How to work with Quareia
I have had a few different emails asking very sensible questions about how best to approach the Quareia course, so I hope this post answers those questions and others.
When you start this course, please bear in mind that the course is written to take someone all the way from the very first steps of magic. In order for the course to be universally accessible, it has to be able to take someone who has done no magic at all and safely guide them through the first door. For those of you who have ritual and visionary practical experience (not just reading books and waving a wand in your basement), just read through the early lessons and when you get to something you don’t know, then do it.
Module one is basic skills that are needed if any magic at all is to be done and the exercises in that module more or less work independently. So some of the lessons can be done two at a time, or even three at a time; so long as you don’t jump out of sequence (as some keys for techniques build from lesson to lesson): i.e. don’t do lesson one and six together for example. But all of those lessons are pretty straight forward.
Module two was a difficult one to write for a number of reasons. The first being is that it has a ‘shiny subject matter’ – patterns and maps in magic. That is going to immediately attract all the recipe book magic seekers who want a recipe style ritual that they can read once and go off to do. This is something I have been working hard to avoid as it is that style of learning that ends up causing so many problems in magic. I also had to bear in mind I was introducing what can be very complex powerful subject matter in a total beginner lesson.
Teaching method: embedding and building
As I have said in previous posts, I am applying the Vaganova method, a teaching method where the tiny building blocks for an action are put one on top of the other slowly and carefully, with lots of muscle building, and the deepest most obscure part of a ritual action is taught first through very simple actions. So anyone dipping into say the Hexagram ritual lesson or the Pentagram ritual lesson (the favourite of dippers and skimmers) will find themselves sat scratching their heads in confusion. It will make no sense, as those lessons teach, through simple action, the powers that work behind those rituals.
The student learns those dynamics in a really basic way as it is slowly getting the mind and body used to the power flow pattern and concept of those rituals, before they go on to eventually work ritually, with tools, contacts, and fully plugged in to power. When that point happens, they will then understand why it was approached in such an odd way. I have also had to drown those lessons in a lot of text, again to put off casual dippers.
So when you get to a lesson that is drowned in text and seems to have an over simplified ritual or action, don’t be fooled: that is a sign something precious has been buried in there to protect it. When you step back from the practical aspect of the lesson and look at it from ‘outside’ the action, it will dawn on some of you as to what is actually being taught and what it is preparing you for.
The second module has a repeated pattern that pops up in each lesson so that you look at it from different angles – again, if you get a repeat like that, don’t sigh and despair! There is a good reason for it... it is like a web been woven... you do not get to see the whole picture when you are in the middle of it, but when you finally get to step back and look, you see a wonderful weave in action. So when you get to module two, grit your teeth and get on with it. Don’t think you are going to learn complete rituals with all the bells and whistles: you are going to learn the wiring for that ritual circuit – how the power comes in, how it is formed, how it decays and then how it is composted. And that learning is not intellectual; rather it comes from doing simple actions.
I’m in the process of writing module three, a module that I do not have to bury so much and use obscurity, so once you get through module two without going nuts, you can get your skates on for module three.
Module three is about creation dynamics, which for a magician is about learning how to trigger magical actions, how to contain power in a vessel, how the temple is also a vessel, how to maintain that vessel and how to affect change through tapping into the creation power impetus. When you get to this module in the training, you will then understand why you had to repeat such basic simplistic ritual actions in module two.
Saying that (its all baby basic), there is an action embedded in the Hexagram ritual that is one of the most powerful magical acts of all.
Like all true magic, you cannot just switch it on like a Disney wave of the wand, the magician has to be connected and plugged into power. But that connection to power can come at the beginning of training, the middle or end; it is very individual to the person and their spirit. The course has a lot of these types of things embedded, not to be ‘clever’ but because I have to take into account that people all develop at different rates and times in their life. A beginner can sometimes actually be a past magician who is in the process of waking up, and hitting that embedded action will switch them back on.
And embedding these actions which are powerful and also mystical into long boring sessions truly protects them; the people who are focussed, disciplined and hard working will find them (good potential adepts) and dippers/skimmers will give up. I have to do it this way if the course is going to be publically available for anyone to download at any time – it has to hide in plain sight and it also has to self filter its students.
So look upon these first few modules as the exercises that have to be done when a person starts gymnastic training, or ballet, or martial arts: these are your stretches, push ups, stance practice, hand and arm position practice etc. You don’t just walk into a class and start trying to do flying sidekicks, triple kicks or black belt katas on your first month’s lessons.
Mentoring
Some people asked about mentoring, which I have said before, will not be available for the first section. Getting through the first section prepares you and by then the mentors will have someone who is ready to work and has a good grounding. We are still working through how to approach the mentoring in a way that is flexible for different people in different life situations.
Some people are concerned that they may not be able to afford to be mentored. If someone has done all of the work required to the standard required, and for some reason in their circumstances they cannot afford it, do not worry. One issue I am very strong about is that if someone is hard working and dedicated, poverty should not stop them from doing what they are supposed to be doing. Lack of funds will not stop someone being mentored if they have been accepted on the strength of their work.
The regular mentoring will not be expensive anyhow, and is a nominal fee that is ploughed back into Quareia: all mentors for Quareia are volunteers.
The cost of the intensive mentoring will depend upon the individual mentor and how they wish to approach it: Quareia does not rule over its adepts - they choose how they wish to approach life, magic and everything else.
The bottom line is we live in the real world. Quareia will always ensure that its course is free, and that a hard working student will never be limited from lack of funds, but that we also are in a real world, with real bills and expenses, and that people need to be paid for their time.
I hope that makes things a bit clearer !
