Frater U.:D.: - Where Do Demons Live?: Everything You Want to Know About Magic

Born in Heliopolis, Egypt, Frater U.. D.. has been working within the magical tradition for decades. He lived in Africa and Asia and trained with yoga and tantra masters, and studied languages and literature at the universities of Bonn and Lisbon. He is recognized as the founder of Pragmatic Magic and Ice Magic, and has written articles for many magazines, including Unicorn, Thelema: Magazine for Magic and Tantra, Anubis, The Lamp of Thoth, and Chaos International. His published works include Practical Sigil Magic, High Magic, and High Magic 77. Among his translations are the books of Peter Carroll and Ramsey Dukes, and Aleister Crowley's Book of Lies. At present, he lives in Belgium, where he is the CEO of a software-development company.

FRATER U.. D.-.

TRANSLATED BY MELINDA KUMBALEK

Other Books by Frater U.S. D..

High Magic

High Magic II

Practical Sigil Magic

Secrets of Western Sex Magic

At workshops and seminars, and in numerous conversations with fellow magicians, Frater U% D. is often asked some very interesting questions about magic and the occult. Since many of these questions can be answered with fairly short explanations, he decided that a magical question-and-answer format would be just the right method to respond to these queries.

And who would be more qualified at answering such questions than our chatty old sorceress Aunt Klara, Frater U.. D...'s humorously fierce alter ego? She has been sitting at her antique writing desk now for ages, just sipping away at her coffee and chainsmoking. The desk, with its jet-black, crocheted tablecloth, was part of the estate of an old archbishop who was guillotined during the French Revolution. Aunt Klara sits there, answering questions and giving advice on practical magic and much more, providing both historical and current information that cannot be found anywhere else.

No wonder, then, that readers of the German magic magazine Anubis kept Aunt Klara busy with their questions, and her responses in the column `Aunt Klara's Temple of Solace"-reprinted here in their entiretywere always a favorite feature of the magazine.

I AM A 27-YEAR-OLD MAN, AND I'VE GOT A PROBLEM: MAGIC HAS FASCINATED ME FOR YEARS AND I HAVE ALREADY READ LOTS OF BOOKS ON THE SUBJECT, BUT I'M HAVING TROUBLE ACTUALLY GETTING STARTED WITHOUT A TEACHER OR MASTER. HOW SHOULD I GO ABOUT FINDING ONE? AFTER ALL, I DON'T WANT TO MAKE ANY MISTAKES.

THOMAS B. FROM F.

Dear Thomas,

You are certainly not alone. Plenty of others out there are fascinated by magic but do not have the opportunity to receive any kind of formal training. Just remember: most magicians are self-taught! Don't be afraid to try! In other words, to become skilled at magic, you will just have to get off your butt and practice, practice, practice. No master can relieve you of the basic practical work that you will have to do, and no teacher can protect you from having to just dive headfirst into the cold water so that you can learn through "trial and error."

It is not a master that you need. What you really need is the courage to finally tackle the situation yourself. Martin Luther once said, `A despairing arse will never produce a happy fart." So don't be afraid to take risks and just try. Go out into the woods and do a pentagram ritual, invoke the spirits of the earth, or charge a sigil for magical power. Soon enough you will begin to realize that magic is headed your way with wide-open arms. But you will have to grasp the opportunity yourself!

If you are unsure about certain technical details in your magical practice, seek out others who might have more experience or attend a few workshops and seminars. And there are two things you should always remember: (1) When the student is ready, a master will appear on his own. At least that is what masters of the Orient always say. (2) A "master" is never much more than a catalyst anyway, one that triggers processes with only one ultimate goal-namely, to lead you to your actual, true master. And if you would like to sneak a glimpse of this true master already, just go into the bathroom and look in the mirror.

I will be watching!

Your Aunt Klara

WOULD IT BE A GOOD IDEA TO JOIN A MAGICAL ORDER TO GET PROPER MAGICAL TRAINING?

KAPIN D. FROM K.

Dear Karin,

Yes and no. Let me start with the no: most magical orders consist of only a handful of members with highly diversified qualifications. Thus, there is little time for the actual training of novices. After all, good teachers are scarce everywhere. The documents and secret archives of such orders are frequently nothing more than what you can find in any good book on magic (which are quite rare, too, by the way), and sometimes the authors of such books are members of these orders, too. All too often, a magical order is merely a group of drinking buddies with esoteric interests. So the disappointment can be great once a beginner starts to see beyond all that secretive fuss, and the true rabbit-breeder mentality starts to shine through that silken robe.

But there is another side to the coin that certainly speaks in favor of membership in a magical ordernamely, its force field. Most beginners have trouble comprehending that the true task of an order is not to convey information, but rather to gradually bring its members into contact with a specific force field. (In this sense, grades and degrees are not really meant to be viewed as rewards for the successful completion of a certain course of study, but rather as milestones to define the tasks and goals that are yet to be completed or reached. Therefore one often refers to "fulfilling" a grade.) There is little to say about the force field of an order. You can only trust your instincts and intuition. As a rule of thumb: if you do not feel comfortable with its force field right from the start, then you should by all means consciously avoid all contact with that order. Maybe its energy is generally not compatible with yours, or maybe it is just not the right time to make contact.