Barbelith Underground > Temple > I Don't Believe In Magic At All

You know when you're really anxious about something, like getting a job you really need or sleeping with someone you really have crush on, and everyone you know tells you to relax and it'll probably happen when you're least expecting it - and then it does. The moment you give up all hope of it ever happening and relax your grip, it all somehow all falls into place really weirdly. You ever get that? Well, that seems to be the kind of territory that results magic operates within, and to be good at it, you have to be really good at the kind of sleight of mind that appears to be going on in those strange instances.

At it's simplest level, it's analogous to the guy who goes out and pulls every night, simply because he's not looking for it, is not sending out off-putting signals of desperation to potential partners, and has managed to forego what 'magicians' refer to as 'lust of result'. Although on the surface of things sorcery might appear pretty crude and ridiculous, it's actually a fairly sophisticated technology (for want of a better word) for interacting with this sort of odd observable phenomenon. Or maybe the Living Snakes make it all happen behind the scenes. So long as it works, and you're getting something out of it, then the exact nature of the processes you're engaging could almost be academic.

All of which, of course, makes it quite difficult to dip your toe in the water and expect miraculous results. At it's best, magic is a process you engage with, a journey that you take, not something you can just pick up for five minutes and suddenly be able to do harry potter shit. You have to make an investment. You have to put something on the line. Maybe your sanity, maybe your notions of what constitutes 'objective reality' and what it's boundaries are. You don't get nowt for nowt. I'm going to be terribly dull and repeat what I said in another thread this morning, but the same thing applies here - there's no such thing as a free lunch.

So presuming your post is more than just a bored friday afternoon thing, and you are genuinely interested in looking into these areas, just try out a few things. Someone will be along in a minute with ideas to start you off. See where it all gets you. Concentrate on the stuff that appeals to your imagination. You don't have to believe in anything you don't feel comfortable with, but a lot of magic involves making the limits of what you subjectively think is possible go a bit bendy and malleable. Start with small things, slowly try to expand the boundaries of your frame of reference in a way that is beneficial to you and the people you care about. If you feel like it, post your experiences here. So long as it doesn't dovetail into trolling, I think a few more sceptical voices in the magic forum would do it the world of good.