56.
FOOL SORCERY
Summer Solstice.
It was June 21st, the longest day of the year. Bernadette was in her
Clapham flat deciding whether or not to go to Seani Fool's talk at the
Devereaux when it finally happened. The fear and anxiety about
possibly seeing Michael again, mingled with the pain of her broken
heart, created a single tear, which rolled down her burning cheek.
Her light weeping turned into heavy sobbing, I miss you so much Michael.
And then like the opening of flood-gates, Bernadette cried the tears of
the broken-hearted; tears that she had been saving for many sad,
confused months. All the tears that had been waiting in vain for answers
finally flowed freely.
Michael, I miss you so much but I set you free... We clearly weren't
meant to be.
It is time for me to move on... There are no answers for a broken
heart. There are
no reasons. Time heals all wounds Michael... Michael, I set you free...
I set you
free.
After crying all her tears, Bernadette felt an amazing lightness that
had
been extremely elusive for a very, very long time. The tears refreshed
her
and through her tear-washed eyes, Bernadette saw that the path before
her was now clear... She would go to the talk and, well, come what
may...
~
“Who here considers themselves to be a fool?”
A few people put their hands up.
“Shakespeare famously wrote, 'A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a
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wise man knows himself to be a fool.' With that in mind, who here
considers themselves a fool?”
At this, most of the people in the smoky room raised their hands.
“A bunch of wise asses then?” the speaker joked raising a laugh from the
assembled.
Bernadette was in the top bar of 'The Devereaux', an inner-city London
pub, along with 25 or 30 other people, listening to a man wearing a
pirate's hat talk about his magical path, which he'd named 'Fool
Sorcery.'
Considering Bernadette had thought magic and Witchcraft to be fairly
solemn, if not Gothic affairs, it was an extremely lively talk covering
a
range of topics including historical jestering, Discordianism, Rebel
Clowning, Chaos Magic, anti-authoritarianism, piss-taking, mythmaking
and how to cast spells.
The talker, going by the name of 'Seani Fool' was fairly erudite, as
well
as being talented at inspiring the people who were in attendance. Aged
in his early to mid thirties, with long dreadlocks poking out from his
pirate hat, black trousers and a purple t-shirt showing the silhouette
of
two unicorns fucking, he certainly looked the part for this talk – he
appeared very foolish indeed. Maybe that was the point? As foolish as
Seani appeared, Bernadette noticed how incredibly good looking he was.
This 'Fool Sorcery' talk had certainly sparked some interest with
Bernadette, who was keen on learning something very down-to-earth
and practical. She was relieved but also a little disappointed that
Michael
wasn't there. Nor was Helene, but that also meant she could pay more
attention to the talker and remain anonymous. She sat at a table with
two Japanese people, probably tourists, who seemed more interested in
their camera than in the speaker.
Seani Fool was talking about different kinds of magical direct action
and
spoke of how inspired he had been by the pagan activists, especially the
Dragon Network, the Reclaiming Witches and the Anderson Feri
Tradition. Bernadette, having forgotten to bring a notepad, sent herself
an SMS in order not to forget:
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Look up Dragon Network + Reclaiming + Anderson Feri to find info on
pagan activist groups.
Mid-way through Seani Fool's hour-and-a-half-long talk, Kommodore
Koogie, a co-founder of the coven Seani was in, gave a mini-talk
detailing some of the 'actions' they had been on as Fool Sorcerers.
These
included rebel clowning at the G8 meeting (whatever that was); asking
(and getting) permission to cast spells at the British Parliament; and
heckling big-wig politicians during their inane speeches. “We make
Fools of ourselves, but we also learn how to make fools out of others,”
she said. “It would appear that people are controlled through their
fear.
The best way to overcome fear is to laugh. Laughter is the best
medicine,
and wielded imaginatively, it is also a very subversive and disruptive
influence on those systems that attempt to limit and control us.”
Before she wrapped up, she revealed that their coven was called 'The
Fooluminati', which was obviously a play on words.
The essence of Fool Sorcery, according to Seani Fool when he came back
on, consisted of two key factors. The first was the symbology of the
Fool
from the Tarot. “The fool, card zero, depicts a person stepping off a
cliff,
apparently unaware of the danger he (or she) is about to confront. The
cliff symbolises the void and the great unknown. To a practitioner of
Fool Sorcery, a person embodies the Fool when they take everything
they know, and everything they don't know, and step off the
metaphorical cliff by taking a risk of some kind.” He held up a book by
Ramsey Dukes titled 'Uncle Ramsey's Little Book Of Demons' and
explained that it contained amazing instructions on how to personify the
influences on our lives. Seani Fool said, “personifying on the one hand
'all we know' and on the other 'all we don't know' is a tool of the
Fool.”
Seani Fool went on, “Einstein famously wrote 'Imagination is more
important than knowledge' and Fools adhere to this motto
enthusiastically. We can't know everything, but by taking the lack of
knowledge with us as we step off the cliff, the lack of knowledge can
magically turn into a friend and a tool of power. Once we're in the
void,
it is our powerful imaginations that we will find most useful. The void,
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by definition, is that dark place where we don't have a clue what is
going
on. All we have are our wits, and our imaginations. The more we are
able to trust our own imaginations, the further into the darkness of the
void we can explore.”
“Being anti-authoritarian is also paramount to Fools, and is an inherent
trait in jesters, clowns, fools and shamans the world over. But do we
know who the real authorities are in this world? We never really know
what is going on. We can never really know everything. Who rules the
world? Does anybody? Jewish Zionist racketeers? Swiss bankers? The
US military industrial complex? The Bavarian Illuminati? Saudi oil
barons? Tibetan Lizard Men? Steve Ash? We don't know, but we don't
let the lack of knowledge stop us going on our missions. Instead, we
personify our lack of knowledge and take it with us as a friend and as a
demon. Instead of combating an unknowable, unreachable authority, we
simply play authority at will...”
Koogie interrupted, “we can play any aspect of ourselves at will and
that's how we can live our lives to the full most readily. We give
ourselves license (or perhaps, lie sense) to act. Instead of making
lies and
truth polar opposites - constricted by a narrow moral framework - we
give imagination freedom to start making sense out of all the lies and
create truth in all its colour and infinite possibility.”
“This leads to the second trait of Fool Sorcery.” Seani Fool went on to
explain that the second factor was symbolised by the Fool who declares
without fear that the Emperor has no clothes. In practical terms, this
meant
that Fool Sorcerers would speak out when others were afraid to.
Typically, a person would be too scared to make a fool of themselves by
saying or doing something silly, but a Fool Sorcerer thrived on being
foolish in exactly that way. “The emperor has no clothes, say it loud
and
say it often. Disempower would-be emperors through your lack of belief
in their authority. The emperors of our time can only rule over us
because we collectively believe in them and end up doing what we are
told. If we all stop believing in them, if we all were to stop obeying
at the
same time, we would all be free. Can you imagine it?”
He paused a moment then swept his arm out to the side as if revealing a
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canvas. “If we were all to stop obeying at the same time, what would the
world look like? If we all went out there with love in our hearts and
disobeyed all the rules that restricted us, where would we be?” He
turned his head to look to where he was pointing and asked, “what
would the world look like?” As if by magic, Bernadette saw an image
appear on the canvas. Whoa, that is some trickery he has going on there.
A few moments later a silver-haired woman in the audience, who was
obviously a close friend of Seani Fool, spoke briefly of the
similarities
between the Fool that Seani was describing, and the innate freedom
seemingly experienced by children, who have no recognition of
authority figures until such recognition is drummed into them, albeit
usually at a very early age and often violently.
Seani Fool agreed with her, then said, “children, being innocent, have
no
need to recognise authority and have no need for defences. Likewise to a
Fool, defence plays a very different role compared to most sorcery
traditions.”
“Most magical systems require the building up of a seriously
wellfortified
magical circle at the start of any ritual. Fool Sorcery is the
opposite in that it actually attempts to tear down all defences and
barriers. Real power is achieved when I stretch out until there is no
difference between me and the other.”
He went on to talk about actual spell-casting, which Bernadette found
fascinating. Apparently, four gods from the Greek myths are chosen for
casting a Fool's magical circle, though such a circle isn't a barrier of
protection – it is more a circle of powerful and Foolish inspiration.
Bernadette later regretted that she could not remember who three of the
gods were, but remembered that Eris was one of them. After the circle is
cast, the Fool performing the ritual says something like 'Only a fool
believes magic could make blah blah come true. Aha! I am a fool!' Then
the person doing the ritual assumes the Stance Of The Fool and presto –
the spell is cast.
“For example,” Seani said, “if I was to write a book and I wanted it to
be
popular, my spell would be: 'only a fool would believe my book will be
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popular. Only a fool would believe that my book will inspire people.
Only a fool would believe people will be touched by my book.' Aha,”
Seani said, then stepped forward and spread his arms wide, “I am such a
Fool.” He stood with his arms out, taking in the whole Devereaux for a
few moments, then withdrew them to a cross over his chest, smiling,
“Only a fool would believe.”
Seani went on to compare Fool Sorcery with some other traditions but
Bernadette didn't really know much about them so a lot of the
comparison was lost. On the other hand, she found this new world
incredibly exciting and wanted to learn as much as possible.
Fool Sorcery is post-Chaos (whatever that means) in that it takes the
essential lessons from Chaos Magic and utilises them in a more efficient
and pragmatic way. A Fool, according to Seani, could be anything at any
time and could shift between personas and shift between worlds on the
flip of a coin. In other words, it is possible to step into and adopt
any
magical paradigm (whatever that is). Fools live in the meta-paradigm of
myth and are able to switch myth at will. “A chaos magician might say,
'tonight we are entering a paradigm where the great old one Cthulhu is
reachable by calling out certain key phrases.' The Fool, on the other
hand
might say, 'Holy fucking shit, Cthulhu is alive and we're gonna raise
the
bastard tonight!' Life can be 'a play' to those who consider themselves
Fools. And why not join in with 'the play', or live consciously and
play in
the world of myths if that is possible?”
“Fool Sorcery is not exactly post-Discordian,” (Oh, I know what
Discordian
is! It was mentioned in one of Michael's diaries. It was something
about Eris,
the Goddess of Mischief and an apple...), “but it is an extension of
Discordianism, in that it acknowledges everyone has their own limited
reality tunnels, but purposefully chooses a very optimistic,
antiauthoritarian,
confrontational, non-violent tunnel. Discordianism aims to
set its followers free from the shackles of Belief Systems (BS as Robert
Anton Wilson would say), whereas Fool Sorcery assumes a very foolish
freedom from all BS in the first place. Fool Sorcery is geared towards
taking action. Fool Sorcery assumes we all live in the world of myth,
whatever that means, and we start from there.”
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“Some of the archetypes people adopt in better-known occult
traditions,” explained Seani Fool, “include the witch, warlock, shaman,
wizard, magician, sorcerer, priest or priestess, neophyte, druid,
occultist,
adept, warrior, magus, necromancer and others. Now, to step into any of
these personas can be extremely powerful, and I do it all the time.
Alas,
most people who follow one of these paths don't consider them to be
archetypes they can navigate into, but instead identify themselves to be
such. What for? There doesn't seem much point in being fixed into
position. On the other hand, as Fool Sorcerers we also use different
archetypes including the clown, trickster, jester, dunce, lunatic (on
full
moons), agent of chaos, wise fool, story-teller, bard, lover, buffoon
and
the shamanic fool.” He paused to take a drink of water as someone in the
crowd went on to explain the etymology of the word 'Lunatic'.
Seani Fool gave more examples of Fool Sorcery techniques before
wrapping up the first part of the talk. David Barrett, one of the
organisers of the Moot With No Name, stood up and told everyone that
there would be a twenty minute break before questions, answers and
feedback. During the break there was a lot of chit-chat between many of
the people at the Moot and it was clear to Bernadette that many of them
knew each other.
After the break there was a raffle (Bernadette didn't win anything)
followed by questions, answers and a more open discussion. A sexy
blonde woman stood up and said, “Seani, I've really enjoyed this talk so
far.”
“Thanks Meesh,” Seani answered. “Do you want to give me any
feedback or ask any questions?”
“Well, I wonder if Kommodore Koogie or yourself could explain further
what you mean by 'living in the world of myths.'”
“No problem,” said Seani. “The two books that seem to turn most people
on to magic are Marion Zimmer Bradley's 'The Mists Of Avalon',
brilliant, and Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea's 'The Illuminatus
Trilogy'. Those books create incredibly powerful myths, set up very
intricate world-views and have permeated the way magicians, witches
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and occultists have thought and acted since they were written. I
recommend you read both of them, then Starhawk's 'Spiral Dance' plus
many, many others. An old friend of mine named Martin once suggested
'read, read and read about magik but don't study' and I still remember
his words to this day.”
Koogie took over, “consider the Bible or the Koran – full of myths that
people live their whole lives by. As Fools, we do not lock ourselves
into
any particular set of myths but navigate freely through whichever is
appropriate at the time. Our reality, or as Robert Anton Wilson would
say, our 'reality tunnels' are only our chosen set of myths anyway. Why
not choose your own as you go along? It's fun to be one thing, but not
for
too long. It gets boring. Why not be a pirate tomorrow?”
Koogie lifted Seani's pirate hat of his head and put it on her own
before
continuing, “Arrrrrrr. See, now I'm in the myth of a pirate! There are
so
many books of fables and myths in the world, it's unbelievable. Many of
them tell us something about the inner world, but we have forgotten this
and pass them off as insignificant or just children's stories. But
there are
some very beautiful myths with important lessons to teach us!”
“If I were to write a book about Fool Sorcery,” Seani continued, “it
would be in the form of a myth or a set of stories or contemporary
fables.
I would hope that by sharing it as a story, I could bring the system to
life. My magic draws on so many different influences, I wouldn't
otherwise know where to start. In fact, if I were to write a book about
Fool Sorcery, I'd probably get other people to write half of it for me.”
Everyone in the room laughed at Seani's joke.
A dark-skinned woman at the back of the room raised her hand and
called out her question in what sounded like a Brazilian accent, “Seani
Fool, you said that if we all stop obeying the authorities at the same
time
we would all be set free. But large-scale mass disobedience would be a
total nightmare to co-ordinate. Would it ever be possible to set a date
for
this?”
Seani answered, “Alan Moore did it in V for Vendetta, and that comic and
film have had powerful effects on the outer world that we all live in.
But
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let's make it more foolish - imagine an army of clowns amongst the army
of Guy Fawkes lookalikes! Yes, I believe it will be possible to set a
date,
and there are a few prospective dates over the next few years. But no,
no
date has been fixed at this time. Not that I know of anyway! Besides,
who would tell a fool like me? In truth we're best off finding a date on
someone else's calendar and rolling with it.”
“Any more questions?” David Barrett asked the room and a young
man's hand shot up. “Ah yes, Paul, our resident conspiracy theorist.
What's your question?”
The man called Paul stood up. He was dressed in black leather trousers
and a tie-dyed fractal t-shirt. He had thin, straight, brown hair that
went
down to his waist. “Well Seani, you said that no-one knows who secretly
rules the world but I beg to differ. There is a lot of overwhelming
evidence that the US government via the military-industrial complex
virtually rules everything already. If you read an author like David
Icke,
you'll see his in-your-face evidence that Bechtel Corporation runs
nearly
everything anyway. Now, Icke has a lot of evidence that there is an
intelligent race of Lizard-like creatures,” Seani and Koogie exchanged
glances with each other at this.
Paul continued, “now don't scoff yet. Icke presents the evidence that
intelligent lizard creatures rule the world. How would this knowledge
fit
into the Fool's world view?”
“Well,” answered Seani, “if I was to hear such a story about Lizard Men
or the Illuminati, I'd consider it a myth like any other story. There's
no
power in allowing this story to create the world for you, but there may
be some vantage gained by supporting and co-creating it as a myth. This
may enable you to gain creative powers, insight and authenticity. If I
was to tell you a story about the Bechtel corporation, Nazis and Tibetan
Lizard men, you'd have to ask yourself one important question...”
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