B Is For Balance

In the Crowley Thoth tarot deck, The Magician is depicted as gracefully balanced--
between nature, between worlds, fluid yet on point at all times.
Image source: http://www.amazon.com/Aleister-Crowley-Thoth-Tarot-Deck/dp/0913866156

This is essentially placeholder text as I attempt to catch myself up on the schedule of the Pagan Blog Project. I will be expanding on this entry but right now, just publishing the bare bones. As I have not promoted this blog in the slightest, I'm not too worried about shortchanging any readers. If you ARE a reader, then chances are, you are interested in magic and Hermeticism, and I appreciate that. So please bear with me, everyone, as I get caught up. And I welcome comments for discussion.

Every now and then I get in a conversation with a fellow magician/rootworker/witch/whatever, and the subject of balance comes up. And 9 times out of 10 my colleague scoffs at the word, as if the subject were ridiculous to discuss. Usually they say something like, "Well, rootwork is all about results. I ain't got time for that theoretical nonsense." Or, "As a chaote, I'm all about disruption and changing nature. Who cares about that new-agey shit." You get the idea.

Whatever the specifics, every time I hear a magician/rootworker/chaote/whatever scoff at the importance of balance, I can't help but think, "Seriously?" I just can't imagine any serious practitioner of magic not understanding the importance of balance in magic practice. Maybe that's why there's so many magical trainwrecks in the various communities, but I digress.

For the most part, I'm willing to let it go. Not everyone is into high magic, and that's perfectly fine. But to be downright hostile to the idea? Hard for me to understand. Rarely do I argue with them, but sometimes I want to, so perhaps I'll do it here. Because I'll argue that balance is important to even the most bare-bones, practical, pragmatic practitioner.

Why? Because you can be the most skilled practitioner under the sun, or perhaps that the world has ever seen, but at the end of the day, the fact remains: without balance, your results are uneven, unpredictable, and/or temporary.

Balance is the achievement of The Magician. Not the magician, mind. The Magician. ;-)

In Hermetics, and in the tarot, The Magician represents mastery. Not heavy-handed mastery but rather a quiet, effortless finesse. The simple yet sublime skill born from from being in tune with the Divine, for lack of a better way to put it. The Magician has learned how to master the four elements of nature--and, more importantly, has mastered himself.

Path on the Tree of Life: The Magician is the path between Kether and Chokmah. Nice short article on the path by Copenhagen Qabalah: http://www.qabalah.dk/Paths/12bethmagician.html