Magick and Hypnosis
(Annotated 1999 by the Author.)
by Carroll “Poke” Runyon, M.A.
Copyright 1977, 1999 by Carroll Runyon
(Note: This article first appeared in Llewellyn Publication’s
GNOSTICA, vol 5, no. 9, whole no. 45)
In this article the author takes the position that hypnosis is the
operative technique of Ceremonial Magick. Visions of Spirits
appearing in the Triangle of Art are actually archetypes evoked from
the deep-mind via hypnotic induction. As a practicing magician
specializing in these methods, he gives an insider’s perspective on
how Magick really works.
I recently received a letter from a man who claimed to be an
investigator of paranormal phenomena. After a few introductory
remarks he came quickly to the point: “Can you demonstrate that the
techniques you practice and teach are authentic and effective, not
merely hypnotic and illusionary?”
My reply was somewhat blunt: “Ceremonial Magick is a valid
art, not a pseudo-science,” I wrote. “Certainly its visions are hypnotic
and they are no more illusionary than are Jungian Archetypes in the
Collective Unconscious – which, in fact, is what they actually are.
Their existence cannot be proved or disproved in a high-school physics
lab.”
I posted my answer with a sense of satisfaction, but in the
days that followed I began to realize there was a great deal more
involved in this question than could be answered in one clever
paragraph. The present occult revival has been underway for a decade,
but there are still only a few people who actually practice ceremonial
magick – and this situation persists in spite of hundreds of different
books on the subject in constant circulation. Why? The reason is that
many, if not most, of our modern occultists are just as naïve about the
true nature of magick as was my correspondent. Ceremonial Magick is
ritual hypnosis. As Dion Fortune put it: “Magick is the art of causing
changes in consciousness to occur in accordance with the will”
[emphasis mine]. The reason w