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"...And leave me alone.", presumably. Sheesh.
I think I've already stated that "I don't have a problem with sniping and disagreeing and reacting; I much prefer that to backslapping about how "my opinion matches with your opinion" because that doesn't really expand on anything other than consensual reality, and if it's all the same then I don't really need confirmations (though they are nice)." If I wanted to be left alone, then I'd walk away from this thread; I'm quite happy in using like energies to attract like energies, however I'm only going to do so if it helps me to achieve my desire, which is my point to Apophenia.
It fucking well is not theoretical. It's construction. It's the foundation stones. It's called educating yourself because the arts magical don't just get downloaded into your head for free.
I was referring more to the "struggling through the source texts" than to what you've mentioned, however I agree strongly with you in regards to downloading into your head for free - I think that upon occasion it does happen, however there's always a price to pay, however the vast majority of the time it's (thankfully) a case of learning as appropriate, and that learning doesn't happen without effort.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure scientific inquiry starts from a hypothesis (a supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation).
Fair enough then, ccience, philosophy, and honest inquiry in general, usually start out with some sort of hypthothesis. I still stand by my statement that such a process is important to magic, and a valid part of magical discussion.
How did you go about infusing the computer wallpaper with the desired intent? I don't recall seeing you mention this anywhere.
The infusion with intent is there from the get-go; I wouldn't have been making the picture unless I wanted it to do something, and how I did it was directly related to achieving that desire. Just as infusing a set of mala beads with the heart sutra requires one to begin with the desire to do so, and then to actively infuse it by repeating the mantra whilst playing with the beads, or taking the living energy that is the mantra and telling it to live within the beads, or whatever process you desire, it was the same with the picture. Basically as I was creating the picture, I was doing so with the intent that it's direct result was to make my co-worker think twice about what he had done and to feel empathy for the guy in the picture; clicking the mouse to shade individual pixels was sort of like clicking along each bead on the string.
The one is a long-term practice by definition. The other is a (hopefully) one-off situation which you might choose to address using some of the magical toolkit you've been assembling.
Educating my co-worker is a long-term practice; I've been doing it for three years. The actual act under discussion was a one-off act to address a one-off situation as you've said; it was a pratical magic act as opposed to a magical practice, as is casting the runes. The difference is that like my original comment of finding a place to live, it was a rare act due to a rare circumstance.
Nobody's suggesting that you treat the care and education of this rather wankish individual in the same way you would treat taking up the runes, or yoga, or a relationship with a spirit.
I am - he's not only a co-worker but a friend, and so I wouldn't be putting in the effort if I didn't like him; whenever I interact with him I do my best to educate him in some way, however the degree to which I can is determined by what he gives me to work with. Sometimes it's listening to him bitch, sometimes it's teaching him how to meditate in order to control his temper. Comparing this to a relationship with a spirit, I can only do as much as the interaction with the spirit allowed me to.
What one would ideally like to see would be something that ties your "working" into a system of magic--any system. How did your mansnogging pic draw upon your egular practice? Have you been using photoshop as a magical tool for long? Do you often improvise such rituals on the fly? What about other forms of electronic media, or other visual arts?
Well I've already mentioned the invocation of Coyote, though that seems to have fallen by the wayside. Beyond that there's the infusing of intent to achieve desire, and the appreciation and control of cause and effect; drawing upon my most strongest magical influences, these were taken partly from the works of Franz Bardon (which I actively *attempt* to practice) and partly from Taoist learning, two schools of magical and religious thought that go together rather nicely now that I've come to understand both.
The photoshopping was a first off; as previously mentioned, it was a tool presented to me (in form of the original picture) that I could use in order to achieve my desire. I've done similar things with magazine pictures, jigsaws, etc in order to either actively create something beyond what the original creator intended, or else see what my subconscious could create. I do it pretty regulalry with windows media player visuals and music, entering a semi-trance state in order to use it as a 'magic mirror', primarily for past life work or getting in touch with entities.
In my circle of friends, we've (after much drunken 3am debate) taken to using the terms "Mystic" and "Magician" to mean two different things. And it seems to be that this conversation is touching on that very difference.
I'd count myself as being both. I've had a similar debate in regards to mystics and realists, and the conclusion was that the perceptions of each other is what clouds the reality of each other.
As previously mentioned, I work with Bardon and Taoism. Bardons work is like a crash course in the magic you'd learn in Taoism, and Taosim is like a crash course in the mysticism you'd learn in Bardons works.
Right, but has what you've actually done (as I understand it, you've photoshopped a picture of someone at your office, who perhaps already isn't your most reliable apologist, kissing another man, and then distributed the image over the internet, in such a way that he can easily see it) really worked any better? I'll take your word for it, but I'd be surprised if it has.
No, it was only put on his computer desktop. I was there when he saw it and he knew I had done it; apart from initially being pissed off at it, he came to see the humour and showed remorse for the original picture, not only because of what I had done to it but also because of what it was. He got rid of the pictures because neither one of them made him happy.
I sincerly doubt that mala beads would do much for him; for all the power that they'd have in themselves, this power kind of needs one to be open to it. I can preach buddhism all day, but that doesn't mean that any of it is going to get through to someone.
"Well I suppose I could perform some sort of ritual every time I wanted a new ballpoint pen, but somehow I don't think I really need to strip off, decorate myself with fingerpaint sigils, then stand outside WH Smiths howling lamentations to the Gods of Stationary until I got picked up by the local constabulary. Some of us prefer more, ah, genteel ways of obtaining a new writing instrument." See? Try it yourself!
I rarely encounter someone saying "if you want a ball point pen, don't do magic, get a job and go to the store" which is a shame, cause it might save out on a lot of heartache. I'm not of the opinion that the majority of magic is unneccessary; if it's neccessary to smoke a crappy cigar because that gets you in the right mind set to communicate with an entity, or gets the entity in the right mind set to communicate with you, then it's far from unneccessary. What I do think, and have experienced, is that sometimes a catalyst to such interactions isn't always as necessary as it seems - sometimes it may not be the crappy cigar, but a component within that crappy cigar, and it's that accuracy that I search for in my magic.
Magic & Mysticism are not, IMHO, oppositional perspectives.
I think they go hand in hand; relating them to necessity above, I find it necessary to add mysticism to my magic and vice versa in order to amplify the returns. For instance, being able to affect someone is different from knowing whether or not you should affect someone, and knowing that you should affect someone assists in the how and why of it. |
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