Mages/Magus

[Earthcup]

I tried search and didn't find much so....

What exactly are Mages/Magus? Ceremonial magicians? OTO? Golden Dawn?

I've really only heard this name used in fantasy/roleplaying before and assumed that people who adopted it simply liked the way it sounded.

Recently I've noticed some people use the term like a trad identification(ie Wiccan, Hellene, Asatruar) and I was wondering if anyone could tell me more about Mages/Magus.

Thanks!:D

[Rick]

I don't know if the terms have any other meanings other than 'magician'...

[Danustouch]

I always heard the term used in conjunction with those who practice alchemy, or high magick. And I always thought that it was a title not conferred upon an individual, until they had attained a certain degree or level of knowledge. Usually, after many years of study.

However, many "old" terms are being adopted and adapted to suit "newer" purposes these days..so who knows...

[Azure]

Several Crowleyites I know use the term, but so do some CMs of my acquaintance. The term can be translated as magician or "wise one" - note the Bible's reference to the three Magi is almost always translated as Wise Men, not Magicians - but there is, of course, doctrinal reason for that ;)

I think it may have become, like "Pagan" something of a generic term that everyone puts an individual spin on. . .

[Myst]

I agree with Danustouch. Especially the "Usually, after many years of study". And of course not a lot of people study high magic or alchemy, and thus you almost never see the term mage used outside of role playing (which is why I'd be very careful about someone who calls themself that).

[Sequoia]

. . . . -_-; I call myself a Mage. . . . I'm not a Wizard. I'm not a Witch. I'm not Wiccan. I'm not a Sorceror. I'm not a bunch of those things. . . but mage describes it fairly well to me.

Wizard is a joke to me. . . sounds like a made-up word. . . or a D&D class. Witch reminds me more of work with herbals, or associated with wicca. I do not practice in Wicca, I do not hold the beliefs of only a god and goddess. . . . or some of the distinctly Wiccan beliefs. Sorceror is what Lina Inverse is. (attached picture ;) )

Mage describes me well, because it's someone who manipulates energy and works with it. . . lol and to play with dictionaries. . .



mage[ /b]
n.
A magician or sorcerer.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[From Middle English mages, magicians, variant of magi. See magus.]

[b]ma·gus
A member of the Zoroastrian priestly caste of the Medes and Persians.
Magus In the New Testament, one of the wise men from the East, traditionally held to be three, who traveled to Bethlehem to pay homage to the infant Jesus.
A sorcerer; a magician.


so I guess it means a lot of things. . . but then. . . what are the "traditional" meanings of words like "witch"? hehe

my thing is. . . mage, sorcerer, magician, wizard, witch, things like that are all pretty much synonomous these days. And role playing games don't help ;)



. . . so does this mean you're wary of me, myst? :D

[Lavender]

As a witch, I manipulate energy & work with it too. And I'm not a wiccan either.

Heh! So from what I gather from your post is that you're a mage because you're:

A member of the Zoroastrian priestly caste of the Medes and Persians.
Magus In the New Testament, one of the wise men from the East, traditionally held to be three, who traveled to Bethlehem to pay homage to the infant Jesus.
A sorcerer; a magician.

[Earthcup]

Thanks for the replies guys!

I've been looking into Ceremonial Magic and I've noticed CM's tend to prefer the title Mage or Magus.

Now some who called themselves a Wizard or Paladin I'd worry about... lol

[Sequoia]

LOL well I guess I'm a sorcerer then!! :p

[TwilightWolf]

I have used the title mage to describe me in several circumstances over the last few years of practicing only because I disagree with the over use of the umbrella term 'Pagan', even though much of what I do could be associated with many of the drudic and wiccan practices. There is no real way to define weather or not one is a pagan or a mage or a wiccan there is no real way to be 'initiated' in some super secret centralized world order of Mages... so don't come asking me to teach, because I am occupied with other things that have been taking up much of my attention.

- Ki'sen Far'sere

do not ask for knowledge, that you know that even if I explained it in every detail you would not understand

[Myst]

Here, this should help, Earthcup.

Mol has been using the grades from the Golden Dawn as default titles for awhile, here's a thread where (near the bottom) EW explains the titles, in order, so you can see each of them and their relative experience/knowledge to post count.

You'll definitely want to look more into it, and what is required for each, but you'll see Mage in there - http://www.mysticwicks.com/showthread.php?threadid=575&perpage=15&pagenumber=10

Here's some information -
http://www.thelemicgoldendawn.org/tgd/grades.html
http://www.golden-dawn.org/gdqanda.html
http://www.witchvox.com/trads/trad_goldendawn.html

Thanks for bringing this up, I have major interest in high magic and alchemy - here's one of my favourite links - http://www.angelfire.com/nt/dragon9/

[Earthcup]

There is no need to be condescending. I have not asked for a teacher and don't plan to.

Wiccan, Witch, Druid and Mage are fairly easy to define. You are correct about the difficulty in pinning down a meaning for Pagan. People have tried and failed many times.


Originally posted by TwilightWolf
I have used the title mage to describe me in several circumstances over the last few years of practicing only because I disagree with the over use of the umbrella term 'Pagan', even though much of what I do could be associated with many of the drudic and wiccan practices. There is no real way to define weather or not one is a pagan or a mage or a wiccan there is no real way to be 'initiated' in some super secret centralized world order of Mages... so don't come asking me to teach, because I am occupied with other things that have been taking up much of my attention.

- Ki'sen Far'sere

do not ask for knowledge, that you know that even if I explained it in every detail you would not understand

Thank you for the links Myst. I found some interesting ones in web searches and that were recommended to me that I'll be glad to post!

[Myst]

Great, I'm very interested! :)

[Earthcup]

A Rosicrucian Order I'm considering joining. It's come highly recommended...

http://www.amorc.org/

Other organisations I found or were recommended to me....

http://www.dsiny.org/

http://www.cix.co.uk/~mandrake/ogdos.htm

http://www.vortexhealing.com/

http://www.eocto.net/menu.php

http://www.otohq.org/oto/

http://www.hermeticgoldendawn.org/

http://www.thelemicgoldendawn.org/

http://www.golden-dawn.com/

I've got some info sites hidden away in some file... I really need to be more organised...

[Myst]

Reading the first one "MAN ALONE IS NOTHING. HE CAN ONLY DEFEAT MEDIOCRITY AND ELEVATE HIMSELF ABOVE COMMON MEN IF HE CONSCIOUSLY AND INTELLIGENTLY ENTERS INTO A HIGHER MENTAL COLLECTIVE FORCE, THAT IS, INTO A GENUINE, TRUE SCHOOL OF HERMETIC PHILOSOPHY"

Interesting. Not sure if I agree with that line of thinking :)

[Earthcup]

Yeah I'm not really interested in the Hermetic ones.... or the Thelemic stuff... it's interesting but I wouldn't want to concentrate on it soley... I just get bad vibes from it...

[Myst]

I'm more interested in the magical systems then the religion involved.

Which makes it kind of.. interesting.. :)

[Earthcup]

Yeah, Rosicrucians are mostly Christians but they are very tolerant religon-wise so I plan to ignore most of the religon stuff and concentrate on magical practices.

Some of the groups that focus on one tradition of CM are slightly freaky IMO. An all Thelema group would not suit me at all, I can only take Crowely in small doses... :)