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Underground > Temple >

"Caught" Practsing Magic

Madman in the ruins.

08:51 / 02.01.05

So last night I'm standing in the spare room with the curtains open prefoming my LBRP, Look down as I finish and theres the neighbor saying goodbye to some visitors. Who are all looking at me.

Woopise.

After seriosly practising magic for about 6 months I suppose it had to happen sooner or later. My Family and freinds know and tend to work on a Dont ask dont tell basis which is fine by me. And while i'm relatilvely open about it and will talk about it to people who are intrested. This whole "Secrecy" theme that tends to run through most magicians does rub off on me a little.

So its going to be a intresting time with my neighbors maybe?

09:19 / 02.01.05

You'll be alright

the worst thing that will happen is that with all the misinformation and bad press that Magick gets, they will more than likely fear you a little and avoid you

It could have been worse, you might have been masturbating to launch a Sigil, now that would have looked far worse than turning clockwise and drawing pentagrams in the air!

No I am sure that your neighbours will be a bit perplexed with your actions but if you get on with them reasonably well, it might actually improve your relationship if conversation can be sparked and they find it of interest. If they are ultra Evangelical Christians you might have a problem but other than that, you should be okay.
Worst case scenario, they shun you

Best case....... You might even gain a new Magickal comrade who you can work with

I'm a little obsessive compulsive and my neighbours are used to me going back to check the door is locked and my habit of picking worms up off the pavement and putting them on the grass so they won't die! I have had some strange looks believe me over the years but now, it hardly bothers me

Less searchable M0rd4nt

09:39 / 02.01.05

I very much doubt you'll get any fallout from this. If they ask, you could always tell a little white lie and say you were doing, I dunno, tai chi or something. You know, something that they'll have heard of and will understand.

And maybe close the curtains next time, eh? *wink*

10:54 / 02.01.05

Never got caught, but I'm not really into ritual magick that way. The few times people asked me about the weird additions I added to gifts I gave them, I just told them what all those props and scribbles were (but not what they meant - wouldn't want to spoil the fun, now would we?) and why I put them on. No point in trying to hide it.

As long as you avoid the more sterotypical terms ("Yeah, I'm doing magic!") at first, you'll be OK. Tell them what you get up to and what the intent behind it is, and let them draw their own conclusions. I often use analogies from graphical and martial arts, but use whatever you relate to the most.

"... picking worms up off the pavement and putting them on the grass so they won't die!"

I do that too. What's so obsessive compulsive about it?

11:11 / 02.01.05

thanks

I thought I was the only one

Maybe Obsessive Sompulsive was the wrong terminology (though I am with regard other matters) but to most people, we probably appear nuts!

I always think it must be a horrible way to die, slowly baking in the sun, the struggle for life they show is amazing. Okay, when we throw them on the grass they may get eaten by a bird but at least they've got a chance at life and worst case scenario, at least the bird has had a meal

I'm curious though, do you care to elaborate what your sigils are for on the gifts you have given and what results have you obtained? sounds a good idea

16:51 / 02.01.05

John,

I agree with the previous replies--don't worry about it. If you run into your neighbors, just smile and act as if nothing happened--I'll bet they will, too. And I hope you have a great year.

(I also rescue worms from the pavement)

17:19 / 02.01.05

Close the fucking curtains!

Sorry dude, I had to. Fuck it man, just say you'd read this wierd book and tried getting some positive energy in your room. Eastern energies or something. I always close my curtains, most of the dudes around here think I'm fucked up so I don't need to give them any more excuses to look at me strange.

Hey you'll be laughing at the memory of it before long anyway probably.

17:23 / 02.01.05

gale

I didn't know there were that many of us about

06:25 / 03.01.05

Interesting to note how much stigma and stereotyping remains around magick... How many freaks here have told their parents? My Dad knows but i think my Mom would seriously trip out and worry.

Unconditional Love

08:48 / 03.01.05

i have an almost empty front room in which i pray openly near a huge fucking window, dance about with bits of wood practicing kung fu, do chi kung, dance around like a mad man and soon will be seething when i understand it a bit better, fuck em, do what you like and like what you do.

they are all just as crazy as you with there quirks and intrests, stop and really look at them beyond the clothes the cars and all the other fronts, each one of them is a living spiral of madness desperately trying to pass off cohesion.

id love to know what they all get up too in private, imagine a world where the private became public, thats the world i want to live in. beastial poetry.

Unconditional Love

08:51 / 03.01.05

alternayely imagine all your online intrests merging into the offline, its beginning to happen, look around.....

16:11 / 04.01.05

I find it amusing that being 'caught' in magick can feel a bit like being caught wanking. Like its a dirty thing, one that should be done in private and that is embarassing when one is found out doing it.

Or perhaps how one feels about it tells a lot about how comfortable with magick they are. That is, if you feel like you've been caught wanking it, then you've not entirely accepted it as right for yourself yet. But if you reacted instead more like "heh, bet they got an eyefull" and were amused, then you own it. There's a level of confidence at work here.

17:46 / 04.01.05

I agree with cusm on this. Unless it's a situation where your shelter or employment is threatened, (and even that brings up questions, I'm always amazed at how things tend to work out), it's not worth your worry. Personally, I find that being open in magickal practice has a lot of benefits. People that I wouldn't want to hang out with anyway avoid me like plague. The people I do meet that are friendly are people that I would want to meet. Not only that, I think that there is a value to integrating magick into your personal life to the extent that it is just "out there". How much skill can a person obtain if they are constantly worrying about discovery? The negative patina works against one.

The secrecy thing, IMO,has more to do with keeping one's intentions purified and focused than it does with discovery and punishment. It's true, in the old days, practicing magick could get you killed, but those days are gone, at least for now. Enjoy.....

20:34 / 04.01.05

"I'm curious though, do you care to elaborate what your sigils are for on the gifts you have given and what results have you obtained?"

Check out the dreamcatcher thread from a few months ago (may be a couple of pages down by now) for an example. It's a bit too early to see any clear and definite results, but it seems things are going well. I'll remember to ask next time I see those people.

I don't really have a set MO. But mostly I tend to do long-term projects - pulling strings, trying to build up synchronicities, and basically just creating the opportunity for what I want to manifest while having a jolly good time. So far I've always gotten results, eventually. Not always the ones I want, but always something interesting and usually it all ends well.
Sometimes I'll use objects as focal points - can be anything from a simple sigil to a completely customized hand-made, uh... well, object. Some I'll destroy afterwards, others (like the dreamcatcher) are more obviously functional and made to last. But it's really about the process.

I work mostly from a taoist perspective, if that helps to explain and cut short the imminent ranting. Taoism, with a bit of healthy punk ethic thrown in

So, to end the threadrot: I never really put myself in a situation where I could "get caught". I never really hid (or could hide) what I'm into, though I won't bring it up either when there's no need. And there usually isn't - it's like some kind of natural camouflage: right out in the open is often the best place to hide.

02:45 / 05.01.05

In response to cusm, could it be a that magick is often considered a private thing, rather than a dirty thing? In other words, we freak out when caught not because we are ashamed, but because someone is witnessing something that belongs to us that they were not intended to see. More like someone reading your diary than catching you spanking it.

I get more annoyed than anything else when I get 'caught' just because it screws me up. Especially since the person who barges in most often these days is my highly conservative, self-proclaimed fundamentalist Christian roommate, who tries his damnedest to stop my heathen ways.

Unconditional Love

09:31 / 05.01.05

you could just integrate these random interruptions into the majick, yes?, and if they dont like it mate, get your wand out or your cup and wave it at them, if there christian call it the spear of destiny or if you have a cup tell them its the holy grail.

i am gathering alot of people dont want to get caught doing sigil magick, imagine the charge in that sigil as your mum walks in.

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12:44 / 06.01.05

Yeah, I've never been caught either, which is very odd seeing as I live with my parents and three brothers. Course I don't actually do all that much ritual magic anyway. I'm saving for an apartment this year because, among a plethora of reasons, then maybe I could finally go all out whenever I choose rather then those rare moments that I am alone.

As I said I've never been caught, which is for the better as most of my rituals more often then not find me naked wearing weird masks. Last one I did I was wearing a top-hat and a cardboard eyeball mask and dancing wildly to the Residents "Third Reich and Roll" while staring into a strobe light and masturbating. It was a pretty sight, I must imagine.

21:25 / 12.01.05

post gifz.

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21:46 / 12.01.05

I wish I had taken pictures! I may still have the mask lying around somewhere though. I had considered filming it but between the darkness of the room and the strobe light I wasn't sure exactly how clear a picture I would get so I scrapped the idea...