What's something you believed as a beginner that you don't believe now?

[faust]

Just a fun question I was thinking about. Also, what is something you didn't believe as a beginner, but do believe in now?

When I first started out, I was really big on substitutions and kind of had this (now embarrassing) mentality of everything being up to the practitioner and how the interpret it. Until I began actually learning about why things mean what they mean in terms of their ritual usage, I was what I called a 'rosemary practitioner' now. Out of anything? Just use rosemary! Even if you're missing the most important part of the spell! Instead of writing your own spell using things that you do have by doing research, just be completely lazy with it! Fun times. It was like this for probably the first year of my practice, too.

Let me hear something embarrassing maybe? Did you make up silly rituals? Did they work or do you feel like a fool? Did you believe something really dumb you read online or in an old book? Let me know.

 

[MrSecond]

That demons did not like being compelled through Solomonic methods of invocations.

After practicing different grimoires and studying foundational texts on thaumaturgy, such as Neoplatonism, I quickly found out that they do not care at all, since most of the commanding language is for the purpose of elevating the psyche of the magician, and we're not really forcing any spirit.

 

[jbyer]

When I first started out I believed that mind control was done with a device in the brain. I later realized that the brain isn't real and we are all part of a simulation.

 

[Saint]

When I was little I believed -for a brief, brief period of time- that I am below the Infernals, Angels or other Deities. I learned that in fact, I am not.
I'll never see them again as such, but instead, equals. Deeply respected and valued equals; for I learned to love, respect and value the strength, knowledge and history of my own soul the same way I see them, and I found out, I am, by any means, no different.