The Left Hand Path

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Since nothing has been posted so far, I'll get things going. Me, I've been a LaVeyan Satanist for well over 8 years. Yes, it piqued my interest when I was a teenager, but my venturing into LVS was not out of a liking of 'evil'. And unlike some would believe, there is no physical god in LVS - the LVS maxim is "I am my own god", so a LVS' own god is himself/herself.

 

I've been raised as a Christian all my life, used to write for the church magazines, sing in performances there (not in the choir though, thankfully) Was never Christened as the priest refused to because my parents weren't married

I never believed in it though and a few years back I wanted to try and find a faith that held similar beliefs to my own, I did look into LVS for a while but settled down into Wicca. I know generally most Wiccans will say they're on the Right Hand Path, but I've always been an oddball I've continually questioned my beliefs and faith and the more I do so the more correct it seems to me.

I *do* believe in the Lord and Lady, but they aren't exactly kindly figures watching over their followers I also believe in the threefold law which has sadly lost it's meaning over the years of misinterpretation and fluff-bunny writings on it

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't Wiccas also magic practioners?

 

Yup. I'm getting a proper alter set up for casting when I'm in my own flat next year. Last thing I want are my parents interferring as usual -_-

 

Magic is also a part of LVS, but I do not practice - I have no experience whatsoever, and I have yet to find a coven of LVS who practice magic. I could learn a lot if I did, but LVS/magic practioners are hard to find where I live.

 

I've done very little in practice, like I mentioned before, interferrring parents who apparently respect other faiths equally

I've done a couple of charms and a charge, I know the basics of defense and hexes so they can be a laugh I've also found Tarot very natural to work with.

I need to build up a lot of my work again though. I didn't have a Book of Shadows until recently and some kind soul has removed half of my documents on the subject from my computer

 

One of the biggest problems I see with practing would be finding rituals from credible sources. I had a book about Black Magic somewhere written by a guy named Abraxas which contained some pretty interesting stuff... but to know if it actually works.

 

A lot of it is just ensuring you're combining the correct symbolic representations of whatever you're trying to do and using it as a focus of your will.

In blind theory any ritual has the potential to work perfectly as long as the user doesn't have disbelief. Considering the society where magic and religion are generally considered inferior to science it's actually a confusing situation to consider "Was I actually holding back?"

I did a charge a little while back for Salamander which worked alright. Problem is it would be an easy spell to dismiss as working. Mainly because if you start on magic, focus on spells that accelerate events rather than create them, it's usually a bit easier to see results and gives you a chance to focus on more precise outcomes.

As for finding rituals, I don't know how ceremonial you're wanting to go I made documents detailing different symbolism for colours, symbols such as planets and most other things I came across such as alchemical symbols and the zodiac, I think I had notes on moon phases somewhere as well. Look through sites, books, forums, etc and collect the information that has meaning and makes sense to you and have a play. You can't know how to best focus your will without trying different ways first. Again I don't know how ceremonial LaVeyan magic is, though I believe a lot of it is drawn from Crowleys work?

I'd pass Summoning for a while though, it's bad enough for me when the cat appears suddenly Summoning a gnome and letting it loose could be fun though...

 

I don't actualy follow a Left-Hand path (technically I think I'm agnostic) but I do have an interest in it. Also I'm interested in modern wizardy.
Now the Intro's out of the way.

DoTW are we talking about Black as in evil or black as in the colour? Because technically that's called Sorcery I believe.

 

Not really. Unless you're talking about a very specific tradition.

Black magic isn't 'evil' there is no specifically evil magic unless you believe all magic is evil or you are simply attempting to justify your own personal practices. Some people classify black magic in the intention of the caster rather than the spell itself.

I'm personally of the school magic is magic, Black and White are simply terms used so people can divide themselves up nicely to say "oh no, I'm not one of those, I only cast white magic!" Then again the witches I've met claiming they're "White Witches" are generally the ones who think nature is all Disneyfied with little bluebirds and bunny rabbits prancing up to people.

Yes, I've had to deal with far too many fluff bunnies before

 

Ok I shouldn't have said evil. So many possibilities for misinterpretation. My mistake

As for the "White Witches" they are the reasion I never really became serious about that sort of thing.

 

They're the reason I just called myself plain Pagan for years

 

Actually, LaVey separates magic as Lesser and Greater magic, so there is no black or white magic, at least in LVS terms.

I do wonder if I'm not too grounded in reality to be a succesful magic practitioner, though...

 

With magic you have to have absolute faith that the spell will work, otherwise it won't. Which makes it difficult for skeptics to get into (obviously a skeptic wants proof, which can not be presented as they dont believe the spell worked to begin with ).
By the way DoTW, is LaVey Greater magic centered abound the self?

 

I suppose you could say so. Greater magic is most commonly divided into three categories: Destruction, lust, and compassion. Each is considered a basic motivation for all actions, and Satanic ritual is said to fall into these three categories. LaVey elaborates on methods for focusing these motivations. For destruction, one can either act out or destroy a person symbolically in order to vent their anger and hatred. Lust rituals involve well, lust stuff, to put it softly.. Compassion rituals concern sadness and crying is encouraged. Overall, full self expression is encouraged in Satanic rituals.

In short, Lesser Magic would be more focused on magic rituals, while the Greater Magic revolves more around the self.

 

Just for the record, I confess to no sect, no cult and no creed. Also, I'd like to add that I'm not a satanist or anti-christian...Not for or against anything as such, I follow my very own path thank you very much.

I don't practice magic. Interested, yes, but in order to practice I'd have to believe and I don't believe in anything much. You could go and say that I don't believe in anything at all, but I don't care enough to make such claims. Words are such flimsy tools, useful in some cases, but not nearly enough to define reality, whatever that is or if defining it is even necessary.

I'm a man of the left-hand path because it is rather fitting. Not in everything, just in quite a few cases...

 

While doing a bit of a spring cleanup, I found some old papers that are part ritual and part math - lacked enough loose sheets and wanted to write down a couple of rituals (I had borrowed a friend's magic book - you know, the one written by Abraxas), so algebra and magic are mixed up. I was able to piece a couple of those rituals into their entierety, and I bumped into a problem - many of those require black candles, and I can't find those *anywhere*.

 

Could always get them online. I think I can get hold of black candles relatively easily

Can always get a mould, wick, wax and dye if you plan to do it regularly. Can usually be cheaper due to the quantities most companies will sell in. If you can find a place that sells it beeswax sheets are cheap and often come in a range of colours, you just warm it up a little bit and wrap it round a wick.

You need to be careful as a lot of pillar black candles are white candles with an outer layer of black wax to make them cheaper. You can often find black candles in charity shops

 

I think those are used by several groups in spells of protection (you know, black on the outside, white on the inside. evil, begone! )

I was never very good at Algebra but it seems that exact mathematical specifications are comment in rituals. Makes me think of Mathamagicks, which is magic very strongly based in numbers, Pythagoras theories, the perfect balence in nature and numbers and odd little things like the Golden Mean (1.62, also called phi. Appears everywhere in nature and I never fully understood the concept. Try googling it )

 

I don't know what traditions you've looked at, never heard of that one myself. Most coloured candles are only coloured outside because it's cheaper.

Very few traditions distinguish colours to represent good and evil. It's generally not a magical concept to divide things neatly into naughty and nice. Protective spells may call for black candles as black is generally representations of all colours in one and absorbtion. Some traditions use black to symbolise a dark aspect of their goddess or as a representation it is the persons specific will being involved in the spell.