Dreaming the Inner Journey

Dreaming to Empowerment

Dreaming, lucid dreaming and astral projection are techniques that provide us with the tools we need to become whole.

She Entered Her Dream and Retrieved Her Mask of Power is an oil painting on wood panel, 96 inches by 48 inches, 2013.

The picture aims to illustrate that when we discover our inner power  our universe becomes rich and vibrant.  We cannot be given this power by another or get it from reading it in a book, although both can be a trigger, it requires our involvement in the adventure of who we are.

A ritual is a mind altering technique which creates gateways into other dimensions, earths the energies of these dimensions, and makes them tangible.  It is from these other dimensions, astral realms that are wells of power, the magician or shaman derive their empowerment.  These astral realms have a very ethereal, plastic nature, much like a dream, and so gleaning coherent substance from them requires a reliable structure of reference for the testing and clarification of its experiences.

This is the role of the QBL.  This conscious ability to tap diverse forms of energy, to be empowered by them and to cleanse our sense of perspective I call magic, and as such, it is the philosophy of the magus.  In my own work, I replace the word ritual with the word machine in order to remove the technique from religion.  A machine is a system that converts energy from one form into another: a vehicle of transformation.  Machines can be used to transport people or things from one place to another, communicate with other life forms and shape or transmute materials.  Magic is a machine used to transport you from one place or dimension to another so you can communicate with other life forms to shape and transmute you.

There is, therefore, a clear distinction between magic and religion.  In fact, I believe religion is what happens to magic when its disciplines are neglected.

As an example, if we observe the different systems of religion we can see they are centered on the experiences and revelations of an individual, a shaman or a Magus, persons who have had direct contact with worlds other than their own.  However, I believe revelations are only for the person experiencing them.  To me, what is important is for us all to have these experiences and then to assist others in obtaining their own and equally valid revelations.  Through these revelations we learn to become self empowered and accountable for our actions because we learn to believe in ourselves. In magical philosophy the technique is passed on to another who could have their own and equally valid experiences.

I believe the magicians at the source of major religions have failed from a magical point of view.  Instead of passing on the technique, those after became followers, not companions, and built institutions around the experience of the one who became their founder.  These institutions typically are more concerned with propagating themselves at the expense of providing truth.

It is these organized and hieratical systems that removed individuals from personal contact with energy and endeavored to keep it in the hands of a privileged few. I believe truth is found within each of us and we need to learn to quest and trust our own inner voices and intuitive faculties.  Just because you are the only person that believes something does not mean you are wrong.

Some of my own experiences are chronicled in Lucifer Diaries