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Real magic may be out of your awareness,
yet is integrated with the events that influence your life. Systemic magic
offers deep insights into your hidden dynamics - and offers solutions by which
you can
achieve your goals and solve your problems.
Magical Thinking
Some time ago I wrote a few articles about my hobby of ghost
hunting. Since then I have focused on understanding the hidden
forces that appear to control much of my life - and yours. I have been
answering the question, "What is magic?"
The word magic, with its promise of unusual powers, has
an ancient enchantment. Before our science explained the world and before our
technology mastered it, magic was around every corner. Illness and luck are
still explained by unseen forces and spirits in fundamentalist and third world
countries.
While fear of the unknown closes many doors, a willingness to
explore can open them again. A willingness to experience, to learn and to enjoy
the richness of human life can open them. But this means crossing the inevitable
confusion and lack of understanding between separate realities.
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Magic is a name for technologies that
we do not understand. (Arthur C. Clarke)
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It is not important whether I believe in magic. It
seems
important that I realize that I am more than a bag of organs, that I can
experience joy and that I can give and receive love. It
seems important that I learn about my human potential, and
my membership in my family and other human systems.
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Magic is a combination of
effectiveness and incomprehensibility. (Strooykan, 1992)
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After studying with Martyn Carruthers, founder of Soulwork
Systemic Solutions, I began to understand magic in a very different way to
my previous mixture of of ideas from medieval concepts, religions and Hollywood movies. I began to
understand the hidden currents of life - how people, families and
organizations survive or fail. I found magic of a different order. Systemic
magic!
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True magic
doesn't stop being magic when you understand it.
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Carruthers' systemic magic is no escape from or avoidance
of reality. His magic was creating an integrated collection of ways by which
people can
stop sabotaging themselves, and find and
use more of their potential. As with alchemy, systemic magic defines the conditions
for transformation - not of gold but of the human spirit.
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Systemic magic is simple
yet profound, hidden yet obvious, and always insightful. (Martyn Carruthers, 2002)
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Systemic Magic - Systemic Voodoo
A journey should begin with a destination. Systemic magic
offers ways by which you can initiate yourself into increased awareness and
control of the hidden forces that encompass and define your life. And the most
powerful of these is the destination - freedom ... and the path - love.
Do you understand freedom? You have freedom, which includes
the freedom to fail. Do you know what you love in
yourself and others? Do you know what about you is lovable - and by
whom? Do you know how to express love freely? Are you free to accept love?
If you cannot accept love, how can you
accept any lesser powers?
Can you believe that people who are now dead
continue to love
you? Or was their love deleted by the death of their bodies? Can you accept that
their love remains? In many religions, cults and philosophies, dead people are invited to care for, and
occasionally possess, the bodies of their followers or
descendents. (E.g.
the Catholic Church venerates saints as beneficial intercessors with
a deity.)
Many people who claim healing powers or intuitive
diagnosis attribute those powers to a spirit world. Martyn noted in a talk on family constellations that a
concise diagnosis, delivered with authority, that seems to simplify a complex
problem, may have a rapid placebo effect that is often called healing.
Whether a concise diagnosis is schizophrenia or dead
person identification or possession by a demon reflects the training
and beliefs of the practitioner. The symptoms ... and consequences ... seem
pretty much the same.
You can explore magical worlds. There are many doors
to access them, although I hope that I can introduce you to one that I found
both simple and profound. Perhaps you already know about the Kabbalah (commonly spelt as qabala, kabbala
and kabala) ...
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... the Kabbalah opens access to
the occult, to the mysteries. It enables us to read sealed epistles and
likewise the inner nature of man. Paracelsus (medieval
physician) |
... 2nd page to start here (DM) ...
Qabala
Facts become history; history becomes
legends; legends become myths ... and myths create facts.
The word Qabala means tradition. Although primarily Jewish, the
Kabbalah can be found in the
Chaldean religion and was part of the teachings of Pythagoras. There are many
references to the Kabbalah in the Christian Bible.
Judaism was
heavily influenced by Kabbalah (the Kabbalah has vast literature, little of which
has been translated into English.) Early Kabbalah documents (100 to 1000 AD) describe the attempts
of mystics to penetrate seven halls of creation and reach the throne-chariot
of God. These mystics used fasting, chanting, prayer and postures to pass
the seals and guards, to experience ecstatic states in which they could
experience God.
Despite ancient origins, the Kabbalah remains an
evolving system, and modern students can interpret these old doctrines in the light
of modern knowledge. Old traditions can and should be tested for
relevance and effectiveness. All tools can be improved.
Working with the Kabbalah can open new worlds, but requires massive maturity and personal
responsibility. The Kabbalah is a map showing hidden treasures of the
universe, and hidden treasures of your potential. Part of this map is the
deceptively simple Tree of Life, a roadmap for personal evolution.
Tree of Life (Sephiroth)
The Kabbalah Tree of Life is a hierarchy of qualities of
consciousness called sephiroth, each supposedly guarded by angels and connected
by paths. Traditional Kabbalah calls them
vessels or spheres, giving names and short descriptions that encourage students to experience the
Tree of Life rather than merely collecting ideas.
Each sephiroth is associated with a vice and a virtue. Each
vice represents a human weakness, and each virtue a human quality. To use the
sephiroth as a blueprint and a reflection of human identity, you can
experience the Tree of Life inside yourself. Each sephiroth has a place on the
Tree, and relates to each other depending on the Paths that connect them. Here
is a
summary of associations:
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- Kether (crown): pure
consciousness, the essence of a person
- Chokmah (wisdom): (right hemisphere) imagination and thinking
- Binah (understanding):
(left hemisphere) analysis and reasoning
- Chesed (mercy): desire to embrace and bestow goodness
- Geburah (strength):
usefulness, activity, progress
- Tiphareth (beauty):
sacrifice, sincerity and individuality
- Hod (glory):
continual advancement toward realizing life goals
- Yesod (foundation):
visualization and understanding of change
- Nezach (victory):
love, satisfaction and creativity, and all art
- Malkuth (kingdom):
your normal waking consciousness
- Daath (knowledge): the total knowledge you can gain
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Balanced Consciousness (Ehieh-Shekinah)
The Kabbalah can be seen as a unity of opposites: Ehieh-Shekinah. Ehieh is
transcendent consciousness (a static male principle) and Shekinah is cosmic energy (a
kinetic female
principle).
Shekinah can be active or passive. Active Shekinah is a creativity that
can birth a cosmos, a driving force of the universe, creating all Sephiroth
and resting in Malkuth. A passive Shekinah is a relaxed physical body. Shekinah, awakened and activated, can guide us up the Tree of
life, to unite with Ehieh.
Two Faces of Man (Adam Kadmon)
Adam Kadmon is a name for an emanation of the cosmos into Atziluth (world)
as man. As part of you is divine, and part of you is earthly, Adam Kadmon has two faces. The Long Face consists of Kether, Chochmah and Binah - the part of
you that can experience infinity. The Small Face
consists of Yesod, Hod, Nezach, Tiphereth, Geburah and Chesed, and sometimes
Daath (a hidden sephiroth).
There are correspondences between sephiroth in the lower face of the Tree and
those in the upper face: Can you see why Malkuth, Tiphereth and Kether are
linked, why Hod and Binah are linked, and why Chokhmah and Netzach are linked?
These geometric symmetries express important relationships which you can verify
experientially.
The Abyss and the Veil
Two obstacles hinder your ascending the Tree of Life; the Veil
and the Abyss.
The Veil shields your ordinary consciousness from your soul, the middle trinity
formed by Chesed, Geburah and Tiphereth.
The Abyss prevents access to Kether, Chochmah and Binah, the upper trinity,
the Long Face. You cannot cross this Abyss if you are bonded by your
intellect. By riding a mercabah (vehicle) of experience, you can cross
the Abyss to access this upper trinity.
When you look into the abyss, the abyss looks into
you Nietzsche
Our cosmos is constructed of dualities. Nothing exists without
an opposite, every particle has an anti-particle. Every thing
has an other dimension of being. The dualities called Binah/Chocmah, Hod/Nezach,
Gevorah/Chesed and Keter/Malkut comprise a fabric of space and time.
Reality is stretched between these dualities - balanced
precariously around a center. A center of body and mind without struggle or
tension. A place where Heaven meets Earth and Malkhut meets Keter. A place where
chaos meets order - a center of magic - and a gateway to other
dimensions...
Summary by David Marsden
My research indicates that the Kabbalah has enormous potential in coaching
and therapy - as
an evolutionary path and as a source of metaphors that are useful for personal
and relationship development. Like Martyn's emotional maps that he
creates during systemic diagnosis (some of which are based on Hawaiian
Kumulipo and
Kanaka
symbols), the Kabbalah offers a map of creation.
Afterword by Martyn Carruthers
Your willingness to walk across a cemetery at night may expose whether
you live in a world where not all magic is lost. Trespass into other
realities may be fun at first - but the consequences can be unpleasant.
Entanglement with other realities can upset your equilibrium and disturb
your health - and that of your family. We offer solutions for many esoteric
problems.
Other articles by David Marsden include:
Haunted House Curses
Black Magic
Ghosts Death?
Possession Demon
We can show you how to safely access and
use world-views in which you can
explore and resolve the esoteric
phenomena so well described by David Marsden.
Online Coaching & Mentorship
Plagiarism is theft. Copyright © David J. Marsden 2003 All rights reserved |
