My name is Melanie Fire Salamander, and I have a problem with ceremonial magicians.
It's my problem, not the ceremonial magicians'. And I should rephrase my declaration: I have a problem with bogus ceremonial magicians. I should think sincere ceremonial magicians have the same problem.
I do not contend that wankers are restricted to the ranks of ceremonial magicians. Probably as many cranks, lowlifes and sociopaths masquerade as witches (or Wiccans, or whatever you want to call practitioners of this earth-centered spirituality) as pretend to be ceremonial magicians. The definitive witch-wanker, in my experience, is someone who wants to form a group-sex club and call it a coven. I have no problem with group sex, but I think you should call a non-ritual group sex association "a group sex club" and a coven "a coven," and by my personal definition a coven should participate in at least as much ritual as group sex. But that's only my definition.
The key phrase here is "pretend to be ceremonial magicians." If you follow almost any discipline sincerely, patiently and humbly, doing the work required, I believe the discipline will lead you to wisdom. But if you put on the show without doing the work, you are a fake -- in ceremonial magick, in witchcraft, in anything.
I guess the problem I've had is that the proportion of self-proclaimed ceremonial magicians I've encountered who are phonies to those who are real, disciplined, thoughtful ceremonial magicians has been high. I seem to be meeting the wrong crowd.
You know who I'm talking about. The ones who invoke some Judeo-Christian demon and can't completely get rid of him, so periodically he shows up in the overstuffed chair, so please don't sit there, okay? The ones who invoke such a demon into someone they refer to as a friend, without their friend's knowledge or permission. The ones who read the published so-called Necronomicon, buy a couple of metallic plates and scratch them up with a nail file under the moon, only to find they read the table of magickal hours wrong. The ones who boast with pomp and significance and don't even finish reading the book.
Most of this lot are harmless. Some of them are not. Unfortunately, many of the "ceremonial magicians" I've met are of this type.
However, when I first went looking for witches, I met the witch-wankers. Perhaps it's a form of barrier magick puts up for you when you first seek it. If that's so, maybe we're all doomed to meet a lot of wankers before we meet the real thing.
I must say my philosophy differs from that of even the real ceremonial magicians I know. My philosophy differs from that of Buddhists too, yet I believe in tolerating and accepting Buddhists. We can all learn from each other. In that spirit, I accept and support the sincere ceremonial magicians out there. (I'm certain all the ceremonial magicians in the world, having suspended their operations waiting for my okay, are now breathing a collective sigh of relief.)
Still, the wankers annoy me.
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