Thursday, November 26, 2009

Slapping Down "Prayer Warriors"

Rufus Opus has an article up today with some great suggestions on spirits to summon in order to work against "Prayer Warriors" - that is, Christian extremist magicians. If you haven't read it yet, you should check it out. It's a follow-up to this article in which Rufus discusses the "Prayer Warriors" who are likely working on behalf of evangelical politicians who support the dominionist movement.

I've blogged about this issue in the past as well. In the course of discussing that article I was accused by a couple of readers of discounting the power of this sort of magick simply because I believe that magicians of most esoteric traditions are on average individually more effective because we have a better idea of how our magick works and as a result are more able to optimize our techniques. The thing to keep in mind, though, is that these "Prayer Warriors" usually work in much larger groups than ritual magicians generally do, and as a result are still a force to be reckoned with. Preferably with spells.

To Rufus' list of spirits for workings of this sort I would add the Enochian Seniors. The Golden Dawn attributed the Seniors to the planets, but if you go back to the original Dee material their function is to govern "knowledge and judgment in human affairs." I've had a fair amount of success influencing the political landscape with those particular entities and highly recommend their use. Even if you work Golden Dawn-style Enochian rather than Dee-style like I do, I would expect that the Seniors should nonetheless be able to act effectively in fulfilling their original offices.

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4 comments:

Mike said...

I like the plan laid out by Rufus but care should be taken that no one gets harmed.Spirits can bite.
I wouldn't underestimate the power of prayer within the evangelical community.Their are a number of Christian books written about how to pray "in the spirit" and about how to "pray with passion". It sounds a lot like "invoke often" and "inflame thyself with pray".
Christians have a lot of experience with prayer chains and use them for good things too like praying for the sick guy down the street ect.I can see how politicians could take advantage of that for their own needs.
Another thought I had was about affecting the whole Christian egregore.Remove the Laws,dogma and severity and return it to its Christ centered roots of Grace,compassion and service.It would effect Christians world wide not just in the U.S."Think Big" as granpa use to say.It would take Nuke size magick and I suppose its all wishful thinking.
But it would make a great book though....A handful of Enochian magicians trigger the Apocalypse (Tyson wrote about this)resulting in the spiritual "rapture" of millions of people.Their is a great "falling away" as all those assholes who have abused religion for their own devices suddenly can't get with the new program and regroup around the "anti christ" who looks suspiciously like Dick Chenny.The new collective conscious visualizes into being the "2nd coming of Christ" who leads them to the "New Jerusalem" located in Palm beach Florida. :)

Scott Stenwick said...

I like the plan laid out by Rufus but care should be taken that no one gets harmed.Spirits can bite.

It certainly is true that you want to make sure that you know what you're doing before proceeding with such a plan, and understand the consequences of any magical action you choose to undertake.

Another thought I had was about affecting the whole Christian egregore.

That's an interesting strategy that might merit some experimentation. The difficulty strikes me as hard to guess at, simply because it depends on how resistant the egregore is, so it might turn out to be easier than you would at first expect.

A handful of Enochian magicians trigger the Apocalypse (Tyson wrote about this)resulting in the spiritual "rapture" of millions of people.

That really is a pretty amusing idea for a book. I would of course have to have a character in there based on Tyson who I could portray as completely clueless when it comes to practical magick (because he generally is, despite being a decent researcher). Maybe that character could wind up as the "plucky comic relief."

ChandraNova said...

"Another thought I had was about affecting the whole Christian egregore.Remove the Laws,dogma and severity and return it to its Christ centered roots of Grace,compassion and service."

First off, remember it's not just some Christians who oppose people practicing the occult - it's embedded in all the Abrahamic religions, and many other established faiths oppose the DIY approach to spirituality and power every bit as much.

And I think if your suggestion were possible, it would involve not just removing a certain type of practice of their faith from one group, but the removal at root of the innate human desire to:

1. find the best way to relate to the Divine;

2. find the best way to live in accord with our consciences, and inner demons; and

3. try to help/assist/force all other people we meet to accept at least a part of our values.

To me they're all part of one morally neutral dive within us all: for example the same drive that makes me oppose FGM makes these people want to burn us, it's just being applied in a different direction.

So if you eradicated that core drive, we'd run the risk of an "Enemy Within" scenario, where we're all very tolerant and accepting, and not one single human left has the fire in his or her belly to stand up for what they think is right, and fight against what they believe to be evil.

We'd be easy meat for numerous predators, material and spiritual, and it would be far worse than the current situation.

Just my thoughts, open for reasoned rebuttal. ;)

Mike said...

What I'm talking about is bringing balance back to the egregore.Thats what I mean by "Christ centered" (Tiphareth) but it can be used in any religious context.Fundamentalism has infected all Abrahamic religions as well as others and all need to be brought back into balance.Theres a line in a Golden dawn ritual that says "..study well that Great Arcanum, the proper equilibrium of mercy and severity, for either unbalanced is not good; unbalanced severity is cruelty and oppression; unbalanced mercy is but weakness and would permit evil to exist unchecked, thus making itself as it were the accomplice of that evil."
I believe you are making a similar point when you said "So if you eradicated that core drive, we'd run the risk of an "Enemy Within" scenario, where we're all very tolerant and accepting, and not one single human left has the fire in his or her belly to stand up for what they think is right, and fight against what they believe to be evil." I see the reconciliation (of severity and mercy)or union of these opposites as the middle path that leads to the Universal Principle of Love.
You also mention this:"First off, remember it's not just some Christians who oppose people practicing the occult - it's embedded in all the Abrahamic religions, and many other established faiths". That is certainly true today but ritual magic as we know it today was developed within the Abrahamic traditions.The Temple theology of the first temple (Solomon)is Angel magic.Astrological magic was developed largely within Arabic and Muslim traditions.
As I mentioned in my first post changing the egegores of these major religions is maybe just wishful thinking.