by Alexander Mulligan

Alexander Mulligan was a regular contributor to alt.magick.chaos in the early 2000s, known for a distinctive approach he called "Natural Magick" — a synthesis of chaos magick principles with the metaphysical framework of the Seth Material, the teachings channelled by Jane Roberts in the 1970s and 1980s. This primer, in its fourth revision by January 2005, presents magick not as ritual technique but as the conscious art of shaping reality through belief.

Natural Magick as Mulligan describes it has four degrees, in ascending order of priority: the First Magick is happiness and self-acceptance; the Second is a good life in practice; the Third is spiritual development; and the Fourth — special powers — comes last and least. The premise is direct: trying to develop powers before building the foundation is building the roof before the floor. The primer is preserved here as a document of the chaos magick tradition's more inward-looking wing: the practitioners who asked what the work was actually for*, and answered: a good life.*

The only real difference between between a Magickian and an ordinary human being is that a knows that they are a Magickal being.

Why "Natural Magick"? To seperate it from the systems/schools of Magick that believe Magick to be something apart from Nature. From the alleged systems of Magick referred to below.

What is magick? For simplicity's sake, it can be considered the art and science of reading and casting the spells/beliefs that create the world, individually and collectively.

Magick is the real Science.

(pool of infinite possibilities) → filtered by a person's beliefs/spells → their life experience and contribution to the mass reality

Aleister Crowley understood, however imperfectly:

"Magick is the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will."

Intending to walk to the park and doing it is a Magickal act by that definition, and indeed it is.

[Please: Do not take the above a general endorsement of Crowley's works. They are mostly garbage.]

There are groups that want to believe in both Magickal Science and Physical Science, which can't be done without severely distorting one's understanding of, and ability to use, Magick.

They aren't mutually exclusive paradigms. Magickal Science easily allows for the existence of Physical Science. It is simply very Bad Magick. The gross misuse thereof: It is a self-contained, self-referential, mental edifice. A theory that uses itself as proof of its own validity.

A potent Over-Spell.

The problem, of course, is in the other direction, where Physical Science (the belief system held by the layperson, not the 'revelations' of the High Priests in their ivory towers) who believes magick to be nothing but superstitious nonsense, and always will, despite the fervent wishes of some.

Once they accept non-physical causation, their intellectual house of cards falls into a heap. It can no longer be called "Physical Science" and won't be.

One designation for what it will become is "Magickal Science".

The oldest and the only true science, though we have wandered far from its comforting and adventurous embrace.

Among those that claim to be Physical Scientists (by whatever name) you will many who want to believe in magick, and do, to some degree or another.

But they want to believe in the random-mechanical-self-contained universe/reality too. And do, although it is very hard to fit magick into a paradigm that regards magick to be superstitious nonsense.

This means that they have to conceive of magick as a para-technological black box, some as-yet-unexplained mechanism with vague properties that will somehow, someday, fit into a physical unified field theory.

Magick becomes a machine that can be activated with just the right ritual and its paraphernalia. Take these steps in this order and with the right talismans and that will push the right buttons on the magic machine.

None of these people can do anything Magickal at all. They can just talk about it and dream about it and play the role.

ALWAYS demand a concise and usable definition of Magick from anyone claiming to be an 'adept', and inisist that they demonstrate abilities in line with that definition.

If they won't do both of the above, walk away.

Magick is about non-physical, or extra-physical causation. It is about a conscious universe with many dimensions.

To pretend otherwise is to deny oneself any true understanding of magick and likewise the ability to wield it effectively.

Practical Magick is applied Magickal Science.

Please note that it is the IDEAS that count here, not the specific wordings that I have used.

I — The First Magick is Happiness (the Primary Abstract Spells)

0. I Am (Not I am this or I am that: Reason is a tool)

1. The Self creates its own reality via magickal means

2. All Existence is Blessed, all Beings are Innocent; It's All Good

3. The Present is the Point of Power (creativity and knowledge)

4. The Self has no natural limitations. I am Free

5. All Things are Connected. The self has no seperations or
   boundaries

All Existence is Blessed

Becoming aware of the state of grace in which all being resides.

All existence is blessed and than there is no Evil to be found anywhere in it. There is nothing but God (All That Is) and there is no outside.

All beings are Innocent: At the root of their motivations can be found a basic good intent, with obviously bad actions and manifestations being the result of ignorance.

(The belief in Evil creates most of the apparent Evil in the world.)

There is only one creative force: It can be used for good or ill, but it is much easier and more pleasant to use it for good.

You Make Your Own Reality

Everyone creates their own personal reality with their beliefs (spells). This power is absolute. Consciousness forms matter.

One of the most important indicators of Truth is pleasure: If it feels good it probably is. If it feels bad, it probably is. Pleasure and relief from pain are not the same thing.

The Self Has No Seperations or Boundaries

All Things Are Connected. The Self has no boundaries or seperations. Everything is of the body of All That Is. Nature is Supernatural. Spirit and Flesh and Earth are one.

The Self is Free

Freedom: The Self has no natural limitations. You can do anything, have anything, develop any skill, go anyplace....change anything. Your life belongs to you.

The Present is the Point of Power

The present is the Point of Power. From Now, past and future are created. They are always changing and becoming. Time is basically an illusion. A practical reality while we live, though, most of the time :-) Now, the answers to critical questions can be found, the seeds of conscious change planted.

All things happen in the Spacious Present.

These, exclusively believed, (with no contradictory beliefs), create a transcendental happiness. Physical circumstances are irrelevant. What does being in prison matter if one knows one can leave at anytime, regardless of what others might believe?

This is the foundation for all that follows. Done well and honestly, the rest fall into place in their time.

All of the above are spells; foundational spells ; abstract. spells They must be cast using the techniques described in . the next section .

Much work is involved here, because of pre-existing contrary beliefs. These are First Order (Core) beliefs, very strong and stable and difficult to become aware of because they have faded into the background of your conscious mind because they are accepted as reality.

There's also the fact that most of the people you encounter believe otherwise and, like all people. radiate their beliefs (in a sense). The beliefs of others, particularly large groups, are a force that must be dealt with, as real as the weather. More so.

0. I Am

This is a very special spell/belief. It is used to clear the mind and center your awareness; as a platform for experiencing yourself apart from your beliefs, which is a critical step and a wonderful experience.

Treat it as a normal spell (see below). Use inner/outer vocalizations and visualizations (write it somewhere then shut your eyes and visualize that writing. But the idea :-) is to concentrate all of your intention on the concept.

When you have even come near this achievement, look within and away from your mind and experience your Feeling Tones, which are composed of the incredible energies of your being made flesh. Feelings and emotions are not the same thing. Emotions are associated with beliefs and feelings are deeper and more fundamental than this. They are neither good nor bad, but simply ARE.

In truth, any simple word/concept can be used here. This one, used by gurus and sages and mystics through the ages, is the most efficient, however, and has other benefits. It is a statement of simple fact that allows one to clear the mind of petty judgements and worries and useless beliefs, if only for a while.

This exercise alone can transform your life and is the basis of a number of systems/paths, Transcendental Meditation being one of them.

It is the Primal Spell.

Jesus: 'I Am' is the Way, the Truth, and the Light.

(This is a valid possible translation of that section of the Sermon on the Mount.)

Note: Natural Magick is based primarily on the teachings of Seth, channeled by Jane Roberts. Both of them are merely messengers. Neither is the source of the Material, which is simply a description of the nature of reality.

Seth says that of all the world's religions, original Buddhism is the closest to the Truth. This quotation and commentary from the Mahayana Texts of the Pali Canon is relevant:

Everything Is Controlled By the Mind

The passage below comes from the Cloud of Jewels Sutra. It
indicates that all phenomena are productions of mind and
that everything is created by mind. Ordinary beings allow
the mind to wander at will, thus enmeshing them in confused
and harmful thoughts, but bodhisattvas are advised to train
the mind in order to bring it under control:

"All phenomena originate in the mind, and when the mind is
fully known all phenomena are fully known. For by the mind
the world is led...and through the mind karma is piled up,
whether good or bad. The mind swings like a firebrand, the
mind rears up like a wave, the mind burns like a forest
fire, like a great flood the mind carries all things away.
Bodhisattvas, thoroughly examining the nature of things,
remain in ever-present mindfulness of the activity of the
mind, and so do not fall into the mind's power, but the mind
comes under their control. And with the mind under their
control, all phenomena are under their control."[61]

61Ratnamegha-sÒtra, from the/ikhungarumlaut>samuccaya,
ed. Cecil Bendall (Osnabruck: BiblioVerlag, 1970), pp.
121-122.

maha.html

______________

Jesus: All that I have done, and more, you will do. (John 14 and in one other Gospel)

Don Juan: The world is so-and-so because we tell ourselves it is so-and-so. (Tales of Power by Carlos Castaneda)

II — The Second Magick is a Good Life

This is Practical Magick

The practical application of spellcasting: Prosperity, health, love, fulfilling work, protection....

We are magickal beings and are already casting the spells that create our personal realities. Divining these spells/beliefs is the first step in any spellcasting endeavor.

There is no point, for example, in working on a prosperity spell if you believe that prosperity is bad and a sign of greed and spiritual lack.

Learning what beliefs you have in your belief system and the reasons for them is basic to the practice of magick.

Learn to read your own mind and reading the minds of others is a breeze.

The components of a Spell/Belief are:

1. Conceptualization/Ideation

2. Emotion

3. Imagination

The tools that use and 'accelerate' Beliefs/Spells are:

1. Intent/Will

2. Desire

Action is what brings a Spell/Belief to fruition, that takes it from the ------

realm of possibility to reality. A must be alert for the opportunity to act as if what they wanted to be true was true. (In reference to non-obsession [see below], this would be a generalized alertness/ expectation, not a worrying about any particular spell.)

Contrary to the notions of Physical Science, there is no one particular action that makes a particular thing happen. The action is not the cause, it is opening of a door to let the magick out.

A changing of the channels to a different reality. (This might seem to be an obscure analogy, but it's a more accurate one. A reference to Probabilities. (See 'The "Unkown" Reality' Jane Roberts)

It is important in the beginning to limit your magickal practices to specific times (sessions) during a day and to clear your mind of them the rest of the time. Obsession is extremely counter-productive. Do the reading and writing and basic exercises seperately, and only when you do them. Otherwise don't think about them.

• Reading and Writing/Divining and Casting

We are Magickal Beings. The life you have now is the result of the spells you have already cast, however unwittingly.

Being of aware of these spells, the power structures of your beliefs, [see below: tree structure] and the reasons for them, is the first step in any spellwork.

Reading the beliefs/spells and reasons for them are . not guesswork They are just there and they are yours, . individually .

Belief and Expectation are the same thing. A fear is a negative expectation and a hope is a positive one.

The problem with most books on positive thinking is that they advise you to just lay in a positive belief over the negative one, and this is not very effective because you end up with two opposing beliefs cancelling each other out and sapping your vital energies with the confict.

You have to replace the bad one with the good one, and get at the root of the problem: Any foundational beliefs to make one like the one you are dealing with inevitable. It is far more efficient to change the foundational belief, for then, the rest are transformed automatically.

Our beliefs can be represented by a tree structure, (upon which the directory tree of a computer operating system [etc.] is based), with thoughts being represented as leaves and flowers (always changing) The realities created by the beliefs can be represented as fruits.

(Thoughts are just like beliefs, but less stable and less powerful. Beliefs, because of their stability, tend to fade into the background and be mistaken for facts rather than beliefs.)

Root Assumptions are the basic foundation, and these branch to Primary Beliefs which branch to Secondary Beliefs which branch to....

Conflicting beliefs are made possible by Bridge Beliefs, which contain what both share in common. These can be symbolized as vines.

Full compliments of opposing beliefs can result in a "split personality" when the Bridge Belief 'mechanism' becomes overloaded.

• Basic Spellreading

Preparatory exercise:

Sit quietly and watch your thoughts and beliefs. Don't judge them, just observe. They are not you, they are the thoughts and beliefs that you have at present. See them as objectively as you see the objects and other phenomena in the physical world. Thoughts/Beliefs are things.

This is an excellent preparation for the Feeling-Tone exercise above, but here you proceed to the next step, which is to record (objectify) your observations: To catalog your beliefs/the spells you are maintaining. The mantra "I Am" can be used effectively here too. I am; my belliefs are.

Again: This work needs to be objectified: Write it down or speak it into a recorder, etc.

Guesswork is not involved here. Only awareness of what exists. You us reason in its most rudimentary form to follow a Belief/concept to the one(s) that form its foundation or that it is connected to via a Bridge Belief.

Whatever reality you are experiencing, whatever you accept as fact, is caused by and connected to a belief or group of logically-connected beliefs. You are creating your own reality NOW.

Simply (chuckle) concentrate on the reality, or a memory of it, and follow this to the beliefs responsible. Follow the emotions associated with it to the beliefs responsible. Accept them. Follow the is to the concept.

Do not judge your thoughts/beliefs. They are just natural phenomena like rocks and rain and sunshine and wind. Simply observe them. They are not you. YOU are you, and you have beliefs.

From there, look at the reasons for their existence. YOUR reasons. They are just there. At one time you chose to believe that, for reasons that were valid at the time. Face them. I repeat: No guesswork is invovled. You are not thinking, you are observing your concepts, emotions, and is, following them one to the next.

It's important to understand that we live, literally, in the body of our beliefs/spells. They are not by any means confined to our heads/brains. The brain is actually a sense organ used to perceive the mind. Your beliefs meet and mesh with others to form the objective/collective world.

They form a webwork that is not visible to the physical senses but exists 'behind' all physical phenomena.

• Basic Spellcasting

Write out what you want to be a reality in your life. Find some pictures in magazines or on the web if you wish. Distill all of it to a short paragraph, a sentence, or a word. And an i, if relevant.

Find a quiet place and use the Master Spells to clear your mind and center yourself. Make sure you are physically comfortable, doing some stretches or other exercises if need be. Breathing exercises are good here. Be yourself.

Now concentrate and put all of your attention into the spell body, the paragraph or sentence or word that is the distillation of your desires. repeat it slowly and concentrate on the concepts, bringing your emotions into line and fueling them, drawing on your imagination to create is that reinforce the concepts.

Imagine that what you want to be is in fact real. Now. IConcentrate. ntend/Will and Desire the reality. Seed them Iwith your new belief(s).

5 minutes is good enough but trust yourself to know when, or set a timer.

Now let it go and DO NOT worry about it or even think about it. Patience is a 's primary tool. Trust in your own inherent creativity.

Wait patiently for the opportunity to Act as if what you wanted to be true was true to present itself, knowing that it will.

Different people are better with using one or more of the various elements of a spell as their primary focus. Trust yourself.

The reality we are now enmeshed in can be called Framework
I. This reality is created from an inner, multi-dimensional
reality that can be called Framework II, which is only
visible to the Inner Senses.

With our Beliefs, Intents, and Desires, we create our personal and mass realities from the infinite creativity of Framework II. The processes involved are multi-dimensional and there is no need to understand/comprehend their actual 'mechanics'. Only the very advanced understands them (usually) and they cannot be described in words. A language used to describe Framework I is not adequate to the task.

Patience is one of the keys here. Non-obsession. You worry about nothing because there is nothing to worry about, and do what you are doing. You wait patiently for the next session or the opportunity to Act with Power.

A Magickian has no problems, only creative challenges, and knows that she/he has the resources to meet them.

III — The Third Magick is Spiritual Development

General education in the nature of reality and explorations beyond the body and the earthly dimension.

You will be leaving this dimension and preparing for the journey is a good idea. This is but one of the dimensions of actuality in the multiverse. The actual number makes "infinite" seem tiny, and it is always growing.

Will you be coming back? Perhaps. That's up to you. Your whole self.

IV — The Fourth Magick is Special Powers

Being able to change the channels without a remote control, etc.

(joke)

Those are the stages/divisions of Natural Magick, more-or-less, though it is impossible to work on one without working on the others to some degree, a prioritization to keep things in perspective.

Far too many people come to magick looking for Special Powers when they are miserable human beings whose lives are in shambles. This is folly.

When you are building a house, you start with the foundations, not the decorations for the living room.

Introductory works:

The Seth Material --- Jane Roberts

Conversations with Seth --- Sue M. Watkins (A chronicle of Jane Robert's "ESP" classes)

Workbook:

The Nature of Personal Reality: A Seth Book --- Jane Roberts

Background:

Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul --- Jane Roberts.

The Magical Approach: Seth Speaks About the Art of Creative Living --- Jane Roberts

The balance of the Seth Material (a projected total of 38 volumes) all by Jane Roberts:

Seth, Dreams, and Projections of Consciousness The "Unknown" Reality Vols I & II The Nature of the Psyche: It's Human Expression The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events Dreams, "Evolution", and Value Fulfillment Vols I & II The Way Towards Health The Early Sessions Vols I thru IX The Personal Sessions (expected to be 9 volumes and being published as we speak)

The Class Sessions (expected to be 7 volumes to be published after the Personal Sessions. I have these.)

There are audio tapes and CDs available of the Class Sessions. I've never heard them.

There are also many books written by Jane Roberts alone, of direct relevance to the Material.

www.sethcenter.com

Some of the Seth Material can usually be found at your Public Library.

The Material is held in trust at Yale University, Sterling Memorial Library, Department of Manuscripts and Archives: The Jane Roberts Papers. Contact Nancy F. Lyon, Archivist.

Many Natural Magick practicioners also refer to the following books by Carlos Castaneda:

Journey to Ixtlan Tales of Power The Eagle's Gift The Fire From Within The Power of Silence

Colophon

Written by Alexander Mulligan. Posted to alt.magick.chaos, alt.magick, alt.magick.tyagi, alt.pagan.magick, alt.religion.wicca, and talk.religion.misc. Revision 4, dated 3 January 2005. Original Message-ID: [email protected]

Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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