Now we start getting to the bit that so many newcommers to magic are
attracted to, designing and exercuting rituals.

IB ponts out the diversity in methods for mainpulating emotions,
suggesting different people in different cultures find different
refinements more effective. However at a very basic level there are
comminalaties. Including physiological factors, such as trance states.
Often induced by rythmic chanting or drumming or whatever. IB also
comments on dissocation as a method to circumvent doubt, although he
seems to regard it as a artifical rather than naturally occuring
state.

IB proposes that a well designed ritual uses all the senses. The
clothes, incense, candles and so on serve three purposes acording to
IB. Firstly they create an atmosphere. Secondly setting up familar
equipment forms a trigger to start you off in the right frame of mind.
Thirdly, they can be used to manipulate emotion during the ritual it's
self.

IB now gibbers for a couple of paragraphs about Hitler's secret radio
waves. Before drifting back to the chemical changes that take place in
the body as a result of strong emotion.

IB opines that while rituals from previous periods and/or different
cultures are good to study effective rituals are designed or at least
customised for modern inderviduals.

IB then touches on the magician as a hermit scientist. A individual
apparatus in flux, trying to operate in a world in flux. Unusually for
a book on magic he cautions against equating correlation with
causeation.

Isaac now divdes rituals into two broad camps. To return to the Driuds
of the previous chapter, the first ritual under Issac's classification
'is passive' to give people a boost. The second curse ritual is
'active'.

A simpler passive ritual that Isaac describes is to sit quietly out in
the woods and concentrate on absorbing 'energy' from the nature around
you.

Now, this section has been greatly changed between versions. Florain
could you please post a summary of one of the controvesal bits from
the first Ed. the lust spell?

Isaac gives an example of blessing a garden. This type of exercise
could be found in most creative visualistion, personal development or
motivational books. Sit in the planted garden and change the full
sense picture in your mind to a bountiful garden, 'smell' the healthy
herbs, 'hear' the breaze among the mass of leaves, 'taste' the juicy
fruit etc. Shift this back into the present. Build up happines and
anticipation and fire the green energy into the ground. Follow through
by concentrationg on your expected success.

Issac mainly describes rituals with little abstraction. However for
more abstract magic, such as high magic, the source of the driving
emotion is the same. The desire to be connected with that which you
are trying to invoke.

Points for discussion:

Although Issac councils modernisation in the second half of the
chapter in the first half he critises it strongly, for instance in the
case of catholic mass. How do you resolve this tension when performing
rituals?

Contrast the desire for connection with the injunction not to lust for
results.

What passive ritual would you recommend?