Visual Magick: a manual of freestyle shamanism

191 Pages·2007·79.27 MB·English

by  Jan Fries

Jan Fries
Visual Magick
Visual
Magick
A practical guide to trance, sigils and visualization
techniques
Jan Fries
Copyright © Mandrake 1992, Year Zero, 07 and Jan Fries
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopy, recording, or any other information storage and
retrieval system, without permission in wridng from the publisher.
By the Same Author
Helrunar a manual of rune magick
Seidways: shaking, swaying and serpent mysteries
Living Midnight: three movements of the Tao
I would like to acknowledge to help of Custor and Mouse in the
preparadon of this manuscript for publicadon
Fries, Jan
Visual Magick
1. Magic (Occultism)
I. Tides
133.43
ISBN 978-1-869928-57-5
Preface
I was amazed, and highly flattered, when asked to write this preface. I
knew Jan only slightly, though my wife (Nema) had been correspond-
ing with him for some years. But, in the three days since I had met him
in the flesh I had seen sides of him at work and at play that I have seen
in few others. I would like to think that he had seen the same in me.
He is my brother.
I was unsure what to say at first. I wanted to share with the readers
the wild, unfettered spirit that leaped and danced on our English tour.
But I decided that that was impossible.
1 can say that Jan represents, to me, a model of a modern magician,
one that would capture the fancy of Aleister Crowley, were he alive
today. For Jan is doing original research, exploring new pathways, not
content to repeat the work of generations gone by. More important,
he is communicating the results of his work in a highly readable and
entertaining form.
This book is important for several reasons. First and foremost, it is
Pan-Aeonic. That is, it draws on a variety of sources using a variety of
Aeonic formulae (See Cincinnati journal number seven for more on Pan-
Aeonic Magick). Jan's main emphasis draws on the most ancient
shamanic techniques of paleolithic Europe. The difference between
this book and other shamanic texts is that Jan does not hold himself just
to traditional teachings. He includes techniques from Crowley and
even more modern writers. He also analyses Magick in terms of the
most recent psychological models.
Second, nothing is (overly) sacred to Jan. He has maintained an
ability to laugh that has been ground out of many Magicians by the time
they have reached his level of awareness. The attitude of playfulness
that Jan projects, even in writing, makes reading this book a true
delight.
Third, Jan has an attitude of skepticism. He does not consider
himself the final authority on anything. He dares the reader to find new
and better methods that he has never considered. If you prefer to
practise rote exercises as taught by a perfect master, find another book.
Last, and possibly most important, Jan urges you to explore (and
explore with) your body. Too many magicians are of the armchair sort,
reading and analyzing, or sitting in meditation or scrying. Jan's Magick
is of the arm-swinging, twirling, climb-the-tree active form of magick.
If you don't like to feel out of breath, you are advised to find other texts.
Now the reader has been told about the book and must judge for
themselves whether it is worth the time and money. I can only hope
so.
Mike Ingalls
Contents
<
0 Preface V
1 The Seed 9
2 The Ritual 20
3 'Automatic Drawing' 32
4 Sigils, Sex and Beyond 42
5 Visualization 51
6 Access to Imagination 69
7 Imagination and Prayer 91
8 Mandala Building 105
9 Spirits of Nature 123
10 Waking the Beasts 147
11 Coming to Earth 175
12 Bibliography and Index 180
Ganesha, Breaker of Obstacles
Chapter One
The Seed
<
A
seed is a unit of consciousness that has body, charge and
intelligence and tends to develop from potential into the
actual under proper conditions. Seeds are created, transmitted
and earthed in order to achieve change—change in one's world, life or
identity.
Seeds may have many shapes, according to the will and nature of the
magician. They may be visual, as sigils; or acoustic, as tunes, Chaos song
or mantra; they may be physical, such as the chance objects found in
the wild on shamanic journeys; or may find their form in dance, gesture,
ritual or event-experience. We will treat the seed's development in the
language of sigil magick in this book. Consider that sigils are just one
variety of seed, and that the basic principles can easily be applied to
some other medium.
How is the sigil made?
First, we have to consider what we want. At this stage it is not always
easy to determine whether the desire is an aspect of the true will or
whether it expresses some egoistic need. In the latter case, the sigil will
not realize; in the former, it will attach itself to the subconscious force-
stream of the universal will, and manifestation is just a matter of time.
Basically, sigils can be made for all kinds of desire.
All desire, whetherfor pleasure, knowledge, or power, that cannotfind
'natural' expression, can by sigils and theirformula findfulfilmentfrom the
subconsciousness.
A O Spare, The Book of Pleasure.
There are several methods of constructing sigils; the oldest of them
is probably the shamanic method. A shaman might go out into the
wilderness to find the tools for some specific sorcery. Concentradngon
his aim and singing power songs, he will travel in a trance state as the
spirits lead him, and collect all objects that catch his attendon in a
special way. Some of them might be used for some symbolic meaning,
while others would carry no meaning at all; that is, to the reasoning
mind.
These items would be gathered, blessed, joined and buried in a
special place. Examples of such pracdces come from Seeland. In
Maglehoi, a bronze vessel was unearthed that contained the following
items: horse teeth, weasel bones, the claw of a lynx, the spine of a
serpent, the windpipe of a small bird, diverse bone splinters, remnants
of a rowan twig, pebbles with sulphur, coal, and some bits of bronze.
In Lyngby, Seeland, a leather bag was uncovered containing a
serpent tail, the claw of a falcon, a shell from the Mediterranean, a flint
arrow-dp, a piece of amber, stones wrapped in a bladder and a small
leather bag containing a squirrel's jawbones.
Both of these collections are dated between 1000-800 BC. The
Celtic tribes had a similar custom. They used to dig deep shafts into the
earth and fill them with several layers of earth, stones, bones, ritual
objects, corpses, stag horns, sacrificial gifts, etc., until no trace of the
former hole remained. The various layers were filled according to some
regular pattern the meaning of which can only be guessed at nowadays.
The sigil as a visual device can be traced to the Paleolithic period.
Many complicated sigils were drawn by our Stone Age ancestors, sigils
that defy interpretation, as they are too abstract for symbols, and too
complicated for letters.