E Rehmus - The Magician's Dictionary

controversial rites. One of the preoccupations of magic is to enlist gods, spirits, elementals, etc. to do one's bidding and to release their power to the practitioner. But the black magician seeks unlimited power, not to borrow, but to appropriate for himself not in order to better the world or himself, but to satisfy his personal greed and to establish his ambitious tyranny. Moreover, real magicians know better than to wallow in close-minded ignorance and selfperpetuating superstition. They certainly arent going to go to all the trouble of throwing out Jesus just so that he can sneak in through the back door wearing the cloak of Satanism.

Serious magicians consider true Satanism (mere Devil Worship, that is) to be shallow and ultimately self-defeating.

Power and freedom accrue in direct proportion to the shedding of the ego, not to its inflation. Initiates see Satanism as a pathetic rebellion that merely exalts the other side of the coin of Xtianity. In any case, Satanism is more in the nature of a religion than a magical system, since it is based upon belief and worship. Seeing that Xtianity tars all variance from itself with the same brush, it has become necessary to discourage the childish triflers by labeling dark that which is most holy.

Finally, for the last word on the subject, here is a graffito copied from a San Francisco sidewalk, circa 1987: White witchcraft which fools condemn. Turns to black and crushes them.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------BLACK SUN One the other side of Daäth, the reverse of beauty, the hideous God, Baphomet, the Black Sun (or Black Snake) is the opposite equivalent of Tiphareth, Osiris or Apollo. The Black Sun and The Black Moon may also stand for the names of secret societies known to very few.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------BODDHISATTVA A saint who has forgone Nirvana and reincarnates in order to help mankind.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------BÖN or BÖNPA The aboriginal magicians of Tibet, prior to Buddhism, at first much opposed to the Lamas, but eventually joining them in their adoption of Tantric Buddhism. Like all major movements, Buddhism did not become popular until it learned how to take in and alter local beliefs. Dhyana (meditation) was used in Tibet before passing to Japan as Zen, though one cant be sure if its a non-stop link from Tibet to Japan. If it is, then why not Obon/Bon equivalence, as well? Bon was (is) very back-woodsy and little is known about it. Christmas Humphreys says it has roots in Asiatic (Mongol) Shamanism: nature worship, sex magic and psychic arts. Modern Bon are called black hats and are sorcerers of the Dug-pa sects of Bhutan and Ladak.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------BONEWITZ, PHILIP First holder of a B.A. degree in Magic from U.C. Berkeley, 1970. His goal is to modernize and scientize M/magic(k) of all kinds.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------BOOK OF THOTH Crowleys term for the Tarot. He didn't necessarily, however, assume an Egyptian origin for the Tarot, as some believe.

Thoth is interchangeable with Hermes and Tarot is part of the Hermetic Tradition.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------BRUNO, GIORDANO A Dominican monk, absolute pantheist and an early promoter of unbridled sexual freedom. Best known for his work on the art of memory, which was essential for scholars in the 16th Century. Briefly, it consisted of using architecture, classical literature, religions ritual, etc., as vast mnemonic devices. Bruno's heady and bizarre occult ideas soon outdistanced his practical appeal and had him defrocked and on the run. Bruno was burned at the stake in 1600. Aleister Crowley claimed that Bruno was one of his former incarnations.