Working definition of: Sorcerer vs Magician vs ????

[Neferkare Amen]

Ok. I can't sleep so, welcome to:

The insomniatic ramblings of Zmaji! 🫣

Tonight at 2:45AM London England, 48mins short of the dreaded 3:33AM basically reflecting on years of practice looking in the mirror like Frankenstein's monster wondering, 'what am I... what have I become!?'

This in particular after receiving my Hand of IFA in an African tradition and being put through my paces there. Noting that my practice covers various traditions and having to (reluctantly) recant on past perspectives on what it means to be a Magician vs being a Sorcerer. Maybe.

Drawing from Jewish Christian mysticism, Hermeticism, Tantra, Greek, and Yourban culture all mixed into some form of personalised coherence I think I'm now a, "Sorcerer". Too mixed to be a Magician now perhaps and too far off from being a priest despite those roles being within ones function.

Prior to this I had reserved the title of Magician for those most esteemed of individuals overall working toward alignment and their true will. Casting the view of Sorcerers as being adhoc spell casters more inclined toward personal power not feeling bad about what tools they use to obtain their goals. Most likely drawn toward grimiore hopping, chaos magic, WoW, and craft beer over HoGD magic, yoga, Sushi and exquisite wine.

A priest/ess is then someone who has adherence to one culture specifically and is the opposite to a Sorcerer as they would not interact with other cultures or use tools outside of a specific culture or tradition.

These are of course extremely loose, crappy and personal definitions which are obviously quite lame but its now 3:15AM and irregular thinking should be encouraged at such times.

Q: How do you define yourself as a practitioner? What are your definitions of a Magician / Sorcerer etc etc?

Think we may as well throw witches and warlocks into the cauldron, see what bubbles up.

 

[Firetree]

Ancient ; via etymology Magic- power , Sorcery - divination . From IE and various descended language roots it shifted and seems to now be somewhat reversed

sorcery - innate, inherited, raw ability

magic - studied and learnt 'technology'



If I may make an observation ... you seem to be at that stage before everything falls together and fits like a jigsaw puzzle that now seems like a 'bunch of different bits ' ( who/ what am I ? ) but all off a sudden , few pieces 'click' and then it 'all falls together ' . and then .....



- the True Will emerges .

If that didnt make sense , I have a story about it ( I got a story for everything ) .

 

[Diamond-otherkin]

You will find out in the future looking backward. While the question itself is important, the answer will not exactly come from it, while the answer could also never exist without the question being asked.
Basically asking the question will lead you to some more self-observation and self-searching, this will guide the path you chose to observe and "know yourself" and in turns, these methods of observation will guide you to a particular results.

 

[Neferkare Amen]

Am finding glue in a connection to traditional cultures whose priests are best able to stick things together via divination. Both Indian astrologers and IFA priests give similar readings and interpret through their cultural perspectives.

Interesting thing with the language having changed over time. Always welcome a good story... especially when sleep is as evasive as it is.

Perhaps I am a sorcerer more than a magician after all

 

[Diamond-otherkin]

Oh yeah language is quite a something, it seems like you probably have a good grasp of technical terms in several languages, I would recommend learning a completely new language if possible one from a family far from the languages you already speak and then trying to meditate on these same questions in that new language after you have achieve fluency. Big break-through came my way through this method.

 

[Keldan]

There’s a lot of overlap between these definitions, and everyone is going to describe them a little differently. But for me, magicians are people who use sleight of hand, manipulating cards, coins, and similar props for entertainment. They aren’t doing magick, it’s just performance and psychology. If you look up magician in a standard dictionary, you’ll usually find that kind of definition.

A sorcerer/sorceress is more focused on spellcraft, often working with herbs, oils, powders, and other materials. Witches and wizards are rooted in folk practice and the cycles of nature, which is different from sorcery. But they can still do spellwork too, including working with herbs, oils, powders, etc. So there’s a lot of overlap between those categories.

Then there are mystics who tend to care less about outcomes and focus more on inner transformation. Although they can often miscommunicate every sight they have as something coming directly from the divine.

An occultist is an umbrella term for someone who studies or practices esoteric systems, grimoires, astrology, etc. Some occultists are more theory oriented, while others are more hands on, it depends on the person.

Shamanic practice involves a lot of trance journeying, healing, channeling, etc. Of course, trance work can show up in sorcery or wizardry too, but it usually isn’t done as frequently as many times a day as it is in shamanic work.

A diviner is someone whose core practice is receiving and interpreting information through geomancy, scrying, prophetic dreams, etc.

I prefer the term mage and it fits me best because I don’t follow any other tradition, framework, or system. My practice is combining other things/definitions and approaches.