Opening the imagination - expressing the heart

So off I went to the British Museum, like no doubt "the fool who rushes in where angels fear to treed". Yet the thought I had in mind was more along the lines of "(s)he who seeks will find that which (s)he requires". If Colonel Seymour who certainly knew a lot more about these things than I did could use this statue to 'contact' Setna Khamuas, then so could I. Well, maybe. If anyone in the know had asked me what I intended to do with this 'contact', should I even be granted it, I would not have been able to tell them much. To be honest, I was not altogether sure what a 'contact' in magical terms was. But I meant to find out. All I did know for certain was that precious little had filled me with the sort of exhilarated excitement and determination that the mere prospect of finally 'meeting up' with this one kindred spirit prince cum magician extraordinaire did. I only knew that I had to see and touch this statue for myself. so I did. I did not know what to expect afterwards whether I would start seeing things that other people did not see, or hear voices or start dreaming in ancient Egyptian or what. Perhaps nothing at all would happen. I simply did not know. But I waited, expecting something to happen. I had read that intent counted for a lot in magic, and I had put a lot of intent into that one gesture. Something was bound to happen. I just did not know what. I admit, I had my moments of fearful doubt, but at the same time, I felt I had come too far to back down then. So I waited, overall confidently expectant. Time passed and nothing too terribly out of the ordinary happened. If I had expected to see visions and hear voices, then I was disappointed in that respect, for nothing of that ilk occurred. I began to be disappointed. My knowledge of magic and its working was too sketchy for me to understand why nothing was happening -least anything that I could see.

Most of what I had to go on had been garnered from Dion Fortune's occult novels. So I knew magic had to work through natural channels. I had also read dozens of times that magic was further "the art of causing changes in consciousness through will " .This sounded fine on paper , but I could not honestly say I felt any great changes in my consciousness. My disappointment increased. It was while I was in the nadir of thinking what a fool I'd been, that I was simply deluding myself that I noticed the first 'change' in consciousness. It was only a small thing, something I probably would not have noticed if I had not set off on my search for a semi-mythical prince magician. It was something in the nature of that still, quiet voice inside telling me "Don't give up,  you will find what you are looking for. Be patient." Patience was never my forte, but I waited. While I did it began to become clearer to me that I was that 'natural channel' any sort of magic would have to work through. I also eventually came to a point in my life where I knew that I would have to commit myself to 'The Great Work' or else give up the occult altogether forever. No more 'dabbling', no more standing on the sideline looking in like the kid outside the sweet shop window: I had so wanted a 'contact' with Khamuas well, this was what 'he' was telling me: It's all or nothing. Was I prepared to accept this challenge? I was. So my path of search, begun in emulation of Setna's search, led me eventually to the Servants Of The Light and the path of dedication. Oddly, by the time I reached this point, I knew I was ready for it. I cannot claim, even now, to know exactly what a magical contact is but if it comes anywhere near being an unseen 'guide, mentor and inspiration' then Setna Khamuas has certainly been this to me. And more than that I could not have asked. B.W.J

SOURCES for the historic Kha’emuast: A.W. Shorter 'The Statue of Kha'emuast in the British Museum' from 'Studies Presented to F. Ll. Griffith', London, 193A, pp. 12A 34. K.A. Kitchen 'Pharaoh Triumphant -The Life and Times of Ramesses II', Warminster 1982. P. Gomaa 'Chaemwese, Sohn Ramses' II und Hohenpriester von Memphis' Wiesbaden 1973. for Setna Khamuas; F. Ll. Griffith 'Stories of the High Priests of Memphis' oxford, 1900, pp. 2- 5. A. Richardson 'Dancers to the Gods' Aquarian Press, 1985. D.A. Nowicki 'The Forgotten Mage' Aquarian Press, 1986.

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