PANTHEON
I met up with Sophie this past weekend after I learned that her new book, “Spiritual Protection” will shortly be released. She and I share the same publisher and earlier, she had been kind enough to send me a review copy and after reading it, I knew that I wanted to interview her. This is an important book. It doesn’t deal with religion or spirituality but rather with the mental and energetic techniques that can help keep one focused, grounded and safe while engaging in various spiritual and esoteric practices, something that receives very little attention in the contemporary Northern Tradition.
What follows is the body of an interview conducted with author Sophie Reicher in New York, in person on August 15, 2010.
Galina: Tell me a little bit about your background?
Sophie: Well, I’ve been Pagan since I was a teen-ager, though now I’m predominantly a Northern Traditionalist. That is the background lens through which all of my work is filtered. At about the same time that I came into Paganism, I also began studying magic, first on my own and later with a teacher. I think that I was immensely lucky. Out of need I worked a “spell” if you will, before I knew anything, and it worked. I was hooked.
Now I’d been raised down south so I’d already picked up a few simple hoodoo tricks, but through a happy coincidence, or a blessed piece of synchronicity (depending on how you want to look at it) I found the right books at the right time, and later decent teachers pretty much right away starting out. While it’s a bit old-fashioned to call it as such, I worked with a magical “lodge” for the better part of a decade. I ended up with pretty solid training in Kabbala and Ceremonial magic, realized I disliked Chaos magic and, after a few unpleasant run-ins with the Goetia stepped back and started really looking at what, for so many people kept going wrong, something I talk about briefly in my book. Eventually as I found my way into the Northern Tradition, I also began to work with runes a bit more too.
For me, to a large degree, part of my magical training was learning to tap into and control, to train my own psychic abilities. I wasn’t very stable all those years ago. I am immensely stable now but at the time, my gifts were out of control and I had no way of comprehending let alone controlling the ongoing barrage of emotions and thoughts that I faced every day. It took awhile but some of the exercises that I found in books like “Psychic Self Defense” by Dion Fortune and “A Practical Guide to Psychic Self-Defense and Well-Being” by Denning and Phillips, not to mention Regardie’s stuff really saved my life. Then, as I said, I was very lucky to find an immensely strict teacher who helped me to gain the necessary discipline to thrive in this work. I think that’s about the time you and I first met.
Galina: What prompted you to write this book?
Sophie: Well, I saw people floundering with some of the same issues that I’d faced in the early 90’s. Because my training was so insular – I only really had one or two teachers – I’d always assumed that everyone who came to the occult arts, or even to Paganism would as a matter of course learn some of the techniques like grounding and centering, how to cleanse, and how to shield, that I talk about in my book. The more contact I had with the greater community, the more I realized this wasn’t the case. There was no discipline at all! Then I discovered online communities and realized the amount of egregious bullshit out there. Not only weren’t newbies being given the techniques that to my mind are essential, but they were being told they didn’t need them. After getting called in to clean up a few messes, I was horrified. I thought for years about what I could do to help this situation, and a couple of years ago both you and my husband encouraged me to consider writing a book—thank you, by the way! I think I did so in about a week, literally everything straight through in seven days.
Galina: Why do you think these techniques about which you’re writing are important to Pagans and Heathens?
Sophie: There are dangers to devotional work just as in magic; and the self-same techniques that help the psychic or magician to govern themselves, can help the Pagan or Heathen devotee still the mind and learn to connect in some way to the Holy Powers. That ability to feel the Gods, to sense the Holy presence can be developed. It’s as much like working a muscle as learning to use a psi gift. I think that within Heathenry especially – you and I are of the same mind on this, I think—there’s a need to find ways to go beyond the safety net of “the lore.” If a person hasn’t done the self-work, if a person isn’t’ grounded in the here and now, if they haven’t found some degree of emotional and mental stability then the storm of the numinous can unbalance them. Many of these exercises help to teach that stability.
Besides, these exercises can get them out of their heads a little bit. There’s nothing that I’ve seen in common Heathen culture that teaches anything approaching contemplative practices. The poor fools are starving themselves for that which is, from a spiritual perspective, essential. Lore doesn’t always provide these things. Whatever secrets and techniques our ancestors knew, they took with them to the grave; and Heathenry is in general so hostile to outside influences, to Paganisms, or the greater occult community that cross-cultural accommodation is pretty much impossible. So here is a book that has nothing to do with religion. It’s a book of useful techniques: use what you want, ignore the rest. There’s something in here for everyone. At their best, these techniques can help a person become more self-aware and that is a necessary thing for any spiritual progress.
Galina: Can someone use them if that person isn’t a magician or energy worker?
Sophie: Oh absolutely. I’ve taught many of the basic exercises to business men and women as a means of combating stress. That is one of their primary functions. Frankly I wish more “average Janes and Joes” would use them! Not only do they help one to grow in self-awareness, but they really do help with emotional stability and, more importantly, boundaries. I think that’s the primary lesson that the exercises I present teach: how to have good, solid, effective, and flexible boundaries. They teach you how to recognize what is you and what is coming in from without, be it a storm of emotions, or a manipulative guilt-trip. They give you the tools to recognize these things and choose, consciously, how to deal with them.
As an aside, I once had a student who had made it about a third of the way through my “Psychic Hygiene” class. She went home to visit her family for Thanksgiving. Now, she had a less than stellar relationship with her parents and brother and wasn’t really looking forward to the visit but I got a call, mid-way through Thanksgiving Day and she was ecstatic. My student couldn’t believe how much the centering exercises that I had taught her helped her to keep her temper and not be personally affected by the crap going on around her. She was secure in herself. Surely that’s something everyone, magician or no can aspire to?
Galina: In your book, you make a conscious distinction between magic and energy work? Why? How would you describe the difference?
Sophie: This was something I argued about with my editor too. Technically, there isn’t all that much of a difference. Technically, all magic is energy work and all energy work is magic. Magic is about consciously utilizing energy via the personal will to bring about select change. That being said, while in truth they are the same thing, in practice I have seen the two terms used in dramatically different ways. Many energy workers I have found are uncomfortable with the term ‘magic’ and many others use this term ineptly. Moreover, those that I consistently encountered who utilized the term ‘energy work,’ tended to eschew the disciplined will and need for absolute control that so defines competent magical practice. It was all so much more nebulous. I draw a distinction between the occult community and the New Age community as well, mostly on grounds of approach and attitude that others might not necessarily agree with. That’s what it comes down to for me: the politics of approach.
Galina: Who had the greatest influence on you as an occultist?
Sophie: Oh, that is a really hard question. I respect my teachers immensely (I even ended up happily married to one of them!). They gave me the skills and techniques, the training that not only made me a competent magician but allowed me to survive and thrive, sane and whole. I don’t know that I can rate that in such simple terms as good, better, best. I’m grateful. Period. So instead, I’ll talk about the authors whose work I found particularly helpful.
I’m old-school. I was trained old-school and that is also the way that I train others. While I find some of her style turgid, and her cautions overdone, I still think the work of Dion Fortune is a good place to begin, if you can overlook the obvious monotheistic bent. I’m not talking about her fiction, but her esoteric texts like “Psychic Self Defense,” and “The Cosmic Doctrine” (or frankly, for that one, you could just watch Babylon 5—it’s the same theory in visual format!), or “The Training and Work of an Initiate.” I studied the texts of Israel Regardie too. I do like some (by no means all) of the work of Draja Mickaharic. Again, one has to ignore the obvious monotheistic world-view, but he gives useful techniques. What really helped me were my martial arts teachers. I studied Aikido, Kendo, and a couple Chinese arts for years because I craved the discipline. When I practiced, I controlled my energy. I controlled the sphere of me. I’m grateful to my various teachers there as well. I think their patience contributed as much to my development as a magician and competent human being as any of my occult teachers.
Before I ever picked up a book on magic, I was reading books on martial arts: books by Dave Lowry, the classic “Art of War” by Sun Tzu and “Book of Five Rings,” by Miyamoto Musashi, a book titled “Meditations on Violence” by Rory Miller, and a ton of books about Bushido. This all helped. It was my lifeline for many, many years.
Galina: You don’t talk much about the Holy Powers at all in your book, save for a few brief references. I know from your other writing that you do honor several different Deities. What is Their connection to your occult work?
Sophie: I wish you hadn’t asked this question….I don’t like talking about my religious life. It’s a good question though a valid one so I’ll answer it as best I can. Magic is something very different from prayer. I have a deep prayer life and I hope a good relationship to my Gods. I mostly honor what I’ve heard you refer to as the House of Mundilfari: Mani the God of the Moon, Sunna, the Goddess of the Sun, Sinthgunt and of course Their Father Mundilfari. I honor my ancestors and the various genii loci around my home. I also have a soft spot for Farbauti for no other reason than, from what I have experienced, that we’re temperamentally matched. Mostly though, I keep my devotional work and magical work quite separate.
I’ve always disliked the trend that I’ve encountered in some magical circles to treat the Gods as either manifestations of one’s own psyche, or even worse, as nothing more than big spell-components. It’s disrespectful and one thing I learned early on is that respect is the coin of the realm where Gods are concerned. I can’t condone treating the Gods and Goddesses as anything less than that: Divine powers. I don’t want to be a person who does that, who routinely dismisses Them or minimizes Them. Part of my training as a magician involved getting myself into right relationship with others, including the Gods and spirits and doing my best to maintain that balance. That took years. I don’t want to disrupt that through any personal laziness.
When I work as a magician, I’m seeking to have complete control over my world: to dominate it and bring it into clear-cut alignment with my will and mine alone. That attitude is not conducive to good, smooth devotional work! I think the keys to proper devotional work are piety, humility, and respect. (I like that word piety…until I read your interview at Pantheon, I hadn’t considered its value). The keys to good magic are discipline and pure, stubborn will. Each is appropriate in its own venue. I look at it this way: the Gods gave me these gifts and taught me to use them. Why should I go running to Them for every little thing? When I pray, it is usually prayers of adoration, love, and praise. I try very, very hard not to ask for things because I feel that as a magician, I should be able to navigate my world with some degree of competence. The Gods aren’t there to do things for me. I do ask my ancestors for aid, and they are sometimes partners in my magic though. I actually wish I had touched more upon the value of partnering up with one’s dead, of honoring them and making them active in one’s life when I wrote “Spiritual Protection.” I do mention it, but in retrospect I would have liked to have gone into much more detail.
Galina: Your approach sometimes seems somewhat regimented and harsh, especially when you speak about the necessity of a traditional master/apprentice contract. What is the primary purpose of such a relationship, why is it so important?
Sophie: Excellence in any field demands discipline. Magic is no exception. Of course, it at times seems regimented and harsh. There’s no room for sentimentality or excessive emotionality there. Control is the watchword of competence in this field, not just control over the elements or over energy, but control over oneself (first and foremost) and control is only won through hard, consistent work.
The traditional Master/apprentice relationship is a difficult one to navigate. There’ s absolutely nothing egalitarian about it. It’s like entering into some kind of medieval boot-camp and once that contract is signed, there’s no going back. The purpose is to make competent, ethical, responsible magicians. It’s a weeding out process, a honing and annealing process. It’s damned hard. I hated my master teacher half the time I was studying but I also knew that I was getting exactly what I needed to become highly skilled. I just wanted to do it my way! Of course, in real life, it doesn’t work that way. We don’t go to a Master teacher to learn to do things “our” way; we go to learn to do things the “right” way and there’s often a world of difference between the two. It can be very hard to put one’s ego aside. The old-school Master/apprentice contract helps to ensure that happens, and that one doesn’t fall into self-delusion—among other things.
Personally, I needed someone to push and hone me. I needed someone who wouldn’t tolerate my bullshit. Magic is seductive and taking the easy way out can be even more tremendously, immensely seductive. No one tells you that it can lead to illness, insolvency, or even insanity. Moreover, unregulated, the beginner can incur terrifying debt to the Holy Powers, to various spirits and otherworldly beings, and as a matter of fate and wyrd. I have seen those who have incurred so much debt that it will take lifetimes to pay it off…all because no one was there to stop them from being stupid. They are essentially slaves to that debt and they will be for a long time to come. Magic should never be about such enslavement! There are no free rides especially in magic and like with law, lack of knowledge does not excuse violation. The Master/apprentice bond is the cure for such stupidity or simple ignorance (I have found so much debt is incurred just out of innocent, well-meaning ignorance). By entering into it, the Master is able to prevent the apprentice from incurring unnecessary debt. He or she protects the apprentice from danger, including the danger of their own arrogance or lack of knowledge. Like a master craftsman, the master teacher chisels away at what is not useful and instead builds up, crafts, and hones that which is. The master makes the magician.
I’m no fan of contemporary egalitarian training methods in magic or in anything else. I don’t believe they are efficient. Yes, people feel good about themselves during such processes. They can’t effectively do anything, but they feel great. I may have felt like crap during my training years but I emerged with a strong will, a high level of skill, and a self-confidence that no one and nothing could shake, because it rested in hard-won knowledge honed through long practiced skills. I’m just sorry for all the headaches I must have given my teachers!
Galina: What would you say to a beginner; what advice would you give to someone just starting out?
Sophie: I would say get your life in order. Work hard to learn to live well in the mundane world. Rid yourself of debt. Learn to be honorable. These things will be the foundation on which your magic rests.
I would caution the beginner not to rush through those sometimes boring preliminary exercises. It’s better to learn to do it well and thoroughly than to rush on to the next, more exciting lesson and never learn the basics. In the end, it’s those basics that will make you a skillful magician or energy worker, not the flashy spells.
Be respectful: of your Gods, of your human elders, of your dead. There is a hierarchy in life. We can’t escape it. It is a good and natural thing. Learn your place because to know who you are and what your place is, to know truly where you are in the web of obligation that underlies so many transactions in the various worlds frees you to act as efficiently as possible. It gives you both place and power. There is no shame in such a thing.
I would also point out that boundaries are essential things. Ignore anyone who tells you differently and try to acquire healthy ones. You’ll get eaten alive, by life if not by magic otherwise.
Finally I’d say that magic is one of many skills that enable a person to live well. It’s not an excuse for a poorly lived life. It doesn’t compensate for poor character. Live your life in a worthy way. Work hard to be the type of person that you yourself could respect. Work at it as though it’s the most important thing in the world: be the type of person you would look up so that others can. After that, magic, though hard won and hard learned, is an enhancement.
Galina: I’d like to thank Sophie for taking the time for this interview. I highly recommend her book, which should be hitting the bookstores on August 19th. For now, you can purchase a copy here: http://www.amazon.com/Spiritual-Protection-Workers-Healers-Psychics/dp/1601631243/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1282052443&sr=8-2
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