The Rooms You Get Stuck In.
“That’s what life is. It’s a series of rooms and who we get stuck in those rooms with adds up to what our lives are.”
Its a good point and something to consider about magic. During Rufus’s interview with Jake Stratton Kent they had a short discussion of the training that they brought to the table before grimoire work, and how difficult it is to parse that out for others. Each of them went through a series of experiences that impact their work in Grimoire based Magic, whether its the IOT, the AA, Bardon, Apostolic succession*, and so on. None of them can really say that any one thing was optimal for Grimoire work, or that they would recommend this to everyone. Its just the rooms that they passed through to get to the room they are in.
Sometimes people who have stuck to one tradition or religion their whole life can be critical of those who have engaged in multiple traditions, but in this world of jet travel, multi-multiculturalism, and internet access, its easy to find yourself in a lot of strange rooms that might look like an odd mish-mash to others. By the time I was old enough to drink I had a teacher with a Rosicrucian/High Magic background, a mentor Ngakpa-lama, and a relationship with the owners of a conjure shop and a botanica who were willing to teach me how to use anything I bought.
Someone recently asked me how I can possibly simultaneously call myself a Buddhist/a Christian/ and a Pagan. My answer is that they are all rooms I have been in, and they add up to who I am now. If you simply remove the idea that any of these paths is complete and absolute, there is no conflict. Or at maybe there is; as Walt Whitman said: “Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes”
When I was coming up this was more or less the case with everybody. Generally speaking there were so few people into any one thing in a given area that you met Witches, Thelemites, Chaotes, Santeros, and all manner of people at any type of occult event. The irony is that while the internet makes wild eclecticism possible, it also allows people to build very focused and even insular communities around a specific thing and lock out anything else. Makaya? Jonagkhapa? Bokulla? Dugmas? There are probably forums for each of these. You can isolate to just that group if you want. But thankfully most people don’t. It was trending that way for a few years, but I think that its ending.
You can also keep yourself busy running from room to room these days out of mild interest, and not really go deep in any of them. There are a lot of things that I am interested in that I have not gone deep into simply because I have not been stuck in that room, at least not yet. I am fascinated by Kapo, the Hawaiian Goddess of Sorcery, but I haven’t found myself in that room.
So I guess what I am saying is respect the rooms that you have been stuck in. Even the ones you have left in disgust and disinterest, they have effected you more than you may know. Even when we both study the same tradition or text, the rooms we have passed through to get there will make it a very different experience for both of us.
As you continue to move room to room, make sure its organic, that one things grows into another. Because of the age we live in, it will naturally be faster than it was in the past. This is a good thing as long as we don’t just race from room to room getting surface level knowledge of everything we show mild interest in, like that link for Kapo you clicked on two paragraphs ago 🙂
Like House in the pic above, you might rebel against the idea that the room you are in should determine anything about your life, but like it or not it does. What you take from that room and how long you linger may be up to you, but sometimes you don’t even get to decide that. But it’s all impacting what you do next.
*Ordained by me in fact, so hopefully its true that the quality of the Bishop does not effect the transmission.. 🙂
