High/Ritual/Ceremonial Magic(k) (whichever of those names you prefer) is the quest for spiritual growth. The name ‘High’ is used in the same way that the Anglicans refer to ‘High’ Church. It is often referred to as the ‘Great Work’; or gaining the Knowledge & Conversation of one’s Holy Guardian Angel; know as the HGA for short.
Aleister Crowley in Ceremonial Robes.
The name probably came from Eliphas Levi whose 19th century seminal work Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie [The Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic]……has influenced all ceremonial magic since. Largely because most authors since Levi’s time have simply copied everything Levi wrote, or everything that Barrett who copied Levi originally, but in English (including faithfully copying the errors too).
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (GD) was certainly High Magic, as is the Hermetic Order of the Red Dragon (HORD) (which essentially sprang from the loins of the GD), the OTO and the massive volume of work of Aleister Crowley (from where we get Magic having the ‘k’ added to make ‘magick’. However most of the people spelling magic with a ‘k’ would probably be quite horrified and shocked if they found out why Crowley spelt it with a ‘k’.
High Magic is essentially about a spiritual journey by calling of certain spirits for conversation and/or help. The ‘Great Work’ of High Magic was described by the Golden Dawn as ‘Becoming more than human.’ Crowley described it as gaining ‘The Knowledge & Conversation of your Holy Guardian Angel.’, which actually comes from ‘The Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage’ a massive magical working taking at least six months of daily ritual. Just about every Ceremonial Magician aims to do the Abramelin ritual … few actually do. Crowley wrote a workable alternative in Liber Samekh. Phil Hine, a Chaos Magician, devised a powerful alternative version.
I often equate the “High” in Haute Magie with the “high road”, the path of doing right, not because anyone is watching, or for some material reward rather simply because we know it is Right. Carrying this ethos through every aspect of one’s life, spiritual and magickal practices (thought, word & deed) is for me, the essence of High Magick.
Refining one’s ritual so as even the most seemingly unimportant aspect is “Right” (the ungents, the hours, the tools, the preparations et al) invariably yields far more fulfilling results than just some incense & intention (for our current purposes) especially when one has been doing one’s solar adoration every morning etc… nobody but I will ever know if I actually carry out these operations however I would only be cheating myself if I hadn’t been.
Ultimate responsibility for Thought, Word & Deed is also a vital component however perhaps not for this particular forum.
Heed ye flower bush and tree (as it were)
Shalom
Words from an Adept methinks. I remember the days of morning, noon & night adorations. Maybe I just got lazy. Great comments, thank you.
So why did Crowley spell magick with a “k”?
I had written something about this but it no longer seems to be on the website. Essentially, the word Magick adds up to eleven which is the number of the god On. It’s also associated with the Goddess Babalon which rides the Beast in Revelations and Crowley identified himself with the Beast. He changed the Lust/Strength tarot card to number eleven as this card represents Babalon. Also the number eleven is outside of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life which has ten Sephira. It gets even more complex but you get the idea.