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Our Inheritance of Light

By Jeva Singh-Anand

Know, O man, that Light is thine heritage.
Know that darkness is only a veil.
Sealed in thine heart is brightness eternal,
waiting the moment of freedom to conquer,
waiting to rend the veil of the night.
- From The Emerald Tablets of Thoth

How is it that discussions of a sacred vocation such as Magick can never disentangle themselves from those distractions Magick seeks to transcend? Those mindless wranglings about the terrors of the Abyss that bring destruction and madness to those who step where they should not, the senseless arguments about what distinguishes the right-hand path from the left-hand path, and those much too lofty promises that Magick will solve all problems are found not only among neophytes and those simply too ignorant to investigate the matter beyond what they have learned from the Hammer Studios horror flicks. They also abound in the loftier circles of those who have studied Magick and who, consequently should know better. Magick is a spiritual practice that raises the consciousness of the practicioner to an awareness of a reality greater than the physical. Attaining to such an awareness does indeed have its dangers, because every time our experiential horizon expands, we are forced to reassess, and often abandon, those perceptions of the universe and ourselves that have defined us. That also includes moral and ethical values we may have cherished. Solomonic, Thelemic and other magickal traditions ensure that our progress occurs at a steady, but measured pace, however. That is a task that is neither fast, nor easy.

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The most vicious and useless discussions involve attempts to distinguish "black" magick from "white" magick, the "right hand path" from the "left hand path." Don Kraig, in Modern Magic, has pointed out that the techniques of "black" and "white" magicians are pretty much identical, and Arthur E. Waite, in The Book of Ceremonial Magic, dismissed all aspects of Solomonic Magic, as black and evil. This, of course, is in stark contrast to the assertions of Eliphas Levi and others, who proclaim it as a Holy sciencei. It is ironic that many would-be magicians take such claims at their face value, without considering the larger context or the agendas of their authors, and promptly choose camps.

If the work of the magician is good and Holy, why does he consort with infernal powers? If the initiate to a magickal order such as The Golden Dawn is to "flee the darkness and seek the light," exactly what

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