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Gambling/addiction/magick

18:11 / 28.03.04

quick question

would a spell/sigil or other magickal technique be effective in removing an addiction

for example, periodically, I go through uncontrollable gambling periods, most notably fruit machines (one armed bandits)

has anybody any experience indealing with addictions via magickal methods?

18:26 / 28.03.04

Yeah, I should expect that it'd be useful to have a sigil running in the background to help get a better handle on non-productive compulsive behaviour patterns. A bit of delicate re-programming ticking away directed to shape your habits along certain lines and away from problematic tendencies. You've got nowt to lose.

Although I'd also recommend engaging with these problems at a magical level in a more hands-on way. Try and build a shamanic relationship with the addiction - so that abstinance from the bandits becomes an empowering thing. Your relationship with the machinery of gambling could be the basis for an entire mini-magical system in it's own right. Try and get into contact with the 'spirit' of the slot machines, the one-armed man, three eyes revolving endlessly, mouth of coin, spitting out wishes, three cherries to win, two gold bars and a slice of lemon, play to win, play to win. If you treat the whole complex of behaviours attached to your addiction as part of a relationship with a spirit - which in a very real sense, it is - then that gives you some room to re=negotiate that relationship and turn it into something that works for both parties, and has a positive impact on yur life rather than a negative one. Some food for thought anyway.

18:31 / 28.03.04

Yeah.. I`ve been thinking of getting in contact with the nicotin spirit by building some sort of thingy with all these empty cigarette cartons I`ve got lying around.. maybe something similar could be done in your situation?

18:31 / 28.03.04

I like that

tanks very much

my magickal knowledge is limited to Sigils and the rudiments of other magick practices

But I grasped enough from your very well written post to know what you were getting at

I even got an image of a spirit with three eyes. I will do some work on that over the next week and see if I can get anything out of it

Thanks for the input......very thought provoking

I love this forum :-)

18:34 / 28.03.04

Hi Adrian

sorry, I was typing as you posted so I am sorry I never acknowledged your post

Yes, the ciggie carton idea sounds good

AND following your idea....I love cherries ....though where I am going to get them at this time of year and at a price I can afford, I do not know!!!!!!!!

No all joking aside, your ideas are great, negotiating with the spirits of said addictions sounds great and respectful to the complexes/entities that are currently directing our lives

Great stuff

18:36 / 28.03.04

damn ....when I rad that I realised how many times I had used the word GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THAT was due to another addiction, namely the beer Spirit Becks

I do not want to get rid of that spirit as my current addiction to 6 or so cans of this lovely German brew per night is harmful but ultimately very welcome (as it is affordable)

18:58 / 28.03.04

THAT was due to another addiction, namely the beer Spirit Becks

S'allright, I'm busy communing with the mighty Spirit Kronenbourg myself right now. The number of the beast is 1664.

23:04 / 28.03.04

there is no need for any compulsive behaviour or any psychological habit.

"the will" is the tool to overcome all

00:25 / 29.03.04

I have used sigils in the past to resist opiate and nicotine addictions. I can honestly say that I don't look at either substance the same way any more. Both used to be a very necessary part of my being able to function and I engaged in them both compulsively. Also if I had had some sober time and took a shot of junk, I immediately began sprialing down into the dope slavery of everyday use. Now I can enjoy an occaisional indulgence and put it away for a long time afterwards. I haven't had a cigarette in close to two years. It seemed to have worked for me and I wish you luck with overcoming your own addictions.

04:56 / 29.03.04

all excellent answers and I sincerely thankyou all for sharing your experiences and personal matters with me

I will do something over the weekend when I have more time (the funny thing is on Saturday, I am going to the Grand National at Aintree for a day of gambling BUT horses and horse betting haven't got a grip of me like the machines....I can walk away from horsebetting with more ease)

Loved the Number of the Beast line (1664)!!!!!!!!!

I actually had a few tins of Kronenbourg myself last night. Not as nice as Bexks for me but getting there!!!!!!!!!

06:05 / 29.03.04

Thats what I want to do Felix, but the thing is(and this may sound amazingly stupid), Im not sure if I want to stop smoking.. Without this deadly addiction I will no longer resemble James Dean! And it`s soooo soothing.. maybe I should try to bargain with the Prince of Nicotinia; he wont give me cancer, and I wont stop smoking..

09:30 / 29.03.04

I have spent a long time building a relationship to nicotine. Not in a shamanistic way, but in general taking responsibility for myself way, which is closely linked for me. I can now smoke a pack in an evening when I want to, and go without for a week without thinking about it.

Although I'm still strongly psychologically addicted my body is now used to not expecting nicotine with any regularity.

I seem to recall Seth saying some interesting stuff from an NLP person on giving up smoking... about working out why you were not giving up and accepting that there is good things about it that you would miss etc. Can't remember the details.

10:08 / 29.03.04

6 cans a night

yes. but it's the slotty addiction you should be worried about. yes.

or to put it another way, gambling doesn't make you fat and give you brain damage.

11:07 / 29.03.04

The thing about NLP is that it doesn't really exist until there's a specific person who has a specific goal in mind. The techniques are totally flexible, the idea being that you improvise and do whatever will work. There's probably not a great deal to be gained from just running someone through any old technique out of a book, one size doesn't fit all.

The idea that Elseware is alluding to is listing all the positive things that you currently get from smoking, and finding better ways to get them. Although you'll need to have a definite goal in mind before you do this, because you'll still have to deal with the physical side effects (although there are ways of minimising them).

Tryphena Absent

13:25 / 29.03.04

Magick is an addiction. You know that moment when you realise that you swapped your head around and to everyone else it's trivial and how similar it is to the first time you take a really good ecstasy pill and those moments afterwards where you hear the same song and get the same rush and sometimes you just want it all again. Yeah. So can you conquer one addiction with another? I suspect you just end up with two!

The Tower Always Falls

16:13 / 29.03.04

Very intresting... Especially since the book I just wrote had a One-Armed Bandit oracle almost exactly as described...

As for addiciton magick. All the ideas here are good ones, especially the idea of establishing a shamanic relationship with the addiciton itself. For me, working with addicitions almost always required filtering the addicition desires toward another end. You may want to consider a servitor to help channel the enrgy (You mentioned you're mostly familliar with sigils, but hey first time for everything). I used the same method for... um... well a porn addiciton. I even posted a plea to GEK to help me with that one, and I ended up writing a novel. However, it should be noted that now that the novel is done...

In retrospect, that doesn't sound all that different from the standard patterns of addiciton and not very "magick-y". Quit smoking, gain twenty pounds and all that. Still, it might be fruitful to work in a way that already compliments the natural pattern of addiction.

16:36 / 29.03.04

thanks folks .....again great ALL great replies

agreed the 6+cans of beer are just as physically damaging but not quite as financially damaging as my other habits

19:28 / 29.03.04

no not just as - actually far more. wallets recover, livers don't.