Occult Newbie

I didn't know where to post this question but...
For a newbie in the occult, where should be a good place to start? I am generally familiar with the qabalah, chaos magick, tarot, geomancy, thelema, shamanism, magick in general. Any tips for a newbie?

Umm... Your familiarity with some of those subjects would appear to qualify you as *not* a newbie in the occult. Maybe I'm misunderstanding. It could be useful if you would clarify what you mean by "the occult" if not qabalah, tarot, geomancy, thelema, and magick in general.

I guess that I am familiar with the theory but no practice at all. I wanted to know what should one do to actually commence real practice and not just theory. There are many systems, most of them require the study of complex theory, but provide no actual real life practice. I thought that maybe Chaos Magick would be a good place to start?

Ahh, ok. Makes sense. Well, if you're interested in Thelema, I understand Book 4 is supposed to be a good summation: http://www.hermetic.com/crowley/libers/lib4.html. In particular, you may want to see "III - Magick in Theory and Practice", and its Appendices. Much of that stuff is distilled (or essentially reprinted) from The Equinox: http://the-equinox.org/vol1/index.html, if you're interested in that. I found it pretty useful, but then, it seems that what's really important has been put in Book 4. Crowley's practices are specific and many have what you might call "success criteria", for a relatively scientific approach to development and progress.

I'm pretty new to Western Magick and the like as well, and I've found the practices recommended by Crowley to be pretty useful for making rapid progress. As always, your mileage may vary.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't know where to turn for good Chaos Magick practices, hopefully someone else can give a recommendation if that's what you'd like to get into.

Welcome Zarathustra666! In order to better respond to your question, could you describe your previous studies and orientation a little? What framework was in use in your family of origin? How has this framework evolved? What aspects of your orientation would you like your practice to address?

There should be more Chaote-related content in digest #26...

chaos magic is initially very charming because in theory it's all about results, but if you haven't experimented at all with hands-on magic some generic trance-work is a good place to start. peter carroll's liber null is a collection of ideas that work as a launching pad, it's the beginning syllabus for all members of the IOT (illuminates of thanateros) and a solid guide for anyone interested in developing the tools of magic. phil hine is also an extremely accessible author with a lighter and more adventurous approach to chaos magic, his "condensed chaos" or "oven-ready chaos" (same book basically, oven-ready is a later edition with some additional material) is a great book for somebody trying to understand the chaos current more completely. if you don't want to spend time developing the meditative or ecstatic techniques suggested there, getting your hands dirty with some sigil magic and learning as you go is the fastest way to see results, and there are MANY resources available simply by typing "sigil magic" into google. a great resource that has helped me develop consistently over the past few years is chaosmatrix.com, they have a veritable library of chaos material that can help keep your ideas fresh.

theory is all good and fine, and collecting knowledge is an excellent past-time, but learning a lot about magic is no replacement for the great game life becomes when you are practicing it. i feel like it's best to start with light goals and rituals, not plumbing the depths of your psyche until you are really ready and can trust your personal banishing/cleansing/whatever. i recommend beginning immediately by trying to learn to control your mind a bit and shut down your ego, since almost all magic work requires clarity that ego-mind will never allow you. meditate, follow your intuition, build your rituals, work your mojo, and always remember to laugh - if you want more specific advice about how to start working with energy from the chaos current - it sounds like you're familiar with theories - maybe tailor a question to address a specific curiosity?

master the basics first. pick one system of divination and work it till its second nature.
work on visualization. Ben Rowe's course on scrying and paper on lesser pentagram ritual are nice and to the point. meditate, and do dream work*cough*yoga nidra*cough* . once you get these down then pick a system to use.

so ive seen...
starting with chaos magick gives one the tools but kinda is aimless in direction(which is good/bad depending on who uses it). kinda like a giant buffet and you dont know where to start. plus a bit of reinventing the wheel syndrome(unless thats what you wanna do)

ask yourself: what mythology do you like, what themes keep popping up in your life, what are your bad habits, do you believe in a soul, do you have a particular dream that keeps coming back, what are your politics/morals and are you willing to practice their respective opposites, do you wish to build yourself up or tear yourself down(be honest), who do you like better batman or superman, if you could act and be someone else what would you be like, the type of person you are sexually attracted to- do they represent or counter your parent of their same sex, ever interpret your natal chart

i would also get a working understanding with some choice terms from the art world:
post modernism, post-post modernism, constructivism, structuralism, modernism, deconstructionism, post-structuralism, hyper-real, ...notice i didnt say cubism, haha

maybe this will help, maybe not
either way be sure to carry a towel

and dont panic...sage advice.

Thanks to everyone for all the useful advice. I've notice that the most important thing right now for me is to remove what is called the "ego-mind" or mind chatter. It's something that really gets in the way automatically and can be very annoying sometimes.

what exactly do you mean by ego mind and/or mind chatter?

emperorzombie wrote:what exactly do you mean by ego mind and/or mind chatter?

I think he means the internal narrative that confounds many aspirants.

Yes. At least I find it difficult to still the mind or stop thoughts at will. But I am trying to work on it? Any suggestions? Zen, meditation, Yoga exercises?
Also, in what way can the study of the Qabalah benefit me? I've read Crowley who really talks about the Qabalah in such a grandiose way. And what exactly is the Tree Of Life, how is it used? I know that it is like a mental map or a way of organizing thoughts. I read Chicken Qabalah by Lon Milo Duquette.

zarathustra666 wrote:At least I find it difficult to still the mind or stop thoughts at will. But I am trying to work on it? Any suggestions? Zen, meditation, Yoga exercises?

It's different for everyone, but you're not alone in struggling with this obstacle.

Have you any experience with kundalini yoga? They use certain mental frameworks during breathing exercises that can be effective - but it sometimes takes a while. I've heard folks claim to have broken through this only after years of practice, but it generally seems to 'click' when they stop striving for it.

as far as the inner narrative, pick a system and stick with it no matter how 'wrong, unconvenient, difficult, 'not-you'' it seems. repitition and practice is what pays off.
zen witnessing, crowley's 8 lectures on yoga, chakra yoga, visualization, mantra, pranayama, *cough*yoga nidra*cough*, counting to 2000, are some examples.

pick one and go, and keep a record of experiences.
there are two main streams of thought: suppress and will the narrative quiet or relax it away, both can be difficult in their own way.

my lazy inclination lead me to nidra, but it is work dont be fooled.

as far as kabbalah, its a symbol system to represent the universe. same as tarot, enochian, platonic, samkhya. again pick one that appeals most and run with it. the magic happens when you ingrain the symbols and they start to cross reference each other leading to meaningful connections-verifying or discounting certain magical operations. its ultimately a personal choice. the symbols should resonate with you.

hope my ramblings help.