Knowledge Tree - 2

The edges between the Practical Branches we can see and climb, and those we can only sense by becoming more 'adept', is a matter of personal acuity, faith and understanding. Some people can visualize only the courser, solid structure, while others can see tiny twigs and buds yet unborn. Thus you can only speak of what your perception of this 'line' is, and cannot define it for someone else, e.g. what is magickal for you may be science for another. The key is to embrace the process of knowledge transference rather then the substance of the revelation. Once you have seen a cherry tree in full bloom (or a jacaranda!) it is possible to look at a barren tree in winter and imagine the glory yet again to be. No amount of reading or opinions of another can support this 'adeptness'. You may believe (allow another's experience as your own) in Spring, but you will never 'know' it until you have smelled the ecstasy of the blossom (and perhaps been stung by the bee). What you can do, in a Practical sense, is plant more cherry trees so that others have a chance to experience this wonder. Yet you can never make a tree bloom nor fly like a bee -- but you can be 'one with the tree'. Just hug a tree and learn that it remembers.

We all have 'prior' knowledge to some degree -- the ability to 're-member', as opposed to being separate from what has come before (not necessarily time linear). This includes the concepts of 'instinct', 'tribal memory', 'body memory', 'currents', 'reincarnation' and 'possession'. All of these can be found in (but do not limit) the Innate Zone of Knowledge. For the moment visualize the root structure of your tree buried deep in the earth. Nutrients are drawn from this 'Mother' and energy is returned. Since we don't like to think of that last part, our consciousness rejects exploration of this Zone, and incorrectly shrouds it in dark images, symbols of death and, for some, evil. Forget the religious trapping here and focus on the 'process'. If it helps, turn your tree up-side-down so that the pale, hidden roots become vibrant branches into this Zone, one filled with as much potential for self-awareness as the Conceptual one. See that the dormant seeds are no different than the latent buds. All of the product of human endurance is buried there -- all of the mistakes (real and imagined) have decayed -- enemies and friends are the same. It is enough to conceptualize that we can increase our propengick by going 'into the soil' in a spiritual sense, and also expand the entire Human Knowledge envelope in which learning is possible. Knowledge can be transferred from the Innate 'roots' to the Practical as readily as from the Conceptual Zone, and is often confused in search and application. For distinction, persons perceptually aware of the possibilities of the Innate are called 'Assurgent'. In either case, people attempting such a knowledge shift are often said to be doing or exploring 'magick', or being mystical. Consider instead that you are only exploring 'self' within a process of transferring 'imagined' things from believing to knowing. The magick is that this dabbling in both Zones (Proximal) has an influence on others. Everything you can transfer from these Proximal Zones into the practical makes it easier for someone else to 'understand', and also increases the complete envelope of learnable things. This touches on the Ethereal Zone of Knowledge, as well as the balance between Divine and Covenant. However, such Assurgency does not make anything more 'doable' as with Adeptness. Rather, such an advance would make your actions more 'applicable', i.e. of a higher spiritual quality. An increase in Propengics can occur (with attendant increase in magick, miracles, healing, etc.) because you can now carry an increased load of spiritual energy (knowing how) -- not because of acquiring new skills (knowing what). Thus, there is NO equivalent technology to Alchemy here though the concept of 'Fain' comes close.

Now for a special thought -- one I have explored for more than 50 years (instinctually??). The relationship between the Practical Zone and the Proximal ones is a CONSTANT! And you know what it is. It governs not only the growth of physical trees but spiritual ones as well; affecting how we make decisions and interact successfully with others. Someday I will write a book about it. Perhaps I am.