Thelema Lodge Calendar/Newsletter for June 1988 e.v.
Copyright (c) O.T.O. and the Individual Authors, 1988 e.v.
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*From the Out Basket

Q. What can you tell me about Black Magic and Pacts? -- from JT of NV

   On this question regarding "Black Magic and Pacts", I was not sure whether
the question pertained to the book by that name or the practice itself.  The
book was published by A.E.Waite in the late 19th century.  It was Crowley's
first encounter with magic of the degenerate type, and he initially took it to
be a serious study.  Waite's book does have many interesting illustrations and
excerpts from magical do-it-yourself books ranging in age from the 15th
through the 18th centuries.  If that were all it contained, the book would be
of some interest.  Unfortunately, Waite was perverted by something other than
sex.  Anybody can understand sex perversion; it's called "virginity".  Waite,
on the other hand, lusted after messing with people's heads.  "The Book of
Black Magic and of Pacts" is full of "blinds".  Waite starts to describe a
magical practice, gets down to the safe and dangerous parts, and then he
switches the safe with the dangerous!  Waite labels so called "good days" as
"bad days", switches the labels on tables of hours, and generally renders his
book useless.  It's only good for three things:  1. impressing people with
weirdness.  2. a work book for scholarship --- get the original material and
correct Waite page by page.  3. setting people up for interesting magical
accidents!  "The Book of Black Magic and of Pacts" was later reprinted under
the title "The Book of Ceremonial Magic, a Complete Grimoire", Citadel Press,
1970 e.v.
   Crowley may have gotten seriously interested in writing magical books as a
reaction against Waite.  Certainly, Crowley's preference for the spelling
"Magick" over the more common spelling "magic" was partly the result of a
desire to avoid the BS of authors like A.E.Waite.  Crowley wanted to use a
different spelling to show that his brand of the stuff was serious and well
studied.  The "k" on the end is derived from old fashioned spelling, and does
not appear when an "-al" ending is on the word:  Magick, magical, not
magickal.  Many people go beyond that practice and spell it "magickal" to
indicate that they agree with Crowley --- I used to do that myself, but
strictly speaking it's not the right spelling.  If anybody should learn to
spell well it's a magician!  ... in ritual anyway.
   On the subject of actual black magic and pacts with devils, that's for
crazy people and other Christians.  "Black Magic" generally just means "the
other guy's religion."  It can mean deliberate efforts at magic in the service
of "evil", but that's either fantasy play or insanity.  Most people have a
romantic idea of "evil", and think that it is something either against the
laws of some misunderstood deity or like the bad guys in comics and movies. 
In ancient times, "evil" simply meant "that which causes pain, hurt or loss of
the quality of life."  It is common for people who grew up worshiping a god
that didn't agree with them to have a period of rebellion.  At such a time,
role playing games like "Satan worship", "pacts with the Devil" and the like
may be followed.  Later, people either grow out of it or re-define the "Devil"
to mean something very abstract.  There is no Christian Devil, save in the
minds of Christians.  The Christian Devil first appeared in history about the
middle of the first millennium A.D., as a heresy.  As a Hebrew word, "Satan"
means roughly "God's prosecuting attorney."  Since that is not a very friendly
office in certain obvious ways, unlettered early Christians came to use the
word as an epithet for anyone who trapped them in crime or got them into
trouble.
  Crowley used the words "Black Magic" to signify any practice of willful
action or meditation that is not helpful in attaining union with the Deity. 
People who deliberately hurt themselves or other people in subtle ways are
what Crowley would call "black magicians".  Crowley also used the term "Black
Brother" to mean something more serious.  This is not a racial term, but
indicates someone who almost reached union with the Deity but backed out at
the last minute.  Crowley felt that such a person was very dangerous.  Crowley
also used "Black Brothers" to refer to religions he didn't like, particularly
some modern forms of Christianity.
  Pacts are simply agreements like contracts and treaties.  An agreement that
is unfair, leads to harm or involves an exaggerated payment is a bad pact. 
Certainly, selling your soul to the devil would be a bad pact on three counts:
1. the soul is worth infinitely more than anything that is to be gained.  2.
the contract cannot be enforced.  3. there is no such devil.  Such silly
business does make great ghost stories, however.
   Crowley often worshiped various deities, including the god Pan, fear
inspiring personification of the elemental forces of nature.  Pan was the
goat-footed god that Christians sometimes used as a model for pictures of
their "Devil".  That's just another old slander.  The Goat of Mendes is
another figure that "looks like the devil" ... probably smells like the devil
too!  Eliphas Levi published the classical portrait of this allegorical
creature in his book "Transcendental Magic...", page 186.  Although Levi calls
his drawing "The Sabbatic Goat" and "The Baphomet of Mendes", Crowley usually
preferred a different image.  According to Crowley, Baphomet is the symbolic
name of the god of the Templars.  It is in the latter sense, not the former,
that Crowley took the Name "Baphomet" as head of Ordo Templi Orientis.  In his
"Confessions", Crowley further identified "Baphomet" with "Father Mythras". 
Both Levi and Crowley (who felt himself to be a reincarnation of Levi) used
the Goat as an image for "The Devil" trump or Atu in Tarot.  Both Levi and
Crowley considered the Christian concept of "The Devil" to be false.  They
used the "Sabbatic Goat" in place of more traditional depictions to show that
this was a personified force of nature and not a creature of evil.  Crowley
most frequently used a Roman Gnostic device to represent Baphomet --- it looks
like a rooster chicken with a head of the god Silenus on its stomach and the
head of a ram formed by its back and side feathers.  The thing was probably
once connected to worship of ABRAXAS.  For a Roman example, see "Jewish
Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period", by Erwin R. Goodenough, Pantheon Books,
Bollingen Series XXXVII, 1953, figure 1086, Vol. III and description Vol. II,
p. 249.  Crowley is rather loose with his language, considering that the
Christian Devil is an obvious fabrication and that the "devil" or demon of
nature is the main symbol.  This has led some ignorant folk to think we are
worshipers of the Christian Devil.  You can't worship the Christian Devil or
go to the Christian Hell unless you are a Christian.  Who else would believe
in such folly?

                               --- TSG

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