Build the Wall
Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Jean-Louis de Biasi, author of Secrets and Practices of the Freemasons, The Divine Arcana of the Aurum Solis, and Rediscover the Magick of the Gods and Goddesses, and the forthcoming Esoteric Freemasonry. Jean-Louis is also Lifetime Grand Master of the Ordo Aurum Solis and Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Cross.
I am sure that many people are aware of the importance of building a proper wall. Walls have been used for centuries to protect against adversaries or threats of various kinds. I am surprised that so many people still discuss the necessity of such protection! As a matter of fact, every magician, priest, or priestess, usually knows very well how to build a wall and the reason why. This is not something new, but the question often arises, and not just in politics.
I like to make a distinction between magic and theurgy. Many practitioners speak about the necessity of being protected before performing any kind of spiritual or magical practice. In Western traditions, such as Hebrew and the Christian Qabalah, this idea is emphasized. This blog is not the place to discuss specific ways to create this invisible wall at the beginning of a ritual. Everyone knows there are a few differences according to the tradition in which you are working. The principles remain the same, usually based on the four directions, sometimes associated with the zenith and the nadir, and the circle itself. I am often tempted to question this need to build protections against invisible threats. Of course, I did the same in some indoor and outdoor rituals. But why? My first reaction is thinking that we should be able to avoid such a step, because it represents an admission of our uncertainty. Someone calm and fearless should not need such protection. That seems contrary to the Pagan notion of a sacred world with which we should be in harmony.
Theurgy considers this question a little bit differently. This part of the ritual is used to create a delimitation that will be used in two ways: as a building and as a filter.
In the first case, everything that is accomplished in the ritual and the wall itself are parts of our own spiritual temple. All the tools, symbols, invocations, offerings, etc. are elements of our own psyche and are used in a ritual to balance our inner self. Eventually they help us to rise to the divine. The wall is then part of the building itself.
In the second case, which is fully compatible with the first, we can use this wall to filter the nature of energy we want to receive. We are not trying to fight evil spirits, but to select which powers will be inside the space we are creating. This is why visualization, invocations, incense, and more are important; they will be used to select what we want to attract. The wall works as a screen on a window. But you mustn’t make it totally impervious to the outer world. I met once someone doing that and she was spiritually suffocating, trapped in her own energy. We need a clean energy to give us an inner power that can help us to grow.
On a more spiritual level, I do not see the point of creating such a protection to pray to the God(s) or Goddess(es) we worship. We can immediately feel the difference between such a spiritual attitude and a magic ritual.
But I think the best protection is our own integrity and morality. On the magic and spiritual levels, being a good person is the best protection we can build. We know that we are surrounded by spiritual bodies, sometimes called auras. They are the manifestation of this inner development. On this level, we cannot lie about who we are and how we behave. There is no need to build a wall with a precise and beautiful ritual if we are behaving in a bad way in our life. We are better off starting at the beginning and correcting ourselves. Then, everything will be seen differently.
Our thanks to Jean-Louis for his guest post! Visit Jean-Louis de Biasi’s author page for more information, including articles and his books.
