Newsgroups: alt.magick
From: g93p5039@warthog.ru.ac.za (MR RG PUTTERGILL)
Subject: Sociological model of magick
Date: Wed, 1 Jun 1994 14:24:13 GMT

Copyright 1994 Mr Puttergill.

This is a brief article I wrote on magick very recently, I have put it
on the board for constructive criticism, nothing else.  If there is
any flaming to be done, please do it by e-mail.  This is my own
approach.


            A Socio-Psychological Approach to Magick


I have attempted to categorise occult practice into a variety
of groups.  I have taken a socio-psychological approach and
used a model which I have dealt with in social-psychology.  I
feel that magick and general occult practice fit well into
these categories and one can create a constructive framework
for one's occult practice and thereby find the areas in which
one might cope best.

To begin with, I have broken up magick into three categories:
a) collective magick; b) interpersonal magick; and c)
intrapersonal magick.  These three categories seem to cover all
motivations, all fields, and all types of magick.

*Collective Magick*
This contains the aspects of what I call group-mind, and deals
a lot with symbolism, representations and ideology.  From it
originate two groups, the ideological group and the positional
group.  In the ideological group, can be found much of the
dogma attatched to magickal groups.  In the positional group,
lies issues of status, ranking, teaching etc.  Here, one can
see that the more structural aspects of the magickal orders
come out.  It appears that religious movements, fraternal
sects, and covens all fit in at this level.  The practices
become group-minded and aim at a sense of connectedness.  At
this point, the two groupings merge into an intergroup
situation.  This allows one to feel a sense of belonging or
membership to a group.  It allows one the freedom to create a
social identity, through such issues as giving one's self a 
magickal name, attaining certain rankings and becoming a
creative being within the group.  It also lets free the idea of
what I call world-shaping, although this is also found in the
inter/intrapersonal model.  However, the difference lies in the
fact that one allows the group to help create one's social
identity, and shape who one becomes.  One is in a sense,
created by the group and one can only find one's existance as
such within the group.  Thus one finds oneself as part of a
collective mind, and one suddenly finds a keen ability to tap
into new aspects of that mind.  This is taken from a very
Jungian standpoint.

*Interpersonal Magick*
This is a very focussed area in magick and is often referred to
as Sympathetic Magick.  Frazer, who coined the term Sympathetic
magic, describes it as the belief that one can affect things
across space or distance using "invisible" means.  He calls
this the Law of Sympathy, and derives two other laws from it,
namely the Law of Contagion and the Law of Similarity.  From
the Law of Contagion, he develops the notion of Contagious
magick.  This is the use of physical artifacts having direct
association with the object (e.g. hair, finger-nails, blood,
sex-fluids, clothing etc) that the magician wishes to affect. 
This arises out of a strong belief that these artifacts retain
their connection with the person most closely associated with
them.  The Law of Similarity gives rise to Homeopathic or
Imitative magick.  This is the idea that one can cause things
to happen using imitative means.  For instance, if I want Joe
Bloggs to die, I will create a homunculus of Joe and subject it
to continuously destructive behaviour.  Another example would
be the Indian rain-dances, in which water is sprinkled over a
fire (cleary representing rain over sun), and there is a lot of
foot-stamping imitating thunder and hard beating rain.  These
are very important in modern magick as symbolism and contagion
are commonly used today through everything from Kabbalah to
Tantric Sex-Magick.

Other aspects of Interpersonal magick lie in healing, love-
spells, and any other one-on-one magickal works.  It differs
from intergroup in a variety of ways, but these should be
evident to anyone who spends a short while thinking about it. 
Interpersonal magick finally merges with Intrapersonal magick
in an Inter-Intrapersonal model which I will deal with later.

*Intrapersonal Magick*
This is perhaps one of the most common forms of magick and is
often a cop out for people who claim to practice magick and
have no effect on the physical world.  This is the realm of
Self-realisation and Self-actualisation.  Meditation,
divination and what I call self-bettering rituals are the main
makeup on this level of magick.  I feel that spiritism or
chanelling also probably finds its place here, or possibly in
the Collective magick sphere.  The point is that this is
"selfish" magick, as it revolves around the individual and the
bettering of hir own self.  My use of the term "selfish" is not
intended to adopt the perjorative connatations of the word, as
this is probably one of the most important sides to any
magickal practice.

*The Mergence of Inter- and Intrapersonal magick*
*Inter-Intrapersonal magick*
Interpersonal magick and Intrapersonal magick are dialectic,
and through them I arive at Inter-Intrapersonal magick.  This
is the process by which the magician finds hir uniqueness,
within which is contained hir Will and Imagination (what Jung
calls the 'real imagination' and not just fantasy).  These are
fundamental tools for the practice of magick, and thus, through
this process, the magician learns how to be creative and how to
use these two tools.  Beyond this, lies the formation of one's
personal identity, one's "true-name", one's ultimate goals, and
one's creative process.  Once again we come across the notion
of world-shaping, but this time it is the notion of one's self
shaping the world.  Through I-I magick, one finds one's
individuality, and one imposes this on one's percieved reality. 
One uses the skills that one learns in I-I magick to shape this
reality, and thus have a profound effect on the world around
one.

This form of magick is the magick of effect, while collective-
intergroup magick is the magick of order and discipline. 
Together, they can interact to create a holistic approach to
magick.

*Collective-Intergroup magick and Inter-Intrapersonal magick*
Once again, through a dialectical process, one aims at uniting
these two spheres.  Clearly, there is a definite line between
social magick and personal magick, but an integration of the
two seems sensible in that it provides some sense of balance in
one's magickal practices.  Thus in some obscure way, one has to
balance these two processes out, according to the necessities
of the self.  For myself, I feel that someone who is new to
magick should concentrate on building their own personal
identities before approaching it on a more social level;
however, there are many benefits for new-comers should they
join an institution, as they can allow themselves to be shaped
into a magickal way of thinking.  Thus, one should choose
according to one's personal needs, and perhaps allow oneself
the goods on both sides.

Thus magick can be defined in terms of social magick and
personal magick, and ultimately these two terms seem headed in
the same direction.  There seems to be an ultimate goal in
magick, perhaps this is what is called The Great Work.  This
goal to me, seems to be the discovery and accomplishment of
one's Will, and both approaches to magick are directed in this
manner.  Thus it seems obvious to me that I can move more
quickly to this goal if I adopt both routes without allowing
myself to get caught up in either of them.

*Authors Worth Looking At*
Crowley, Aleister.
Doise, ??.
Feist, Raymond E.
Fortune, Dion.
Frazer, Sir James George.
Jung, Carl Gustav.
Regardie, Israel
Sartre, Jean Paul.
Tjafel, ??.
Wilson, Colin.



Criticism is welcomed
Come at me Thyagi, Colin and co.  (josh included ;)

Rowan