#visual magick

[cezarberje]

This is my experimental zine, I'll publish page by page.

[haremask]

Last year I was exploring the simple art of decision making. One afternoon I came to a crossroads in the woods. I had two basic choices. One was to go on the same level, walking to the meadows, the other was to go uphill directly and come to the mountain top sanctuary. Before I knew it, I had decided fort he meadows, which is a bit unusual for me. So I stopped and went back into my mind. How did my deep mind represent the two choices to me? Each choice had been represented by an inner vision, with some inner speech, and the feeling this produced was the signal that made the decision. As the process had been so fast, I had hardly seen that vision clearly, and so I went back to examine the representations with more leisure. The 'journey up the mountain' was a picture of the mountain, all veiled in mist and gloom, seen from very far above so that the trees looked all alike. I was a tiny spot moving in the murk, seen from far away. The road o this microscopic figure was undefined, a steep path through uniform trees, a hopeless journey lacking beginning or end. The 'walk to the meadows' was represented in great detail. I imagined what I would sense there. The rich green of the leaves, wisps of mist floating between the trees, the feelings of damp grass, dewdrops sparkling on tree-fungi, fingers touching moist bark, spider webs between the yarrow flowers. Being fully inside the vision I enjoyed a wealth of detail and wonder. I had made my decision by evaluating two visual representations of the choices I had. As the process was so fast, I was quite unaware of the differences in the representation, believing I had merely 'thought of the mountain and the meadow' and 'had a feeling I would enjoy the meadows much more.' It's hardly surprising that a vivid and detailed association of joy and beauty raises better feelings than a diffuse and gloomy view showing a tiny fool struggling uphill without goal. My conscious mind believed it had chosen, but the choices had been prepared, to make one much more attractive than the other. My deep mind had made the decision, and as I felt rather weak and lazy that day, the choice was a good one. When you make your next decision ,no matter how minor it may seem, examine you you represent your choices. Are you sure you haven't made the decision long ago?

Jan Fries, Visual Magick

[haremask]

Sigils are used where conscious will finds its aims frustrated. We use sigils to bypass adverse conditions, to avoid the censorship of identity, to achieve our will through avenues which we do not even know about. If you think about results while transmitting, you effectively bind your mind to find a solution along the desired channels, and this is frequently a hindrance, as the ‘desired channels’ are usually the very approach that does not function. Our conscious selves are often the greatest obstacle to the sigil’s manifestation.

The active agency of sigil magick is the subconscious self. We need not ‘charge’ a sigil with our power — the power we can raise consciously is nothing compared to the power that moves under the surface of our conscious mind. The sigil need not be energized — given proper transmission, it will find its way into the deep currents of true will and dynamic instinct, and imbue these with its message. Such a sigil will become irresistible.

Jan Fries, Visual Magick

[haremask]

The sigil has a neutral shape. We can work our magick with it without having to consider the 333 internal pros and cons, plus veto rights. We can focus on the shape as it is, ignore its original meaning; and forget about doubts, inhibitions, fears, hopes, desires, needs, necessities, conditions of fulfillment, and all the troublesome rest.

The sigil is abstract in order to avoid conflict or interference by the ego. It is released into the depth, into the realm of true will and pure instinct, and these aspects of the ‘inner self’ determine how and when manifestation obtains.

The sigil-sorcerer need not concern himself with the question ‘is this desire willful?’ We have to accept the fact that we don’t always know the nature and motion of will. In a sense, sigil magick is a form of feedback: the desire arises from the deep, is recognized, sigilized, cast into the deep again, and finds fulfillment from that agency.

Jan Fries, Visual Magick

[haremask]

“My Dream of Being X.

Sometimes I catch myself wallowing in dull, morbid or counterproductive thinking and the thought-mill refuses to stop.

1. I recognize that I want to change my mind, as further brooding won’t help.

2. I stop doing whatever I did while I was brooding -- in this example we will assume that I was walking. I stop and observe. This space is point A.

3. First I observe my inner state of mind. What am I thinking? How do I feel? What do I see within? What does the inner voice sound like? What is my state of mind? How is my muscle-tone? What is my posture? How do I breathe? In this stage, I associate with my inner experience.

4. Next, attention moves outwards. I associate with outside experience. Just where am I? What is the scenery like? How is the weather? Without moving from the spot I build up a good representation of the world that surrounds me.

5. First the inner world was sensed. Then the outer world was sensed. Now I spin around on the spot and leap backwards.

6. Standing at the new spot (point B) I can look forward to point A where I stood a moment ago. Now I imagine that I can see myself standing there, just like I looked a moment ago. No doubt that this figure doesn’t look too well.

7. I begin to change this (dissociated) vision of myself. I see myself standing at point A, and improve the vision. I may imagine that the posture improves, that breathing flows better, that my muscles relax. And so I build up a vision of what I would look like if I were much happier. Sometimes I change the facial expression of this image of myself and sometimes I add an aura in some radiant colour. When I want to walk into a world of magick I surround the vision with the images of the ghosts, gods and spirits. I make it a good vision, clear, vivid and very attractive. 

8. When it is well established, I take a deep breath, spin around and leap forward to point A, and into the vision.

9. Becoming that vision I get good access to the new state of mind. I start walking fast, and into the new world.

Once you leap into the vision, or embrace it, you should sense a strong change of your awareness. Don’t analyse it -- to analyse something is to dissociate from it -- but enjoy it for a while, before deciding whether you should need another mutational leap.”

-Jan Fries, Visual Magick

[haremask]

Would you tell the acupuncture needle what it is supposed to do? air you stimulate the right point with the proper intensity, your subconscious will wake up and correct the situation by restoring the balance. Of course it doesn’t look so safe if we sigilize ‘Money’ instead of ‘I desire money.’ Can the subconscious mistake our intentions? If the sigil touches the ‘money’ aspect of our being, true will is sure to know whether addition or subtraction is needed. In this sense, sigil magick is based on trust. Results may appear unpredictable— yet will they be wrong? A sigil is not a command, but a request: we are dealing with intelligence.

Jan Fries, Visual Magick