CHAPTER ONE

 

CHAPTER ONE: THE WAY OF THE SORCERER

Behold, a sacred voice is calling you; All over the sky, a sacred voice is calling you.

— Black Elk, Black Elk Speaks

 

The whip's first strike takes me by surprise. On the second stroke, the pain sets in, quick and burning. The third strike makes me mad. Knock it off! 1 want to scream, but desire keeps me silent. By the eighth hard crack, the ecstasy begins. The world blurs in my tears and the pain becomes a rapture.

Candlelight broken by tear mist arms the chill room. The floor seems to shake with each trembling breath I gather. The thundercrack of twisted cords becomes a one-note symphony beneath the ratile of my breathing. The latticework of stars across my back sings to me, sings of praisepassion and the fires of initiation. 

Their priestess and her sisters say nothing. To me, they're as faint as shadows on the wall.

 I close my eyes and press the pain inside. Open into a whirling waltz of endless night and capering colors. On my bare back, welts shine bloody. Stripes of Christ. Blood of witches. Pain of lovers who've never learned another way to touch. Mortification of the flesh thar forms one piece of a large eternity. 

Funny the things you think about at the end of a whiplash.

Finally it stops. Cool water burns across my back. Scented water, ripe with herbs. Soft fingers trace mymarks. Lips press to the sacred stains. The cords across my wrists are loosened and the blood flows freely back to my cramped fingers.

Heady scent of wine, held near my face in a silver chalice. Fleetshadow"s voice: “What is the pact?” 

My voice is deeper, husky as 1 reply: “Perfect love and perfect trust.”

 She kisses me, smiles. “Welcome to the family.”

 

Editor's Note: The following piece has been excerpted from “The Road of the Black Arts,” an article by Sandeep D'Souza. Presented in Annual Proceedings ofthe Arcanum, Vol. LXXXXVI, the article generated protest from the Arcanum's more “progressive” members who felt the author presented too “conservative” a viewpoint of magical practices. Nevertheless, D'Souza is a recognized authority on his subjects. His words may bear their author's prejudices, but they still ring with informed truth, and (some would say personal) experience.

 It is worth noting that many of Mr. D'Souza's observations apply to all practitioners of the mystic arts, Awakened and otherwise. Searching is searching, regardless of the treasure uncovered in the process. 

Magus, Goetist, Theurpe, they go by many names. For convenience, we'll call them sorcerers. It's among the kinder names they go by.

 To cynics and modemists, sorcerers are relics, superstitious remindersofabygone age. But to those who knowbetter, sorcerers arereal. They are men and women who command untold powers, who live in the twilight world of the supernatural. In the places where the word “technology” still sounds strange on the tongue, the common folk speak in whispers of magicians and witches and the unearthly powers they command.

Magic is still a very real thing. Millions of people across the world ward themselves against the Evil Eye, bless their families with potent signs and scutter off to the dark house on the outskirts of town, searching for the lottery number or love potion that will (they hope) make life a little more bearable. For good and for ill, the magician understands the power of this belief. He traffics in it, turns it to a trade. He gathers his bones, watches the portent and occasionally makes a brief appearance among the common folk. Such dramatic (and often menacing) impressions reinforce the sorcerer's reputation; his reputation, in tum, cements his power, at least, within that town or village.

 According to folklore, the magician has bargained his soul to the darker powers. Even if that were a myth, his lifestyle reinforces it as he undoubtedly locks himself away from humanity, surrounded by a thousand eldritch tomes and brearhing the smoke of sulfur and corpse-dust. Why does he do it? What power or knowledge could be worth the price?

 THE NATURE OF THE BEAST

 Magick is a faculty of wonderful virtue, full of most high mysteries, containing the most profound contemplation of most secret things.... This is the most perfect, the chief science, that sacred, and sublimer kind of philosophy, and lastly the most absolute perfection of all most excellent philosophy.

 — Henry Cornelius Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy

What is this “magic” that sorcerers practice? We could attempt a common usage of the word:

Magic is the ability to affect change in the universe through invoking the supernatural (Otherworldly beings, cosmic powers, etc.) and forcing the will of the magician upon the forces of nature.

 This is useful, but facile. Magic is more than simply a technique for affecting change. It is a way of life, a means of thought often rooted in, and inseparable from, a host culture. Itis a world view, not just a mode of controlling the world, but a mode of actually perceiving it and participating in it.

 Magic is universal; look to almost every culture and you will find it. For some people, magic and religion are inseparable — priests are sorcerers and sorcerers are priests. Sometimes, it is a verboten art, practiced only in secrecy for fearofcondemnation. Occasionally it is fashionable, a method of rebellion against authority, the church, family or all of the above. At times, it even takes on the mantle of savior, offering power and status to disenfranchised groups and individuals (Negroes, women, Oriental immigrants, refugees, etc.). Atits heart, magic is all this and more. To define a thing is to limit it, and true sorcerers care less about the definition of magic than the operation of it.

 The Black Art isa way of life. Itis a new way of living in the world, ofseeing the unseen, ofhearing the unheard. Itisa means of controlling what was never before even understood. Magic is a means of learning the secret laws of creation, of tapping into the hidden potentialities of the universe.

 AMARNING

 Make no mistake: Sorcery is in many ways a Black Art. To share in its communion, a person might perform the most abominable debasements, arrange the most hideous sacrifices (ofhimself and of others) and seclude himself away from prying evesto perfect his art and mystique. A talented devotee may find her way even in darkness, but many outstretched hands — from evil spiritsto mental instability — await the would-be magician. Most human socieries abhor the sorcerer, too. Witch bumings have occurred as recently as this century, and religious authorities and police “cult-busters” squads investigate the all-too-often bloody results of sorcery. He who would follow the magical path must govern himself, his fellows and his practices, and shield them from public eyes and private  corruption. 

 Traditionally, women tend more toward the Black Art than do their male counterparts. While folklore attributes male magicians with complex esoterica, alchemy, theurgy and other forms of god-service, the infamous portrait of the witch, governess Of intuitive magics, occurs too often to be ignored. More primitive cultures distribute their shamanistic practices more evenly between the sexes, but among complex societies, High Ritual Magic seems inextricably bound to the man, while “common arts” — mediumship, fertility, brewing, herbalism and weathercraft — are clearly attuned to feminine talents. Suspicions rooted in this tendency have clearly led to many unfortunate prejudices against the Fairer Sex; in all objectivity, however, one might understand how such fears, on a man'sside, might be justified. The witch is not a maid to be trifled with! 

At the basest level of magical questing, the Infernalist sits, impatient and remorseless. While most magical practices emphasize the search for personal perfection, the Infernalist — call him warlock, diaholist, witch doctor — shuns this arduous road. Satisfied with the “quick fix” of instant gratification, this undisciplined sorcerer is the Black Art incarnate. While all practices have their darker sides (too numerous to detail here), the Infernalist shortcuts his way to power via a bargain with outside forces. To placate them, he often indulges himselfin vile acts, torturous sacrifices and careless magics. While all sorcery might understandably be considered suspect, the Infernalist epitomizes its worst aspects: mortal spite and selfishness bound to immortal power. Such men and women propagated — and still propagate! — the evil reputation that defines the Black Art in the minds of the scholar, the commoner and the clergyman.

 THE CALL

 So, what is it that draws men and women to the study of magic? Why do some individuals seek to enter that mysterious world from which there is no return?

 Many are the reasons that compel magicians to traverse the pathofhidden wisdom. These motivations, often acquired early in life, set the pathstones for a sorcerer's career. Though the cobblestones may wax and wane throughout his life, they glow clearly by the lightofthe Hermit's Lamp (see “Images and Archetypes of the Tarot” Vol, LXXII). The road may appear haphazard to outsiders, bur to the magician, it remains plainly in view.

 Not that the sorcerer is an inflexible beast. He might change his path, his ways, his praxis, sometimes for the better, often for the worse. A man who begins a study of the Black Art might start out with all the noblest intentions; soon, however, he finds himself lured from his path by power and pride. The opposite is also true, though less likely: A witch who begins her study with darkness in mind might warm toward her gentler nature given time and practice. Magic is, above all, a transformative art. Those who seek the summits may find the Abyss, while those who pursue magic to fulfill base instincts may one day seek higher things.

THE DECKONING SPIRIT

 Atthe basis ofany sorcerer's call to magic is the Yeaming — the inexorable feeling that something, somewhere, is calling to the magus. That “something” is the Orherworld, and the Yearning is the innate human desire to connect with something greater than our human senses and abilities normally perceive.

 Those who seek the magician's road see glimmers of the Otherworld in many things: philosophy, poetry, the arts. The average initiate of the Mysteries explores all of these avenues and others. (Psychoactive drugs, religious meditations, alternative lifestyles and self-mortification are common “symptoms” of a greater quest.) All of these avenues are explored and examined, but ultimately fail to quench the Yeaming. Glimmers of the Otherworld are not enough; the potential magician hungers for something more intense — something imagined, never truly felt, but innately understood.

 The Otherworld is universal, even omniversal, but the sorcerer tends to see it through the lenses of his culture and beliefs. The Otherworld perceived by the Nephite Priesthood (who set their roots in 19th-century Mormonism) is the same Otherworld perceived by the Fenian of Ireland and the Mesoamerican Balamob shamans. Each group perceives it differently, however, and each one clings to the idea that his vision is the only true one.

 Thus, all sorcerers are drawn to the Otherworld, to different roads leading to the same destination. Thar road itself is vital to the sorcerer who hopes to survive his initiation. Each road might cross different terrain, but it still provides the traveler some measure of safety. Straying from the road is dangerous. Remember the fairy tales that instruet you never to step off the path? That warning rings especially true to the followers of the mystic arts.

 MAGICIANS AND THE SACRED

 Many magicians in ancient cultures were priests; the term magus comes from a Persian word for a priestly caste that excelled in astronomy. The relationship between magic and the sacred is, however, a subject of great debate.

 Cynics and atheists lump magic and religion in the same category, and dismiss the whole thing as superstition. The pious believe religion is greater than magic, something that transcends it— particularly if they come from a religious tradition that looks down on mere magicians. As far as the sorcerous — well, some see magic as far greater than mere piety, while more religious magical traditions might see the two operating hand in hand.

For most sorcerers, their magicis their religion. Itisas much a religious vocation as anything else. Indeed, such “sacred magicians” are often drawn to magical paths more often than secular “thrillseekers,” if only because their faiths lead them to greater devotions. These “pious magicians” believe (perhaps correctly) thar the miracles performed by their brothers and sisters in faith are confirmations of the religion's spiritual truth.

 More secular magicians can feel the Otherworld just out of reach, denied by the mundane cynicism and technology that surrounds them. To remove the blindfold across their vision, these seekers often embrace any so-called “truth” beckoning from a boolkstore shelf. Many of these so-called “baby witches” soon outgrow their fascinarions, or consume themselves in catastrophes; the dedicated and talented ones find roads every bit as legitimate as their pious predecessor, and often acquire a faith of their own in the process.

 THE HUNGRY MIND

Now that we understand the Yearning for the Otherworld, we tum ourattention to the would-be magician's mind. What cognitive processes lead him along the Black Art's path? What secrets turn him from the modern library to the candlelir vault?

 To begin with, magic feeds the mind as well as the spirit. Those who follow the arts share a hunger for “bygone lore” and an overwhelming suspicion that modern “science” conceals more than it reveals. Magic is not a sport for the slow-witted; it requires — no, it demands — an intellectual steadfastness, dedication and discipline beyond the simple “education” of the masses. To learn magic is to test one's self, and to tax the powers of the hungry mind.

 THE ANCIENT

 In the Middle Ages, it was common to cite an “ancient authority” to prove your point, when in fact no such authority existed. What mattered was the weight of antiquity.

 So it is with magic. There is a strong tendency to look back to the past, to say that the Ancients lived in a greater harmony with nature, with God, with the Universe, with each other, etc. Many sorcerers are drawn to magic through their romance with the past, which they idolize as a Golden Age, lured by stories of lost civilizations such as Atlantis, Mu and Lemuria, forgotten sages and prophets, or ancient texts.  

Consider it an “Eden complex.” According to religious texts, we were originally created in a state of perfection; the human condition has slowly deteriorated ever since. From the Eden of the Abrahamic traditions to the First Yuga of South Asian traditions, the past is seen as a time of perfection.

 The study of magic offers the promise of a retum to that state. Many sorcerers would say that we have forgotten the ancient ways and primordial truths — but the sorcerers remember and protect these keystones to the Grand Myth. In doing so, they become myths themselves. Most sorcerers dress in archaic fashions, speak significantly of “the Old Ways” and surround themselves in the trappings of antiquity not only to link themselves to the bygone past but to become the romantic figures they revere. Magic speaks of the literal glamour of the past.

 THE HIDDEN

 If something is hidden, it must be valuable.

 Magicians are philosophical treasure-hunters, driven by a compulsion to divine the secrets of the universe. The tools to the magical will are nor obvious — at least to the untrained eye. Such instruments are occulted, hidden in codes, wrapped in arcane scripts, buried in allegories and metaphors, confounded in riddles. The magician loves to solve such puzzles, to unravel the conundrums, to crack the nut of secrecy and consume the fruit inside.

 Though they seek many secrets, sorcerers rarely share the things they find. Magicians learned long ago to hide from open society, and for many reasons: fear of reprisal from a superstitious public, fear of attack from enemies who desire the magician's secrets, fear of other magicians and familiar spirits, fear of the shadow-predators draped in their own secrecy — the Vampyr, the Loup-Garou, the Kindly Folk, etc. Some magicians believe that skepticism and disbelief rob magic of its power, and do not care to test the theory by holding their sacred arts up to ridicule. At the very least, secrecy allows the magician to pursue her studies undisturbed bycurious “houseguests.” (Tt is easy to see how a sorcerer's life could be compromised by domestic obligations, a la the old television show Bewitched.) This understandable secrecy often causes a single magician's discoveries to “disappear” upon her death; perhaps future seekers will uncover her hidden lore, perhaps not. This “lost wisdom” factor adds to the appeal of occult knowledge. Every searcher wants to discover something other parties have overlooked.

 One day the magicians' secrets will be made plain; until then, sorcerers remain the guardians of secret things, and that which is hidden is often simply lost.

 THE FOWER

 But he was, in any case, as vain as a peacock; that was why he had become a Magician.

 — C. S. Lewis, The Magician's Nephew

 Let's not forget the obvious.

 Some people simply learn the Black Art because they want power. Perhaps the seekers desire empowerment, a sense of fulfillment in a hostile world. Perhaps they crave vindication, redress or justified revenge. Maybe they seek some heart's desire that eludes “normal” means. And sometimes — quite frequently — they seek power over others for its own sake.

 Sometimes, this isn'ta bad thing. A magician may study the art because he feels compelled to right some wrong. Might may not make right, but it can give “right” more stability. Some people take up sorcery for the same reasons that lead more mundane seekers to work on the police force: to serve and to protect.

 The sad fact, however, is that many would-be sorcerers are weak, petty creatures, bent on proving themselves to the rest of the world. Love potions, divinations, curses— these are the acts ofself-centered people. Thestereotypeofa pimply-faced'“heavy-metal” teenager worshipping Satan in his parents' basement to avenge a beating from the class jock is an overused image, but it has roots in reality nonetheless.

 Ideally, a sense of responsibility comes with great power. Asweall know, however, power corrupts, too. Responsibility or corruption — the choice belongs to the sorcerer. The ominous title “Black Art” comes from the choices so many magicians make.

 STEPS ALONG THE WAY

 Onhy that knowledge that issues from the lips of the guru is alive; other forms are barren, powerless, and the cause of suffering.

 — Shiva Samhita, II. 11

 Thus we understand the factors that compel a magician to follow his arcane study, and the motivations that guide him throughout his life. Once the sorcerer has chosen his vocation, we mustnow ask which steps will he take? Becoming a magician is not as simple as taking a class or reading a book. Sorcery for Idiots does not exist (yet), and should such a book be written, it would truly existfor the fool naive enough tothink all the secrets of the universe can be found in 150 pages.

THE STARVING STUDENT

 The potential magus feels alienated from his society at an early age. As he recognizes the Yearning and moves to fulfill ir, he begins a lifelong search for the Otherworld.

 The mundane arts provide a common draw: poetry, painting, sculpture, music — anything that affords the hungry child an opportunity to sate his Yeamning becomes a treat for the seeker. Creativity is the soul of the Universe, and few people truly connect with it, magicianornot. Still, the budding theurge often turns to art as the first step of his journey.

The sensations of the flesh — drugs, sex, alcohol, self-mortification — offer another fleeting lure as the hungry magus tries again and again to either open his senses to the world, or to close them completely. For some searchers, delirium is only a tool, a means of ecstasy that is later abandoned. For others, it becomes an addiction or obsession, trapping the student in his own self-absorption.

 Finally, esoteric philosophies offer their guiding light. Sadly, the world is so overrun with “self-help” primers and “new-age” canticles that a budding student faces a bewildering array of nonsense. The mystic paths that once truly ushered a man or woman to new states of consciousness have been diluted with profiteering half-truths. A questing student often passes from philosophy to philosophy, keenly drawing aurhentic esotericism from mindless drivel. Most seekers are content to dance naked in the moonlighr, bantering about different planes of existence and the power of crystals without ever truly realizing their quest.

 Thus, the first step along the path is often the last. Magically inclined searchers satisfy their Yearnings through any number of means, spurious or genuine. Few of them truly reach the Otherworld they seek; they might brush against it now and then, but fail to grasp the prize when they find ir. Fewer still recognize the Yearning for what it is: a genuine numinous experience, a spiritual revelation.

 Few are lucky enough to find the true path, obscured among the bramble and thorns of modern esotericism. There, a searcher finds some font of truth and immerses himself in its cold, mysterious water.

 THE MENTOR

 Thus he discovers the next portion of the magician's road — instruction in the magical arts. Rare is the magician who is self-initiated, who has traveled the path without a mentor. For most initiates, this segment must be undertaken with a spiritual mentor, if only for sanity and survival.

 The student-mentor relationship varies from tradition to tradition. Always, however, it falls to the mentor to take responsibility for the bond, to prepare her student for his new trole. Some masters may be kind, others abusive; each mentor's duty is sacred, though, and difficult. The untrained student is a pile of clay that, in time, must mold itself. The mentor must teach his student how to transform from clay to a vessel of knowledge. Through this transmission, magic survives.

 The first step often involves physical, menial labor. Humility and discipline — both of which are particularly hard to develop in the modern age — are essential tools for the aspiring magician. Through the mentor's direction, the pupil learns these qualities, often at the end of a broom! Some traditions — particularly shamanic societies and religious orders — believe that gods or spirits instruct the student. Mediations, fasts and ordeals open the channel for thespirits arrival. Even then, amortal teacher must show the initiate the way. A Hermit (again, see the Tarot symbology) must guide her student down the road she has walked herself.

 Thisisaperiod oflearningand unlearning. The student must dissolve many misconceptions he once held — concepts that are enough to sustain people blind to the Otherworld, but that prove too thin for initiates of the magical arts. Notions of cosmology, of the spirit, ofman's destiny and his relationship to the Maker must be questioned, overturned, reilluminated and ultimately reinstated. Most initiates take a new name to reflect their mystical rebirth. During this period of breaking and remaking, a mentor is essential. A center must be provided for the magician's reference and return, and some force must drive him. By compelling the student to solve seemingly unsolvable puzzles, the mentor breaks her student's mental constructs, then reshapes them again.

 In many magical traditions, these new notions still have some cultural basis: Magic does not develop in a vacuum. A Catholic magus of the Brotherhood of St. Hermes may learn new dimensions to the concept of original sin, of the meaning of Christ's crucifixion, and of salvation, but these guideposts still come from within the context of Christianity. Even though many sorcerers develop heterodox ideas, their practices often remain rooted in their home culture.

 Thus, it is that some magicians develop skewed ethics. When “right” and “wrong” seem to become meaningless concepts, the sorcerer decides they must be abandoned, along with old notions of guilt, responsibility and taboo. Indeed, there is some truth in that abandonment; even so, just as old concepts must be unleamed, new and greater notions of responsibility must be learned as well. In the iconoclastic rush, many students forget this step.

 Pity the initiate who never progresses beyond this stage — and pity the magicians who fall back for any number of reasons, from a lack of discipline to an inability to discern the truth. For they have seen now the world of magic, and they are a part of ir, but they exercise no control over the Black Art, and they are powerless before it.

 THE ADEPT

 Where the hungry yearns for the Otherworld, and the student learns its ways, the adept now interacts with it. But just like the student, the adept still has much to discover. Straddling this world and the Otherworld, the adept demonstrates the ability to move the world around him. He has learned the language of the spirits, and understands how to look into the future. The elements are histo command, and the dreamscapeopensbeforehim. 

 The wise magician realizes that this is not the end of  his journey as much as it is the beginning of a new one. There is always some other magical talent to master, a new insight to learn; the road goes ever onward.

 A sorcerer's travels become lonelier here; he must leave the spiritual mentor's company and stride outon his own. On the road, he will doubtlessly find others like him, men and women who straddle two worlds. And in time, the adept will have learned enough so that he can teach someone else, ensuring the survival of his magical tradition.

 THE MASTER

 How few reach this state!

 The Master achieves the summitof his path, and the many years of turmoil and struggle reach an end. The powers of magic wait upon his whim, but chances are, he no longer needs them. Should some emergency occur, those powers are close at hand; by the time he reaches such a peak, however, the magician realizes that magic is but a shadow of the truth it represents.

 Many students consider themselves masters, but they are vain creatures and foolish travelers. In general, the greater the master, the more humble he appears. As with any other skill requiring work and discipline, the Black Art often teaches a master control and forbearance. The road to magical mastery includes not just secrets and hidden things, but wisdom and introspection.

True, everything has exceptions. Some master sorcerers are horrid egotists, hell-bent on subsuming everyone and everything to their will. This is especially true of accomplished Infernalists who deck themselves in the trappings of power while avoiding the work that leads to true mastery. Such rashness does, of course, beg an important question: Are such wizards truly masters or simply immensely powerful (but ultimately spoiled) brats?

 Such creatures are not, | hasten to add, to be regarded lightly, especially not by investigators ofour august Arcanum. These sorcerers have knowledge without wisdom, and power without mercy. Torments may wait at the end of their Infernal road, but in the meantime such warlocks may bid others to share those tortures with them.

 THE RULES OF THE ROAD

 The road thatthe novice sorcerer undertakes is long and uneasy, fraught with danger. For those who have not yet begun the path, it looks exciting, daring, and filled with possibilities. But this road also has its own set of rules, many of which are learned too late. You cannot attend a few classes, pass a test, and then become a practicing sorcerer.

 The Black Arr is radical, powerful stuff, not mail-order ministry. It is a long and arduous path, one that can take years to master — assuming mastery isever reached. The path of the sorcerer is not for the weakling. The bones of students and magicians alike can attest to its perils.

 Magic does not come without a cost. One cannot simply grasp a new vision of the universe without paying a price. This cost is not measured in money, either; a sorcerer pays the price in blood, toil, sweat and tears.

 Magic is not easy to learn. If it were, more people would learn it. Many are called but few are chosen, as the saying goes. The road of the sorcerer is fraught with difficulty — sometimes even agony. This art demands a toll of loneliness, sacrifice (figurative and often literal), conflict and remptation. Divorce, joblessness, addiction, terror, even death follow the sorcerer like rats after a plague-wagon. Perhaps this is only coincidence. Or maybe, as some masters teach, the universe tests — or punishes — those who would master it.

 ONE WAI

 The Black Art is a one-way journey, too. Stepping on the road to sorcery cannot be undone. Learning the arts of magic is notlike going toa vocational school. Thestudent cannotsimply drop out and forget he ever tried. You see, magical opening is a two-way process: Just as you learn more about the universe, the universe is leaming more about you. You have announced yourself to the spirits, to the angels, to the demons — to whatever concept your path is teaching you.  

And you cannot turn around. They know you're there.

Once a magician has set out to find the darkness (or the light, ifhe can), there can be no running away, no forgetting or ignoring, no money-back guarantees. He has changed his perceptions forever.

 This presents one of the paradoxes of magic. You can play with magic your whole life and never truly step on the path. And you can just as easily tread the path without realizing it.

 In many ways, the Black Art is a destiny, not a choice. You don't choose magic — it chooses you.

 A TREATISE ON HEDGE WIZARDS

 Success is for all who make themselves worthy of it.

 —R. Swinburne Clymer, A Compendium of Occult Laws

 Editor's Note: The following observations come from Andrew Taylor, a member of the Awakened Order of Hermes, and a student of the so-called “Orphans” his kind often dismisses. Published in volume MLXXIII of the Pax Hermeticum journal, his article “The Mortal Magus” roused the same kind of controversy for its militant tone that Mr. D'Souza's article elicited with its conservative one.

 How is itin our arrogant pride and presumption that we so often and so easily overlook those workers of magic whom we dismiss as lesser artists, as hedge magicians? We talk of magick and of our own grand history — and at times it would seem we do not know when to stop. “We are the shapers of reality," we assert boldly. Beser by the Technocracy at our left and the Nephandi at our right, with the Marauders nipping at our heels, we hold aloft our sacred Arts and talk about the un-Awakened whom we are to shepherd to Ascension.

 How insufferably arrogant of us!

 Our shadowy world has its share of occult secret societies, fellowships that act independently of the Traditions, the Crafts, or the multitude ofother supernatural factions so familiar to our kind. For every such society known, there is probably another ver unknown, and for each society in its twilight years, there's another fledgling society just around the corner.

 Don't ler our Awakened pride overwhelm you. Don't let the vampires with their assertions of “We did all” delude you. We're not the only ones washing our fingers in mortal society's mirror pool. Mortals have their own role to play in our grand pageant, and some of them do so with fire in their eyes and an edge to their teeth. 1 speak of hunters, true. But more to the point, 1 speak of our un-Awakened cousins, the sorcerers we dismiss as hedge magicians. Without understanding the forces they move, without remembering the roads that led us to our own oh-so-Awakened state, we contemptuously wave our collective hand at these “cultists and crystal wavers,” or consider them mere apprentices to our own Great Art.

 A dangerous conceit at best; a suicidal one at worst. Take my word for it, the so-called “hedgies” (what a nickname!) can pack quite a punch in their own un-Awakened way. Without the Queensbury Codes of Paradox, these tortoises may, with luck, trip our hares. A proud magus might find himself surprised by a hedge magician with a few tricks up her sleeve — and no small amount of resources at her behest, either!

 If there is one point to remember when considering a magical society, it is this: Sorcerers and their fellowships must follow jungle law — survival of the fitrest. A magical society that became extinct five centuries ago may have been a significant, thriving force, until, for some reason or another, it could no longer survive. Maybe it was unable ro keep up with the times, or maybe it was simply taken down by some basic sorcerous warfare. This does not necessarily mean that the society was unimportant or that it did not hold certain keys to the truth in its grasp. This fact is no-less true of the hedge wizards' groups than it is of our Traditions. Considering how dangerous their foes are, It may be that in their own ways, those societies are stronger than our own!

 Butwhatdo we trulyknowofour cousins, these lessersorcerers? Some of our own began as hedge magicians. Some True Mages respect the insular societies outside our own sphereofinfluence (no pun intended), butmany of us simply see these sorcerers as children playing with fire — marveling at the match in their hands but oblivious to the pillar of fire behind them. And so we casually dismiss them, at times using them if they serve our benefit.

 Should you have congress with such sorcerers, I would urge you to consider a few things:

 * They are Not Crafts

 These groups should not be confused with the more familiar Crafts. Such societies typically contain only minor magicians, and their paradigms are so constricting that few Awakened could hold to their vision for very long. They could never truly join us as equals, for their vision is rather narrow and their abilities, to be blunt, quite limited. Still, such societies have their own truths, and as we know, truth is subjective.

 * They are Not Our Hunters

 Hedge magicians have no intrinsic reason to seek our enmity or conspire toward our downfall. Should a wizard plot against us, he does so for personal reasons; as a whole, their socieries offer us no harm. Do not let your own power beguile vou — these are effective, dedicated men and women who sith no doubt could harm us if they chose to; while they hardly pose the threat of the Technocracy or the Nephandi, shey could gnaw at us until we fell to a major foe.

 Indeed, many of them face the same hunters we do; from she persistent scholars and investigators of the Arcanum to she zealots of the Society of Leopold, sorcerers have learned feom history to watch over their collective shoulder for fear ué discovery. We magicians — Awakened and otherwise — share a common door when the Inquisitor comes knocking.

 * They Sometimes Become Our Allies

 Speak to these wizards of the Ascension Wars, and they might think you were mad. Many of them are driven by the same purposesas we; deconstruct their worldviews and beliefs, and you will often find men and women who seek enlightenment as we do. Given the opportunity, some magicians choose tosidewithus. The Technocrats mean relatively little to them — indeed, the Technocracy is quite unknown to most sorcerers — but again they may develop personal reasons to rage against the machine. Those sorcerers driven by ethics and religions make remarkable allies against the Nephandi; the Fallen, [might add, use un-Awakened diabolist cults for the same reason, and do so to great effect.

 * They are Not Our Servitors

 Do not deign to seek their service, for they are their own masters. We can preach tothemabout the virtues of True Magick, and of how their arts are inferior to ours, and of how our noble cause is so much more compelling than whatever private or communal ideologies they pursue — but these men and women are strong-willed and not easily swayed. They would rather walk alone and continue down the path they have begun than simply act as our foot soldiers. On occasion, a sorcerer can be convinced to follow in our retinue, but he's not likely to stay for long.

 * Their Magics are Constrained by Reality

 Make no mistake; these minor mages are Awakened — after a fashion. Their Avatars have been opened to a magical path, but sadly they rarely advance beyond it. Like an apprentice who has grown so full of herself that she cannot make the leap from student to adept, the average hedge mage sees only what is put in front ofhim, not what surrounds him on all sides. Because of this, he may master a few limited magics, but cannot truly suborn nature to his will in the same way we can. He leams rituals and rites and spells and talismans — all valid means of affecting change in the world around him — hut his magics lack the malleability and potency that our magick, True Magick, allows.

 * Their Magics are Reality

 This does not necessarily make him weak. Although the hedge magician performs arts constrained by reality, this means that by definition reality allows him to perform magic. Paradox is simply not a fear for the hedge magician — at worse, skepticism and disbelief may prevent his magic from succeeding; those elements will not coil and strike the way Paradox does. Like vampires and shapechangers, our un-Awakened cousins exist in a reality where their magics and the static mundane world have reached some sort of truce — and in this regard they are more powerful than we!

 If nothing else, let us use these sorcerers as a gauge of our success against the Technocracy. For as long as the hedge wizard can effectively perform his hidden arts, then magic still exists, and our cause is not yet lost.