From Chapter Two: Agni

In European magic practice we find a notion of elements: Fire, Earth, Air, Water. These are simultaneously the stuff we are made from, the stuff the observable universe is made from, and subtle (invisible) spiritual substances. If you gain mastery over Fire, you gain mastery in lighting your barbecue, controlling your anger, raising sexual desire in another, even putting out a house fire. The mask I chose for this month is Agni, the first invoked god in Hinduism to make the sacrificial fire, although we’ll look at other names as well. To start your thinking we will look at good and bad aspects of Fire (and Earth, Air, and Water) both within you and beyond you.

The Theory of Fire

Fire is impulse. Fire comes as lust, love, anger, tribalism, desire to refine, desire to destroy, desire for attention, cooking. Each of these fires connects to a powerful moving agent. Fire (as Zeus) killed time (Chronos/Cronos). Fire brings comfort when you are cold, but danger when you are asleep. It will lead you to the post-orgasmic state where you understand that you are really in the presence of the Beloved or just a slave to pleasure. Fire is one of the two signs you are civilized, the second being that you can sleep indoors. Fire is seen as romantic, mystical, and festive. The evolutionary anthropologist Daniel Fessler from UCLA has conducted research that indicates an adult’s fascination with fire is a direct consequence of not having mastered it as a child. The cultural innovation that moved humans out of the archaic age and into the magical one was our mastering of fire about one million years ago. Fessler suggests that in societies where fire is an ordinary tool, kids stop being fascinated by it by age seven. But for most of us, the deep linguistic and cognitive structures connected with fire remain unsatisfied and thus we map our magic upon fire. You may know (or be) that guy who thinks he can grill meat really well, or who is fascinated with fireworks, or who feels the success of a hot date depends upon picking the right amount of candlelight. Even if you grew up in a strictly no-magic household, you are familiar with the custom of blowing out the candles on a birthday cake. Look how universal this is the next time you are in a restaurant when someone gets a birthday cake. Why do we all clap when the birthday boy blows out his candles? Depending on your relation to fire, you will find the idea of cremation appealing or appalling. Religious thinkers as different as Zoroaster, Simon Magus, and Michael Aquino have chosen fire as the symbol of the soul—and for faiths that are opposed to thinking, endless fire is torment.

In this chapter, we will view three properties of fire deeply:

1. Fire moves things from one reality to another. Thus, in Hindu rites, Agni is always invoked first.

2. Fire is the oldest symbol for something primal being used for a specific benefit—or, if not harnessed and directed, it is a primal symbol for danger.

3. Fire requires fuel; it is a symbol for need—no fuel, no fire.

Fire is the power source for all of your magic, and because of its destructive nature, it also brings the need for planning and discipline in the practice of magic. In the Practice section, you will have setup and summative rites for the month, as well as weekly and daily exercises and magical feats. If you have to spend extra time composing your two mirrors, feel free to add a week to the practice. For now, I will give you a secret: You can’t labor for and against the same idea(l) and hope for results. Magicians may choose and manifest virtues not necessarily because they are good people, but because they wish to master the flow of force. This is best felt working with Fire and Water—because these elements are strongly felt as flow. Here is an example. Sally McWhorter wants to obtain a great harmony with biological—that is to say, Earth—forces. She wants to have a smooth pregnancy, she is starting a business that sells semi-precious stones, she loves her garden. What will work best for Sally? Does she maintain a carbon footprint the size of ten humans, beat her guard dog, and plan to be embalmed—poisoning the earth for many years? Or does she compost her kitchen scraps, march in ecological protests, and make plans for an ecologically sound funeral? (Okay, now you know the secret that moved mankind from the Archaic Age to the Magical Age, and then to the Mythic Age.)

We begin with Fire, that is to say, emotion. . . . Emotion supplies the primal, motivational energy of life while reason structures the realities we embrace by simple faith.

PRACTICE

Setup Rite

You are going to consecrate a candle. If you include your candle holder in this consecration, the blessing will auto-magically pass from candle to candle in the holder.

Consecrating the Candle

Obtain a red candle. Carve the rune Kenaz—which in Anglo-Saxon times signified a “torch”—into the candle three times in any configuration you like. Then choose an oil of a fiery nature, such as Abramelin Oil, cinnamon, hyssop, marigold, or the like (an Internet search will help; I prefer cinnamon because of my taste for Red Hots). At dawn one morning, rub oil from the base to the tip of the candle and say:

I invest this candle with the Fire of Hope. Its rays penetrate the darkest hour.

Strike bell 1x. At noon, rub oil from base to tip, thinking about the hottest sunny day you can remember. Squeeze that heat into the candle and say:

I invest this candle with the Fire of Anger. As I light it, my enemies without will burn, my weaknesses within will burn, and I shall all this, within and without, with the all-seeing Eye of Re.

Strike bell 1x. At sunset, rub oil onto the candle from base to tip. Squeeze into the candle memories of times fire gave you comfort and say:

I invest this candle with the Fire of Comfort. In its happy glow, I will be fearless of all things.

Strike bell 1x. At midnight think about dark and spooky things, rub oil from tip to base and say:

I invest this candle with mystery. When it is lit, the mysteries I need will hasten from the outer edge of infinity to show themselves to me.

Strike bell 1x. Place candle on altar and light it. Watch it for a moment and say:

The bright, burning flame of comfort reveals itself to me now, yet it has always burned in my heart. As my life burns in the endless pyre of time, I am reminded always of the self-generating flame within me that can burn time itself, that can warm the coldest heart, that can sizzle with passions and ecstasies that other humans are too fearful to know. I will return that flame to its eternal hidden home.

Blow out the candle and imagine the flame reappearing in your heart. Walk around your chamber, holding the extinguished candle and picturing the flame in your heart until other thoughts intrude.

Biweekly

Continue your divination readings every two weeks, as before. Ponder the significance of Fire in your readings (if you are using the tarot, this is exemplified in the suit of wands).

Weekly

Read your diary entries; plan the upcoming week.

Daily

Mental Training

1. Firewatch. Note the presence of fire each day in various categories: verbal (for example, “That burns me up!”), pictorial, actual flames (from homeless humans warming their hands at trash can fires to candles in fine restaurants), spicy food eaten, electrical sparks and lightning, rust, sexual impulses, anger, blisters, and other categories as they occur to you. Count such occurences; observe each one and ask yourself: “Where am I and what am I really doing?”

2. Look up the names of gods, philosophers, magicians, and unusual words in both this and other texts you are reading.

3. Avoid “jumping to conclusions,” which represents the worst sort of mental fire. The clerk at the checkout gives you a bored look—he hates you. Your boss’s boss smiles at you in the hall—you’re getting a promotion. You leap from a possible fact to the tall building of a conclusion. Try asking yourself if there is any factual evidence for your new belief. Has this sort of event really happened in the past? If you stop yourself from anxiety, hatred, or false hope (all bad fires for the mind), thank yourself in your nightly statement of thanks.

Emotional Training

1. Note the presence of Fire in your emotions—anger, lust, love, “burning with curiosity,” “impulse buying.” Just observe it during the first two weeks, then decide: Do you want to increase or decrease the Fire using magical means? Give thanks to yourself for noting it, and if you achieve your goals, give strong thanks.

2. Note the presence of Fire in the emotions of humans you are dealing with—anger, lust, love, “burning with curiosity,” “impulse buying.” Note how their Fire makes you feel. Just observe it during the first two weeks, then decide: Do you want to increase or decrease the Fire using magical means? Give thanks to yourself for noting it—and if you achieve your goals, give strong thanks.

3. Note how Fire spreads in groups of humans. Try posting something radical in social media and watch people get angry. If you have a platform for such play, you can learn how to incite and how to calm.

Magical Training

1. Upon arising, say:

I am [name you call yourself] and I honor Lord Agni—Aum agnaye namah—and, when I achieve enlightenment, Lord Agni will honor me!

Use this formula for two weeks, then create one of your own.

2. At around midday, look toward the sun. With your right eye tightly closed and left eye opened as barely as possible, capture a bit of sunlight by moving your head from right to left four times. Mentally say:

O mighty Re of the seventy-two forms, you gave Heka to your tears, mankind, that they might avert evil. Magic is the gift of the Sun!

Use this formula for two weeks, then create one of your own.

3. Diary work. Record your good thoughts and deeds, and your moments of self-control. Write about any unusual sights or dreams.

4. After you have done your diary work, do the sitting. Begin by facing your altar and saying:

My flame is the flame of myself, the maker of my known self and the gods of mankind. To this fire I offer all of my experiences as sacrifice. Pleasure comforts my inner being, hardship becomes a flame of wrath that protects me, and enlightenment fills the space in-between.

Sit still and be very aware of your breathing. Picture the flame in your heart. Imagine it getting larger and larger until it fills a space extending about three feet from your body, and then shrinking back into your heart. This exercise should take about six to ten minutes. Afterward in your own words thank yourself for good thoughts, deeds, experiences and your continued good health.

5. Before going to sleep, light your candle and look at yourself in the mirror. Close your eyes and replace your image with that of a redhaired Celtic goddess. Say to her:

O mighty Brigid, teach me poetry, smithing, medicine, arts and crafts, and I will keep a fire burning in my heart in your name as did the nuns at Kildare. Be in my dreams, fiery one!
Throw open your eyes, replacing Her image with your own. Put down your mirror and extinguish the candle. Smell the smoke rising.