The Magical Sword by Andrew Rutledge

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

 

The Magical Sword

　

Probably the most per found contemplation on the magical sword as a ritual weapon in a magical-philosophical sense once again comes from A. Crowley: The magic sword is the analytical faculty, directed against any demon it attacks complicity.

Only the simple can w/stand the sword. As we are below the Abyss, the weapon is then entirely destructive: it drives Satan against Satan. It is only in the lower forms of magic, the purely human forms, that the sword has become so important a weapon.

A dagger should be sufficient, but the mind of man is normally so important to him that the sword is actually the largest of his weapons, happy is he who can make the dagger suffice! How should this be understood? Why does Crowley praise the magician who does not need a sword, calling him/her happy? Lets have a look at more of what he has to say first: The sword necessary as it is to the beginner, is but a crude weapon. Its function is to keep off the enemy, to force a passage through them- & though it must be worn to gain admission to the palace, it can not be worn at the manage feast.

One might say that the pentacle is the bread of life, & the sword the knife which cuts it up. One most have ideas, but one must criticize them. The sword too, is that weapon w/which one strikes terror into the demons & dominates them. One must keep the Ego Lord of Impression. One most not allow the circle to be broken by the demon, one most not allow any one idea to carry one away. It will readily be seen how very elementary & false all this is- but for the beginner it is necessary. In all dealings w/ demons the point of the sword is kept down wards & it should not be used for invocations, as taught in certain schools of magic.

If the sword is raised towards the crown, it is no longer really a sword. The crown can not be divided. Certainly the sword should not be lifted.

The sword may however be clasped in both hands, & kept steady & erect, symbolizing that thought has become one w/the single aspiration & burnt up like a flame. This flame is the “Shin (1)” , the Ruach Alhim, not the mere Ruach Adam. The divine & not the human conscious.

The magician can not wield the sword unless the crown is on his/her head.

Those magicians who have attempted to make the sword the sole / even the principle weapon. Have only destroyed themselves, not by the destruction of combination by destruction of division(2) weakness overcometh strength.

The mind must be broken up into a form of insanity before it can be transcended.

The sword therefore is a critical authority- w/its help the magician can get a grip on ones feelings that distort ones perceptions & hides the nature of things. Needing to use it means beining susceptible to the danger of self deception & insanity. Because if the instinctive confidence of the cup is infused, there will be dangerous discord w/in the magician. But the sword is also an instrument of thought control & preciseness, & it represents the scientific idea & emotional neutral objective.

A. Crowley: Hence every idea must be analyzed by the sword, hence too there must be only be a single thought in the mind of the person meditating.

One now may go on to consider the use of the sword in Purifying emotion into Perception. It was the function of the cup to interpret the perceptions by Tendencies, the sword freed the perception from the web of emotion.

The Perceptions are meaningless in themselves, but the Emotions are worse for they delude their victims into supposing them significant & true.

Every emotion is an obsession, the most horribly blasphemy is to attribute emotion to god in the Macrocosm, or to the pure soul in the Microcosm.

Even in instruments in themselves, their physical qualities such as expansion & contraction (which may be called, in away the roots of pleasure & pain) cause error.

Make a thermometer, & the glass is so excited by the necessary fusion year by year, for 30yrs afterwards or more, the highest mercury will continue to alter; how much more so then w/plastic a matter as the mind! There is no emotion which does not leave a mark on the mind, & all marks are bad marks. Hope & Fear are only opposites phases of a single emotion, both are incompatible w/the purity of the soul. With Passion of man the case is somewhat different, as they are functions of his/her own will. They need to be disciplined, not to be suppressed. But emotion is impressed from w/out. It is an invasion of the circle.

Crowley’s admonitions- just like those of every shaman- point out again & again that the mind should never be our master, but rather our servant. But this is not meant to be destroyed. Even this servant has an important & vital function because w/out it the door would be wide open for self deception, paranoia, & megalomania.

The sword corresponds to the element of Air in its characteristics that represents thought, communication, language & the rational mind. It can be of any shape or form. The handle is usually made of wood(3) coated/set w/copper, although solid cooper is sometimes used as well. There is usually a cooper ball/disk at the pommel of the handle. The hilt is made of 2 crescent moons that represents its waxing & waning phase. In between these round cooper discs are attached(4). Together the 3 discs/balls form an equilateral triangle. Crowley mentions that some magicians make the 3 balls out of lead, pewter, & gold, the crescent moons then would be made out of silver & the handle filled w/mercury, turning the sword into the symbol of the planets. But he went on to say that this usually is just a wild fantasy that never followed through w/. The blade of the sword is usually made of stainless steel & should be straight & pointed & sharp all the way to the hilt. If we look at the symbolism of the metal correspondence, it clearly tells us that this is a weapon that merges the principle of Mars & Venus. Crowley wrote: Those 2 planets are male & female & thus reflect the wand & cup though in a much lower sense. The hilt is of Venus, for love is the motive of this ruthless analysis- if it were not so the sword would be a black magical weapon. The magician etches or carves glyphs, symbols, or god names into the blade, The sigil of a magical name can be used, for example & Crowley suggested etching the formula AGAL by using VITRIOLOIL.

The Sword will only be used for evocation/demonic actions

But even in this case, it always “a weapon of last resort” Just imagine it in a practical sense. If the demon in the triangle threatens the stability of the circle, the sword (the intellect/rational mind) is called for. It is not only used to drive back or “destroy” the demon if necessary; but if we think back on our matter of Paradigm shifting the magician can also use it as a last resort to prevent possible possession by immediately shifting to a Paradigm of “magic/disbelief” & declare the entire operation as to be nothing more but “ Superstitious nonsense’s” . Of course such an operation not only has to be learned but is also accompanied by a great deal of danger,, because it violates the magicians symbol logic by practically voiding the entire magical operation which could lead to serous negative conditioning every time one is in a state of trance. Reversing these effects can often take years, causing dry spells in which the magician doesn’t seem to succeed at any kind of magic at all, causing a sense of desperation that can easily take the upper hand on things.

Strictly speaking the sword should be used (w/out physical contact) before the operation since it’s also the embodiment of the intellectual capacity to make decisions & the magician makes decisions (e.g. To perform or not to perform a ritual) only after carefully thinking about them beforehand. Afterwards he/she acts uncompromisingly on the decision one has made.

So hence the warning once again since it can not be often enough!

The magician who never needs to use one’s sword is well off!

With this, we recognize how deep the symbolism of ritual weapons goes & w/out wanting to exaggerate it has hopefully become clear what we mean by saying that the magician creates one’s own universe. In doing so it doesn’t matter at all that he/she adapts a whole heap of symbolic material along the way, because the number 1 rule is always that each magician’s individual system of symbols needs to be coherent in other words the symbol logic needs to be retained. That’s why the relatively simple course system of symbols that beginners uses today is certainly much better than the blind imitations of some of the fancy techniques used in certain times. In any case we need to give life to the symbols themselves if they’re to be of any use, & by giving them the breath of life, we ourselves becomes Gods.