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Advanced
Magical Arts
PREFACE TO THE 2007 EDITION
Many people think that Advanced means complex and obscure, especially in the field of magical arts. In truth, the advances are always within the individual, rather than limited solely to techniques or hidden knowledge. There are indeed advances in technique in magical arts: there must be such advances, otherwise human consciousness will stagnate and then decline. We live in a time of advance. Just as materialism and modernism advance at a shocking and destructive rate, so do magical and spiritual arts and awareness advance as never before. Only two comparable advances come to mind, that of the Renaissance when magicians (who sometimes laid their lives on the line) sought to restore the wisdom of the ancient world against suppressive religious dogma, and that of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the foundations of our current revival were laid by men and women of genius and spiritual vision.
Such advances are with us now, in a new spiral, a higher octave, and will occur in groups that work together, as a result solely of individual independent growth of the members (not through group dependence), and of course, in a wider manner in the collective consciousness. By collective we should understand the consciousness of humanity, but utterly in context. The collective context is that of the place, the land, the planetary zone, and ultimately the living planet and its entirety of living beings. We are a part of that entirety, and cannot work magic without participation within its vast and powerful field of consciousness, energy, and myriad living beings. To suggest otherwise is either ignorance or egomaniacal folly on the part of the aspiring magician, be he or she a beginner or experienced, novice or advanced adept.
In this second volume of Magical Arts, I sought to build upon the foundation of volume one, Living Magical Arts. The primary aim of this second book may appear to be regarding technique when you first read it … and indeed, there are many methods, skills and forms of magical training described and proposed throughout the book. The inner aim of the book, however, is about something else altogether, something which is greatly assisted by good disciplines and techniques in magical arts, but is quite independent of them. I am referring to guaranteed attuned and specific inner contact. Magic cannot be worked without inner spiritual contact. Advanced magic involves ongoing work with powerful inner contacts and specific orders, temples and inner-world assemblies. Magic, like music or sport, is team work, and advanced magic involves joining one of the major ensembles or teams as a skilled player. Of course, you have to train to build your skills, but in advanced magic (as in music or sport) you arrive with such skills already sharpened, ready to contribute and eager to learn more.
Throughout this book, the practical work is designed to bring you into contact with the Inner Temples, embodied through the Five Mysteries described in the various chapters. When you work with this material, your spiritual awareness will gradually enter into the Mysteries, which are vitally important for all true magical growth. We, as humans and like all other life forms, grow through interaction. In the consensual and often delusional world of human society, we grow through outer interaction. In the spiritual worlds, we grow through participation in realms of attuned and vibrant awareness. In old-fashioned terms, these are the Mysteries and this is discussed in more detail in the main text. Beyond the Mysteries, and inherent within them, are the Inner Temples into which all advanced spiritual work will lead us. The practical forms in this book, such as the visions and ceremonies, have been used extensively in my Inner Temple Traditions groups for the last 20 years and more.
So contact and participation are everything, while will-power and secret
methods are nothing. Understand this and you are already on the path to
advanced magic. The material in this book was tried and tested for years,
both by myself and by groups working in Britain and USA before it was
committed to publication. We have done it and it works, not only for us,
but for many. It will work for you too, providing you are willing to spend
some time and effort. Most of all, you have to stay with it. Breakthroughs
into advanced magical arts and abilities often seem to be sudden, even
dramatic; but in truth they build slowly, like seeds under the earth with
hidden roots at first, which grow up-reaching stems, and then the miraculous
appears into the light. Do we dare presume that we are any different?
Both of the Magical Arts volumes were intended for the new magicians of
the 21st century, so I am pleased that they are appearing in new editions
in this crucial century of potent planetary transformation. Of course,
such new magicians are ourselves, and those that come after us, ever renewed
and open to spiritual change through the venerable arts of magic. True
magic is always undertaken, not only for the present, but for the future.
Magic can change the future: skilled and ethical magicians, regardless
of culture or tradition, are needed now for the seeding of the future.
In the advanced work of this nature we never seek to impose our wishes,
idealism or will upon the future. Instead, we work with unconditional
compassion and readiness, sensing the planetary changes which flow as
vast tides from the stellar world to the lunar world; tides that affect
the collective on Earth and which generate deep responses from the planet
itself. We work with this tide of Call and Response and with the spiritually
advanced inner contacts of the Mysteries and the Inner Temples to allow
the forces to flow in harmony, in peace and in beauty. Always participate,
never interfere. The rest is magic.
R.J. Stewart
California, 2007