Ceremonial Magicians
Jay Barrymore
Just as Paganism in its various forms has found a resurgence of popularity among students of the Occult, so has ceremonial magick. Magician Orders are flourishing, and so are books on how to practice ceremonial magick.
Ceremonial magick is the domain of those people who play for keeps. This realm really separates the men from the boys, and the women from the girls! These people are intensely serious practitioners of the Magickal Arts; and for the magician, the Will is the only Law to follow. This is not to say that many magicians do not live by a code of ethics, such as harm none, but these choices are up to the individual.
To be a magician is to accept total responsibility for one's actions, without hesitation. The magician's Will is firm and inflexible, and they know what they want to accomplish and how to go about it. They are also aware of any dangers and risks that may be involved.
Regardless of what a would-be magician believes about himself or herself, ceremonial magick is not for everyone. A real magician always has a Master, a teacher. This fact immediately eliminates any wannabe's who don't have one. Ceremonial magick is not something that can be taught solely from a book. The reason for this is apparent to those acquainted with some of the better how-to books on the subject. Usually, the author will admit that they have left out certain elements or practices from their published material. The Order to which I belonged in San Diego called these elements Keys. For instance, the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram that magicians taught me is slightly different from the ones you find in published books. Certain words and gestures which make the ritual more powerful are omitted. The same is true about many other published rituals.
Training is the all-important factor for the would-be magician. Someone who knows the proper techniques must teach them. A magician's ritual must be perfect in all aspects, including action, wording and symmetry. To learn the above Pentagram ritual, a student at the Order had to practice it over and over, until becoming proficient at it. The student then had to perform it before the membership of the higher degrees for their approval, before they allowed them to progress into further teachings.
The magician must vibrate certain words and names of power correctly, make gestures and movements with precision and poise, and pronounce names properly. The magician must thoroughly cleanse and purify the temple and tools before each ritual.
A magician's focus is intense—so much so, that a certain unaligned or forgotten aspect automatically destroys any operation. If this happens, the practitioner must start anew. Considering that some workings may take weeks or months to prepare for, this could be a costly mistake!
Magicians take their rituals seriously. If an Equinox occurs at 3:22 a.m., a magician will conduct their ritual at precisely that moment, regardless of the inconvenience.
The magician's training involves improving the memory through meditation techniques, chanting certain empowerment mantras, and building the ego. The magician must have absolute control over every action and aspect in their magick. Training can last for hours at a time—we met once a week (Sunday) from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Being a magician requires dedication and work!
It will be found, also, that usually, a magician is a snob. Because of the work and dedication required of them and the goals they strive for, magicians usually considers themselves to be superior to practitioners of other magickal traditions. The magicians I know, both in the Order and solitaire, look down their noses at Witches and consider them a step down on the evolutionary plane of existence. There are, of course, exceptions to this rule, such as those magicians who also consider themselves Wiccans.
There is very good information available on the market in books on ceremonial magick, but there is also some bad advice as well. Many authors imply that a practitioner can take shortcuts and not follow requirements as laid out in the old grimoires (regarding evocations of spirits, etc.). This is a big mistake! Rules regarding this kind of work have been derived through channeling, meditation work, trial and error, etc. Magickal operations of this type are not meant to be easy. Conditions have been set up to be difficult on purpose, so that only the most serious and determined individual will proceed with the rite. On top of that, certain spirits have become accustomed to having things a certain way through centuries of tradition. If a magician is not willing to give a particular spirit its pomp, then why should it even bother to respond to their evocation? If a person wants a genuine manifestation or conjuration, they will follow the requirements as specified in the grimoires. As stated before, a magician's Will is usually their Law. One magician teacher of mine told be that whatever I set out to do magically, whether black or white, do so without hesitation! Know what I want, and expect to get it! Some techniques and attitudes I observed while dealing with magicians appear cold-blooded, but they usually got what they wanted. Most magicians I've met, though, are concerned with higher aspirations and tend to conduct themselves accordingly.
The only way to be a true magician is to join an Order or Lodge, or find a Master who will accept you as a student. Any other way is pretend—the individual is living a fantasy. This will not set well with many who have been practicing ceremonial magick out of books, but to the real magician's way of thinking, tough! To become a magician is not an easy task. For them to accept you as one of their own is a reward not easily earned. | 
