Magic

[Lycorth]

^..^

[charley]

I wish it was like having one of these guys :

 

 

But It's a little more complicated....

 

 

Hey there, wolfy. I've been using magic for 35 years, and have had remarkable success. It has been an impetus for me to learn about myself and others, and has helped me survive and thrive in many ways. I've cursed, blessed, and evertything else with it.

Your skepticism of it and practicality toward accomplishing anything are not only complimentary to the practice of magic, but absolutely necessary for success. One reason for that is that in magic you deal with very intense emotion, and that could lead to self-delusion in personalitys that are not sufficiently strong enough to handle them. A lot of ritual makes use of archtypes and symbols of the types studied by Carl Jung and others, and the forces within a person that those can embody can drive people toward self-delusion also. Happily, they can also lead to states of inner power and joy that can be beyond your expectations. That is all based on your own strength of ego. Here are a few good books :

 

The Satanic Bible

 

The Satanic Rituals

 

The Church Of Satan Official Web Site

 

Some people do have more natural talent at magic than others. Magic is also something that can be learned by study and practice to a high degree. Every aspect of the personality is involved, because it requires intense emotion and self-awareness. That also makes it a fantastic tool for self-discovery, those benefits many times being un-intended, but substantial never the less.

Like I have said, the best approach is to use spells to supplemsnt ordinary efforts to gain what you want, as a way to increase your chances of success. You will soon find that the kind and quantity of the "breaks" you get are going to make the effectiveness of it self-evident.

As long as you take both approaches, you will be being practical, and your skepticism will remain healthfully intact.

Whatever you do, retain your skepticism for all that wiccan, new-agey. white-light stuff. I think they have a radically incorrect approach. Compare with the sources I cited and draw your own conclusions.

[Lilith]

Hey there, wolfy. I've been using magic for 35 years, and have had remarkable success. It has been an impetus for me to learn about myself and others, and has helped me survive and thrive in many ways. I've cursed, blessed, and evrtything else with it.

Your skepticism of it and practicality toward accomplishing anything are not only complimentary to the practice of magic, but absolutely necessary for success. One reason for that is that in magic you deal with very intense emotion, and that could lead to self-delusion in personalitys that are not sufficiently strong enough to handle them. A lot of ritual makes use of archtypes and symbols of the types studied by Carl Jung and others, and the forces within a person that those can embody can drive people toward self-delusion also. Happily, they can also lead to states of inner power and joy that can be beyond your expectations. That is all based on your own strength of ego. Here are a few good books :

 

The Satanic Bible

 

The Satanic Rituals

 

The Church Of Satan Official Web Site

 

Some people do have more natural talent at magic than others. Magic is also something that can be learned by study and practice to a high degree. Every aspect of the personality is involved, because it requires intense emotion and self-awareness. That also makes it a fantastic tool for self-discovery, those benefits many times being un-intended, but substantial never the less.

Like I have said, the best approach is to use spells to supplemsnt ordinary efforts to gain what you want, as a way to increase your chances of success. You will soon find that the kind and quantity of the "breaks" you get are going to make the effectiveness of it self-evident.

As long as you take both approaches, you will be being practical, and your skepticism will remain healthfully intact.

Whatever you do, retain your skepticism for all that wiccan, new-agey. white-light stuff. I think they have a radically incorrect approach. Compare with the sources I cited and draw your own conclusions.

While I don't normally wish ill on anyone, I would not be above a well-placed curse. I am not wiccan (have never liked that name) but consider myself an "eclectic pagan" or, when I'm feeling brave, an "eclectic witch." My husband would flip, of course, if he knew I was practicing magic again.

 

To the OP: I had good success as a teen, but was new. Got saved and had to stop all practice, of course. A lot of WOF beliefs/thought processes parallel magic, even though they would never admit it. I'm only now rediscovering it and 1). am a bit rusty, but still somewhat effective and 2). have to majorly restrict my exploration of it as I can only "practice" when my dh isn't around. Closet pagan here.

 

Personally, I think there is a real science behind it. It looks like ... well, whatever you think it looks like ... from the outside. I do believe that someday science will be able to explain this channeling of energy. And yes, some people are better at it than others.

[Lycorth]

^..^

[Lilith]

 

 

Lilith - sad that you have to hide it from hubby. Is he a Xian?

Yes. Fundy to boot.

[Foxy Methoxy]

Magic can be a very divisive subject as there are many schools devoted to the great mysteries. Essentially, there are two main differences in the approach to magic. There is so-called low magic in which the practitioner attempts to cast spells to gain a specific change on the world around them. Wicca would be the most well known of low magic practitioners. Then there is the so-called high magic in which the magician is attempting to invoke their own hidden, greater genius. High magic is basically the Western counterpart to yoga as the ultimate goal is enlightenment. Hermeticism / Golden Dawn is probably the most well known systems of high magic.

 

Whether practicing high or low magic, the goal is to invoke change. If change is enacted on the aspiring magician's own psyche, perception, or subconscious, then the magical practice was successful. Does prayer invoke change on one's own psyche? Of course. Does this change affect the reality of their surroundings? I believe so. We are all entangled in the actions of those around us and of the who came before us. Focused thought is the key to making your own ripples in the collective sea of human consciousness. Is prayer as powerful and focused as a swami's meditation, a high magician's ritual, a satanic invocation, or a witch's spell? It all depends on the focus and mental strength of the person praying. In my own person opinion, organized group ritual and long, practiced solitary individual ritual have infinitely more powerful effects on my psyche than when I knelt and prayed to God.

[Evelyn]

Hey Lilith, I was a WOFer for a couple of years. How, may I ask, do their practices and methodology parallel magic? I haven't studied or practiced magic, so I don't know.

[Astreja]

I have had considerable success focusing my will through magic. Remarkable success, considering that I still don't know exactly what I've been channeling.

 

Methods, in order of descending potency:

 

1. Instinctive/Shamanic magic: Just "winging it" with whatever symbols and objects seem relevant to the issue at hand;

 

2. The Futhark runes (I have a small toolkit of runic symbols used primarily for protection and counterattack).

 

3. Golden Dawn-style Western magic, which I've largely abandoned because of the Judeo-Christian baggage.

 

In all three cases, however, the key to success is how you utilize your emotions. That, plus the ability to visualize, is what makes the difference between successful and unsuccessful magic.

[monsterfeets]

I think art and fiction are kind of inherently magical. The act of creating something that isn't actually real but still has meaning. Or the act of conveying a 'feeling' or an idea or bringing something to life that only exists inside your head. Any of the number of things art and writing is capable of. I've had instances where characters and ideas come to me fully formed in my mind and demand to be let out it's pretty cool.

 

I would also consider writing and art to be a way of focusing your will for a desired effect. The purpose of art is to communicate, but it's also for the sake of creating. I find joy in just bringing my ideas to life, although I think I enjoy making a connection with someone through it more. It's also a means of bringing about change. Books, movies, art, etc can all change peoples minds about things, they can even effect large groups and can help shape society. I mean heck, look at religion, it's all technically fictional but the fact that people believe in it makes it a massive force. I think (or like to think) that some of the things we believe could really exist in some form. But as a result of us believing in them or us creating them, and not the other way around.

[Thurisaz]

I've only really tried my hands on magic once. This one time I had remarkable success (not in making things happen though, it was basically an attempt at divination), but I'd have to do some more research to conclusively say "it works" or "it's bullcrap"

[sonofspong]

Some have said its possible to actually warp reality and or effect the outcome of a situation, by sheer will alone, given the right focus.

 

We've all heard those stories of normal people who've performed impossible feats when under stress, like lift a car. Or how about those people who claimed to have been healed by faith? There are even weirder stories that I've heard. Some of them seem almost too coincidental, like other forces are at work.

 

Could this be what "magic" is? Doing the impossible because you REALLY want it, or did something "right" to make the impossible happen?

 

All those stories we've heard are probably false. But hey, you never know. Weird stuff does happen.

[Lycorth]

^..^

[Lilith]

Hey Lilith, I was a WOFer for a couple of years. How, may I ask, do their practices and methodology parallel magic? I haven't studied or practiced magic, so I don't know.

 

A friend once said that she sees magic as "intensely focused prayer." I really liked that definition.

 

WOF concentrate a great deal on mental outlook and positive thinking. They are also very big (as you know) on the words you say. For example, if you are constantly saying, "That just makes me sick!" it is believed (in many WOF circles) that repeating these words long enough can actually make one sick. But if one refuses to say anything negative, it reduces the amount of negative things in their life.

 

Speak only positive, not negative.

 

Magic is focused intent. The difference is rather than begging or waiting upon "God" to do something for you, you simply focus your energies and speak it into being. "As I will it, so mote it be."

 

God created the world with what? His spoken word. Jesus raised Lazurus from the dead, how? With his spoken word. He cast out the demons, how? ..... You get the point.

 

WOF focus their energies toward "God" to make things happen. Practitioners of magic just focus their energies, be it toward a god, goddess, the Divine or whatever they connect with in a spiritual fashion.

 

I used to really struggle with, "but this feels a LOT like magic to me" when I was a xian.

 

Does that help some?

[SBeeland]

I tried magic once and wasn't surprised at all when it worked. But it seems to far-out there for me to believe its real.

[Sofia]

I've never dabbled in magic but I'm fairly certain I've had a spell cast on me.

[Evelyn]

Yes, Lilith, that does help. I remember the positive confession and positive thinking stuff, whew.

 

I had to chuckle, as I've read a little bit about Wicca and "so mote it be" struck me right now as a bit ironic to be in the place of "I ask this in the name of Jesus". That was an "aha" moment.

 

"All along

Across the fields

The tolling of the iron bell

Calls the faithful to their knees

To hear the softly spoken

Magic spells"

-"Breathe", Pink Floyd

[Lilith]

Yes, Lilith, that does help. I remember the positive confession and positive thinking stuff, whew.

 

I had to chuckle, as I've read a little bit about Wicca and "so mote it be" struck me right now as a bit ironic to be in the place of "I ask this in the name of Jesus". That was an "aha" moment.

 

"All along

Across the fields

The tolling of the iron bell

Calls the faithful to their knees

To hear the softly spoken

Magic spells"

-"Breathe", Pink Floyd

 

Very nice Pink Floyd quote.

 

I've had a time untangling myth from myth. I've decided, for now, that any "divination" I do is mostly focused meditation. I'm not convinced that there is nothing to it, but I'm not 100% convinced what I'm doing is effective either. At the very least, it makes me feel better and more complete. Best case scenario, it works. It's very easy to write off my "successes" as coincidence, yet I'm constantly drawn to learn more about the whole thing.

 

Perfect example might be that I've seen auras around people since I was a child. When I became a born again xian, I was told this was of the devil, so for years, tried to pray it away. I am very good at tuning auras out, but I can see them whenever I choose, and sometimes they are strong enough to just 'pop' out. I don't understand them. I don't know what to do with them (if anything), but there they are. Dream interpretation is another specialty of mine. Looking at it from a psychological point of view, dreams are basically telling us about ourselves, and where we are in life and the issues we are trying to work through. The symbolism is consistant though, which facinates me.

[Dhampir]

Why call it magic? The idea that thought projection can affect real change is vaguely plausible, but if it is, it isn't necessarily mystical. Eventually, it'd be locked down like all mysteries whithin the scope of our ability to unravel, and be thoroughly explainable.

[Lilith]

Why call it magic? The idea that thought projection can affect real change is vaguely plausible, but if it is, it isn't necessarily mystical. Eventually, it'd be locked down like all mysteries whithin the scope of our ability to unravel, and be thoroughly explainable.

Why not call it magic? We have to call it something, after all.

[NotBlinded]

IMO, everyone is a magician whether they know it or not. Society reflects what we believe be it good or bad.