Aleister Crowley writes: "there is no task more important than to investigate your past incarnations" and quotes the words of Zoroaster from the Chaldean oracles "investigate the River of Soul: a breakaway and with what you came." It is impossible to comprehend yourself, your True Will, if you do not understand the reasons for your appearance on this Earth, if you have not investigated your past incarnations on it.
I want to make one important warning right away, which, perhaps, will disappoint some of you. When we say that we are restoring the memory of our previous incarnations, this should not be taken literally. The individuals we recall did not necessarily actually live on this earth.
On the other hand, if it seems to us that your name is Guy Julius Caesar or Napoleon, it is not at all necessary that we were killed in ancient Rome or defeated at Waterloo.
As Crowley wrote, Magical Memory is a means of "putting inner wisdom into a concrete outer form." Therefore, it is quite possible that your inner "Napoleon" or "Julius Caesar" is just an archetype of the collective unconscious of humanity, clothed in a form that is understandable to you, and, moreover, flattering your pride. And yet, as Crowley believed, “we can say that any magical memory is genuine if it allows us to find an explanation for the external or internal circumstances of our life. In this world full of mysteries, we should only welcome everything that sheds light on the Universe, everything that helps us to know ourselves."
Why should we remember our previous incarnations? All for the same purpose, for which we, for example, call and hope to subdue the demons Beelzebub and Lucifuge. To comprehend yourself! It doesn't even matter if Beelzebub is real or just a part of your brain that you are trying to master. Whether you really were 2.5 thousand years ago the elephant of Hamilcar, or is it a symbol with which you want to convey the current state of your soul, trying to find the key to understanding your current habits and character traits.
The study of magical memory, "remembering our past births" is a method by which we descend into the depths of our own subconscious, comprehend to comprehend ourselves, our true will.
Aleister Crowley became interested in the problem of "magical memory" quite early. And here Buddhism had a noticeable influence on him. In his collection The Sword of Song, published in 1904, he expounds the Buddhist point of view on this score: the personal Soul or Ego of a person (unchanging and eternal consciousness) does not exist. There is only a temporary agglomeration of various particles that make up what we call our Soul or Ego. "Reincarnation," Crowley pointed out, "seems to chip off only the outer layers of this cluster, so that over the course of several rebirths the Ego remains somewhat constant, which explains the possibility of" magical memory. " (…)
However, is there a way to recover these "chipped outer layers"?
Promotional video:
Crowley addresses this question in his Book Thisharb, or The Way of Memory, Number 913, which was first published in Equinox, I, 7 in 1912. (“Thisharb” is the Hebrew word for Brashith (“beginning”), written in reverse). Crowley claims that it "contains reliable formal instructions on the basic methods of developing this ability." Thisharb really comes across as a very clear and simple text with specific advice. (This impression is deceiving, like much of Crowley's, but more on that later).
Tisharb describes two ways to study magical memory.
The first begins with the development of the ability to "think backward", or in reverse order. Crowley writes:
“Let the Free Adept first of all learn to think in the opposite direction with the help of external means, namely:
a) let him learn to write backwards, with both hands;
b) let him learn to walk backwards;
c) if he has such an opportunity, let him regularly watch films and listen to sound recordings made on a phonograph, back to front, and let him get used to them so much that they will seem natural to him and generally understandable;
d) let him learn to speak backwards, for example: instead of “I am He” - “But I am”;
e) let him learn to read backwards."
You see how simple it is! Watch movies backwards more often, learn to say "But Ms I" and you will definitely remember that in your last incarnation you were a priest in ancient Egypt! In giving such advice, Crowley states "the brain, in the first place, will be shocked to the extreme by this confusion." Still would! I would venture to suggest that if such practices are long enough and persistent, you will not only "remember" that you are Napoleon, but you will also be very importunate to demand that others recognize you in this capacity!
In general, the method described by Crowley reminds me of a childish superstition that if you read Our Father in reverse, then Satan will definitely appear! But did Crowley write about it seriously? Indeed, in Magic Without Tears, he asserts: “I do not present the results of the first method in any of my works, because I have not succeeded with it - not in the least. B [rat] Iehi Aour [Alan Bennett], on the other hand, worked miracles with him; and he believed that this method is suitable for some people, but not for others."
In this case, should we literally understand the words of Aleister Crowley that he supposedly remembered that he is the reincarnation of the Roman Pope Alexander Borgia, Count Cagliostro, the French magician Eliphas Levi? Crowley does state this and immediately writes: “The first grave danger stems from vanity. Beware of "memories" of when you were Cleopatra or Shakespeare!"
If you need more proof that not everything that Crowley writes about his incarnations should be taken literally - if you please!
Here are two quotes.
First quote (from the "Book of Tisharb"):
“If the Adept“remembers”that in his past life he was in a certain city - for example, in Krakow - which he has never visited in his current incarnation, then let him describe this city from memory and answer himself how its inhabitants look like and what names they bear. Then let him turn to the details of the life of this city and its customs. And then, having done this as carefully as possible, let him turn to historians and geographers for confirmation, or visit this city in person."
Second quote (from Magic in Theory and Practice):
“Suppose Aleister Crowley remembers that in one of his past lives he was Sir Edward Kelly. But it does not at all follow from this that he will be able to tell us in all details what Krakow looked like in the time of James I of England. Material events are just words of a certain conventional language, symbols of a predetermined cipher. What happened in Krakow with Kelly may have any meaning for him, but there is no reason to believe that these events will be significant for his "successor"."
How interesting it is! In the first case - a strictly scientific method - I remembered that you were in medieval Krakow - if you please remember further, how this city looked like, who lived in it (by name, please!) And what customs these people followed. And then strictly check all this with the works of historians. And if serious mistakes are found - I'm sorry, my friend, you have not "magical memory", but "magical sclerosis". More precisely - all your "memories" are just the fruit of your imagination, which would be nice to restrain if you are engaged in such a serious matter as magic.
But in the second case - complete indulgence. To hell with it, this medieval Krakow! Yes, when I was Edward Kelly, I knew him by heart. But now I have not been Kelly for a long time, and I have not lived in Krakow. So why should I remember a small town in distant Poland?
Do you think Aleister Crowley mentioned Krakow in these two mutually exclusive recipes by accident? Or maybe - for greater clarity? And the fact that the "Book of Tisharb", containing these direct contradictions with the MTP, is included in the appendix to the same MTP is also an accident? Or maybe this is a pretty clear hint that it is worth thinking a little? (…)
It seems to me that the key to a correct understanding of the “Book of Tisharb” is contained in its very beginning. This book begins with this warning:
May be.
Building this book on pure skepticism has proven impossible. But this is not so important, because this practice ultimately leads to skepticism - and, perhaps, allows you to overcome it and move on."
It is also worth noting that this book belongs to Class B - a class of works that are the result of "ordinary teaching, albeit enlightened and diligent", that is, Crowley does not sacralize it in any way, but also emphasizes its character "Benefits".
It is very important for a magician to be skeptical about magic. Otherwise, he will not control the spirits, but they will control them. But no less important for a magician is to sincerely believe in the powers of magic. Otherwise, it will be impossible to deal with it. In magic it is very important to use the "as if …" method. It is not so important whether you believe in spirits or in reincarnation, the main thing is that you are sure that, turning to spirits, or exploring your reincarnations, using the method of magical memory, you comprehend yourself, a piece of God in yourself, your True Will.
In his diary entry dated August 8, 1918, Crowley writes: “Magical memory is the gradual opening of the unconscious; as I awaken him, the events of my conscious life begin to seem less important than what is rooted in the unconscious."
In other words, the adept uses the methods of magical memory not in order to collect more factual evidence that his personality once existed in this world under the name of "Queen Cleopatra", and not even in order to convince himself and everyone that the Buddhist the concept of rebirth is correct, but in order to use it to identify stable patterns of his karma, to understand what matters in his current life and what does not, and to take measures to achieve balance in his work. (…)
The model of the atom as a nucleus surrounded by electrons has nothing to do with the real world, but it is this model that can help us comprehend the Universe. The model of magical memory, as an unbroken chain, during which a person experiences more and more new incarnations, may be true, or it may be false, but this particular model may turn out to be the instrument with which we comprehend our inner universe, ourselves.