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I use the principles of others… simply look at the psychonaut field manuel comic book lol. i‘ve used a similar premise as that to build my craft around, I take some ceremonial practice ideas, some newer science methodology to keep in mind but the biggest influence was Austin Osman Spare, without him I doubt I woulda ever got intrigued with the occult, it’s all thanks to Animism.
I enjoy other Chaos Magicians works but I rather adapt my own style. 2 years ago I was told I would be blind for life by a retina specialist and my heart would never work at normal capacity according to my cardiologist, I’d likely need dialysis for the rest of my life, I refused physical therapy and in 6 months I couldn‘t walk unaided, I was running, I couldn’t see I was taking shots with a bow that I couldn’t do before, I stopped needing dialysis a few Weeks after the kidney specialist told me I’d likely need to be on it for life,
I experiment, I find what works for me and I use it, the First day in the hospital the docs had me sign my last wishes with a notary and 2 witnesses. They couldn’t give me any painkillers because my liver, spleen, kidneys, heart ect were failing, they could only give me a small dose of ketamine.(the pain was causing my heart to fail but any opiate would cause my heart beat to slow)
they said people in my condition usually have a 70%+ chance of dying in 12 hours, I was at about the 36 hour mark, they said if I did ever wake up the infection would most likely go to my brain and there would be nothing they could do.
I just nodded said ok, went over my last wishes (didn’t want a funeral just a natural burial in a linen, wool or silk sheet, no casket, no priest no hymns or prayers, no blood draining to preserve my corpse,)
and it was about 6 months after Signing them I was able to do what they said was literally impossible.
there is o way in hell with a shredded aortic valve I should be close to a semi pro athlete leve in heart strength, there is no way in hell tat extensive scarring leaving me blind would heal to the pojnt my vision was better than before. I could go on but you get it, I don’t “do” magick, it was a craft I Honed, it’s a craft I need to live.
i take inspiration in myself, not others, I take pride in discipline, (in others and in mine) it didn’t come over night I was was up 2am walking up and down stairs, struggling, falling getting back up, and continuing, standing up too fast would cause me to black out. I worked hard but it would be in vein if it wasn’t for the meditations, visualizations, the craft I honed for nearly 2 decades, it gave me the discipline, it gave me back my eyesight, it gave me the willpower and most importantly the knowledge that THEIR limits were Not MY limits.
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^ also I needed 3 blood transfusions, B+ but there is a microbe in my blood, they called all over the US, only got 2 bags for transfusions. They tried regular B+ but it burned really bad and even though I could take the pain, my heart couldn’t.
You learn from others, then reinterpret those ideas with your own lens, and then you share those ideas to other people to hear how they reinterpreted them, which then adds to your understanding of the idea. Learning is fluid, and you never stop learning.
I'd say in my case a great deal of what I do is rooted in and takes cues from past conceptions. Since my youth I would often dream something up only later to read about the same idea in a book written over a thousand years ago or some such thing. However, I do not claim to fully understand them and by no means have mastered them. There is much to explore and so many gaps in "tradition" that make a "purist" approach seem a bit futile to me. But I think its really cool if people try.
Quite a bit, actually - an ongoing process in spite of the above. I've created my own rites based on necessity or modified traditional ones to suit me. A lot of it comes down to economy of time. For example, spirit evocation should take no more than an hour in my estimation as opposed to all day and only on that special day it took 6 months to prepare for. Not that I think proceeding in such a way is a bad thing - actually I admire the effort.
In the "empty spaces" between traditional monoliths I have found inspiration for "giddy" innovations. Flexibility is key for me. If all I have is a pen an paper and lighter, then I have a spell. But maybe I don't even need that, just a mantra. It depends.
I do have a philosophy that comes down to exploration and experimentation. I feel the occult is a maze with secret passages. To me, there is so much hidden behind traditional forms and structures that serve only as the "front door", so to speak. Often it eludes me as to use and meaning of this or that, but occasionally I get a "lighting flash of insight" or "AHA!" moment and things come together.
What really matters to me is to be able to make something out what I learn, or I should say, the process of it. To solidify it into an object or artwork that creates feedback into my deeper structures of memory and being.
Presently I have two sets of practices. One religious, which I practice during the day and one a self-developmental magic which I practice at night.
The day/religious work is traditional. It would need to be because there's a question of non-relative truth there and I needed a means to connect with currents which are beyond me.
The night work has its basis in a set of techniques which came from someone else but, over time, they've become more and more refined, more and more personalised as to be practically unrecognisable from their original form. I think that's how the most personal work should be.
they've become more and more refined, more and more personalised as to be practically unrecognisable from their original form. I think that's how the most personal work should be.
^ I agree, actually I’m trying to remember the art form… I think it was Tai Chi but don’t quote me…
a servant was watching the master teach his sons and he mistook it for a martial art so he adapted it as such when trying to replicate it which lead to to 2 offshoots. (May not of been Tai Chi but some other style) but the one the servant made his own was reminiscent of, but very different from the original.
