Sorcery is a Meritocracy

One of my favorite stories about the great Sorcerer Saint Milarepa was the time he was being questioned by his disciples about who his part incarnations were. I am sure you know this already but most famous Lamas in Tibet are considered Tulku’s – reincarnations of other famous and powerful Lamas. While the idea of Vajrayana is that we all have the seen of enlightenment and can become Buddhas, in practice much of Tibetan Buddhism involves collecting blessings from Rinpoche’s. Lamaism, an early term used to describe Tibetan Buddhism by westerners, is actually not far off the mark. So of course since Milarepa was such an amazing practitioner, his disciples wanted to know who he was in his previous lives. In fact, they demanded to know, because to them, the idea that someone could become so wise and powerful meant that he MUST have been someone special by birth. Milarepa says NO!  He chastised them for thinking this way. Not is it incorrect, but it shows a lack of faith in the path itself – the purpose of which is for the practitioner to become a Buddha.

When I got started in magic I felt quite small as a guy in rural NJ with little to no connection to the big name Pagans and Magicians of my time. This was pre-internet, and I didn’t have any clue how to even make contact with the OTO the Golden Dawn, or a local coven. I was sure that they must have the real great stuff. In the meantime I would have to express my interest by studying what was available to me, meeting the not-famous practitioners in my area, and by doing any and every spell and ritual that I could manage. Ceremonies alone, or with some friends in my parents backyard. Summoning Astaroth in my bedroom with nothing but Mastering Witchcraft and “The Complete Book of Magic and Witchcraft” to guide me. Until I started getting involved in the community at large, I felt pretty isolated in my work.

Thank the Gods that I was.

What I quickly realized is that a lot of people, even those who had been climbing degrees, had done less practical magic than what I was doing in my bedroom and parents backyard.  I remember hearing people in these groups of Witches and Magicians talk about problems they were having yet never discussing how magic was going to help them sort it out. It was weird to me because before I could even drive, I had succeeded enough with spells to know that magic worked. I had also failed enough, or succeeded just barely enough to know that I needed to keep at the craft itself.

Today I have my own list of initiations, ordinations, and titles I can throw out there, but I don’t. I actively avoid posing in Ngakpa Robes or Bishops vestments unless there is compelling reason to wear them. The reason is that I feel called in this life to teach Sorcery, and Sorcery should be about what you can do. I value the initiations I have taken, and I certainly value the many people who have shared their hard-earned knowledge with me, but ultimately it’s about what you can accomplish.

I always as two questions about any spell, spirit contact, or sorcery: What did it do? Why was it good”?

If you can answer these questions about your magic you are doing well. If you can look at the lives of the people in your tradition and see how those questions could be answered, then you are in an exceptional community as well, but I promise you something. It’s not the tradition that is giving them that alone. It’s not the initiations, or the vows. Its how they work that tradition. It’s how they cultivate what initiation have given them. Its how they keep and act on those vows.

If you don’t have access to those traditions right now, that’s ok. Be a Sorcerer. You can learn enough to start working RIGHT NOW.

*It’s certainly possible to do magic and get weird results that show “something” happened. Maybe it sparked so many visions that you couldnt even get your shit together to drive home afterwards. Maybe books are flying off your shelves and you are living in a Paranomal wonderland. That is where that second question comes in: Why is Good?

** Thanks to Dave Nevar for this awesome treatment of the Seal of Strategic Sorcery. Find him at his facebook page The 9th Light