Repression: Mace on Spare's Method
"To work Spare's technique, the sorcerer does not use ritual to call up the power he needs to accomplish his desire. Instead he obtains his desire by stifling the thought of it. He does not permit himself to consider it, and if it should sneak into his thought-stream, he suppresses it as soon as he notices its presence.
Spare called this deliberate repression 'making the desire organic.' When we dwell on a desire in our conscious minds, we involve ourselves in rational attempts to satisfy it, attempts that bind our energy into structured schemes that defy the fluid essence of power. We waste our energy weaving dreams—tapestries of method and motivation, expectation and fear of failure—veils that keep us from seeing ourselves as nodes of power linked directly to Infinity. But when we repress our desires, they shrink away from consciousness to turn in on themselves—becoming discrete entities—and if we can pour enough energy into them (even as we keep the thought of them out of our waking minds), they will sink down into the well-springs of Fate, where the energy will be able to adjust Fate's flow according to our wills...
Of course repression is better known as a pathological function than a creative one. It is considered a primary cause of neurosis, particularly hysterical neurosis, and even poltergeist phenomena have been attributed to it. But that's sickness, not sorcery, and the only powers brought forth are demonic—of no use to anyone. With Spare's method the repression is only a ruse. The wizard is fully conscious of his purpose and plan before he begins; for his operation to succeed, the whole of his will, desire, and belief must be behind it. It is only when he has everything in order and begins his work that he must purge his thought of his purpose."
Stephen Mace, Stealing the Fire from Heaven
