Taken from MEZLIM Vol. II, Issue No. 1


		           A  WORD  ON  MADNESS

			      by Purusas 252


	The dangers of the magickan's path are many, and not the least of them
come from HIrself.  The threat of madness is a lingering worry in the back of
the practitioner's head, rarely made concsious until too late.

	Sanity is like a fulcrum-point, with balance being maintained on both
sides.  When it is tipped too far, by an excess of power on one side or 
another, the fulcrum slips and balance is lost.  Those sides can be considered
as common reality and magickal reality.  Both can endure tremendous amounts of
power, which manifests as attention and focus, but both must be attended to 
equally to maintain the balance.

	In eastern mysticism, a teacher is the accepted failsafe of the 
student.  A teacher will guide the student within the confines of that 
teacher's magickal reality.  It is the sharing of that reality which is import-
ant here.  In sharing the new vision of the world, the student is linking -
combining magickal reality and common reality.  No matter how much power and
intensity the student is subjected to, it is balanced through the contact with
the teacher's understanding.  This knowledge is essential when working in the
far corners of Chaos.

	The primary danger of the solo magickan is that of isolation from his
fellow peers.  _ISOLATION PRECEDES MADNESS_.  In our tendency to gravitate
toward those who understand us, we inadvertently protect ourselves from this
danger.  But often our wanderings take us far from any shared system.

	And, in order to grow, we must go outside the known places of our 
world, even those shared magickal realms.  A fellow traveller, if not a teach-
er, can be your safeguard in these places.  As one who has walked upon the 
tightrope of sanity and madness, I share with you here what I have learned.


      From:    Black Crawling Systems @ V0iD Information Archives