Simon Court began his magical training with AMORC by correspondence as a teenager in 1958. He also began reading some of the very few books on magic that were around at the time, those in particular of W. E. Butler and Dion Fortune.
Soon afterwards he joined the Society of the Inner Light and studied with that group for a year until pressure of schoolwork won the battle for his time. After a break in studies to complete his education and get settled into a career, he again began his daily exercises and soon came into contact with the Helios course, later to become the Servants of the Light (SOL), in which he enrolled.
He studied for some years and took the role of administrator and senior supervisor for the Australian students of the SOL under the guidance of Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki. In the 1970s he was the President of the Canberra Lodge of the Theosophical Society for two years. He was also invested as a Leading Knight in that organizations International Order of the Round Table, a medium for teaching ethical values to children of members through principles cast in the form of a chivalry structure. In addition, he actively supported the Liberal Catholic Church in that city.
During that decade he also ran a number of ritual magical training circles, notably OORIMBA in Canberra and the Rainbow Serpent Lodge in Sydney. He ran eclectic magical gatherings in Melbourne, styled the Agathodaimon Cult, and conducted discussion groups in Brisbane through to the end of the 1980s.
He then went on to travel and work extensively through Europe and England between 1991 and 2001, meeting with many representatives of magical and pagan groups and orders and working with some.
He now resides back in Australia and spends his time between collating his written material and acting as an elder at various pagan gatherings in Queensland and New South Wales.
He was at one time a member of the Glen Innes Celtic Festival Players and took the part of Merlin at each summer and winter solstice, when the battle between the Holly and Oak Kings was publicly enacted at the Glen Innes Standing Stones.
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The Magic of Pathworking: A Meditation Guide for Your Inner Vision 2020 by Simon Court.
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First e-book edition 2020
E-book ISBN: 9780738766003
Cover design by Shira Atakpu
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Editing by Marjorie Otto
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ISBN: 978-0-7387-6541-9
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To the memory of Olive Ashcroft of the Servants of the Light,
who selflessly supervised my studies and guided me for many years.
Acknowledgments
There are many people who have passed on their knowledge to me or from whom I have learned. I particularly owe thanks to Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki, one-time Director of Studies for the Servants of the Light. It was she who taught me the methods and theory of pathworkings and kindled the fire of my enthusiasm for this way of working.
In my travels in the United Kingdom I also had an opportunity to meet up with Marian Green and work with one of her groups. It is she who gave me the occasional prod to actually set things down.
Special thanks must go to all of those who have worked with me in various ritual groups, whether participating, supporting, or establishing.
I also thank the students, too numerous to name individually, who have used some of my earlier pathworkings in the past and whose feedback has been very helpful to me.
Contents
: Relaxation, Breathing, and Seed Thought Meditation
: A Note on the Structure of the Paths of the New Moon
: Magical and Training Organizations
Introduction
This is a book presenting an integrated set of what are called pathworkings, which I created within the Western Mystery Tradition. Pathworkings can be described as visual meditations used to create inner change to influence outside actions.
But it is not a book just for members of magical groups. Anyone can use these techniques, and I have prepared them in a style that does not rely on any specific magical, Wiccan or spiritual way, although I draw on many sources to fill out and explain the different themes and processes. Traditional symbols and myths from different cultures have been drawn upon in the construction of the workings, and their practice and study can be of value to traditional and nontraditional students alike.
I was introduced to this magical technique by one of my teachers, a person well established in the Western Tradition. I simply fell in love with the method right away and it has been my friend ever since. If I need access to some information, I set up a pathworking to get that access. What is done in mind with intent will pop up in everyday reality in the most unspectacular ways. Some say that what we call reality is a joint projection of everyones inner processes, in awareness or not. There is no direct proof that this is so, but many people I know and many reports I have seen mention methods of manifestation using the creative imagination to manifest desired results.
As a long-time practitioner of Western magical techniques, I view things slightly differently. That is, in my experience people sometimes attract to themselves items, events, or situations that an outsider can see is the result more of what they are than what they do . When I found earlier in life some practitioners of Western magical systems who claimed this was so and that the best magic was to work on yourself so that what came to you continued, as always, to match what you are, I decided to join them and learn more. These magicians of the Western ways were saying that there is no magic that influences things, but there is a magic that changes oneself so that things come to you by natural attraction. This works, whether you want it or not, so work on oneself is primary. I have found this so in both mistake and success and the work continues. I am passing on a tried and tested technique using my own discovered symbols and themes.