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New Age is merely softened down and tarted up Christianity; an outmoded religion once adhered to by primitive mammalian primates based upon ludicrous notions of sin and guilt. Under Christianity, perfectly natural desires were called ‘sinful’. Under New Age, you still have to be guilty as sin for the same, for the words and phrases are ‘unspiritual’ - whatever that may mean - or ‘not virtuous’. Whatever words are used, people still end up feeling guilty over perfectly natural and honourable feelings like love, hate, lust, anger et al.
-- Gerald Suster
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Starman |
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Post subject: For A Musician
 Posted: Dec 28, 2008 - 05:58 AM
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Joined: Oct 15, 2007
Posts: 24
Status: Offline
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Greetings,
My apologies if I have not got this topic in the correct forum, I'm a little un unsure of where it would go. I'm a pro rock musician and have read Crowley widely over the years, have a good understanding but in no way I would call my self an expert or for that matter have ever carried out a ritual of his. I am continuing to delve deeper into his work and know it is a life long journey of understanding and experience.
I also picked up recently a copy of 777 and am thoroughly enjoying delving into it. What I wanted to know was can someone direct me into writings of Crowley that would be of use and importance to a musician myself. I tend to see the creating and performing of music as "magick" in practice. Any helful advice and direction on writings much appreciated.
Do What thou Wilt
Star |
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ozzzz666 |
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Post subject: RE: For A Musician
Posted: Dec 28, 2008 - 06:25 AM
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Joined: Sep 17, 2008
Posts: 186
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93 Starman.
Being a musician myself, I also view the creation of musick as a very magickal act. I get alot of inspiration from Liber AL, The Holy Books of Thelema, and at times have found musickal inspiration in The Collected Works of Aleister Crowley. I am inspired by his work in general though.
93,
Oz |
_________________
"He who knoweth little, thinketh he knoweth much, but he who knoweth much hath learned his own ignorance." -Liber Librae
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Poelzig |
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Post subject: RE: For A Musician
Posted: Dec 28, 2008 - 07:54 AM
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Joined: Apr 05, 2008
Posts: 299
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From: http://www.sacred-texts.com/oto/lib811.htm
Energized Enthusiasm: Section VII:
With these preliminaries settle in order to guard against foreseen criticisms of those Protestants who, God having made them a little lower than the Angels, have made themselves a great deal lower than the beasts by their consistently bestial interpretation of all things human and divine, we may consider first the triune nature of these ancient methods of energizing enthusiasm.
Music has two parts; tone or pitch, and rhythm. The latter quality associates it with the dance, and that part of dancing which is not rhythm is sex. Now that part of sex which is not a form of the dance, animal movement, is intoxication of the soul, which connects it with wine. Further identities will suggest themselves to the student.
By the use of the three methods in one the whole being of man may thus be stimulated.
The music will create a general harmony of the brain, leading it in its own paths; the wine affords a general stimulus of the animal nature; and the sex-excitement elevates the moral nature of the man by its close analogy with the highest ecstasy. It remains, however, always for him to make the final transmutation. Unless he have the special secretion which I have postulated, the result will be commonplace.
So consonant is this system with the nature of man that it is exactly parodied and profaned not only in the sailor's tavern, but in the society ball. Here, for the lowest natures the result is drunkenness, disease and death; for the middle natures a gradual blunting of the finer feelings; for the higher, an exhilaration amounting at the best to the foundation of a life-long love.
If these Society "rites" are properly performed, there should be no exhaustion. After a ball, one should feel the need of a long walk in the young morning air. The weariness or boredom, the headache or somnolence, are Nature's warnings.
Section XI:
Of musical instruments few are suitable. The human voice is the best, and the only one which can be usefully employed in chorus. Anything like an orchestra implies infinite rehearsal, and introduces an atmosphere of artificiality. The organ is a worthy solo instrument, and is an orchestra in itself, while its tone and associations favour the religious idea.
The violin is the most useful of all, for its every mood expresses the hunger for the infinite, and yet it is so mobile that it has a greater emotional range than any of its competitors. Accompaniment must be dispensed with, unless a harpist be available.
The harmonium is a horrible instrument, if only because of its associations; and the piano is like unto it, although, if unseen and played by a Paderewski, it would serve. The trumpet and the bell are excellent, to startle, at the crisis of a ceremony.
Hot, drubbing, passionate, in a different class of ceremony, a class more intense and direct, but on the whole less exalted, the tom-tom stands alone. It combines well with the practice of mantra, and is the best accompaniment for any sacred dance. |
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Starman |
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Post subject:
Posted: Dec 28, 2008 - 10:11 AM
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Joined: Oct 15, 2007
Posts: 24
Status: Offline
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Poelzig, thanks so much for this excert. Where was this originally published in? And is it available in print form?
>So consonant is this system with the nature of man that it is exactly parodied and profaned not only in the sailor's tavern, but in the society ball. Here, for the lowest natures the result is drunkenness, disease and death; for the middle natures a gradual blunting of the finer feelings; for the higher, an exhilaration amounting at the best to the foundation of a life-long love. <
I would say a lot of homogenized pop music with its emphasis on image and sex would fit in the "lowest nature" while music such as Led Zeppelin for example would lend itself to the "higher natures".
>If these Society "rites" are properly performed, there should be no exhaustion. After a ball, one should feel the need of a long walk in the young morning air. The weariness or boredom, the headache or somnolence, are Nature's warnings. <
How true. I've had past experiences just before a previous band was about to come to and end of feeling exhausted after a gig. The bands that have been the most successful and I've achieved the most in, have been the ones where after a gig, I feeling totally on a high and exhilarated for hours upon hours afterwards. And moments onstage are at times "otherwordly" kind of a peak experience where you feel something bigger thna yourself is driving the music...
Looking forward to more of others opinion and advice on my post. |
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zardoz |
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Post subject: Re: For A Musician
Posted: Dec 28, 2008 - 05:47 PM
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Joined: Jul 16, 2004
Posts: 535
Location: Grass Valley, CA USA
Status: Offline
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Starman wrote: › Greetings,
I tend to see the creating and performing of music as "magick" in practice. Any helful advice and direction on writings much appreciated.
Indeed, the best music has a very invocational quality to it. I suggest learning the fundamentals of ritual and ceremonial magick and applying them to the musical process. Magick, Liber 4 by Crowley includes all the basics. |
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Poelzig |
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Post subject:
Posted: Dec 28, 2008 - 06:06 PM
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Joined: Apr 05, 2008
Posts: 299
Status: Offline
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Starman wrote: › Poelzig, thanks so much for this excert. Where was this originally published in? And is it available in print form?
Not sure where it is available these days. I have it in a pamphlet published by the Holmes Group (I think) in the 80s or 90s. If I'm not mistaken it is also included in an anthology of Crowley's writings entitled PORTABLE DARKNESS. |
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Noctifer |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 21, 2009 - 07:23 AM
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Joined: Jul 17, 2009
Posts: 656
Status: Offline
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Excellent suggestions!
Note:
Music was the one thing Crowley professed total ignorance of. I forget where he does this, but he does say it specifically.
That said, he was a Poet. Poetry goes to the same parties. (In fact, it goes to all of them.)
To "enchant" is to en-chant, to in-sing, or sing-in something. Verse and magic are directly linked at the source.
In Jean de Garlande's Ars rhythmica (13th century, but after ancient Greek sources), we find the idea that Poetry is actually a form of music.
Which it is, even technically: rythm, rhyme, meter, all musical concepts.
Then it has the additional layer of text, thus another dimension, and on top of this, speech, another still, more articulate and defined.
So he did know about music, after all, just under different headings.
Additionally, to the great suggestions above, (from Energized Enthusiasm), a technical application of Crowley's ideas for a musician might be found in Book 4 part 1: Yoga.
Asana and pranayama are great for technique !
I acquired a memorised repertoire of 3 and a half hours worth of solo Bach over about six weeks thanks to the discipline and skills of control and focus I learned in Asana, and inspired by The Book of the Law. They make a great pair for musicians!
For inspirational direction, you could try the practical application of Liber O and see what happens.
Regards,
N. |
_________________
'The trouble (I think) has always been that nobody ever looked at things from Outside; they were always at one end or the other.' - A.C.
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