Grimoire Magicians vs. The Tryhards

[Nerone]

The key word in this use of the imagination is immersion.
Anyone who has immersed themselves in a novel or a poem
has experienced this magical state of consciousness in which
perception is altered and extended by the imagination.

Immersion is facilitated by story. When performing magic, the
magician will be calling upon story of one sort or another, be
it in the form of verses from Holy Scripture, the deeds of
deities in mythology, or the use of their epithets. For this
reason it is important to familiarise ourselves with the myths,
legends, or scripture relevant to the spirits we are engaging
with.

Ha! You know man, I hate and love when these kind of things happens. "Nothing new under the Sun". Here's me thinking I'm being original with my personal insights, only to see someone else coming to a similar conclusion. I was talking about the power of language on a private group with some friends not too long ago. I think it fits really nicely here, so I'll repost some of it:

"I think besides the innate power of the Psalms, one needs to "reasonate" with the Abrahamic tradition and it's mythos on a deeply felt level in order to get the most out of it.

My own stint with Maoshan taught me that – the spells were awesome and all, but on a certain level, there was an element of alienness where the imagery and mythos did nothing for me at all. It did not really move my heart. And I think that element of genuine heartfelt reasonance, where one is able to fully and faithfully immerse oneself in the spell is not only a nice thing, but a core essential.

Something that is little known about the planet Venus is that Vettius Valens from the 2nd century AD considered her to rule priests and the priesthood. When we look at the word "confidence", it has it's roots in two words; con, meaning together, and fidere, or fidelity; faith. It is interesting to note that many partnerships, ruled by Venus, are often broken because of – unfaithfulness!

I have for a long time now thought of "faith" in the same vein as "immersion".
So, if we're watching a movie for example, there is a suspension of disbelief and we immerse ourselves in the narrative, to the point of believing it real, and we can laugh and cry, cheer on and scream and feel genuine emotion. Whereas the opposite quality of "immersion", ruled by Venus' enemy Saturn, is "detachment". Watching a movie with that cold clinical dissecting distance, where one criticizes the acting, scrutinizes the costume and set design, is an entirely different experience.

It's the same difference between a casual listener enjoying music and a professional musician dissecting the notes and rhythm, unable to "get into it".

So I consider faith as something deeply intertwined with confidence and immersion."