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""My
candle burns at both ends; "Never have so many owed
so much to so few." "From the Center which
we call the race of Man, The latter half of the 18th century saw an gradual increase in overt wizard activity, coinciding with the discovery of the planet Uranus. Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, author of the epic poem "Faust" (based upon Marlowe's "Dr. Faustus"), which was later made into a grand opera, actually helped pave the way for wizards to be accepted back as integral parts of society. For all of its emphasis upon demonology and dire fate, "Faust" remains as a metaphor for the ultimate responsibility for one's creations and desires, and shows the consequences of appropriating energy outside of the Divine Plan, for the separative will. The agonies suffered by Faust helped turn people's compassion back toward the wizard, which had been stirred earlier by Shakespeare's Prospero in "The Tempest." Mary Shelley was later to address this issue further in her gothic masterpiece "Frankenstein," on the aspect of creation run amuck. (One wonders if Madam Shelley was remembering the events of Atlantis?) Because of these and other wizard tales, the 19th century saw a great uprise in wizardry. Part of the interest lay in the Industrial Revolution and the newfangled machines which began popping up from the hands of inventors. The romantic era of the 1800's gave way to exploratory fiction; we experienced magic at the hands of Nathaniel Hawthorne in "Dr. Heiddeiger's Experiment" and "The House of the Seven Gables," we journeyed to the Center of the Earth with Jules Verne, and time-travelled with H. G. Welles. The 19th century was truly a time of exploration of the mind; the first that had truly occurred since the Grecian era some 2000 years hence. It was the last half of the 19th century, however, that saw the rise of the great wizard lodges and ashrams; the most noted being the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. From this order came some of the most influential wizards of the late 19th and early 20th centuries; including S.L. MacGregor Mathers, who was one of the founders of the lodge, Arthur Edward Waite, designer of the most widely-used Tarot deck to this day, Israel Regardie, a master wizard within the lodge and a prolific writer of ritual magic, Dion Fortune, one of the most prolific writers of both fictional and non-fictional wizardry, Aleister Crowley, who through his extremist views and shocking behaviors exhorted above all the expression of one's free will in creation, and William Butler Yeats, a master Druid and Ireland's greatest poet and dramatist of his time. It was a fascinating time, but a turbulent and sad one as well. Because of the forces wrought by the Industrial Revolution, the "door where Evil dwells" was wrenched open (believed to be the door sealed by Solomon many centuries ago, wherein dwelt the demons Gog and Magog, along with a host of other demonic entities.) Through this door into the world of affairs poured such evil that we as conscious beings were powerless at first to stop it. Because of this occurrence, during the first half of the 20th century, the world was rocked with two violent wars; twin conflicts, opposite sides of a massive hurricane on the astral and mental planes. Exoterically, these wars were known as the Great War (later, World War I), and World War II; the first time conflict had ever been seen on a global scale since the fall of Atlantis and Lemuria. Esoterically, they became known as the Wars to close the door where Evil dwells. Demons entered material flesh, taking on personality aspects as human monsters; manifesting as such twisted forms as Himmler, Goebbels, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Nikolai Lenin, and Josef Stalin. Millions of people fell in the bloodshed wrought by this carnage; an estimated 6 million Jewish people alone perished in the horrific Holocaust. Even the United States had blood on its hands in the torture of the Japanese in the American prison camps, and the detonation of the atomic bomb over the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was the last act, the detonation of the atom, that finally closed the door where Evil dwells; but was unable to seal it the way Solomon had done so long ago. After the horrors that had been wrought during the time of tribulation, it became clear to the wizards and to the portion of Humanity that were acting in accordance with the Divine Plan, that all was but lost for the World. Long before, the wizard Nostradamus had predicted many dire consequences for "The End Times," believed to be near the end of the 20th century. Others, such as the Hopi Indians, Edgar Cayce, the Mayan Calendar, the Norse Eddas, and the chapter of Revelations in the Bible had also predicted the end of the known world. Even in the best-case scenario, the world would continue but in a completely different sphere. Authors such as Ayn Rand, George Orwell, and Rachel Carson outpictured post-apocalyptic societies that at their very best were bleak and at their worst, horrific. In the 1950's and 1960's, children learned to "duck and cover" from the threat of nuclear holocaust, and a generation of humanity grew up in the shadow of the Bomb, with the crypt of the bomb shelter in their back yards and imminent death a mere button's push away. There was much fear; indeed, the 20th century could be called the "century of anxiety." It was a turbulent century, for it was the era in which the "end time" was supposed to occur. The 20th century was the "clearing house" for the world karma from Atlantis to the present time. Those in incarnation during this time were tested greatly, and were brave in their battle. After World War II, the population of Earth literally exploded. Knowing full well that the End Time was approaching, all the souls that had participated in the great Earth experiment began to re-enter the playing field, literally, to see the great End of All Things. After the final cleanup, everyone was to return home, to their sphere of origin. The wizards and others of like inclination did not give up, though. Believing in the ultimate power of free will and the ability to manifest conscious creation, wizards continued to work with raising the energies of the Earth and of Humanity, and to inspire others as well. Beyond all hopes, it worked. In a miracle, at the 11th hour of the great Earth experiment, humanity within the space of 50 years raised its vibration, and the vibration of Planet Earth, to the point where the termination of Earth was negated, declared null and void by the Hierarchy. It is to these wizards that we owe our existence and the continued existence of the Earth today. In the year 1997, certain parts of the world were to have been flowing with blood from the wars and tribulations prophesied. These parts of the world are now working to solve pollution problems and purify water resources. Even in the turbulence of our society, a greater Pattern is emerging from the chaos. From the chaos, Man as Wizard is wresting conscious creation.
Modern Wizards
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