacle or amplifier for inner abilities. No divinatory systemshould involve too much randomness. Astrology is not recommended.
Ritual is a combination of the use of talismanic weapons, gesture, visualizedsigils, word spells, and magical trance. Before proceeding with sigils ordreaming, it is essential to develop an effective Banishing Ritual. A well-constructedbanishing ritual has the following effects. It prepares the magicianmore rapidly for magical concentration than any of the trance exercises alone.It enables the magician to resist obsession if problems are encountered withdream experiences or with sigils becoming conscious. It also protects themagician from any hostile occult influences which may assail him.
To develop a banishing ritual, first acquire a magical weapon—a sword, a dagger,a wand, or perhaps a large ring. The instrument should be something which isimpressive to the mind and should also represent the aspirations of themagician. The advantages of hand forging one's own instruments, or discoveringthem in some strange way, cannot be over-emphasized. The banishing ritual shouldcontain the following elements as a minimum.
First, the magician describes a barrier about himself with the magical weapon.The barrier is also strongly visualized. Three dimensional figures arepreferable. See figure 1 on page 20.
Second, the magician focuses his will on a visualized image: for example, theimage of the magical weapon, or his own imaginary third eye, or perhaps a ballof light inside his own head. A sound concentration may additionally oralternatively be used.
Third, the barrier is reinforced with power symbols drawn with the magicalweapon. The traditional five-pointed star or pentagram can be used, or theeight-pointed star of Chaos, or any other form. Words of power may also be used.
Fourth, the magician aspires to the infinite void by a brief but determinedeffort to stop thinking.
Sigils
The magician may require something which he is unable to obtain through thenormal channels. It is sometimes possible to bring about the requiredcoincidence by the direct intervention of the will provided that this does notput too great a strain on the universe. The mere act of wanting is rarelyeffective, as the will becomes involved in a dialogue with the mind. Thisdilutes magical ability in many ways. The desire becomes part of the egocomplex; the mind becomes anxious of failure. The will not to fulfill desirearises to reduce fear of failure. Soon the original desire is a mass ofconflicting ideas. Often the wished for result arises only when it has beenforgotten. This last fact is the key to sigils and most forms of magic spell.Sigils work because they stimulate the will to work subconsciously, bypassingthe mind.
There are three parts to the operation of a sigil. The sigil is constructed, thesigil is lost to the mind, the sigil is charged. In constructing a sigil, theaim is to produce a glyph of desire, stylized so as not to immediately suggestthe desire. It is not necessary to use complex symbol systems. Figure 2 showshow sigils may be constructed from words, from images, and from sounds. Thesubject matter of these spells is arbitrary and not recommended. To successfullylose the sigil, both the sigil form and the associated desire must be banishedfrom normal waking consciousness. The magician strives against any manifestationof either by a forceful turning of his attention to other matters. Sometimes thesigil may be burnt, buried, or cast into an ocean. It is possible to lose a wordspell by constant repetition as this eventually empties the mind of associateddesire. The sigil is charged at moments when the mind has achieved quiescencethrough magical trance, or when high emotionality paralyzes its normalfunctioning. At these times the sigil is concentrated upon, either as a mentalimage, or mantra, or as a drawn form. Some of the times when sigils may becharged are as follows: during magical trance; at the moment of orgasm or greatelation; at times of great fear, anger, or embarrassment; or at times whenintense frustration or disappointment arises. Alternatively, when another strongdesire arises, this desire is sacrificed (forgotten) and the sigil isconcentrated on instead. After holding the sigil in the mind for as long aspossible, it is wise to banish it by evoking laughter.
A record should be kept of all work with sigils but not in such a way as tocause conscious deliberation over the sigilized desire.
DREAMING
The dream state provides a convenient egress into the fields of divination,entities, and exteriorization or "out of the body" experience. All humans dreameach night of their lives, but few can regularly recount their experiences evena few minutes after waking. Dream experiences are so incongruous that the brainlearns to prevent them interfering with waking consciousness. The magician aimsto gain full access to the dream plane and to assume control of it. The attemptto do this invariably involves the magician in a deadly and bizzare battle withhis own psychic censor, which will use almost any tactics to deny him theseexperiences.
The only method of gaining full access to the dream plane is to keep a book andwriting instrument next to the place of sleeping at all times. In this, recordthe details of all dreams as soon as possible after waking.
To assume conscious control over the dream state, it is necessary to select atopic for dreaming. The magician should start with simple experiences, such asthe desire to see a particular object (real or imaginary) and master this beforeattempting divination or exteriorization. The dream is set up by stronglyvisualizing the desired topic in an otherwise silenced mind, immediately beforesleep. For more complex experiences the method of sigils may be employed.
A record of dreams is best kept separate from the magical record as it tends tobecome voluminous. However any significant success should be transferred intothe magical diary.
Though one may get to fear the sight of it, a properly kept magical record isthe surest guarantor of success in the work of Liber MMM: it is both a work ofreference with which to evaluate progress and, most significantly, a goad tofurther effort.
