The Holy Guardian Angel
This is something that I’ve been wanting to write for some time. The subject is that elusive creature, the Holy Guardian Angel, henceforth referred to as the HGA.
The HGA has been written about, prayed to, and called forth for centuries. Yet there are many conflicting ideas as to what it is. I’ll try, in this blog, to shed some light as to my own personal opinion. Not the only opinion, but my own.
If you are a student of the Mysteries, you’ll be familiar with the concept of the HGA. It is the “Genius” in Golden Dawn teachings, it is the Augoeides, it is the the Atman of Hindu teachings. In fact, reaching your HGA is all important in many systems of Magick. For many, it is the ONLY reason Magick is performed. Reaching your HGA has a special term. It is called Knowledge & Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel.
Even the Christian Bible has something to say on the matter, “Behold, I send an Angel before you, to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Beware of Him, and obey His voice; provoke Him not, for He will not pardon thy transgressions; for My Name is in Him. But, if thou shalt indeed obey His voice, and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy unto your enemies, and an adversary unto your adversaries.” [Exodus 23: 20-23]. But this is NOT to say that MY concept of the HGA has anything to do with Christianity. If you are Christian, please try to remember that the concepts of Angels and Devils are not the sole property of the Christian church, and they existed before your religion was founded.
In Thelema, a system of religion and philosophy, reaching your HGA allows you to become aware of your own specific “True Will”, the exact reason you were put on this Earth. Once reached, you will converse with your own HGA, who will tell you your true purpose in life, and also assist you in all of your Magickal workings thereafter.
“It should never be forgotten for a single moment that the central and essential work of the Magician is the attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. Once he has achieved this he must of course be left entirely in the hands of that Angel, who can be invariably and inevitably relied upon to lead him to the further great step—crossing of the Abyss.” A.C. – Magick
The Operation of Abramelin, an 18 month Magickal Operation, is designed with this only goal in mind: reaching your HGA. There are some of you who know that this is something I am working toward. The preparations are elaborate, difficult, and long. During this Operation, the Magician will confront many obstacles in his path. Once completed, the Magician & his Angel must evoke many Demons (literally over 322 of them) and bind them to his Will. But that’s another blog.
Now that we understand a little about the great importance of reaching this being, let’s talk a little about what this being is. As I wrote earlier, there are some who claim that the HGA is one’s “inner genius”, one’s “silent self”, or feel it may be an archetype from Jung’s Collective Subconscious. I tend to disagree. It is my position that the HGA is a completely independent and separate being, who may have been a human at one time but is far from human now.
I would imagine that those who don’t practice Magick will find all of these concepts confusing. After all, I don’t just pray to God: I raise Demons, I invoke Angels, I seek my HGA for advice, I summon planetary forces. There are a lot of interesting beings out there.
But the HGA is different. This being is entirely separate, living, thinking, breathing and WATCHING. The HGA is a being, more than human, that has already passed through the stage of humanity. But he is NOT an abstraction of the Magician. I also feel it is quite dangerous to delude yourself that the HGA is simply an aspect of the Magician.
Upon attempting to cross the Abyss, all sorts of troubles can occur, and to me at least, it is quite comforting in knowing that you are being guided by someone more knowledgeable than yourself, even though that by the time the Magician attempts to cross the Abyss, he or she is “more than human”, as anything human will be dispersed by Choronzon, the Demon of Dispersion that dwells in the Abyss.
If you are not familiar with Enochian Magick, there is a fascinating reference to the HGA concerning the 8th Aethyr. An Aethyr is a contiguous and subtle region of the Magickal Universe. There are 30 of them.
It is in the 8th Aethyr, ZID, that the Magician will confront and converse with the Holy Guardian Angel. It is no less than the Magickal experience of your encounter with your own inner divinity. Meeting your HGA means that you and it have merged into a single unit. You will now have a link to your Guardian Angel and you will be able to bring forth knowledge and wisdom down from the Spiritual Plane and into the lower planes, including our Earthly physical plane.
Ultimately, each Magician must decide for herself what her HGA is. It’s an intensely personal experience, and one that should not be shared. Once you are told the name of your particular Angel, hold tightly to it and share it with no one.
These, then, are my own opinions on what the nature of the HGA is. But it is difficult to rationalize what is essentially an irrational experience. I feel it is best left to the individual Magician. As for me, my stance is that the HGA is a completely separate being, although I can’t tell you why. How’s that for ending this essay with a question mark?
2007 ©
Invisibility
I thought I’d write about my attempts at invisibility and some of my experiences. I suppose if you are a non Magickal person, you’ll get a good laugh from this. If you DO practice Magick, then you can appreciate what I’m saying.
Invisibility by fascination is far easier to accomplish. The basic technique is one of “erasing” yourself; losing all sense of awareness of who you are and where you are. This “unconsciousness” becomes shared by those around you, to the effect that they cannot see you. If they were specifically looking for you, you would be found. But otherwise, you are unnoticed. This is unlike ritual invisibility where you are truly invisible; you simply cannot be seen.
My experiences with this easier type of invisibility are numerous. I used to often practice this while in the company of family and it got to the point where I could switch it on at will.
Certain Demons of the Goetia impart invisibility and this is where it can get sticky. Bael and Balam are among the ones that teach the art of invisibility. The description for Balam in the Dictionnaire Infernal is particularly interesting and perhaps offers us a clue: “Balam can tell of past/present/future events, teaches cunning, finesse, and the easy way to see without being seen.” It says THE EASY WAY and I take that to mean a method of fascination. Still, I have heard of Magicians who were struck by passing cars while “invisibile” which seems to suggest that they were really transparent. Truthfully, I totally doubt these stories.
These Magickal blogs that I write aren’t meant to teach anything. They are simply some of my experiences and thoughts – nothing more. But I do hope they get read and maybe someone will be inspired. I never have any illusions about my abilities. It’s way too easy to get carried away and to start thinking that you’re something you’re not. Too many Magicians are megalomaniacs, and I won’t join their ranks.
2007 ©
Finally got a chance to sit down and fully read the essay. I have to say that, angels were not something I’d given a lot of thought to. However DL Moody said that “Those of you who don’t believe in literal demons have never tried to resist them.”
As much or more than most people, I can say that demons are around to be fought, whether we choose to believe in them or not. It’s like my sister the windmill seller says, “Global warming isn’t something you believe in; it’s happening whether you choose to believe or not.”
That being said, as much credence I have given demons, I’ve never been open to angels. Perhaps a cynical side felt undeserving. Really though, as you say,it’s all in perception.
Imagine if you lived in one singular dimension. Say, as a point.
If something that were two-dimensional were to interact with you, like a “very thin piece of paper,” you as a one dimensional object could only interact according to your abilities. You might feel covered, smothered or absorbed but you wouldn’t understand the second dimension except as how your own abilities allowed.
As with a two dimensional being interacting with a three dimensional being; Mr 2D might feel “the hand breaking the plane of water.” -perhaps the shadow of Mr 3D moving through him but he would not be able to experience the “full 3D monty.”
Perhaps that’s why it’s so difficult for those of us in this dimension to experience things or beings from another dimension in a way that has substantial meaning. Since we become wrapped up in our own experience and dimension, we can’t recognize the other dimension for what it is.
Just a thought. Probably an incorrect and confusing one, but there it is.
Eis.
Your blog is interesting!
Keep up the good work!
I like the essay on “Invisibility”. I’ve never really understood before why, as a child, I would just totally become “invisible” too, or at least that is what if felt like to me. I believe I was gone to some parallel universe in my mind, only my body was still there. My brother used to call it “spacing out”, or day dreaming. It still happens but not maybe as often as I want, like this weekend at an art “Gala” I was asked to exhibit at with about 20 other artists. I am not good at things like that, rather enjoying the people watching and the food and listening to the music. But society insists that we partake of these events from time to time. Sort of like being in the company of strangers pretending to be someone I’m not (at least that is how that feels). It’s at times like that I would love to be invisible, and travel around the room listening to bits and pieces of the conversations going on simultaneously. If you do not feel connected to the “reality” of the time and space you are in, does that mean you are in another universe? I feel that way most of the time in todays world and almost have to disconnect in order to survive. And as Eisbehr said in his comment, its going on whether you choose to believe it or not…the insanity in society is also. My choice is to dis-believe or disconnect from much of it, especially that which is negative and derogatory, but what seems real and reasonable, I do what I can to send positive energy to it. I do believe in Angels, and if they are real (and I have experienced some pretty angelic things in my life) then the existence of the “other” things are probably real too. Perhaps disconnecting our energy from them, however, not give any energy or thoughts to them at all, you weaken their ability to cause harm. Is it through that portal of energy that they can enter your realm? Just as it is through that belief in Angels which allows them to enter your domain and bring guidance and help when needed?
Aleister Crowley was never able to get “invisibility by ritual” to do anything useful either, despite working pretty hard on it. He wrote that the best he could do was get himself to flicker for an instant. I’ve never been able to do it either, and I’ve never met another magician who could.
Looking at the probabilities involved for light passing through the body, physical transparency may actually be beyond the realm of natural human magical ability. I’m of the opinion that the magicians of the past probably just used fascination, with which I’ve also been able to get some good results. It’s just less useful in the modern world because while it can fool a person, it can’t fool a security camera.
Regarding the HGA, I think that people who say the Angel is an aspect of the magician have it backwards, and in actuality the magician is an aspect of the Angel. That’s why you have to expand the boundaries of your personal consciousness in order to experience the Knowledge and Conversation.
Wish I knew what I did to be invisible, I’d make a mint.
There is also the Magic(k)al working of invisibility which exists to make us transparent to unwanted forces, energies and influences. That is an operation that I use regularly to keep me from matching the frequencies from others (usually emotional). Love the blog!
know thyself was awesome for me. I was feeling stuck in a rut.