Back to basics

:: Back to Basics ::

.:: Today we'll be exploring something a little different than before, children. My last two posts have been extreme infodumps, and the opener before that was none-too-specific, was it? I apologize. To display information in such a manner is rude and unseemly, and devalues the information itself. [Although let me tell you how long it took me to linkify the chaos infodump post...] ::






:: Today we start with basic, basic, basic information. My first question is, "what is magic?" and hell, I'll answer it for you too. ::

:: So just what is magic? ::

:: Magic can be defined many ways. I've heard quite a few over my course of research, and will probably hear more before my seeking ends. Most of them all focus on the same thing, however; magic is the manipulation of energy to obtain a certain goal. Magic is the term used for the means to an end where energy and skill are merged with will and allowed to do their work. By "allowed to do their work," I largely mean undisturbed. Many, many practitioners of various types of magic, ranging from witchcraft, to chaos magic, to ceremonial, and even kabbalah; many may all tell you the same thing: the best magic worked is the magic you forget about. In many interpretations of sigil magic, forgetting the sigil is vital to the magic working. The belief is that your subconscious, which will remember everything, can function on a higher level than your conscious mind, and is better adept at focussing your will and energy to a particular task. ::

:: How do you focus energy? How do you work magic? ::

:: There are various ways of doing magic, mostly varying in belief system, invocation, how the energy is raised, and so forth. ::






:: - Belief system & invocation : The reason ways of practice differ here is because those of one faith may not invoke the same deities or other spiritual figures and people who practice a different faith. A Norse reconstructionist would not invoke the Egyptian goddess Bast, for example, mostly because zie would not believe in bast, and so invoking a being that [for that person] doesn't exist, is useless. ::






:: - How energy is raised : This is largely a personal thing which can vary from person to person and from faith to faith accordingly. Some common methods for raising energy include meditation, dancing, drumming, playing of other instruments, masturbation and/or sex, and chanting; but there may be many more. Anything that allows you to feel energy build up and be able to release it in a direction proportional to your will does wonderfully. ::

:: Yeah, yeah, yeah, but how d'ya do it?

:: Usually through a spell or ritual, but not always. Spells are largely complex affairs, and rituals even moreso, but you can raise, focus, and release energy without having to a whole lot of shit. However, spell and ritual are the main focusses of magic-users, so I'll go over those first.::

:: - Spells - ::






:: Spells are generally done to accomplish a certain goal. They may be part of a ritual, but don't have to be. Usually, you'll gather materials necessary for your spell, cast a circle [if your practice dictates that you do so -- more on this later], then follow the steps necessary to state your will, raise energy, and release it to manifest that will. These vary depending on how you raise energy and what the spell is for. Your materials will also be dependent on the purpose of the spell. Why? Well, you're not going to do the same things for a love spell as you would for, say, a banishment spell. [Unless you want to get creative -- you could technically "banish" whatever you felt was obstructing your search for love.] ::

:: This will be continued further later ::.