Dialogues on Cybernetic Magic by Eric S.

Cohen ONE: On the Nature of Shadow Master: So when we speak of the Shadow, what do we mean? Student: Well, that would be the equal and opposite of Spirit. If we consider Spirit as subtle energy, Shadow, in its dual form, is subtle substance and subtle information. Master: If we use a computer as an analogy, what are Spirit and Shadow? Student: Spirit would be the electrical supply allowing it to run, and Shadow would be both the hardware and the software. Master: So in a human being? Student: Spirit would be the soul that animates him and Shadow would be the mind and body and their interface. Master: How does Shadow manifest? Student: Well, sometimes the Spirit and Shadow are out of balance, and there are excesses of subtle substance or bad subtle information. This expresses itself as all kinds of pain: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. Master: Can you give me examples? Student: Physical might be a bad headache; mental might be traumatic stress; bipolar disorder can be the cause of all kinds of emotional pain. But Im not sure what spiritual pain might be. Master: Simply, evil. Student: Please explain. Master: There are two kinds of evil, and they are both subjective in nature and not mutually exclusive. An excess of subtle substance might manifest itself as Evil in Nature. Even though a person might seem kind, thoughtful, and well-intentioned, inside him there is a darkness that expresses itself as severe mental illness. This darkness can be all-encompassing and all-consuming. Student: So excesses of the Shadow in the one form of subtle substance may be a cause of mental illness? Master: Thats the theory. The other negative form of Shadow (bad subtle information) might express itself as Evil in Action. When a person goes and does something others think is bad, but is reasoning and justifying it to himself as okay, we would say this behavior is a bad program. Student: You said they are subjective. Its true that human law dictates what a bad behavior (or program) is, but how is Evil in Nature subjective? Master: Psychologists try to identify the illness as something wrong with the person, they try to fix it, or at least make it easier to live with. We have a two-step procedure that deals directly with the imbalance, but since they cannot experience the illness themselves, they only have their collective observations to guide them; our methods are not recognized as valid. They are at best holistic. Student: So if our methods were a reliable way to deal with mental illness, psychology in its present form would be gone.

Master: And if everyone knew the benefits of balancing the Spirit and the Shadow, treating them like equal partners in our lives, then the human race would change. Student: All right, what is the procedure? Master: The first step of the process is Refining the Shadow. Go to your inner temple and turn up your modalities about an event that bothers you. Raise the Four Elements to begin an alchemical reaction to wipe clean the bad subtle information (like formatting a disk) and refine the excess subtle substance (like heating and beating iron into steel). This should give way to a feeling of detachment from the incident. Student: I could advance this process to feel better about a variety of incidents. Master: Exactly. The second step is for when you have refined a lot of Shadow. This step, Enspiriting the Shadow, simply involves choosing a godform to fill the refined subtle substance with Spirit (subtle energy) and allowing its information to reprogram you. Student: Is it true that the Ancient Egyptians thought of the Shadow as part of the metaphysical body? Master: Yes, indeed, much in the same way as our paradigm deals with it. They also enspirited inanimate objects to be read by the priest of magician. Student: The object has its own Shadow which they could energize and program? Master: Yes, indeed. Student: Thank you sir, Ill go and practice.

TWO: On Elemental Theory Master: What do you have on Elemental Theory? Student: An Elemental Theory (anyone can have their own) is a set of correspondences (meaningful relationships) to the Elements; Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. These correspondences can relate to natural, psychological, or magical things. Master: For example? Student: Lets say we were talking about mental faculties. Air relates to intelligence, Earth relates to influence, Fire relates to imagination, and Water relates to intuition. They relate to each other as mental faculties and to each Element. Master: How do the Elements relate to each other? Student: Air complements Earth, Fire complements Water, and the two dualities complement each other. It is heavily emphasized in our practice that we maintain a balance between them. Raising their energies two by two is the proper catalyst of an alchemical reaction. Master: So by inference, intelligence complements influence, imagination complements intuition, as do the dualities themselves. Also, one can raise these two by two to start an alchemical reaction. Intelligence fused with influence starts one half of the reaction, imagination fused with intuition is the other half, and fusing the two halves together creates our catalyst. Student: Yes, indeed. Master: So you have a set of a set of correspondences? Student: Yes, for each Element there is a spell, a tool, a meme, a function, and a form.

Master: So each spell relates to each other as spells, to each Element, as well as the other sets of correspondences, and so forth? Student: Yes, the spell binds the meme to the tool, and is given a function and a form. Master: Thats how each set of correspondences relates to the others? Student: Yes. Master: Now lets be clear what you have here. Student: Each Spell comes from the Book of Coming Forth by Day (the Egyptian Book of the Dead), the Tools are the material bases serving as my magical weapons, the Memes are mass-replicated machine thought-forms, the Functions are the Necessities of the Gods, and the Forms are totem animals serving as representatives for the Memes. This is designed to be one thing, alive, sentient, and able to act of its own volition. Master: Its an egregore? And this Egregore is intelligent, thinks for itself, and uses the Elements as a power source? Student: Yes. Master: Diabolical!

THREE: On Alchemical Theory Master: Tell me about alchemy. Student: It is the ancient art of changing one substance into another. Dating back to Ancient Egypt (root word khem meaning black) it involved a transformative metaphysical process. Much later people tried to make gold from lead, eventually leading to discoveries in metallurgy and chemistry. Master: Very good. Our Alchemical Theory continues that tradition in magic and psychology. Student: The two equations? Master: Yes. The first comes from simple math. If I were to say that 1 (one) + (plus) -1 (negative one) = (equals) 0 (zero), then you would understand this to be true, right? Student: Yes, if I had an apple and it is taken away, I would have none. Master: You see this equation is true in terms of quantity, but what about quality? Student: A state fused with its opposite creates a neutral state. Master: Can you give me an example? Student: If we were talking about emotional states, a positive state like happy fused with a negative state like sad creates a neutral state that is beyond both. Master: So what would the procedure be? Student: Turn up the modalities of both happy and sad, alternating back and forth at an increasing rate. Raise the elements to start an alchemical reaction, fusing happy and sad until the emotional state gives way to their synthesis.

Master: Very good. The second equation is a little Wyrd. Lets say we invoke a little fuzzy logic to switch two of the terms around to get 1 (one) + (plus) 0 (zero) = (equals) -1 (negative one). In regular math we recognize this equation as meaningless. Quantitatively it is illogical, but what about qualitatively? Student: Any given state fused with the synthetic, neutral state yields its opposite state. Sad fused with synthesis creates happy, or so the theory would go. Master: Thats right. Yes, its counterintuitive (much like quantum physics), but if you have built up enough of the synthetic state with the previous procedure, you can create the opposite of any state imaginable. Student: This would be useful if we had a state which its opposite is undefined or undefinable. Master: Yes, indeed. Student: I can also use this procedure to create the (ultimate) synthesis of Spirit and Shadow, and then use either to create the other. Master: Youre learning. Student: So what would the opposite of schizoaffective/bipolar in its various guises be? Master: What do you think? Student: Well, a delusion is a belief not shared by the consensus (as subjective as anything), a false belief. The opposite of this would be a magical belief that has been tested true through practice. The opposite of a mood disorder might be a feeling of detachment and equanimity. Hearing voices might evolve into conversation with internal and external entities. I could go on. Master: So you were just able to redefine a mental illness by experiencing the opposite. Student: So we are able to take advantage of a so-called mental illness by redefining it. Master: What if everyone were able to do this to become more balanced in all of their elements? Student: We could advance considerably. Master: That is why we are here.