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What do you most commonly use magick for? I help friends with money and love magick and for myself? Strength, confidence and courage to the point of being utterly fearless. Ive never used baneful magick and although I don't have anything against (some just deserve to get hexed). I prefer using my fists when teaching someone a lesson, usually I lose. Takes a long time to beat me senseless though. Right, on to my very unpopular opion. So, all magick really is. Is self help therapy, but with frills and fuss. Now I know all the vocalisations and somatics and ingredients may be a way to train and run mental attunement programs in your psyche to get you into the 'vibe' necessary to cause change in your reality. And as much as I love Hermeticism and magick and being able cause these changes, it's a shite load of homework, about 3000 years worth, just so I can better myself. Having said that, Cernunnos has helped me a great deal also. Now bear in mind I haven't yet summoned demons or called upon angels or traversed the planes, astrally or otherwise. So for now Im breaking it down to to base elements 'frills and fuss'.
What say you?
I don't use ceremonial magic much any more, although I did a fair amount of LBRP (banishing) and talismanic work back in the '80s. Seems to me that once we get past the satisfaction of "causing change to occur in conformity to Will," what's left is mostly doing stuff to prove to ourselves we can do it. (I'm not religious so I don't have much interest in angels, and I've never summoned a demon either because I never had a need to). Invocation (bringing the power within) seems to make more sense than evocation (summoning entities to do our bidding). I still do some Astral Plan exploration as a side project to my primary interest in divination, which I consider "practical mysticism."
I don't use ceremonial magic much any more, although I did a fair amount of LBRP (banishing) and talismanic work back in the '80s. Seems to me that once we get past the satisfaction of "causing change to occur in conformity to Will," what's left is mostly doing stuff to prove to ourselves we can do it. (I'm not religious so I don't have much interest in angels, and I've never summoned a demon either because I never had a need to). Invocation (bringing the power within) seems to make more sense than evocation (summoning entities to do our bidding). I still do some Astral Plan exploration as a side project to my primary interest in divination, which I consider "practical mysticism."
Oh I just can't wait to bully demons in into servitude and charm angels into getting shit done for me by turning on my AWESOME charisma. Anyway... When one gets bored thats when you either need to start touching yourself or get someone else to do it for you. What I'm saying is ... SEX.... MAGICK... Bruh! That's what what these Hermetic dweebs are KNOWN for. Boning and moaning for mana and mojo. Damn I gonna get 11 dudes to bang me, then transmute all that sperm into power for a 12th dude who's gonna drink it straight from my body. And then do me nice and slow after. I just busy with the invocations at the moment and me struggling a bit. I'll be doing the working in the hopes Asmodeus will hear me and help me out channeling all that raw bareback power. Get it wrong and I may explode spectacularly if In not careful but with him at my back it should work. Ok that's a joke, the exploding part, but you get what I mean. Getting the participants is easy. It's designing the magic, the direction and flow of energy, and channeling all that power that's hard. But it's also fun... SO MUCH FUN! Just imagine me blowing up in a great cloud of glitter and rainbows if I do FAK it up
So Wish me luck for when I F**k! And hopefully not F**I it all up!
Oh I just can't wait to bully demons in into servitude and charm angels into getting shit done for me by turning on my AWESOME charisma. Anyway... When one gets bored thats when you either need to start touching yourself or get someone else to do it for you. What I'm saying is ... SEX.... MAGICK... Bruh! That's what what these Hermetic dweebs are KNOWN for. Boning and moaning for mana and mojo. Damn I gonna get 11 dudes to bang me, then transmute all that sperm into power for a 12th dude who's gonna drink it straight from my body. And then do me nice and slow after. I just busy with the invocations at the moment and me struggling a bit. I'll be doing the working in the hopes Asmodeus will hear me and help me out channeling all that raw bareback power. Get it wrong and I may explode spectacularly if In not careful but with him at my back it should work. Ok that's a joke, the exploding part, but you get what I mean. Getting the participants is easy. It's designing the magic, the direction and flow of energy, and channeling all that power that's hard. But it's also fun... SO MUCH FUN! Just imagine me blowing up in a great cloud of glitter and rainbows if I do FAK it up
So Wish me luck for when I F**k! And hopefully not F**I it all up!
I'm sorry In just in mood today, Ill be more serious tommorow I promise. To be honest id like to know, since you abandoned Hermeticism while it was still in its infancy with regards to you. Did you seek out wisdom and power from any other magick path or paths? If so which ones?
I'm sorry In just in mood today, Ill be more serious tommorow I promise. To be honest id like to know, since you abandoned Hermeticism while it was still in its infancy with regards to you. Did you seek out wisdom and power from any other magick path or paths? If so which ones?
Well, I didn't abandon Hermeticism, just the practice of ceremonial magic in its ritual form in my late 30s. I've stayed with Hermetic Qabalism from a philosophical perspective all those years since as well as practicing several types of divination, some of it performed professionally. Ever since Covid I spend most of my time and effort blogging about esoteric subjects.
I swear I'm not trying to be nitpicky, but I actually don't like the concept of "using" magic very much. I think of it more like "helping" it, because to me, magick isn't a "tool" any more than like, say, friendship is a "tool". I imagine magick itself, the thing-in-itself that we refer to whenever we even use that word in a sentence, whatever we think it means, whatever it is to us, and whatever it actually is - is a being, an entity, and it has volition, and it has independence and dreams, and there is a conversation that one could have with "magick" as if it were a god you could speak directly to and ask it about itself. You form an intimate relationship with it and it becomes your ally and actually desires to work with you as much as you desire to work with it.
Well, I didn't abandon Hermeticism, just the practice of ceremonial magic in its ritual form in my late 30s. I've stayed with Hermetic Qabalism from a philosophical perspective all those years since as well as practicing several types of divination, some of it performed professionally. Ever since Covid I spend most of my time and effort blogging about esoteric subjects.
I just read your intro post, so you are quite the diviner. Is there any particular reason or is the money good. My husband is a Norse Shaman Runeworker and skilled in Galdr and Seidr also. In Seidr there is an aspect of prophecy to some of it. But he is so knowledgeable about so many other paths. I'd like to be more like him. It's funny I only STARTED with High Magick when I hit my 30s (even though I bought my first book on Hermeticism when I was 16. I was scared I would be branded a Satanist by family and friends back then it was the satanic panic era). Anyway it's been slow going. I live in Africa and never even met another Hermetic mage. So no mentor or teacher just 3000 years worth of bloody homework. So far all I do is love and money magick for friends. And personally I seek power for myself. I want to be strong, and confident and have courage, more than my share. Ugh its So many planets, dates, times, colours, stones, sigils,, seals and blooming pentacles.
Still, the first time I ever saw a Vegvisr I knew I'd seen it somewhere before and went digging. I belonged to An Asatru group and To cut a long story short, with my fact finding and interviewing Icelandic academics I debunked the authenticity of the Vegvisr as having it roots in Solomonic magick. There was a HUGE schism and uproar in the group and half left. Those that clung to its sacred Nordicness all got mad and buggered off. People can be so dumb. Even faced with evidence irrefutable evidence from many sources they still cling to things. Every time I see a big strong Viking looking dude with a Vegvisr tattoo I want to laugh my arse off and my husband has to shut me up coz I DO get into trouble alot. So I guess I'm adept at pattern recognition and energy transference. I spontaneously manifest random shit alot otherwise. But that's bout it.
I swear I'm not trying to be nitpicky, but I actually don't like the concept of "using" magic very much. I think of it more like "helping" it, because to me, magick isn't a "tool" any more than like, say, friendship is a "tool". I imagine magick itself, the thing-in-itself that we refer to whenever we even use that word in a sentence, whatever we think it means, whatever it is to us, and whatever it actually is - is a being, an entity, and it has volition, and it has independence and dreams, and there is a conversation that one could have with "magick" as if it were a god you could speak directly to and ask it about itself. You form an intimate relationship with it and it becomes your ally and actually desires to work with you as much as you desire to work with it.
Then you are more of a Theist than an Occultist. And thats fine. I myself venerate Cernunnos but I see magick as simply a tool, to used to gain that which I or others desire. Now Cernunnos can pretty much influence my life and do stuff for me if I ask him nicely with a little offering. As he God he would naturally also have magick of his own. I refuse to worship anyone or anything though, I venerate and I ask nicely with a little offering. Sometimes I like to think of magick also as simply the chest codes to the Universe. Just code like math. A tool with all the bells and whistles. Thanks for sharing.
The money's decent when it comes, but it's intermittent. I make more selling my ebooks on Lulu. I don't care much for online reading, being mainly a face-to-face guy; otherwise I might earn more. But as you can tell from the white beard, I'm retired with a pension, investments and other income, so the divination is mostly a hobby. I call it "getting under the skin of objective reality to see what makes the Universe tick."
I just read your intro post, so you are quite the diviner. Is there any particular reason or is the money good. My husband is a Norse Shaman Runeworker and skilled in Galdr and Seidr also. In Seidr there is an aspect of prophecy to some of it. But he is so knowledgeable about so many other paths. I'd like to be more like him. It's funny I only STARTED with High Magick when I hit my 30s (even though I bought my first book on Hermeticism when I was 16. I was scared I would be branded a Satanist by family and friends back then it was the satanic panic era). Anyway it's been slow going. I live in Africa and never even met another Hermetic mage. So no mentor or teacher just 3000 years worth of bloody homework. So far all I do is love and money magick for friends. And personally I seek power for myself. I want to be strong, and confident and have courage, more than my share. Ugh its So many planets, dates, times, colours, stones, sigils,, seals and blooming pentacles.
Still, the first time I ever saw a Vegvisr I knew I'd seen it somewhere before and went digging. I belonged to An Asatru group and To cut a long story short, with my fact finding and interviewing Icelandic academics I debunked the authenticity of the Vegvisr as having it roots in Solomonic magick. There was a HUGE schism and uproar in the group and half left. Those that clung to its sacred Nordicness all got mad and buggered off. People can be so dumb. Even faced with evidence irrefutable evidence from many sources they still cling to things. Every time I see a big strong Viking looking dude with a Vegvisr tattoo I want to laugh my arse off and my husband has to shut me up coz I DO get into trouble alot. So I guess I'm adept at pattern recognition and energy transference. I spontaneously manifest random shit alot otherwise. But that's bout it.
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Then you are more of a Theist than an Occultist. And thats fine. I myself venerate Cernunnos but I see magick as simply a tool, to used to gain that which I or others desire. Now Cernunnos can pretty much influence my life and do stuff for me if I ask him nicely with a little offering. As he God he would naturally also have magick of his own. I refuse to worship anyone or anything though, I venerate and I ask nicely with a little offering. Sometimes I like to think of magick also as simply the chest codes to the Universe. Just code like math. A tool with all the bells and whistles. Thanks for sharing.
I certainly agree. I can't see magic as having sentience or consciousness (except to the extent that I'm a Spinozan sympathizer when it comes to deity). It's more like a blind force that we can direct to our own ends with a sufficient application of Will.
The money's decent when it comes, but it's intermittent. I make more selling my ebooks on Lulu. I don't care much for online reading, being mainly a face-to-face guy; otherwise I might earn more. But as you can tell from the white beard, I'm retired with a pension, investments and other income, so the divination is mostly a hobby. I call it "getting under the skin of objective reality to see what makes the Universe tick."
Oh I like that, I do something similar and step outside of myself and lose all my sense of self just to see how it all works. But what I'm really trying to find out is the 'why' of things. Not the how, that can be very well explained with quantum physics and Relativity also. Its the WHY that eludes me, and just about everyone else it seems. I find it utterly mystifying and damn beyond my reach of understanding.
Oh I like that, I do something similar and step outside of myself and lose all my sense of self just to see how it all works. But what I'm really trying to find out is the 'why' of things. Not the how, that can be very well explained with quantum physics and Relativity also. Its the WHY that eludes me, and just about everyone else it seems. I find it utterly mystifying and damn beyond my reach of understanding.
Interesting you should say that. I just wrote an essay in which I mentioned that my divination is not aimed so much at "what, when, where and who" as it is focused on "why" and "how." I want it to convey purpose and not just prophecy.
Interesting you should say that. I just wrote an essay in which I mentioned that my divination is not aimed so much at "what, when, where and who" as it is focused on "why" and "how." I want it to convey purpose and not just prophecy.
Yes, the why, is paramount for me to try understand. See I once had a dog and I lived alone with him on my farm for fifteen years. He was my whole Universe, my friend my child, my only companion and the first thing I truly loved in this world. He was super chilled and only got annoyed when other dogs came too close to me. Wasn't interested in other people either, it was all about us. He got old and he died one night while I held him screaming my lungs to pieces. Afterwards I had a breakdown mentality and my family commited me for a few months. I just didn't understand. Couldn't get my head around the concept of something you love SO SO much dying and not existing anymore. Little boys aren't meant to die. So I went looking for the why of things. Quantum physics only explains the how. In a crazy ass way not fully understood. religions just teased with me alot of Flirting and promises THEY know the why of everything. And I gave them all mostly a wide berth. They had nothing I wanted. I can smell a con coming from Mile away. I was at the end and about to kill myself. When I just happened to pass out from exhaustion and fell asleep. I had a dream, Cernunnos called to me and picked me up and carried me to a little cabin deep in his woods and as soon as we got there my boy ran out the cabins door and jumped all over me and licked my face. Cernunnos then said that I could stay there when my time came for as long as I wished. The dream then ended with my boy still licking my face. He now comes to visit me in dreams from time to time always with the jumping and the licking like he hasn't seen me in a while. I even had a lady come up to me in the street to tell me that there was a dog following me around. And then explained she could see things most people couldn't. But I never really got over his death. And I desperately needed to know the why of EVERYTHING. because the thought of never seeing him again terrifies me so badly that my mind threatens to start sliding back into the crack it fell into when he died. I have a husband now yes and I love him dearly. But he will have to join us in the woods because my soul I already sent on ahead for my boy to take care off so that he won't be alone. But it's not enough. I need to KNOW. otherwise what's the point. May as well entropy and oblivion take me now and me dissapate in nothing because what's the point if I never see him again. I really really hope there is something for me. And that he is waiting. I should stop. I'm starting to lose my shit a little bit. Anyway. It never goes away and it never gets better 8 years and it's like where is he, why is he not here. When will I see him again. Will I ever. I'm that's it enough I can't anymore have a good night.
I have similar (but nowhere near as visceral) experiences with my maternal grandfather, who occasionally (although rarely) visits me in dreams with a benign smile on his face. He was my role model when I was a kid, a literal (I shit you not) lumberjack from New Brunswick. I've created tarot spreads for ancestor contact and have had him come in.
I'm not sure why everyone is doing Magick with a K, why there is such a reference to a certain individual? I only do Magic.
I would understand if it was just some people that use K, but it seems to be everyone, lol.
I've always thought it's the legacy of Aleister Crowley wanting to separate himself from stage magic, but Google says "The spelling 'magick' is actually an older, Early Modern English spelling. By using it, Crowley aimed to connect his teachings to the wisdom of ancient Magi."
I'm not sure why everyone is doing Magick with a K, why there is such a reference to a certain individual? I only do Magic.
I would understand if it was just some people that use K, but it seems to be everyone, lol.
We pretty much do it to distinguish what we are talking about from the stage magic and from the game MTG, at least in English. In Czech, stage magic is kouzelnictví, and Magick is magie.
Hermetic Magic is not what I would call Sorcery. But It helps you get better at sorcery by knowing who you are and what you want. Highly recommended.
Sorcery / Brujeria / Goetia for me is mostly a gun.
^ <--- Right there.
I worked for many years in video games, film, and tech which is full of psychopaths and high-on-the-spectrum tech-dicks who are their catspaws. The gun was to remove them from my life when they are horrible to me, or those I care about. I got good at sorcery - specifically Grimorium Verum evocation - because of the hostile environment I was in. I was a general in the corporate army of the undead, and I had to defend myself by taking down Orcs, Nazgul, and even a full-bore Balrog: an untouchable executive (except for me) at a world-famous Japanese game publisher that was abusing my wife. Fuck them. No mercy. That said, there is not enough time in the world to get all these deeply psychotic Pokemon.
In the process, the daimons taught me self-knowledge, and made me aware of what made me "tick"at my sublunar levels of being, leading me to the more mystical side of our traditions. I THOUGHT I was doing Hermeticism right. I was not. So be kind to our Hemetic magicians. They speak to a real side of our tradition.
I just read your intro post, so you are quite the diviner. Is there any particular reason or is the money good. My husband is a Norse Shaman Runeworker and skilled in Galdr and Seidr also. In Seidr there is an aspect of prophecy to some of it. But he is so knowledgeable about so many other paths. I'd like to be more like him. It's funny I only STARTED with High Magick when I hit my 30s (even though I bought my first book on Hermeticism when I was 16. I was scared I would be branded a Satanist by family and friends back then it was the satanic panic era). Anyway it's been slow going. I live in Africa and never even met another Hermetic mage. So no mentor or teacher just 3000 years worth of bloody homework. So far all I do is love and money magick for friends. And personally I seek power for myself. I want to be strong, and confident and have courage, more than my share. Ugh its So many planets, dates, times, colours, stones, sigils,, seals and blooming pentacles.
Still, the first time I ever saw a Vegvisr I knew I'd seen it somewhere before and went digging. I belonged to An Asatru group and To cut a long story short, with my fact finding and interviewing Icelandic academics I debunked the authenticity of the Vegvisr as having it roots in Solomonic magick. There was a HUGE schism and uproar in the group and half left. Those that clung to its sacred Nordicness all got mad and buggered off. People can be so dumb. Even faced with evidence irrefutable evidence from many sources they still cling to things. Every time I see a big strong Viking looking dude with a Vegvisr tattoo I want to laugh my arse off and my husband has to shut me up coz I DO get into trouble alot. So I guess I'm adept at pattern recognition and energy transference. I spontaneously manifest random shit alot otherwise. But that's bout it.
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Then you are more of a Theist than an Occultist. And thats fine. I myself venerate Cernunnos but I see magick as simply a tool, to used to gain that which I or others desire. Now Cernunnos can pretty much influence my life and do stuff for me if I ask him nicely with a little offering. As he God he would naturally also have magick of his own. I refuse to worship anyone or anything though, I venerate and I ask nicely with a little offering. Sometimes I like to think of magick also as simply the chest codes to the Universe. Just code like math. A tool with all the bells and whistles. Thanks for sharing.
It's interesting you mention that your husband practices seidr and galdr magic and you consider him a skilled norse shaman. That is precisely what I primarily practice as well (although I would not call myself a "shaman") in addition to astrological magic. So then, I probably don't even need to explain that I do not "worship" anything, and even "venerate" is quite a strong compulsion I wouldn't say I identify what I am doing with. If I can describe what I do, I would say, I make deals and trade favors with spirits, and really that's all I do. You called what I do "theurgy" and that gave me a chuckkle. Would you call a stock broker a priest? Would an attourney also be a priest? Come to think of it, maybe so? I dunno, I'm kind of like a nomadic merchant that trades in exotic goods and services I guess.
The currency I use in comes in two flavors, megin and hamingja. Megin is basically the "credit score" (I hate that analogy, but it actually works lol) you can acquire through trading boons and favors with wights (or "vaettir" as they are called in old norse), which is gained through knowledge of "vardloka" (spirit songs that invoke a binding oath). The other, hamingja, is like your inherited good fortune ("luck" basically) that you came into the world with and will run out eventually as you "spend" it unconsciously. Similar, but not exactly the same thing as "karma" (because it has nothing to do with good and evil). Quick aside, don't ask me why some people get a lot and others don't. All I know for sure is that it has nothing to do with your past lives. 13 years I've been doing this now and I still have no clue what it is. The Norns have not revealed this to me and Freyja just laughs whenever I ask.
Anyway, In altered states you come to "sense" that almost every object or environment has a "vaettir" attached to it or governing it which you can get to know and learn vardloka from (if it knows any useful ones that is, some of them can be kind of bizzare or seemingly useless). Vardloka are the closest thing to "spells", but they are more like oaths or contracts where the wight agrees to perform some service for you if you have enough megin or hamingja.
Like, I believe in gods, but any god that demands my worship is one that I am going to avoid because I just don't have the energy or the patience for that kind of a relationship. Any god that fragile and vulnerable is kind of a false god anyway, in my opinion. Many Jotuns act like that, and many vaettir that serve the Jotuns. Anything that is truly a powerful god does not demand or require worship, except to test you or as part of some kind of riddle perhaps. The gods (especially the Aesir) do like to probe your mind and quickly expose your bullshit and laugh at you for it, which is why I don't interact with them very much. Maybe that's another thing that shades my practice a bit, being norse flavored. The gods I believe in are very complicated beings that are not exactly good and evil in the black and white christian sense. Sometimes they can be assholes. For example, as you probably know, if you follow Odin he is well known to betray you eventually, to snatch you up and take you to vallhol when you are in your prime. The Aesir in general have a kind of "if you can't defend it, you don't really own it" attitude about life, which keeps you on your toes. I go to Asgard to do important business, like, I've only been there twice in my entire life (once when my mother died, and the other was when covid struck because I wanted answers). I don't go expecting to have a good time, if that makes sense.
Sorry to ramble a bit. This has been a thought provoking conversation for me, and your thread has been interesting to read.
