Circles of Magick Part 2

Introduction

This video deals with the elemental orderings within circles of magick. Being the second of two parts, It is an addition to those I made on SIRP and the Fields of Operation. Besides different arrangements, the video summarizes personal reflections as one doing the work for almost five years.

The Other Part

The first part dealt with the most common orderings within the magickal circles. This focuses on the shapes created through different models, using logic and common sense.

Clashing in the Circle

Meditating on the models addressed in part one showed that the mutual qualities principle rules some fundamental symbols and devices in Western Magick. As mentioned in my SIRP video, examples include Liber Resh Vel Helios, Aristotle’s Table, The Mystical Tablet of Union, the ordering of the sub angles in the elemental tablets, the Rose Cross Lamen, such as the invocation of the bornless one, which states:

Now, that doesn’t sound like the winds or the zodiac model. But I’d be happy to know whether you feel any different.

Golden Dawn Pentagrams

From such a perspective, the winds model also doesn’t match the actual elemental ordering within the GD pentagrams. As mentioned in my SIRP video:

Within the Pentagram

In this post, I’ll add that if will make a circle of the Spirit closing pentagrams, they are still ruled by the element’s mutual qualities (or density), starting with Air, Fire, Spirit, Earth, and Water. Remove Spirit from the equation, and the dynamic remains. Things move even further from the winds model, which doesn’t match any other tracing of GD pentagrams, considering how all others go through the elements based on their mutual qualities. Whether banishing or invoking, active or passive, GD pentagrams perfectly express the density or the mutual qualities model.

Shapes

Inspired by J. Alan Moore, Alaerian, I began looking at rituals as (actual) shapes created through different models and formulas.

Infinity

Considering the GD standard positioning and how the elements mediate between their positions within circles of magick and using a bit of imagination, this resembles the infinity shape with Spirit at the intersection. Let me know whether you agree.

YHVH and OBW

Traditionally OBW starts in the south, moving to the west, east, and North, forming a ‘Z’ or ‘zig-zag’ shape. This shape can resemble a lighting flash segment if I use plenty of imagination.

Fire Water Air Earth

The allegory is that Fire and Water (or the king and the queen) clash (or have sex), producing Air and Earth (or the prince and the princess), which clash or make love on their own and become the king and the queen. It is not static or a one-time action but an ongoing process, movement of renewal, and transformation, similar to INRI, which I discuss in my LRH post. Based on my meditations, the density model aligns more naturally with the YHVH formula with circles of magick. Corresponding to Tarot’s kings, queens, princes, and princesses, the YHVH is all about uniting opposites; it expresses multifaceted permanent reconciliation and symmetry.

Yeheshuah

Yud is Fire; Heh — Water; Vau —Air; And the second Heh is Earth. Symbolizing Spirit and 300, the letter Shin reconciles all these elements. Placed in the center, it turns the tetragrammaton into the pentagrammaton (יהשוה), which is spelled Yehoshua and is mainly associated with the cross. That is why you bless the spirits from (the name of) Yehoshua Yehovasha when giving a license to depart after OBW.

Before Christianity

Before Christianity, the cross relates the reconciliation of opposites, particularly the horizontal and vertical, masculine and feminine, etc. This also reminds me of some of Aristotle’s diagrams of the four solids, as shown in this article.

A Circle and A Cross

Whatever model you use, you are creating a dodecahedron if following an LRP with SIRP or OBW. Also, a circle and a cross, regardless of the case. Nonetheless, it comes naturally to associate the former with an everlasting gradual transition, whereas the latter with more direct and explosive clashing. Seeing the circles of magick as loops, doesn’t it make more sense to have the elements based on their mutual qualities? Especially when some authors explain Spirit can only be perceived through different elemental arrangements, as we can see in GD’s Spirit pentagrams following the density model. 

Natural Placement

That, of course, is if we accept that the elements strive for their natural placement not only in the circles of magick but also in the Universe, allowing them to transform from one form to another — as was believed by Aristotle and mentioned in the previous part. Also, if we consider that Space or the Universe is associated with a (feminine), oval and circular shape expressed best depicted in the star goddess Nuit relating to a sphere. Being her partner, Hadit, the masculine is the center of that circle, which depending on how you look at it, can apply to this arrangement.

Natural Placement

Viewing the cross as an actual point of clashing with the emerging-from-it rose, doesn’t it make more sense to have one couple (the king and the queen) ‘clashing’ (freely) on the vertical while the other (the prince and the princes) on the horizontal lines. And isn’t that a more natural expression of what we covered about YHVH and Yehoshua? How logical is it to have the king and the princess on horizontally? What are your thoughts on that? Feel free to let me know.

Reflection

Considering all this, (my subjective view is that) having Fire and Water on one line and Air and Earth on another makes more sense. The first couple clashes and becomes or creates the second, which clashes on its own, becoming the first. Orchestrated by the vibrating-between depth and height, Spirit, IMHO, this process and composition also (could) resemble a hypercube representing the Divine’s transcendental nature. You have the four directions plus depth and height. This is very interesting, especially considering that LIRP + SIRP and OBW create a dodecahedron, regardless of the order (of your circles of magick).

The Winds Model

I also feel that the ‘winds’ model resembles a broken cycle or chain reaction, as it creates friction between south and west but keeps the mutual dryness of Fire and Earth. Whereas the density model has the active and passive couple, matching the Tree of Like keeping the smooth transition of the oval shape. Feel free to let me know whether you agree or not.

Personal Experience

Chased by such reflections, I couldn’t help myself from using my ongoing experimentations with Alaerian’s Watchtower Opening to implement the mentioned. That being using YHVH, as in Regardie’s version but forming a cross by going from Fire to Water, Air, and Earth, and then adding the three circumambulations with the sign of the enterer. Although further testing is required, I am getting surprisingly good results doing things this way. Based on experience, placing the elements in such a manner (in the circles of magick) has a superior balancing effect, which is one of the goals of using the four elements versions. Have you attempted anything similar?

Rotation

The bottom line is that, according to Moore, incorporating the MP and using the caduceus breath adds rotation. That being the case, doesn’t this set the shape you’ve built in a perpetual movement around its center, implying a circular or cyclical fashion. If so, doesn’t this continuously replace its quadrant or element directions?

Common Sense

Also, aren’t the watchtowers supposed to be at the end of the Universe? If so? Why align your ritual with the winds of Earth? What if you aim to follow a stellar path in the current Aeon(s)? Plus, according to sources including Self-Initiation into the Golden Dawn, the Earth is inevitably invoked whether you want it.

The Universe

Besides that, it is good to remind ourselves what we mean when speaking of the Universe. What Universe? Is it the fabric of space and time, as advocated visualizing in Donald Tyson’s The Magician’s Workbook? Is it the starry sky that’s the Goddess Nuit?

Your Magick

Now. Although such visualizations should be essential as long as they facilitate your workings, the answer to the question comes from the wisdom of Lon Milo Duquette. When explaining Enochian basics, Duquette emphasizes there is no Enochian Magick. Instead, there’s the operator’s Magick and the Enochian entities and techniques. In the same way, there are no Elemental Universes but different aspects of your Universe, which the latter enhances.

Subjective and Objective

Unlike some Dee purists, Duquette also explains that Golden Dawn Enochian is by no means wrong or incorrect just because it doesn’t match Dee’s original attributions. Instead, it is a different approach. He adds that the whole point of any ritual is to ‘make yourself a magician.’ Elsewhere, Duquette clarifies that there is no subjective or objective. And all the techniques are tools manipulating your own ‘subjective’ and ‘objective,’ which is all ‘subjective.’

The Watchtowers

Considering this and my personal experiences, opening the Watchtowers is opening the gates to the depths of your life/existence, which includes seeing the ins and outs of what Nuit offers you. That said, doesn’t it make sense to do this most naturally for you?

One True Way

That compliments Cicero’s views on what they call the One True Way. While you can learn more about it in my SIRP video, it means there’s no ‘one true’ way of doing things. And it is up to you to figure out how to produce the ‘greatest impact’ with your magick. The Ciceros explain that different orders successfully adopted various customizations.

Same Tools Different Use Case

Given that, you should test and try and see what works and how, as emphasized in books like Prometheus Rising and Quantum Psychology. Inspired by Crowley, I like to say:

After all, the stages and components of these rituals remain. You have the same combinations of divine names and symbols for each element. Also, the same archangels and tablets and meanings. The key is to use that best for your current situation and not worship dogmas. Also, keep yourself open to change. Dion Fortune and the Ciceros agree that the tradition was meant to evolve. And the same applies to our practices… including our circles of magick.

Not that Different

Plus, these customizations don’t alter the entire formula as much as you think. Like GRH, elemental and zodiac SRP remains “pretty much” the same. Different is only SRH, in case you use that for the planets. For the four elements SIRP and OBW, you have the same combinations of Enochian and Hebrew names impacting your psyche pretty identically.

4 Elements Versions

To a large extent, these modifications make sense only if they optimize your elements’ versions. So they serve you better. As a Virgo, I always look for the most logical explications and symmetry. And, if I consider the patterns of my life, I tend to rearrange things and opt for the less conventional, more holistic approaches. The density model checks those boxes based on what both parts of the video covered. Yet you may feel differently. As I (and probably others like to say), a technique and a system are just as good as the operator. Hence, it’s your responsibility to make “the best use” of them. And that implies tweaking things if necessary. Whatever you do, always consider the zodiac and winds models have the most potent egregor, as you can learn from Mark Stavish’s Egregores.

Just an Opinion

But all this is my opinion which may not resonate with you. Whatever the case, I’ll be happy if you let me know your take on the topic. Feel free to share that, such as your personal experiences with different orderings; Also your suggestions for future videos.