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I've been dabbling with ritual magic off and on (mostly off) for a few years now with "modern magick" by Kraig being my primary source of information. I've also looked into books on Qabalah/Kabbalah as an attempt to find a system that resonates with me. I'm attracted to the art of ceremonial magic but the issue I have is that I approach it from an entirely psychological standpoint. I've always been a skeptic by nature and college seemed to mostly solidify that materialistic outlook that always seemed natural to me anyway. Because of this I have difficulty believing in disembodied spirits/angels (regardless of how autonomous they do seem to be), "names of power", or accurate prophecies received from another dimension.

With that being said, studying psychology, practicing meditation, and experiencing vivid lucid dreams has caused me to appreciate the depth and mystery of the human mind with its ability to achieve incredibly blissful and mystical states. So I'm interested in studying this art from a psychological standpoint free from any metaphysical assumptions we can make about our experiences in altered states of consciousness. This has deterred me from most magical books and I'm curious if anyone has any suggested reading material or practices that approach the subject from this perspective. I like Fortune's definition of magic in that it is "the ability to change consciousness in accordance with the will" and I'm interested in doing this via meditation and assisting that process with ritual magic. Most of the material I've come in contact with however seems drenched in metaphysical presuppositions ascertained from subjective experiences. That really turns me off.

Don't get me wrong i'm open to the idea of other dimensions and the possibility of altering the material world by psychological means, but I can't blindly accept that based on the claims of others experiences. I'm mostly interested in altering consciousness, exploring my psyche, and making changes to myself using the tools of meditation, symbology, hypnosis, and hopefully ritual if I can find a source that can guide me in a direction thats personally palatable. Along with this I'm interested in the cabalistic tree of life insofar as it could be a map of the human psyche, but not so much as a diagram of the entire universe.

I've gone on long enough for you to get the point. Any suggestions would be highly appreciated.

Well first of all, you can work with spirits/angels/gods even if you are a complete atheist and 100% materialist.
From that viewpoint, these things are just aspects of our of mind/self. Praying to god is really no different then positive affirmation. "Protect us from evil, give us our daily bread, o lord please buy me a mercedes benz" It's all just positive thinking.

"Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us." If you think about it, that is no different then cognitive behavior therapy.

You can imagine the tree of life as an explanation of the creation, but you can also use it as an explanation for each individual creation of your own. Including of course thoughts as creations. It's a great roadmap on how to manifest your will into something actual physical in this world.
Now, it helps to visualize this as an external journey because that speaks louder to your own subconsciousness. But a visualization of the external, is from a psychological standpoint nothing else then projection of an internal process.

There is a modern view of magick as symbolical, meaning that we don't actually evoke or invoke a metaphysical being, but instead that entity is a symbol for a specific aspect of our own psyche. So when working with Aphrodite, it's not about working with some ancient Greek goddess, but actually your own female aspect of love. Magic is an interesting challenge because it views the universe/god very hermaphroditic, and will challenge us to work on those aspect of our self. If you are a fan of jung, this will make a whole lot more sense.

When you are invoking the archangels in the LBRP you are really just evoking their positive characteristics into your own life. "Before me raphael" is another way of saying "before me is a healthy future" , "behind me the ability to communicate clearly (gabriel)".
This is basically neuro-linguistic programming hidden inside symbolism.

I highly suggest reading The kybalion and/or the Gnostic bible because it helps to put a mental view on religion.

Chaos magick also have several good exercises for altering your state of mind or to be blunt, fuck with your own perception of reality until you reach a state where you can move more freely in the world because all perceived obstacles are perceived as being perceived. Next step is perceiving real obstacles as perceived as well.
I personally think that astral projection is nothing else then a separate mind state that science hasn't recognized yet. We are too often stuck in this idea that the concussion is always conscious, but we know of both fugue states, hypnosis and trance. All of these states are happening as the patient is being conscious yet we recognize them as differently then just "thinking". If thinking is active, dreaming is passive, astral projection is active passivism.
A lot of other "religious" experiences can be explained away as self hypnosis or trance states. I even think there is some therapeutic value in trying to achieve metaphysical states since these allows us to communicate ideas to our own subconsciousness through symbolism and imagination.

The difference between working with chakras as an actual "real" center of energy, or working with chakras as a perceived center of energy is really just an opinion of the phenomenon in itself. The actual working is entirely similar. So you can follow the steps of guided meditation no mater what your belief is.

Motumbá Àse!

I agree with Desecrated. Actually in the G.D. system, you have work with archangels AND demons JUST BECAUSE OF THAT. You first work with the light side, archangels, which represent your consious aspects. Then, when you really KNOW those "arquetypes" you go and deal with the demons, YOUR demons.The Qliphoth are YOUR Qliphoth.

There are two ways of seeing magick. The metaphysical and the psychological. Both are good, both are "true". One goes with the other, as I see it.

As above so below, as outside as well as in. I used to be like "everything is symbolic" kind of magickian. Then, after several initiations, I realised that, even though I was right in a way, there's also something "outside", it's like I started to feel I was pretty much egoistical thinking that we are the most unique being in the universe. It's just too big to be just us and that everything works around and for us. Then I was initiated into animistic cults and could join my both beliefs, the "psychological" and the metaphysical. And it's good because I may explain things to really spiritual people and to more materialist people too.

For me, when I invoke, for example Aphrodite, I'm "aknowledging" and "activating" that arquetype inside me, and as I'm vibrating in that frequency, the universal/external energy (i.e. the Goddess Aphrodite herself) comes closer to my sphere of sensation. So, it's kind of a interaction between inside and outside.

You have to know all the sides, magick, esotericism, hermeticism, occultism, has a very big spectrum of knowledge, but your approach is not wrong at all. Just "one sided".

As a recommendation for "psychological magick" I would say anything with an initiatory (Rosycrucian, Ogdoadic, etc) systems. Those kinds of trainings are most arquetypical for the development of the candidate. Fortune is very "psychological" herself, so keep on reading her books.

Saravá,
Idansinají.

PS: When a first read the topic title I thought of Psychomagic hehehe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychomag ... hotherapy)