The Hat&Cauldron: “Dress up. Leave a false name. Be legendary….

“Dress up. Leave a false name. Be legendary.”
– Hakim Bey

Nearly everyone interested in magic and the LHP has a certain fantasy about who they would like to be when they begin practicing. Let’s be honest: we all want to be something more, especially if we’re practicing
magic. For some people the end goal is transcendence or divine union., those on the Left want to be a God or Immortal. Of course, some of us would be happy just being millionaires and having a horde of Zombie-slaves to unleash on our enemies (yes ,I’m talking to you Necromancers out there,just put the skull down and back way real slow.). At times, I would just love to be Kane, and not have worry about anything but my next meal and my staff flute…

Magician. Pierpont Morgan, Visconti Sforza (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So ask yourself: “Who do I want to be?”

Some things are out of the question, but others are not. Being a half-human half-reptile that breathes fire is not something you’re capable of doing in this lifetime, I’m sorry.(but if you figure out the trick of it, Please let me know) However, more human roles can be adopted and dropped as time goes on. Not only do these roles teach you how to deal with other people, or get them to open up to you, but they also begin to teach you more about yourself.

We typically see ourselves as one stable personality, but that’s bullshit, we often actually adopt different personalities in different situations.New Faces for new people in our lives.Some call them Masks, or Shades, and the difference between doing this subconsciously and doing this magically is that you consciously adopt a new mindset. You can create vastly different personae, each with different names and styles.This has been covered by a number of occultists over the years.One Technique I picked up is to “set” a persona or Mask into a piece of clothing ,or jewelry. This is not hard to do, but you have to get deep into your own head to make it take.

First, find someone with the persona you would like to assume, the great thing about this is that it doesn’t have to be a real person.It fact your first few times trying this avoid using real people that you know, as it can have unforeseen side-effects for both you and the person involved.

So let’s use Batman, Brave, Strong, Rich but also a bit crazy and obsessive.No one wants to be Batman all of time (or perhaps you do, no judgement here pal)But for an hour or two walking in a bad part of town, The Bat of Gotham might come in handy.

Bob Kane (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Now find an object that reminds you of Batman, I suggest something you can take off and put on quickly.Now for the work. Spend an hour or two a day, for one week, with your object on, watching or reading about Batman.When you put the Object on, say to yourself, in your best Batman voice “I’m Batman”, then sit down and watch the film, read,or play the video game of your choice.Every five or ten minutes, when you see or read Batman, touch the Object and say to yourself once more “I’m Batman”when you’re done with the film or book, take the object off, say your full name once, and put it away where you won’t see it till your next hour session.

By the end of the week, you may notice you kind of look forward to your batman time and want to prolong it.Resist the temptation, your trying to cause an Archetypal link between you and and what the collective unconscious thinks Batman is.This can cause insanity and obsession if taken too far.But it is rare to take such a thing so far as that if you have a solid Meditation practice (and if you are a practicing Adept of any Path,you should.)

On the 7th day,Sigil the name “Batman” (or whatever name you choose to use) with the “Spare method”, cast the circle of your choice,and sit with the object in your lap and the sigil before you, wile chanting the name Batman,bringing up thoughts of the caped crusader in action over and over from the scenes you studied that week. “Pour” them into the object,if it helps, see your head open up and the thoughts pour out of your head,on to your lap and into the object.

Do this until you start to tire, put the charged object down and stand,repeat your full name three times to disconnect the persona,and close your circle.You now have a stored Persona in a Object,you should let it set for a day your two before use,but you may be surprised at what you can do with such a bit of power.Just remember,no matter how well you convince your subconscious mind that you ARE superman,flying is not a part of the gift this object can give you.But a sense of strength and bravery,or, if a young lady used Marilyn Monroe,true glamor and sex appeal. A more advance form of the rite can be done with an Angel or Demon,using a seven day calling of the entity,each day infusing the Object with more and more the the spirit’s essence.But the chance of Obsession and loss of your own Persona is much greater by using a spirit,so I would suggest you proceed with caution.

Hope you all enjoyed this small cantrip, I’ve been busy with my upcoming trip to Atlanta, but will write more soon as time allows…

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