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So the image of the grey old wizard wielding his staff, or the wrinkly ol hag gazing longingly into her crystal ball, or even the "wicked" warlock lovingly polishing his ritual dagger are as synonymous with the craft and it's public perception as the size of things in Texas, or American's love of menthol cigarettes.
Even after one starts to dive into the craft in actuality, there are an innumerous amount of sources that claim this wand or implement is needed for this ritual, this chalice or censor for that, but I have found that from having a deep rooted origin in chaos magic, I have achieved the same amount of success both bare and kitted out, so to speak. Now I'm well aware that things like incense or music can really set the mood and bring on gnosis much quicker, but i was taught that relying on these things to bring about your will and enact change functions more like a crutch or training wheels to be more accurate. sure you can ride the bike as long as the supports hold you upright, but take them away, and boom! You've fallen over.
Well firstly we shouldn't forget that sometimes it is a sign of respect or formality. Some Spirit simply will not show up unless you do it correctly because they either believe that's how it should be done or they want to show of respect. Others honestly could care less it may even show up if you get it wrong because that's just how they are.
So there's three sides to this,
I. The recognition and honoring of tradition which shows respect to the culture in ways of the spirit you are trying to call forth.
II. Proper protocol I said of rudely calling or otherwise bothering the spirit. You would probably be upset if somebody called you at 3:00 a.m. in the morning and it wasn't an emergency, or somebody called you out of your busy schedule and didn't take the call seriously.
III. How tools and implements actually affect the capabilities of the practitioner.
I would say it's obvious that you were asking about point number three.
The first thing I would say to that that the tools of the practitioner are the faculties of the practitioner. That is to say that everything a practitioner is able to do comes from the interaction of spirit, read animating fire, and their psyuche (old soulful word predating the modern form psyche).
Now of these faculties, our ability to observe anything is rooted in our spirit/noumena as the true observer yet the manner in which are Spirit observes phenomena I threw our senses.
Now we have outward facing senses which are the ones we are most familiar with and we have internal senses which are these reflected inward, which we encounter in dream states, daydreams any inward exploration of realms.
Ritual tools come in one of two varieties:
I. As extensions of the practitioner in an extending and leveraging these senses as a way to direct the power of observation towards some aim.
II. These tools may be installed becoming a living entity in their own rite, birthed from the practitioner. Or they may be used as the materia magica for the locus or vessel of a familiar spirit which a practitioner works with and directs to leverage their own faculties.
I am of the mind that a good working tool should be both and should be in touch with both the inner and exterior senses, as one is to bring from their inner world, an outward manifestation.
This is by no means to say that everything we call up is just extensions of ourselves. Rather that, just as they say you have to go within to go without, the magician themselves is often a gate. If not the gate that the entity passes through itself, certainly the gate for the right atmosphere to arise for the entity to take form or to be attracted or to obey the divinity. We mustn't forget the importance of being inflamed with prayer and invoking the authority of God through the magician. I am not trying to stay The importance of being religious, more to the point that the magician aligns to a higher authority in order to properly operate and direct entities subject to that authority.
Other tools such as the Ring of Arte, aren't you protecting the magician from certain abilities of the demons called. The ring is also a symbol of faith in God and authority through that relationship there too.
So do you need tools? The short answer is no but the answer is also "that depends on your capability" and "that depends on how intimately aligned you are to what you are trying to to move".
No elemental weapon or direct of working tool it's going to do you any good if you don't have disciplined control over your inner and outer faculties such is required to employ the weapon.
A cross or crucifix isn't going to ward off an evil spirit without faith or prior consecration by the faithful.
A crystal ball or obsidian mirror may give results but only take you so far if you haven't cultivated the sight.
The ring won't save your virtue does not have you standing in God's Court.
These things haven't been said, the tools are meant to enhance the abilities and and direct the faculties you have and through this they become sharpened. You don't need a magical sword but if you use a magical sword it will sharpen your will. You don't need a wand to be able to direct thought forms but yes, like training wheels as you put it, it teaches your mind how to do so.
If you have made your tools such that they are true extensions of yourself when you work with them you work with yourself. That is the key. The tools themselves are an act of magic.
If you go into war, there is no sword or firearm or grenade that can replace proper training to navigate a hostile environment or a life and death situation. There's not one weapon out there that makes you a soldier or a warrior or that can replace boot camp. Just the same, no soldier who knows what they are up against and how to handle the situation wants to go into a hostile situation without the proper tools.
If you were contacting a familiar spirit that you were on good terms with and having established history with, you probably aren't concerned about the implements on hand. If however you are making contact with an entity you have never made contact with before, and especially if you go into it knowing that there are many accounts of them being unruly or unagreeable, you certainly don't want to be caught.. without resources.
Now if you are practicing the psychological model of magic you probably don't give much thought to such things, because again you are practicing the psychological model and these aren't seen necessarily as external forces unless you believe in some kind of collective psychology that goes beyond your own personal psychology.
However just because you may believe for example, let the 72 demons of the art excavation are not real and are merely manifestations of the psyches of the individuals who wrote about them, you must always remember that those tomes were written with the intention to make contact with entities that were believed to exist outside of the human individual.
For that very fact we are no longer dealing with just our own faculties but with things that exist outside thereof, though they must be perceived there with.
To that point the tools help make the magic tangible and physical and this also helps bring the spirit to visible appearance. It makes it real by bringing it into the sphere of our everyday possibility. It also allows us the proper instruments to deal with something that may not at all be subject to our personal belief or state of mind.
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Now all of that having been said.. you may not need a wand to practice magic but you may need a wants to practice a certain ritual. That does not mean that you can't practice and modified form of that ritual without the wanted so get results but it is no longer the same ritual.
more like a crutch or training wheels to be more accurate. sure you can ride the bike as long as the supports hold you upright, but take them away, and boom! You've fallen over.
I see this attitude a lot and I think it's coming at it from the wrong place
1. Yes, it's good to be able to do magic when you're without resources. But if a tool helps, and you can access the tool, then refusing to use a tool is pure ego. Like, if you've started secretly thinking you're better than people who use tools, then it's not really about the efficacy of the magic, it's about satisfying your ego.
2. Describing it as a "crutch" is weirdly moralistic. My long distance vision is not great. I use glasses as a tool to help me see better. My vision isn't that bad, so I don't really NEED them, I just prefer things in the distance not to be blurry. Is my use of glasses a crutch? If not, then why would using a tool to improve my magic be any different? And where is the line? It's easier to do magic if you have a private room, or just a private bedroom you don't share. Is THAT a crutch? Some people can read a ritual through once and memorise it instantly, whereas I need to read it multiple times - I'm using the book as a tool to aid in memorisation. Again, is that a crutch? My point is that the line between "relying on it as a crutch" and "no of course not, that's completely normal" is arbitrary and generally just happens to be drawn wherever the magician speaking stands. ("Any external support that I need is just normal and sensible. Anything more than what I personally need is a crutch")
While I agree it's definitely good to not be dependent on tools, that does not logically mean there's any virtue in never using tools. It's an extremely valuable skill to be able to start a fire without tools, but imagine someone using a firebow to start a fire to make coffee every morning instead of just turning the coffeemaker on. Is that... good? Sensible, logical? How does "you shouldn't be dependent on tools" translate to "it's better to never use tools"?
In fact, in many kinds of skilled work (say, goldsmithing or carpentry), we would say that the person who knows how to use tools well is more skilled than the person who doesn't know how to use tools.
If a carpenter said "I get exactly the same results whether I use a drill or just kind of smush the screws in by hand", my assessment would be: "you are probably not a very good carpenter and l don't think you know how to use a drill".
The talented car mechanic does not hope to one day transcend the need for tools.
I'm being a devil's advocate to a degree - I don't think magicians using tools is better than not using them. I'm just trying to show that there's a very strong counterargument, and therefore non-tool-users should consider that they're not any better, just different
3. This is actually the most important one for me. The "I don't need tools" argument is kind of puritanical. Like, here's why I use tools: I like them. They are pleasing to look at and they increase my enjoyment of ritual. The conversation is always framed in terms of "need" but my view is, if something is enjoyable and doesn't harm anyone, it's good. Just liking something is a good reason to do it.
Now, I can demonstrate how this improves me as a magician: because I find ritual more enjoyable, I find it easier to practice, and as a result I'm very consistent. But even that's the wrong angle: like I say, it's very puritanical to think you shouldn't do something you enjoy unless it makes you more productive, you know?
I don't "need" any physical pleasures or comforts, I don't need glasses, I don't need food that tastes nicer than plain, unsalted rice + vegetables, I don't need to ever go for a pleasant walk in a forest. And yet, I do these things. And if someone said they never had a nice meal or watched a movie or read a book or visited a friend because they don't "need" to, I wouldn't admire them for it.
(Actually I suspect tool used is 99% about personal preference. The person who says "I don't need tools" actually just doesn't enjoy using them particularly. Which is fine, but they don't get to turn their personal preferences into a virtue)
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Because my comment wasn't long enough already:
You mentioned the example of training wheels on a bike.
But the bike, too, is a tool.
You decide to draw the line in between the bike and the training wheels. Maybe some pedestrian thinks you're weak for needing a bike.
(Even phrasing it as you NEEDING a bike seems kind of insulting, right? You don't NEED a bike, you ride one because it keeps you fit and is fun and gets you places faster. It's weird to frame other people's preferences as needs an dependencies!)
The circle is also a tool. It protects, concentrates, provides a locus and establishes a cosmology and spatial formula. Sure you can visualize it and cast a nonphysical circle but that just makes it a tool on a nonphysical plane.
Have you were watched X-Men? A circle doing the things I just described is like Cerebrus. It enhanced and magnifies the powers of Professor Xavier and Jean Grey . They don't need it to have psychic powers, as they already do, yet it trains their abilities and it also allows them to reach out with their minds a greater distance and with a greater potency. There are things they can accomplish with Cerebrus that they can't accomplish otherwise but Cerebrus can't work with and leverage abilities that aren't there. Wolverine can't use it. Cyclops can't use it. There has to be a capable mind for it to interface with.
Oh okay I actually really would struggle without pen and paper
I use a pretty chalice instead of an ordinary cup because I just like it, but I wouldn't be able to keep a Magical Record without pen and paper (or phone/computer). I also write rituals from books out on separate paper ALL THE TIME, and use pen and paper for designing sigils and messing around with sacred geometry and the tree of life (add in a compass and a straightedge for that)
So yeah my current practice is reliant on some tools
(Of course, if I couldn't access pen and paper, I would adapt. Being reliant on a tool doesn't mean we'd be helpless without it, it just means we need to change as our circumstances change)
Training wheels would certainly be part of what I think ritual tools are useful for - when you are first learning either magic in general, or a specific new form of magic, following the instructions as written gives you a jumping-off point to personalize the magic to work better for you, so if the original magic requires magic circles, dribbling candles, goat skulls etc... start with that, and see where it takes you.
Another use is for co-ordination in group rituals, because it is simply easier for everyone to work together if there is scenery, props, and the associated movements & spoken word parts to direct the action & keep everyone synchronized and in the right place.
Another use is to give noobs & non-practicioners the theatrics that they need to believe in your magic - most practitioners will eventually start encountering the 'I've been cursed, please help me' types, and in 99% of cases they haven't, but no amount of assurance will work as well as a formal ritual with props - so stick 'em in a circle, give them a lit candle to hold and a simple chant to say as you robe up, roam around the circle waving a sword and bellowing in latin. Making it an actual effective ritual will deal with the 1%, abd the theatrics will deal with the rest.
And, as someone noted above, personal preference also plays a part:
I like designing & using sigils - so I have a collection of papers, inks, brushes, pens etc... I don't Need them - in the past I've drawn sigils using beer on the floor of crowded bars, and scratched them into the dirt with my toe - but I do Like using the more artistic forms.
Tools are useful, but mainly because you believe them to be useful. And it's always good practice to be able to do things without specialized tools, even if you have said tools available. Use them when you have them, but be able to forgo them if you don't.
Tools in magic have a lot in common with sigils. It's an item you put your intent and will into in order to enable it to manifest a result. The difference is the medium you're using to create them. A sigil is made from a drawing on something, a tool is made of whatever your tool is made from. The process for creation is fundamentally the same, you come up with what you want it to be/do, then you make it real, and then you imbue it with your intent and will.
You're right. But you can't do Iron Butt Association challenges without the bike, since it's against IBA ideology.
Also some points of your desired distanations can reqire using a buss or plane or even helicopter.
You're choosing the optimal set of crutches to meet your challenges and achieve your targets. If you can do all the things without them - it's awesome! But good idea here is to be well informed about them for the occasions when your next challenge will reqire to use them
