Twain, Crowley, and “Black Brothers”
Respect those who seek the truth.
Be wary of those who claim to have found it.—Mark Twain
One of the challenges of occultism and magickal practice is the challenge of achieving goals. One purpose of magick is personal spiritual evolution. At the same time, one of the things I like to say is, “It’s hard to be spiritual when you’re wondering where your next meal will come from.” If Western society were more like that of India, where mystics are often supported by the gifts of those who recognize a person seeking ultimate truth, spiritual development might be the only focus of magick. But since Western society is not like that, using magick to obtain things on the physical plane, including everything from jobs and housing to money and love, are both legitimate and common.
Some people, following the more mystical point of view, claim that doing anything for personal aggrandizement is simply wrong. I would respectfully disagree. The history of magick in the West is filled with people seeking material things. I see nothing wrong with that as long as your magickal goal has the three characteristics I define as being ecological:
- Good for yourself.
- Good for others.
- Good for the community, the environment, and the world.
Spiritual attainments can be hard to see. How can you tell if a person is slightly more spiritually developed than another? Spirituality is internal and doesn’t show itself like the “conspicuous consumption” of buying a new car each year.
Obtaining tangible goals, on the other hand, is quite obvious. If you do magick for health, you get healthy. If you do successful magick for money, you get money. If you do successful magick for love, you find love.
Success:
Stepping Stone to Failure?
There is a joke that the number one cause of divorce is marriage. There’s some truth in that because without marriage there would never be a divorce. Sometimes, getting what we want can lead to the opposite of what we want.
With magick, achieving the success of spiritual development and achieving physical plane goals can lead the practitioner into an obvious thought: “I’m good at magick!”
Now this is important: there is nothing wrong with justifiable pride. Crowley, in his essay, “The Dangers of Mysticism,” wrote: “an ounce of honest pride is better than a ton of false humility.”
I like to use the term egoism to mean, “I’m great and you’re great, too.” I use the term egotism to mean “I’m great and you suck.” But neither of these terms mean I’m great at everything and you’re great at everything. There are some things I’m great at, but I fully acknowledge there are other things I suck at. Other people are great at some of the things I’m great at or are great at the things where I suck. Discovering and nurturing what we’re great at (while also improving, perhaps, what we’re not great at) is part of personal development.
In the same essay, Crowley continued, “…although an ounce of true humility is worth an ounce of honest pride.” This can be really challenging when you successfully use magick and begin to achieve your spiritual and practical goals. Things start to line up and, compared to what you see in others, you’re doing well. Very well. So well that to your thinking you’re better than others.
It’s called, “ego inflation.”
This is something Israel Regardie warned against. He believed everyone involved in occultism should get into some form of psychotherapy. Of course, he was a Reichian therapist, so he saw things through that mindset. In my experience, there are other ways to become and stay an egoist rather than and egotist and not suffer with ego inflation. One way, I believe, is through meditation on the symbols of the Tarot, especially the Major Arcana. That’s one of the reasons I include instructions on performing the “Tarot Contemplation Ritual” early in my set of lessons, Modern Magick.
There are, of course, numerous other ways to keep your balance, and you can read about some of the techniques in books such as:
365 Ways to Raise Your Frequency
Becoming Your Best Self
Living in Your Soul’s Light
Meditation as Spiritual Practice
and of course, Regardie’s own
The Middle Pillar (especially with the additions by Chic and Sandra Tabatha Cicero)
Symptoms of Failure
So it’s up to the student and practitioner to beware of egotism and beware of ego inflation. Unfortunately, not all students and practitioners understand this. They think they have the whole truth and the only truth. Mark Twain urged that we should be wary of such people.
And what happens when someone thinks they have the only truth? Of course, they start or try to take over a coven or magickal order. They need to spread their one and only truth to others. When others don’t quickly follow they’ll often invent a long and illustrious, albeit fictitious history to put potential followers in awe of them and their group. In fact, they become so sure of their truths, they become lost in it, not even capable of seeing their own egotism and ego inflation. They’ll lie to spread what they believe is truth, and may become so lost they may even believe their own lies.
I’m not the only one to recognize this behavior. Aleister Crowley described such people as “Black Brothers” (not to be confused with magicians seeking to do evil to others). Here is an explanation of the Black Brother:
One goal in the study of Thelema within the magical Order of the A∴A∴ is for the magician to obtain the knowledge and conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel: conscious communication with their own personal daimon [AKA Holy Guardian Angel], thus gaining knowledge of their True Will. The chief task for one who has achieved this goes by the name of “crossing the abyss”; completely relinquishing the ego. If the aspirant is unprepared, he will cling to the ego instead, becoming a Black Brother. Rather than becoming one with God, the Black Brother considers his ego to be god. According to Crowley, the Black Brother slowly disintegrates, while preying on others for his own self-aggrandisement.
—Wikipedia entires on Thelema and True Will
Another description of the Black Brother is that they think they have crossed the abyss between the lower seven Sephiroth on the Kabalistic Tree of Life and the upper three known as the “Supernals.” They believe they are now with the Supernals when, in fact, they wander on the lower paths of the Tree. Often, they will try to take others with them on this mistaken journey through the lower paths, describing it as great spiritual accomplishment when it is just ego inflation.
If you haven’t met with such people, congratulations. Chances are, however, you will. Male Black Brothers tend to want to tell everyone they know better than anyone else, they are the link to the God/dess, Hidden Masters, Secret Chiefs, etc. They will marshall their allies and try to take over groups. Often their attacks on others will get wilder and sound crazier and “over the top,” turning people off and causing them to flee (they become “enemies” or “traitors” to the Black Brother’s true path).
I have observed this several times. Once, the Black Brother was a woman who tried to get her followers to vote her into taking over a group. When the coup failed, they all left the original group and founded another group (it eventually failed and vanished when she left the area). On two occasions I’ve seen men reach high levels in an Order and then denounce the group, leave (or get kicked out), and then try to start their own “real” version of that Order.
Women can act as described, but when they are Black Brothers they usually focus on obtaining as much attention to themselves as possible. This is most frequently accomplished through extreme flamboyance. When they walk in a room everyone must focus on them. I remember seeing one woman like this who came into an occult store wearing a very flowing robe, claiming, “The last time I wore this I channeled Mother Mary.” She didn’t, of course, but her followers took every word she said as if they were drops of gold from God.
So what can a person do to evolve spiritually and achieve goals on the physical plane while remaining an egoist and not becoming an ego-inflated, egotistical, Black Brother? Here is the complete quote by Crowley from his essay. I think he has it right:
Let him remember that an ounce of honest pride is better than a ton of false humility, although an ounce of true humility is worth an ounce of honest pride; the man who works has no time to bother with either. And let him remember Christ’s statement of the Law “to love God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself.”
As I have repeatedly stated, do the work.
I would agree with the message of this article. There is pride in one’s true accomplishments, which is good. This type of pride motivates one’s self and others to pursue further growth. FALSE pride on the other hand,is the “ego-inflation” talked about in the article, and pushes others DOWN! I call it FALSE pride, because it is based on making one’s self “look good” at the expense of others, and is based on a weak self esteem in my opinion. We can all grow together through true effort/self-discipline, experiencing life unfold rather than comparing ourselves to other people whose path of learning is different. “Know Thyself” the key I believe, and ENCOURAGE others to do the same as they will. I really like your articles, they make a person think 🙂
“Rather than becoming one with God, the Black Brother considers his ego to be god.”
This is a very crucial part in spiritual development. As Mr. Kraig points out, there is indeed a fine line between egoism and egotism. A healthy ego is understanding your place in the universe. An unhealthy understanding of the ego ultimately puts you at odds with the universe regardless of what delusional rationale you may employ to believe otherwise.
There is an interesting point in the enlightenment experience of Sidhartha Gautama (the Buddha or “awakened one”) when he is confronted by Mara (seen as a demon in Indian mythology which is actually the egotistic part of all of our own psyche). Mara cleverly changed his external appearance to that of the Sidhartha. Sidhartha sat facing himself, looking at himself, even admiring himself. At that point, Sidhartha was able to transcend this aspect of himself and said to Mara (himself) “Oh, Lord of my own ego, you are nothing but pure illusion.” …”House Builder, you have now been seen; you shall not build the house again.”
This is the only way to cross the abyss. A healthy ego is realizing who you are…truly who you are. Magic is not easy work you must follow your path to its final conclusion which is a full realization of your true self (i.e., communion with your HGA).
There are many methods to achieve this. Whether it is magical path- working, meditation, yoga, etc. (Or all of the above) its goal is always the same, to wake up and realize who you really are. God is not somewhere out there rather right here is where the light purely shines all of these paths simply show how we get sidetracked and misdirected by an ego that thinks it knows better (egotism). Only when you wake up to your true nature do you see who you have truly been this entire time (egoism).
Sir, you are a great writer. I have your “Modern Magick” and have used it for about 18 months. It is my blueprint. Your clear, concise writing is a pleasure to read and makes it easy to learn magick. Thank you. I look forward to all your posts.
Thank you for your support, Dave. I’m glad I was able to assist you on your path. Of course, not everyone will agree with you and you might look at the end of my next post for a comment on that.
Well, having read a BUNCH of your writings I doubt anyone will be able to change my mind. It will be a clear case of YMMV for those who disagree. For me personally though, I couldn’t ask for clearer instruction. I’m slogging through Regardie’s book on the Golden Dawn and it really makes me appreciate how you took the bare bones structure and explained it in a modern way. Once the basics are firmly understood and practiced over and over it becomes easy to add a bit here and a bit there, slowly increasing your knowledge in an integrated way. It is for THAT that I thank you!
[…] Twain, Crowley, and "Black Brothers" […]
How are the Ciceros doing? I checked there website but they don’t seem to update it often. It would be nice if they had twitter or something and posted frequently like you.
To the best of my knowledge they are doing fine.
Don,
Allow me to suggest one method of keeping a proper perspective, it’s the use of a “Dedication of Merit” after magical practices, exercises, meditations and periods of “Enflaming one’s self with Prayer”. While it’s no doubt best if we can each create a dedication from within, a rough approximation might go something like this:
“May all the Blessings, Powers, Insights and Energies
obtained through this practice, and Peace Profound be shared with all Beings, throughout the Worlds, in the name of the Lord of the Universe”.
It’s difficult to maintain an inflated an ego after dedicating some of what you have acquired from the Source of All to others who just may be in much greater need of a lift than one’s self?
There is at least one order I’m aware of that teaches this practice early on at neophyte level. They do of course use a dedication unique to themselves. It’s the Spirit of the dedication that will be the prime mover in this regard. I ran across this practice in 2009, and it became one of those classic “Well Duh, I need to incorporate this into my Magick” moments! The greater the number of magicians that utilize this practice, the more surprising the changes that will occur through out all the worlds.
Lastly, let me recommend “By Names and Images: Bringing the Golden Dawn to Life” by Peregrine Wildoak, released this year by Skylight Press. There is some wonderful material near the end of the book regarding this type of passing on of received magical blessings.
Jim
Any thoughts on the above as a valid means of helping to keep the ego from becoming problematic?
Jim
For me this came right on time. I doubt every attainment and second guess the meaning of every sign. Having recently attained, for me, a rather serious level of awareness I wondered if I had chosen the wrong teachers and strayed from my true path. I found my daily practice of cultivating an attitude of surrender shows me what I need to know.
Black brothers have no wish to take over covens. That is for those who have lost their way at Tiphereth.
Also they know very well they have not reached Binah. Someone at that high a level of development will not make such a mistake.
The general term ego inflated will not apply to such. What ego they hold on to is a sliver, but it one part of themselves they hold on to very tightly. The reasons for each will vary but it is a conscious and knowing choice and one they are likely to be at peace with maybe until the end.
I sense something fundamentally wrong with this article but I cannot seem to pinpoint what it is.
I don’t think “Black Brother” means what you think it means. And you still have the idea that “ego” is service to self against service to others.
Ego, in the esoteric sense of the word, has nothing to do with self-aggrandization or self-diminishment whether or not it is at the expense of others. To let go of the ego is to transcend all of these, or recognizing the fact that the ALL is through yet beyond all such concepts.
That is, it doesn’t matter whether you follow a coven or go against it. It doesn’t matter whether you reach the top of an Order, whether you scraped its dirt bottom, whether you’re kicked out or bursting out of one with rage and contempt, or whether you never joined a coven at all and don’t have a clue what the fuss is all about.
No, what really matters is if you’re doing what thou wilt. Because that really is the whole of the Law. This simple concept that everyone wants to complicate so much. It really just means what it means.
Hell, look at Crowley. His works are nothing but egotistical if only in pomp and circumstance. There’s a reason he was considered the “wickedest man” of his century. Even I find his energy distasteful sometimes.
But that’s not the point. Point is, ALL (Nuit) does not go against the Monad(Had). Once the blood has been spilt completely, the ALL gives back in full measure. The Ego is sacrificed not for others but for Self because the Ego becomes transformed and stronger by the Self. They are One.
A process of dissolution and coagulation renders only the strongest of Ego to remain alive and that is your Self/True Will. If you think about it, none of that process was necessary in the first place because deep down you already knew that was what you always wanted to do and was always acting in behalf of it. But we always complicate things or paint it with morality or other black and white concepts, partly because we have brought the entanglement upon ourselves and partly because we’re scared and in need of a to-do-list.
And all this is if you ascribe to Crowley/Western Magick’s views in the first place.
If you ask me, all of us has the potential to become powerful beyond our wildest beliefs. Even to discard such fears of becoming a Black Brother. Because it’s all just an illusion anyway.