This is an interesting aspect of the discussion that seems to have been glossed over amid rampant fnording.* Can we just backtrack a moment and ask whether anybody involved in this project actually did any magic to make it rain? Or are you claiming that you are such great adepts that you can manipulate the weather merely by talking about it on the internet. Did anyone actually do any magic? If so, what did you do? How many people participated? How did it feel?
I helped make it rain in Phoenix the same way I raise my right arm. I think about it and it goes up. It worked because some magically-inclined people were primed to make something happen. Zoemancer suggested a tangible outcome - rain - I suggested a worthy target - Phoenix - and voila. And it worked not because we're a bunch of adepts, but because the energy and intent were there.
It may have been coincidence. But then again, look at the title of the thread.
It's my understanding that all the trappings of magic are just that - trappings. They're tools to help you hone, direct, and refine the power that's already in your head.
I wouldn't dream of calling myself an adept. I'm just starting at magick. I do the LBRP, I meditate, and I do a bit of Tarot divination every day, as well as a LOT of reading. I have the same potential to cause "change in reality in accordance with the will" as any magician on this board. Which is precisely why I haven't done many specific workings yet. I don't really know what I'm doing.
Because it looks an awful lot like we've had 4 pages of thread and not a single bit of magic actually done. If you are interested in getting tangible empirical results then I suggest you might start by doing some tangible, actual magic. I can't really see much evidence of that having taken place here. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Could've been magic, could've been coincidence. Where do you draw the line? Is it magic if you do a ritual? Are certain rituals included, but not others? Maybe the collaborative act of setting a goal, naming a target, and directing intent was ritual enough.
As far as subjects go, I think the human factor is where it's at, as suggested above. Are you all such brilliant Magicians that none of you have any problems in your lives that you could do with a bit of help on? Because if you aren't, then perhaps someone could suggest a working that will bring direct aid to the lives of someone involved in the project - the results of which would be self-evident and directly verifiable. If it is a success, then the whole project could become a really effective, creative platform for mutual aid, where the people who benefit are the people involved, and they benefit in the ways that count in their actual day-to-day lives.
Maybe we should start a "magickal favors" thread.
It stops being a half-assed parlour game and becomes a tool for survival in the world. You stop standing on the sidelines pretending to be magical benefactors to an amorphous, homogenous mass of humanity, fighting a battle against an amorphous, homogenous notion of "The Man". And you start doing things that will help actual people in specific ways in their actual daily lives. Magic is about survival in the jungle. We might not have to contend with lions and tigers and bears, oh my! But we all face hardships, challenges and difficulties in our lives. Magic is a tool that can give us an edge on that. Sort it out.
Um, I think most of us in the Western world have the survival bit down. You may not have noticed, but the world is in dire shape right now. I know, I know, Voltaire said "tend your garden," and Gandhi said "you must be the change you wish to see in others." Getting one's own shit together is an important part of making the world a better place. (And I'm *working* on this. I'm in therapy. I'm going back to school - either fall or spring semester - so that I can get work I'm happier with and that is more in alignment with my values. I'm learning to take better care of myself so I can start to offer help to those around me.)
BUT
There are a lot of motivations for wanting to improve "the world," some good, some bad, some complicated. A bad one: people want to be the hero in a great drama. A complicated one: a lot of people who have comfortable lives have gained that comfort at the expense of the well-being of others (e.g., Enron executives, anybody who buys slave-labor products from WalMart). People like me - and others in this thread maybe - look at that and say, "I don't want to be like them." So instead of thinking of ways to help ourselves, we think of ways to help everybody, even if some of those ways may be misguided. A good one: we see that the world is in dire condition and we want to help.
Going back to the "are you all such brilliant Magicians that none of you have any problems in your lives" comment, the obvious answer for anybody in this forum would be no. Magic can only help with some problems, anyway. For some, you need plain-ol' work (which is a form of magic in itself, maybe).
I'm sorry about the comment about me being sick. Part of it was immature attention-seeking, part of it was genuine curiosity. I did think Trouser the Trouserian's comment was funny, though. |
