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Underground > Temple >

Magic & OCD

09:50 / 14.02.05

I've had a mild case of OCD for quite a while now, and it can be pretty frustrating at times. Therefore I havge tried to get rid of it, something that is actually fairly difficult. Therefore I came up with an idea where I would not need to get rid of it, I would simply turn it around and make OCD into something positive, something I had control over.

Well, I have always seen OCD as a sort of primitive form of a ritual, performing absurd actions to protect oneself from anxiety and preventing this and that from happening. Since I see it this way, I thought; why not create a Servitor that fed upon the power created by OCD actions? For example: I create a Servitor called "Mark" or whatever programmed to heal me or something. Now, each time I touched the doorknob four times etc., Mark would get charged thus providing me with its healing power.

Has anyone had any experience with this? Do you reckon it would work? And, what kinda Servitor would work best in this case?

12:44 / 14.02.05

Most people have evidence of extremely mild symptoms of OCD in some contexts, but it is emphatically not OCD because it effectively missed the "D" off the end. I would suggest that the energy manifested via your OCD cannot be effectively harnessed until it is no longer a disorder. Until that's done you're not in control of it, it's in control of you.

Did you self-diagnose?

13:11 / 14.02.05

Yes, I did self-diagnose. But I dont think the point is wheter its a disorder or not. As long as I perform these actions, I think they can be harnessed in some form or another. And when I decide to turn this thing into something positive, I would say that I gain the upper hand. What do you think?

13:46 / 14.02.05

I think its an avenue you want to tread a bit carefully down. I've found that a lot of magic, especially the stuff involving Spirits and Gods, has the potential to slide quite subtly and precariously into something approaching OCD. For instance, when the feeding of a Spirit becomes less about ensuring good stuff happens and more about ensuring that bad stuff doesnt happen. It's a fine line at the best of times, and can be tricky to manage once you find yourself embroiled in it.

If you're actually starting out from that position in the first place, I'd imagine it's going to be a harder scenario to negotiate successfully. You might end up just feeding the OCD and investing it with even more power to actively cause problems if you don't continually satisfy its cravings for increasingly more complex OCD-type activities.

What I would do, rather than self-consciously trying to create a "servitor" around it in a wanky chaos magic sort of way, would be to just listen to it. It already is a spirit. You don't have to make one out of it, just pay attention to it. Chances are that it has something to tell you. Engage it in a dialogue. Ask what it actually wants and see if you can come to a compromise. Treat it like an ongoing relationship and try to negotiate a better arrangement that suits you both. I think the thing to do is work with what is actually there, and pay attention to what is happening, rather than imposing new things onto it and complicating an already problematic behaviour pattern.

14:01 / 14.02.05

Very valid points Gypsy, that actually sounds like a better solution altogheter.

Unconditional Love

11:36 / 15.02.05

i read this book back in the dark aeon of the 90s called junk food monkeys by some behavioural psychologist, the last chapter was devoted entirely to treating religous/spiritual behaviour as psychological disorders, the geezeeer that wrote it was a strict atheist. it had some intresting ideas, if very biased. but may be worth looking at, a library should have it somewhere.

17:18 / 23.02.05

the way i heard religious ritualbeing differentially diagnosed from OCD was

if your rituals prevent you from doing your duty to your family / community then it is a disorder

the point of OCD from this is that it causes impairment in the social / communal domain, if it isn't it is just ritual. so for example a hindoo brahmin washing their house with holy water 5 times a day is virtuous, 50 is when you get the doctors in.

so, yes, agree with the post earlier about the point being whether it controls you or you it really, just said it in a roundabout way i'm afraid.

23:07 / 24.02.05

I think that there is another point that needs to be looked at.....one from a magickal point of view. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like the point of this is to utilize the compulsive energy of the OCD to energize a servitor to heal the OCD. The problem with this is that the type of energy needed to heal the problem is the exact opposite of what has caused it, (from the standpoint of an energy model , other than a medical one). In short, this servitor could act counter-intentively, making the prob worse rather than better. The lack of control implied in OCD also calls into question the stability of the impressed intent as well. The end result could be an energy-bloated servitor, hard to control and worsening any compulsive tendencies in those around it.... Of course this post is so damned late as to be meaningless, but still, the whole thing brings up some interesting ideas, particularly the one about the type of energy determining the behavior of it's carrier.... that of "like creating like", as well as "like attracting like".