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This is how it works. You can make all manner of things into magic if you look at them from the right perspective and engage with them in a certain way. This thread aims at developing a form of magic based on the art of disguise. The occult master of disguise does not spend his/her time learning the correspondences of the Quabala, practising the LBRP, internalising the methodolgies of sigils, invocation, evocation and so forth. They seek to learn everything that they can about the mysteries of disguise. This is their magical journey and it provides them with all the tools they will need.
How do you become a master of disguise? That's why this thread has been created. A place for trainee occult masters of disguise to swap ideas and compare notes. Various aspects of a disguise curriculum spring to mind, you could do a course on theatrical makeup to create your own disguises, a good solid grounding in body language and observing human behaviour will be necessary, an acting course and a thorough study of method acting theory and physical theatre are probably essential.
You would need to assemble a full wardrobe of costumes for the various characters that you have in your repetoire, always seeking to add more personalities to your arsenal of disguises. You would observe people around you constantly, attempt to imitate their characteristics, carry a note book to write down ideas for disguises that might come to you through daily interaction with people you encounter. Check out local colleges that might be running courses where you can pick up additional skills that will assist you in developing and perfecting your disguises.
This thread is about learning practical disguise skills that can then be used in magic. What skills should a trainee master of disguise try and learn? Are there courses on practical disguise? Do you first have to become a 'batchelor of disguise' before you get to be a master?
It's a lot of work, but that's the point. Nowt for nowt. There's no shortcuts in the world of disguise, and your ability as a magician is only as good as your skill at adopting convincing disguises. If you are accomplished at disguise, you can forget about the other branches of magic in anything other than a theoretical sense. All operations of sorcery can be accomplished through the medium of disguise. It is a spiritual journey in itself. What is the history of disguise? Who were the great masters of disguise that we can learn from? Who are the Patron Saints of Disguise? What is the mythology and hidden esoteric mysteries of the art. This thread exists to seek an answer to those questions. It is place for the serious study of the art of disguise.
So how can disguise be used in magic? The possibilities are endless and only limited by the imagination of the "guiser".
If you wished to lay a curse on someone or perform dominating or controlling magic, you might disguise yourself as a burly, sullen, bullying "moustached braggart" character and attempt an encounter with the target of your curse. Perhaps threatening or intimidating them, or aggresively passing them an envelope containing a black spot, or similar tactic. The magic is only effective if your ability at disguise is so well honed that they don't at all recognise or even suspect that it's you interacting with them. I think the magical clout generated by being able to pull off something as audacious as that would be phenomenal.
For a love spell you could perhaps adopt drag and attempt to flirt with and maybe seduce the object of your affections. Calling on the mysteries of Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis to watch your back.
To heal someone, you could adopt the disguise of a preacher or holy man, contrive a chance meeting with the person in question, get them talking about their illness, then suddenly perform a theatrical blessing or faith healing on them before vanishing into the crowd.
You could influence a business or corporation by disguising yourself as a maintenance person or salesperson, and entering their premises under false pretenses to plant some strange object in the heating system or deliver a bizarre sales performance geared towards certain occult ends.
The ability to effectively convince other people that you are something other than what you are, is the mechanism by which the medium of disguise produces sorcerous results. It's a form of sympathetic magic, not dissimilar to hoodoo, that takes place in real time, enacted face-to-face as a psychodrama. Without the target of your magic knowing that its you or having a clue what's going on. Disguise gives you the power to step into someones life for five minutes, work powerful magic on them directly and physically, and then disappear without a trace, leaving them confused as hell but deeply affected.
Imagine any of the above scenarios actually happening to you. Some angry, almost cartoonish, figure with a moustache who you don't recognise coming at you at the train station on a morning when you're half asleep, knowing your name, yelling weird stuff, handing you a sinister envelope and then dissapearing again.
What are the spiritual and psychological aspects of walking the path of a master of disguise? Terms and ideas bandied about in contemporary occultism, such as fluidity of identity, fictionsuits, memeplex consciousness, and so on, cease to be empty buzzwords and become the physical fact of your existence. Disguise as a spiritual journey. Disguise as a religion. Disguise as a path to enlightenment.
Of course, for any of this to be effective, it's best that nobody actually knows about your skill and mastery at adopting disguises. So you have to develop all of these skills in secret. Sneak off to evening classes to learn your art, pretend that you're going somewhere else, the subterfuge begins from day one. If someone knows about your talent, they will immediatly suspect you and the disguise/magic will be inneffective, embarassing and potentially dangerous. To keep silent, is the watchword of the master of disguise.
I'm not a master of disguise myself. Not at all. This is all just speculation. I have absolutely no disguise skills whatsoever. Honest. |
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