“THEREFORE I SAY UNTO THEE: COME FORTH UNTO ME FROM THINE ABODE IN THE SILENCE, UNUTTERABLE WISDOM, ALL-LIGHT, ALL-POWER! THOTH, HERMES, MERCURY, ODIN, BY WHATEVER NAME I CALL THEE, THOU ART STILL UN-NAMED AND NAMELESS TO ETERNITY! COME THOU FORTH, I SAY, AND AID AND GUARD ME IN THIS WORK OF ART.” - From “The Rites of Eleusis, The Rite of Mercury,” The Equinox I (6), (reprint, York Beach, ME: Weiser Books, 1992). Supplement, p. 103.”
“He who understands the correspondence of all things, above and below, within and without, holds the key to the Great Art. This is the power of the true Magus—to act as priest, physician, and philosopher of the world.” - Robert Fludd, De Medicina Catholica
“To practice magic is to be a quack; to know magic is to be a sage.” - Eliphas Levi
The wizards stands between Heaven and earth He bridges the celestial heavens and the underworld He invokes the angelic intelligences and commands the infernal spirits He unites the macrocosm and microcosm He links the ancient past and the far future
He is the consummate scientist, for he follows a strictly scientific process of knowledge of all things, inner and outer, material and spiritual, subjective and objective He makes his own being and self the laboratory and the experiment and the observer
He is the supreme artist, for he creates his self and his reality according to the vision within.
He practices the Royal Art of Alchemy and the Divine Science of Magic in order to achieve the completion of the Magnum Opus, the discovery and creation of the Philosopher’s Stone.
What is The Wizard?
Definition
Merriam Webster
- one skilled in magic
- a very clever or skillful person
- archaic : a wise man
Etymology
- A wize one From Middle English wysard, wysarde, equivalent to wise + -ard. A uniquely medieval Anglo-Saxon word with no known cognates in or outside the Germanic family; did not gain distinct sense of "occultist, magic user" (as opposed to a philosopher or sage) until circa 1500s, aligning roughly with the starting English Renaissance.
modern usage - “computer wizard”
(To rephrase) “In traditional tribal cultures we find shamans, or medicine men and women, who are both gifted and learned in talents and skills of augury (foretelling the future), herbalism, hypnosis, psychic work, and sor- cery. They are the village teachers, magicians, spirit guides, healers, and midwives. Among some of the Celtic tribes of Western Europe, such shamans were known as Wicce—an Anglo-Saxon word meaning “shaper”—from which comes our present term “Witch.” In Renaissance days, men practicing “witch- craft” were more often called “Wizards.” The term Wiz- ard first appeared in the 15th century, and was used for both wise men and wise women. “
Virtually every village or town in Britain and Europe had at least one wizard, who usually was respected and feared by the local folk. The wiz- ard specialized in a variety of magical services, such as fortune-telling; finding missing persons and objects; finding hidden treasure; curing ill- nesses in people and animals; interpreting dreams; detecting theft; exorcising ghosts and fairies; casting spells; breaking the spells of witches and fairies; making amulets (charms); and making love philtres (potions). Because he was deemed the diviner of the guilty in crimes, the word of the wizard often carried great weight in a village or town. —Rosemary Guiley (Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft, p. 389)
“The oldest profession is certainly that of the Shaman. The oldest cave paintings—dating back as far as 20,000 years, to the last great Ice Age—depict Shamans among the animals (and were probably painted by them as well). Shamans were the first artists, the first craftsmen, the first musicians, the first herbalists, the first midwives, the first healers, and the first Magicians. They were the first to take spirit journeys out of their bodies and explore the hid- den realms of magick, The Dreaming, and the uncon- scious. And so the Shamans of the Age of Ice and Stone became the ancestors of all Witches and Wizards.”
- apprentice wizard
Wizard Archetype
Magi Magician Mage, Magus Warlock, Witch - folk magic Sorcerer
wise old man with arcane knowledge and skill
(the hermit tarot)
History & Myth
From Myth/History
- Merlin
- Moses
- King Solomon
- Nicolas Flamel
- John Dee
From fiction
- Dumbledore
- Gandalf
From recent history
- Aleister Crowley
Natural philosopher
Scientist and artist - blended together A scientist who is not a materialist, but is a mystic History, Nature, A court advisor, educated, learned in many fields
- John Dee
Wizards, magicians, alchemists were the first scientists. At a time when science and spirt were not separated. When the investigation into life was not seen to be a purely objective activity.
The scientists of today may well have been regarded as Wizards in centuries past. In essence, the best Wizards have been those who have had keen minds, and have been able to free their thoughts from everyday struggles and ponder on the bigger issues of life. This ability was prized in the old world of villages and other small communities, as it was recognized as making the community better able to survive various calamities and ills. —Anton & Mina Adams, The World of Wizards, p. 6
the walker between worlds
“Wizards have also impressed with their intense belief in several levels of real- ity—that of the ordinary world, the extraordinary world of fairies, elves and other spirit entities, the hierarchy of the angels, and the realm of the higher be- ing. Many Wizards have attempted to rise above Earthly concerns and fo- cus on the spiritual worlds, forging links between the world of the living and that of the dead. Angels and the fairy folk are also believed to be the allies of various Wizards. Commu-nication with beings from other dimensions has been taken seriously, and studied in depth.” —Anton & Mina Adams (The World of Wizards, p. 7)
Walking between worlds Reality and imagination Myth and History and Future Objective material world and subjective magical spiritual world Worlds of the Imagination, the Worlds of Myth, the Worlds of Dreams, the Worlds of Magick
Master of Magic
The Wizard understands and practices MAGIC He is in touch with the mysterious unseen forces of life, death, nature….
the wizard knows of the magical/secret world that we live in
The Wizard understands and loves the Mystery The Wizard can impart deep and profound wisdom in just a few words
Master of the 4 elements (and the 5th) Able to work with the higher divine forces and angels, and able to bind and command demons
Master of Spirits
Knowledge & Skill
Having special skill Developed your ability to do ritual theurgy, to do inner alchemy, to chart the stars
Taking knowledge and combining it with skill to Create, to cause change in conformity with the Will.
Skill - to do, to know methods and techniques and technologies Knowledge - to know things that are secret and hidden and occulted - knowledge is power
Occult and Arcane knowledge
Occult and Arcane knowledge The secrets of nature
Wizardry is about having special secret hidden knowledge Of oneself “know thyself” And nature And occult laws Of the world
The Wizard finds his knowledge through:
- a deep observation and study of nature
- of the world
- of books
- of himself
The magician is one who knows the inner laws of the universe
Lore Mastery
The Wizard is a Master of Lore
The Wizard is one who has dug and found the hidden treasures of wisdom, buried in books, libraries.... He seeks knowledge and wisdom, and discovers it He knows pearls when he sees them he seeks for things others dont think to seek for
Knowledge is power, He reads many and various pieces of knowledge and synthesizes them into one whole coherent understanding which he can then transmit to others, which he can use to guide the hero and the world He seeks ancient wisdom, prophesies, the words of buddhas, prophets and messiahs - to find clues as to the nature and location of the holy grail, of how to create the elixir of life. He seeks information that can aid the quest for liberation, the conquest of love.
He reads between the lines and gleans the truths contained in myths and legends and stories He is a storyteller He can tell a story which fits the situation, which conveys the truth needed
Because of his knowledge and his wisdom, his experience, his breadth of understanding and skill, his insight, his sensitivity, his awareness he serves as a guide, teacher, mentor, advisor - to students, to disciples, to kings, to heroes ........
the wisdom of the ages
Hypatia(YIP-a-TEE-ah), who was a teacher, mathematician,astronomer, Platonic philosopher, and the last librar-ian of the great Library of Alexandria, Egypt, beforeshe was brutally murdered and the library burneddown by a fanatical Christian mob in 415 CE. Lore mastery is all about knowing arcane secrets and esoteric mysteries known to very few others. It is said that “knowledge is power,” and much of a Wizard’s true power comes from his vast knowledge. This is why many Wizards have been famed as wise teachers,mentors, guides and advisors—even to kings and queens. Lore, however, is more than merely secrets and mysteries. A very important body of lore concerns myths and legends; a Lore-Master is also a storyteller,who can always come up with a tale to make any point.
The Mentor, Guide, Teacher
One who guides the Hero. Who points out the situation and the path Not necessarily themselves the main protagonist, but the one who appears to guide the hero when they are ready.
A messenger and agent of the Gods/Divine - as Gandalf is in LOTR
Examples: Obi Wan and Yoda in Star Wars Dumbledore Gandalf
Moriane in Wheel of Time
The character in the story who councils the Hero, who guides the heroes and without which the hero’s would never stand a chance
Who teaches the Hero about magic, their inner power, the nature of existence Who guides the hero to sacred, hidden knowledge, items Who tells the hero the nature of the situation, what needs to be done to save the world, how to defeat the evil darkness… Guidance as to the nature of the path, the journey, the quest
Importance and Power of Story, Myth
“the Wizard knows the importance of stories and myths, and seizes the power to tell the story in a way that shapes the future. “
- Zell
Paradigm Shifters
"The true purpose of the magician is to reveal the truth of the universe and its hidden mysteries, and to aid in the evolution of humanity by his own spiritual progress."
- Dion Fortune: The Mystical Qabalah
engaged in shaping the greater paradigm or model of the society around them
transform- ing and guiding the society in which I find myself into a new phase of social, cultural, and conceptual evolution.
Alchemists, inventors, king-makers, prophets, seers, spell- casters, loremasters, teachers, initiators, magicians, visionaries—Wizards are perpetually engaged in world-transformation, trying to make the world a bet- ter place for everyone. This is the “Great Work.”
Prophets
the best way to predict the future is to create it.
You see the future by clearly seeing the past and present
The Wizard sees deeply and therefore knows the way forward.
Fields of Study/Knowledge/Skill
- Alchemy
- Astrology
- Magic - ritual, spirit working, theurgy,
- Metaphysics - Kabbalah
- Divination
- Nature - Herbology, Beast Mastery, Sacred Plants, seasons