Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Temple >

"Stupid" magick, religion and spirituality questions

Page: 1 2 3 4 5(6)7 8 9 10 11... 83

Less searchable M0rd4nt

22:11 / 18.01.06

See, this is another issue--when I was making my own runeset, I found myself becoming completely convinced that each rune is, in a sense, imbued with its own spirit*. I guess one could draw (very tentative) parallels with the old chaos magic saw of servitor creation, wherein a thoughtform is supposedly created (usually) by the repeated charging of a particular sigil.

These little sigils have been getting charged for a loooong ol' time...

*It should perhaps be mentioned that I was fasting from dawn to dusk during this time and not sleeping very well. You may wish to take this fact into consideration when evaluating the above claim.

19:51 / 20.01.06

What exactly does one put in a gris gris bag?

Less searchable M0rd4nt

21:16 / 20.01.06

This is not my area of expertise by any means, so keep your pinch of salt handy.

A gris gris bag* is a small pouch containing various magical items. What those items may be largely depends on who and what the bag is for. Common componants include herbs, coins, bones, small toys or figurines, religious medals and so forth.

The best way to learn about this subect is to find someone who can teach you. Failing that, there's the internet...

A really good source of information on this and related subects is Luckymojo.com, specifically this page which discusses the concept in considerable detail.

There's also a Yahoo group dedicated to the works of Harry M. Hyatt, who studied the subject of hoodoo and related practices very extensively in 1930s-40s America. I think you need to sign up to read the messages.

*I understand that the term is generally interchangable with mojo bag, mojo hand, toby and other similar expressions, although there may be differences that I'm unaware of.

21:55 / 20.01.06

Great link, Mordant. Thanks!

My Mom Thinks I'm Cool

13:22 / 21.01.06

So, was there ever an answer to asking for a working to combat depression?

Personally, I think magick is the perfect solution here, since it's both a good way to get out of a self-perpetuating problem, and obviously an important part of your mindset, which would make it a very valid form of psychotherapy anyway.

When faced with depression/inertia I tried to energize myself by invoking fire, as an element. As in, "light a fire under my ass" or "get fired up about Jesus!". Try observing fire and then meditating on it's properties. Try asking some fire god(ess) or spirit (I dunno yer pantheons) for a little juice or just working with hir. The caution here would be to try to balance it out if necessary since too much might just create instability, so you end up a bit bipolar instead of just depressed, for example. Feel free of course to modify this to fit with your style, some kind of energy other than fire, etc.

Asking for help from friends is really the best. As in, the next time I'm mucking about I'll try to send a bit of fire your way, if you don't mind. Also try to gather positive statements from people - I've found that things like "you're about to get better" are more effective than "I hope you get better", and also it helps if it's someone close to you whose opinion you respect or whom you feel a strong connection to.

And I'm probably not either of those, but here you go anyway: Mordant, I'm sure you're about to get better and that you can find a good working to beat this, since after all you're the magickian most of us one day hope to become.

My Mom Thinks I'm Cool

13:36 / 21.01.06

Kind of a different types of energy question:

At one point was working with a venerable Tai Chi master and got an impression of chi as a warm fluidy stuff. Very passive. I can't push it around the way I'd expected, but instead have to sort of pull it; like making a space for it to flow into. Except at the same time the chi itself is sort of directing my hands (very The Force there.) Working with chi seems very healthy, relaxing, energizing, fixes your bad joints and clears up your athsma, etc. It's also a pain in the ass to work with because I had to spend forever meditating just to be able to feel it at all and ten times as long to be able to move it where I want when I want, which I still mostly can't. It's great if you twisted your ankle and want some help healing but you're not going to blow down a building with it ala dragonball any time soon.

Around the same time I completely on my own found this other stuff (can detail how later). In some ways it seems like the opposite of chi. Very cold and nasty. Touching it is like grabbing a live wire or trying to hold your hand over a candle flame - you instantly jerk back without thinking about it. Trying to get it to go where you want is like wrestling a jet stream or an ocean current. I usually feel like my head's about to pop, start hyperventilating and get an oxygen high, etc. But working with it is amazing. I can instantly supercharge a ritual/sigil, and it seems far more effective (and easy) than cutting myself, mastrubating, etc. (kind of Dark Side of the Force.) It also seems to be very, very bad for me. Like, every time I use it to good effect, I develop a new chronic health problem or renew an old one. Carpal tunnel, bad back, ulcerative colitis flareups, etc.

So, what is that stuff then? Anyone else seen it? Negative chi? Somehow it feels not the opposite of chi but totally different and other.

Scrambled Password Bogus Email

13:47 / 21.01.06

So, was there ever an answer to asking for a working to combat depression?

Cleansing. You are toxic as fuck. Your organism is distressed, and its going to get worse if you do not sort it.

IMHO.

Buy 'Cleanse and Purify Thyself' by Richard Anderson.

Do what it says.

Return to this thread.

Up to you. It takes seriousness.

Scrambled Password Bogus Email

13:51 / 21.01.06

'Cleanse and Purify Thy Self' is a book, if that wasn't obvious.

Get it from the USA, if you are Europe. Much cheaper.

17:51 / 21.01.06

Money can you specify on that book please?

I´ve just looked it up on amazon.com, and there´s a C&P, a C&P 1, a C&P 2 and even a C&P 1.5 (!) book. Which one do you mean?

Less searchable M0rd4nt

21:29 / 22.01.06

When faced with depression/inertia I tried to energize myself by invoking fire, as an element.

That's a good idea. Funnily enough, I've been planning to start doing some serious element work, starting with fire. For reasons it would be otiose to recap here I'm already working heavily with a very firey God, so it would make sense to try and find a way to get that element working in my favour.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

21:42 / 22.01.06

You are toxic as fuck.

Who, me or pants brigade? Or just people generally?

Scrambled Password Bogus Email

23:05 / 22.01.06

People generally. Unless they lead lifestyles very unlike the majority of us.

C+P Book One is 'The Cleanse' and tells you what to do, plus why you're doing it. C+P Book Two contains more detailed information about the whole topic, and I believe specific info on depression and other conditions often labelled 'mental'...

Book Two used to be called 1.5 for some odd reason. Same book.

The gist of it is basically the removal of the mucoid plaque which, unless you've been a countrified lifelong vegetarian, is undoubtedly coating your intestines and preventing you from obtaining proper nutrition from food and attaining the correct pH balalnce inside your body and blood. The cleanse can typically lead to about 40 feet of this stuff (which looks like and has the texture of tyre rubber) being passed out of your body in 7 days. Maybe up to four feet in a single evacuation.

As Ick as that sounds, believe me its better out than in. You'll feel a whole lot better.

Good luck with it. Record your journey in the 'Fasting' thread if you decide to go ahead with it.

Scrambled Password Bogus Email

09:27 / 23.01.06

Look over here

and also

here

There are other companies and alternatives, of course, but Arise and Shine are very particular about wild-crafted and organic herbs, sustainability and so on...

Less searchable M0rd4nt

13:25 / 04.02.06

I'm familiar with the concept of angelic scripts (Enochian being the most famous, of course) but has anyone heard of a fairy script?

16:41 / 04.02.06

A Fae alphabet? I haven't, but what a fascinating thought- anyone?

Less searchable M0rd4nt

11:02 / 06.02.06

I ask because I had this slightly peculiar experience the other night, at the end of which I wound up with a 5 x 7 grid of unfamiliar characters. Could be nothing, but for some reason I want to tie it into some reading and research I've been doing on the topic of Faerie.

11:50 / 06.02.06

Isn't there an elven-script by Tolkien?

Less searchable M0rd4nt

13:01 / 06.02.06

True, true... but this certainly didn't resemble that script at all. (I suppose it might be interesting to find out what language(s) Tolkien derived the characters from, and why he decided it was a good model for Elvish.)

13:02 / 06.02.06

Yes, there is. More than one, I might add. And elven runes. And a dwarven and a orc script, also. Here's a link to an example

13:08 / 06.02.06

Ok, here's a very stupid question. I have a stoneI picked up five years ago at the side og Egipt's oldest pyramid (you know the one made upa of a few layers, like a wedding cake) It's an oval stone chipped in half (with a smooth vitrean surface in the chipped side). It's not from the pyramid itself, since I'm not into vandalizing important historical monuments, but I guess it could have been around it for quite a few millenia, possibly having been stepped over by pharaos and such. Can I use it to summon the wisdow of the Great Engineer Imhotep (who was the one who build the pyramid), or am I wishfull thinking?

Less searchable M0rd4nt

13:11 / 06.02.06

To clarify: I'm looking specifically for a script supposedly used by or derived from fae (faeries, fairies, or related beings), in the same sense that Enochian is supposedly used by angels. I mean, I'm not saying that Enochian isn't necessarily "made up" in a sense, but I'm casting around for something rooted in actual myth or magical lore, rather than put together for a relatively recent work of fiction (albeit one drawing heavily on existing myth and languages/character sets).

Nice link though.

Unconditional Love

13:14 / 06.02.06

Give it ago, write a report and file it, wait for the etheric administration crew to put it on someones desk and see what brief and feedback you get.

Unconditional Love

13:19 / 06.02.06

You might get some luck looking at scripts from around the period just after dee, where the fae were starting to be seen as earth angels, angels of nature etc and similar invocations were used to invoke them in the name of god similar to those employed in the classic grimoire, my info comes from a book called angel magic which gives a few examples, forget the authors name, an enochian magician, anyhow that period looks hopeful, geoffery james?

13:35 / 06.02.06

I understand where you're going MC, and you're more than probably rigth. But, if there's a recent work of fiction that nonetheless emanates true ancient power, it's Tolkien's...

You can see I'm a totally Lord of the Rings geek

Less searchable M0rd4nt

15:17 / 06.02.06

Well, that would probably be because Tolkien's work is rooted so very strongly in existing myth. It's powered by some very heavy old magic...

16:00 / 06.02.06

Yeah, and there's a lot of intent (as Castañeda would put it) bent into it nowadays also, with thousand of fanboys and girls actually studying the langauges and alphabets he invented.

But going for the original source is probably still better, anyway

17:09 / 06.02.06

M.C.: Where'd ogham come from? I don't know enough about Celtic culture, but I have a vague whisper about the Tuatha de Danaan having something to do with civilization (and thus, maybe arts of writing).

18:03 / 06.02.06

somone told me that the tarot is malicious, and that it will guide lives rather than just provide one with the tools to do so.
their information suggested that there was a force at work there, causing shit to happen more than just observing it.

is that bollocks?
where might they be getting the idea from?
does anyone here believe that the tarot is cursed, or similar?

it made no sense to me, and i havent heard it ever before.
am i the idiot?

18:13 / 06.02.06

That would be bollocks

18:14 / 06.02.06

somone told me that the tarot is malicious, is that bollocks?

Yes. They are likely influenced by the common Christian belief that malicious spirits (Demons or the Devil) control the fall of the cards, and that divination is like using a Ouija board, opening you to possession, influence etc. Total crap. The cards aren't controlled by evil spirits, your source is projecting their own paranoia and fears onto the Tarot.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

18:39 / 06.02.06

Yes, the Tarot is EVIL and POWERFUL and will FRY YOUR BRAIN. That's why you need to leave it up to us experts who can keep you safe from the scary cardboard demons, at a very reasonable price.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

18:53 / 06.02.06

grant: the Ogham alphabet is just one of many ancient scripts that I have studied in considerable detail. I can tell you, for instance, that the use of "classical" Ogham in stone seems to have flowered in the 5th–6th centuries around the Irish Sea, the language of the Inscriptions from this period being termed Primitive Irish. The transition to Old Irish, the language of the earliest sources in the Latin alphabet, takes place in about the 6th century...

Oh, alright, I copied that out of Wikipedia. I got nuthin.

18:54 / 06.02.06

Cardboard demons can be vanquished with a matchstick spell...

20:32 / 06.02.06

your source is projecting their own paranoia and fears onto the Tarot.

kinda what i figured.
the source was apparently a witch, so hir attitude was surprising to me. witches and christians tend not to sing off the same hymn sheet, in my experience.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

21:01 / 06.02.06

Well, define 'witch'. It's a bit of a moveable feast, to put it mildly. Does 'witch' in this case mean 'someone who does generally witchy stuff and maybe calls hirself a witch' or 'some variation on the theme of Wiccan'? I know that certain Wiccans would like to imagine that they hold the copyright on the word, but that's their problem.

Sadly, the idea amongst some neo-pagan types that the Tarot is EVAL is not entirely unfamiliar to me. There seems to be a gnawing desire to find stuff to Not Do, in an I'm-abstaining-from-this-coz-I'm-holy way, in order to prove that your religion is Proper. It gets even worse with a divinatory system that includes strong Judeo-Christian elements, because then you get into the regulation issue Xian bashing (not to mention the screaming fucking bloody anti-semitism which of course doesn't really exist, we're just trying to eliminate alien elements from our gloriously pure neo-Celtic-Pictish-Saxon-Norse-Knotwork-Tie-Dye-Batik-and-Dreamcatcher faith).

What soapbox?

Page: 1 2 3 4 5(6)7 8 9 10 11... 83