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_{A much less sophisticated form of this article Gnosis and Intent exists}

Besides the obvious destinations: spiritual liberation, higher education, reciprocal love, financial security, control over one’s mind, etc. there are more immediate terminals we wish to arrive at from the use of magick. However, instant magick rarely exposes itself to the light of day. The scarcity of instant magick makes it all the more appealing. Most magickers would have us believe that their ‘results’ can’t be appreciated until some time after their working. Should we buy their bullshit?

Or does Kia have to marinate? Is Magick qualitative or quantitative?

Flash manifestation is a skill that some seem to innately pick up and excel at while others toil and fail. We’re talking about results on the fly, with no prep, and using no props. We may consider this type of sorcery as ‘cold magick’ which should represent an improvisational performance on behalf of a client, whether that be aimed at a rival, pointed towards a love interest, painted on a target, or in the process of enabling the magicker to accelerate their agendas following their dedications declared and devotions described.

_{The authors of this e-say would like to take this opportunity to point out that your magick is fake and Anglophilic in addition to it being non-lineage based, non-grimoire derivative, and non-initiatory in structure. You can’t join a fraternal order because you’re too much of a goon. You’re unable to unravel the puzzle pieces that act as keys to these conspiracies and secret societies. You don’t even possess the wherewithal to make up your spiritual path. When you’re unable to even Stuart Smalley your way into a positive frame of mind it’s time to try something else.}

Most healing is a form of bare hands magick as it can often be performed on the spot by seasoned practitioners. One of the most underrated, yet impressive texts on the subject of Bare Hands Magick is Nick Hall’s Chaos and Sorcery, which explores the techniques and tools of more ‘primitive’ magickal sources such as the sorcerers of the African Congo and the “clever men” of the Australian Aborigine, as well as the Haitian bokor and hir consistent bag of tricks.

If we strip away all of the extraneous procedural fluff involved (stage props and psyops) in the performance of a magickal operation and detonate the art to its rawest elements all we are left with is gnosis and intent.

By ‘gnosis’ we are referring to altered states of consciousness which, Alan Chapman, author of Advanced Magick For Beginners, claims are not even necessary to work magick effectively.

His explanation regarding the trivial nature of gnosis relates to the trivial nature of all techniques. None is universal and can claim authority over the ‘right’ tech or the ‘true’ tech. In all reality, any tech could be put to use, it’s just a matter of how versatile its implementation is.

He explains: “Gnosis, or an altered state of consciousness, only becomes part of a magical act at the moment you undergo the experience you have decided means the same thing as your desire. In other words, at the moment you experience the visualization of the sigil or the chosen action. What occurs here is exactly the same as what occurs during sympathetic magick; you decide what an experience will mean, then you undergo that experience.”

^{by Alan Chapman in Advanced Magick for Beginners, 2008 Aeon Press}

• abcdefghijkl
• a pattern of biology or a force of physics
• pointed towards a love interest
• painted on a target
• enabling the would-be magickian to accelerate their agendas after dedications are declared and devotions are descried, or
• upping your flex and hustle and adapting your gameface to suit

Most hands-on healing is a form of Bare Hands Magick as it can often be performed on-the-spot by seasoned practitioners with or without physical or astral tools to aid them.

The primary Gnostic States

There are two main modes of physiological gnostic states:

• Inhibitory gnosis (which we have deemed ‘katalepsis’) is achieved by quieting the mind with meditative stillness by slowing down the intervals at which neurons are firing in our cerebral cortex. The term katalepsis derives from Greek where it means ‘seizing, taking possession, and in Stoic thought, basic truths were apprehended by katalepsis, in the sense of being intuited or ‘given’ or possibly ‘grokked’ by the receiving party to use modern parlance.
• Katalepsis (inhibitory gnosis) is achieved by bringing the mind-body to a state of quiescence using the sympathetic nervous system (rest and digest) and increasing the activity of the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid to produce an awakened state of sedation.
  • Examples: Lucid dreaming, sensory deprivation, fasting, exhaustion, gazing, magical trance, magical visualization, image concentration, sound concentration, motionlessness, Spare’s death posture, hyperventilation, and hypnotic or trance-inducing drugs.
• Excitatory gnosis (which we have deemed ‘eckstasis’) is achieved through building up overzealous enthusiasm by exceeding the body’s anaerobic threshold. In mysticism and philosophy, eckstasis embodies the state of being beside oneself or rapt out of oneself.
• Eckstasis (excitatory gnosis) is brought about by exciting the mind-body to the point of cathartic release using the parasympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) and increasing the flow of adrenaline to produce an alert, near-acute state of awareness.
  • Examples: sleep deprivation, sensory overload, sexual excitation, emotional arousal (e.g. fear, anger, and horror), pain, torture, flagellation, dancing, drumming, chanting, hyperventilation, stimulant drugs, and mild hallucinogens.

Both modes of gnosis are recommended for the would-be magickian to attempt, as she does not know what mode of gnosis will work best within hir intended operation(s).

The auxiliary Gnostic States

Then, as far as gnostic states are concerned, we are left with “indifferent vacuity [which] was described by Phil Hine and Jan Fries as a third method. Here the intended spell is cast parenthetically, so it does not raise much thought to suppress.”

This method of attaining gnosis can almost be likened to that of A. O. Spare’s neither-neither technique from the Book of Pleasure which takes two opposing concepts and seeks to mutually annihilate them in intellectual oblivion.

In Prime Chaos (1993, Chaos International) Phil Hine describes it as “a state of no-mind, or Non-Disinterest, where the object of desire flickers briefly in a mind emptied of all content [with] no emotional attachment to the desire”

In Visual Magick (1992, Mandrake of Oxford) Jan Fries mentions the state of vacuity in passing as an “inner absence, in-between worlds.”

This seems very much in line with the idea that Laughter is its own opposite and therefore beyond the dualistic condition. It’s an idea that acts as an antidote to the imbalance and possible madness of the magical trance. As a ward against obsessing over specific magical practices such as sigilcraft and servitor design, we must become able arbiters of Non-Attachment/Non-Disinterest which may best describe the magical condition of acting without lust for result.

Yet another option in terms of gnostic states is that of chemognosis (which we have deemed ‘nacrolepsis’), which many would consider the easiest route. It’s often much more difficult for the average cadaver to get a handle on, so we hesitate to label it ‘easy,’ nevertheless, it is a potent form of energy transfer that should be explored if and when the would-be magickian has the wherewithal and resources to attempt casting enchantments in this manner. Let us be clear, we do not explicitly condone the use of illegal drugs in conjunction with magickal practice; however, what the would-be magickian finds useful should not be discounted.

Truth be told, chemognosis isn’t categorically different in any event, because one is still using either inhibitory gnostic states (with sedatives, hypnotics, and anxiolytics up to and including depressants, cannabinoids, and dissociatives) or excitatory gnostic states (with amphetamines and hallucinogens up to and including stimulants, empathogens, and psychedelics), whereas opioids are a bit on the fence.

They can be used to prolong sex toward excitatory gnosis, but at the same time, prolonged sex for the average human male typically means exhaustion at the point of orgasm. And, we’ve all seen the effects of too many opioids on a person who enters the land of nod.

That can hardly be considered excitatory in any sense of the word.

While utilizing one of these four methods of physiological gnosis in conjunction with certain external paraphernalia one can gradually produce ‘results’ (or perceived effects) given the probability of one’s intent, the depth of their gnosis, and the strength of their magical link. Being consciously aware of one’s intent decreases the chances of it manifesting, so solid sleight-of-mind techniques are required, here. And, let us not forget that age-old magick neutralizer, subconscious resistance. Low resistance allows for more readily manifestable intents, so dig deep into your beliefs about your own success.

These two categories, conscious awareness and subconscious resistance, tend to divide “impossibility from certainty.”

Some would-be magickian may want to improvise idiosyncratic devices for enchantment purposes in their own heads such as alphabets of desire, runic inscriptions, barbaric tongues, mantras or chants, veves, sigils, gematria calculations, or any number of other apparatus. These may be used to distract the discursive mind from the most desirable outcome. For many, if not most, magickians too much attention paid to the object(ive) of their desire acts as a repellent from the probability of the desired outcome arriving at fruition. This is where sleight-of-mind techniques have come into play.

All that remains is the salience of one’s intent. And, that’s the limit of your imagination. You can work your woo for a good job, a car, a wife, and kids or you could work your woo for other things (read: six impossible things before breakfast) that only you could conceive of. Make it unique. Make it yours.

As a wise sadhu once said: “intent is everything.” While I don’t wholeheartedly agree it does point to the importance of having a clear, succinct, and well-thought-out intent. The more achievable one’s intent is the higher the probability one can expect success from it. We will admit we do not entertain the concept of a psychic censor that prevents us from achieving access to the magical reality; however, one’s seizure threshold keeps the gate intervening ordinary consciousness from ecstatic consciousness.

So, as some would say, make your intent as probable as possible this way you don’t put such a great strain on nature. I’m of the mind that some workings don’t get fulfilled until long after the magickian has reached the extreme unction of passing. And, what fun is that? So be bold, and creative, but be sensible. Follow your ethics. Follow your logic. Follow the voice that has spoken to you since birth.

Some intents remain more probable than others. The likelihood of one winning ten million USD in the lottery seems low as compared to enchanting for an allowance of cash flowing in through an actual channel you have devised such as selling goods or services.

Intent is part of the more literal meaning of karma. Karma does not imply spiritual retribution for dirty deeds done dirt cheap. There is no moral authority that governs who deserves to receive what punishment for what crime aside from the penal system. What you give out is what you get back. Whatever energy you put in is what energy shall return. This is no silly three-fold law, this is physics. Specifically, Newton’s third law of motion. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Intent is a formidable force in human psychology. There is certainly a neurological component embedded in this too which drives the individual to, at least, attempt to satiate their own inner nemesis. Wrestling with oneself seems the largest obstacle in a magickian’s career. This obstacle bleeds into what are known as ‘crossing the abyss’ and ‘ego-death’ insofar as one’s inner struggles must be confronted before either of the aforementioned activities can be accomplished. This is probably the reason for a gradation system in almost all magickal orders. One must overcome the ordeals and intuit their way through the initiations set forth by the mighty luminaries in order to progress up the magico-political ladder of arbitrary accomplishments.

The whole business of deciding what it is that one actually wishes to achieve with magick makes up for a large percentage of why so many would-be magickians stall or fail. People generally don’t know what they need. They can usually figure out what they want, but knowing what one needs is a much steeper mountain to climb. It requires sacrifice, compromise, and devotion. Need almost always trumps desire. The multiverse will tend to give you what you need over what you desire or want. It takes much practice to sway things your way, leveraging your will against the world.

Consider your energy source. Where is it coming from? How do we constantly rejuvenate? Obviously, we recharge our bodies with fluid, food, and sleep, but how exactly do we recharge our spiritual batteries? Some would say meditation. Some would say red wine and red meat. Others would say Bagua or Qi-Gung or Yoga or some other bodily discipline that directs the flow of the nervous and endocrine systems which are tapped into every other system in the body.

And, possibly it is our nervous and endocrine systems that need re-charging more than any other physiological systems. Perhaps the rest, relaxation, digestion, and excretion the body goes through does recycle spiritual energy, or maybe energy simply cannot be created or destroyed, so we are constantly playing with the same forms of energy all the time.

Nothing has Being

Everything has Value