In all of my study, pleasure-reading, and rabbit-hole-diving concerning esoterica and magick, one common theme seems to permeate all perspectives, cultures and eras. The idea of ‘the path’. The idea that spirituality is a path which some choose - or are called - to follow.
Some other common ideas:
We walk the path alone.
Everyone’s path is individual and unique.
The path has many sidetracks, thickets, obstacles, and occasionally, rabbit holes.
The path can lead to enlightenment, or lunacy. Depending on our nature and our spiritual discipline or lack thereof.
The path is a lifelong commitment. In some practices, a commitment to future incarnations as well as this one.
When I first started down ‘the path’ in earnest, as a student of Builders of the Adytum, an honest to goodness neophyte, I devoured all reading materials I could get my magical little mitts on concerning ‘the path’ and how to be the best Seeker on the Path that I could be. I was disheartened by a lot of what I read. Case in point; the rituals for knowledge and conversation of one’s Holy Guardian Angel. Whether we’re talking the 1300’s Abramelin the Mage version, or Crowley’s early 20th century adaptation, months-long spiritual retreats and periods of isolation, fasting and intricate ritualistic shenanigans did not feel particularly feasible for a married woman in her late thirties with a small business to run, a small boy to look after, and a household juggle. And we won’t even consider all the hoop-de-do required of ‘proper’ Solomonic magick.
It was only when I read Dion Fortune’s excellent works concerning the practice of ceremonial magick (‘The Training and Work of an Initiate’ and ‘Sane Occultism’) that I gained some perspective and comfort. Dion Fortune speaks of ‘The Path of the Hearth Fire’, which is in essence the path of the family-oriented, the path of the individual with a home to run and a livelihood to maintain, one who can still practice magick and lay foundations for spiritual discipline, but aligned with the ‘true will’ of familial love, joy and contentment.
‘This is a bit of me,’ I thought.
And I drew my qabalistic crosses of light and banishing pentagrams in my kitchen, with my altar proudly in place at the side of the kitchen sink, and I probably terrified the neighbours by vibrating the god-names against the paper-thin walls of our adjoining kitchens. The Social Media witches pitied my kitchen altar space, and laughed unkindly at the fact that sometimes Spider-Man or a Brio knight was nestled in with my crystals and candles, and that I sometimes had on a MegaMan helmet instead of a goth veil or a crown of flowers. And as I have for almost my whole life, I gave zero fucks for what they said or thought, and I knew that the path of the hearth fire was exactly perfect for me, for this incarnation, for my spiritual journey this go-round.
Next time around I may be unlucky enough to have no family, or commitments, or love, and I can starve in Tibet or pilgrimage to Alexandria to forage for artifacts that survived the bonfires of the great library, and as Charles Bukowski said, when there is no one to wake me in the morning, or no one to wait for me at night, and when I can do whatever I want whenever I want, will I call it freedom, or loneliness?
I sometimes get frustrated that I still ‘can’t’ do the things I’d like to do - in magick, but also for my business, or for pure pleasure - but then I remind myself that I chose my path and therefore the commitments to that path are mine to uphold. There is no such thing as ‘can’t’ only ‘choose not to’, if I wish to continue to hold true to my chosen path. My magical motto is from the Keats poem ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ and it’s simply this: ‘Truth is beauty, beauty truth, that’s all we know on Earth and all we need to know’.
So I’ll endeavour always to be true to myself, and to follow my true will. Other choices may sometimes seem enticing, but if I follow my true will I will always see that they aren’t actually choices at all, just deviations and distractions from the truth and beauty of my path: the path of the hearth fire.
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