At the Crossroads: The Work of the Cyprianista
The Black School Cyprianista earns various spiritual authorities and is given access to specialized arcana but the real work of the Black School begins in the closing lesson.
Magically Ambidextrous: The Cyprianista's Work
The Cyprianista is of course a magician who works regularly with and/or is initiated into one or more mysteries/arcana/cults of St. Cyprian of Antioch: The Patron Saint of Magicians, Sorcerers, Witches, and the like.
By example and through direct interaction, Cyprian shows us that working with both hands of Western dualistic spiritual systems is not only viable and acceptable, but often preferable.
Whatever the landscape of your magical psychocosm might look like, there are some flat magical facts that need to be reconciled.
If you have the goods (skills, authority, technique, etc.) and you conjure a demon. A famous demon like Belial even. You will in fact find yourself in the presence of Infernal Royalty. By that same token, should you evoke the Empyrean Warrior Archangel Michael, you will also find yourself in his powerful and inspiring company. Furthermore, you can call upon Belial and Michael using their respective mythologies and traditional techniques, and the only spiritual dilemma you are faced with is which entity best serves your goal.
Cyprian shows us how to stand in the divide between the Right and the Left and to master both simultaneously. The choice becomes not a spiritual crisis but a simple matter of utility.
This is where we really get into the Sorcerous aspects of Cyprian’s magic in that both hands become tools for the cunning sorcerer to use as she sees fit on a case-by-case basis.
Much like Cyprian himself, the Cyprianista is steeped in the arcana of both the Right and Left Hands and has earned the empowerments, initiations, and authorities that both offer. The Cyprianista’s head is crowned with a halo and a pair of horns at the same time.
When Cyprian renounced his sorceries and converted to Christianity, he reconciled the above and the below within himself and became, at least symbolically and perhaps literally, Master of Both Hands.
For the Cyprianic Magician, the dualistic framework of Christian mythology becomes a powerful landscape with unique advantages and abilities to be claimed by invoking the power of Emperor Lucifer as well as the authority and grace of Christ. Often on the same damn day.
Non-Cyprianic magicians often really struggle with this concept. The Cyprianista relaxes into the mysteries of the Right and Left with style and ease, wielding the power of both worlds in a way that often perplexes outsiders., but definitely gets the job done.
Spiritual Pressure - The Crossroads Within
Cyprian is often associated with the Crossroads. He is Master of where the worlds meet, collide, and merge.
We have already explored how the Cyprianista works comfortably with both hands by using Cyprian’s example. Let’s talk about the experience of that seemingly paradoxical Way. Mystical work, which is certainly featured in the Cyprianic work of the Black School, places the practitioner in the stream of spiritual power or influence with which they are working.
If you spend all your time hanging out with Beelzebub, eventually your going to embody that spiritual force in an abstract but tangible way.
The same is true for the magician who spends extensive time seeking the company and wisdom of empyrean forces. The effect is the same in a general sense.
So what happens when the Cyprianista finds themselves within the nexus of numinous streams of force that are contradictory or even in seeming opposition? The answer is what I call Spiritual Pressure, and is a state of being, that, in my opinion, should be the goal of every Cyprianista.
It’s not a sense of bearing down on you, it’s certainly not uncomfortable, the magician doesn’t feel conflicted, or pulled in opposing directions, rather, the experience is something like being hypermotivated to express magic, focused on magical goals, and clear about one’s “destiny,” so to speak. This is an experience and way of being that directly fuels personal evolution.
Pressure creates diamonds or something like that. There are also profound magical secrets and mysteries of existence to be found in the state of spiritual pressure; to be at the crossroads.
The Scholomance
At the conclusion of Miller’s Black School of St. Cyprian course, the new Cyprianista is presented with a final exam of sorts; to apply the skills gained over the previous months to enter the actual Black School of Saint Cyprian: The Scholomance.
Existing within a liminal universe, untouched by time and space is a sorcerous school where the initiate can learn magic directly from the spirits and even Saint Cyprian himself. This is The Black School proper or fabled Scholomance, where legend tells us that the Devil himself is headmaster.
It is the tantalizing promise of forbidden secrets and powerful magic that draws the graduate into the fold of The Black School. It is in those halls that the real education and adventure begins for the Cyprianista trained under the auspices of The Black School of Saint Cyprian.
The Cypriani
Cyprian's legendary book of magic. These mysteries are well treated and brought to life in The Black Schoo of St. Cyprian.
