Saturday, October 17, 2009

Real Magic Gets Wacky.

I have been having a number of discussions about the ways in which magic can, and often does, present itself in strange, even hokey ways.

Vortex Healing for instance is a cluster of bad New Age Clichés. Yet, the person I first learned about it from, a very serious occultist, was floored at its results. After checking it out I found other people who didnt buy into the whole new age history of "Merlins" and such, but who attested to its absolutely shocking effectiveness. After looking at some of the tech, a bit of it seems to mirror things I have been taught by angels (a new age cliché in itself). One of these days I will investigate further.

Another topic that has gotten a lot of attention recently in some quarters are old Parker Press books like The Miracle of New Avatar Power. These books are 25% tech and about 75% hokey testimonials like "How Charles F made $10,000 after performing the invocation to give secret knowlege". But heres the thing: the modern mages that are using this book and others like it, are reporting exactly that kind of success on their boards. They aren't selling the book. The tech is pretty simple, solid kabbalistic root - but just a bit different in terms of names and such. Different enough that those who cleave steadfastly to the standard will be turned off, but those that recognize how little actual instruction from angels and spirits actually sticks to those standard will see that it is a sign of validity rather than not.

Even some standard mages have made these changes. For instance William gray has most of the Sodalities invoking Jivroel instead of Gabriel because it tones down the martial elements of this angel, which was important in the days after the world war. Should we still be doing it that way? I suppose somebody should ask Gabriel or Jivroel, but instead we mostly just follow Grays lead so that we are all on the same page.

Anyway, as my own course in magic is about to start up, and is already approaching 40 students, I am becoming aware that a few of the things that iI will be teaching in later lessons, wont necessarily follow the standard because they have been taught to me by spirits or discovered through experimentation. I hope that they dont come off sounding like Vortex Healing does, but I am also proud that the material doesnt just fit snuggly into the mold.


4 comments:

Mr. J. said...

It's a lot like "Sai Baba Reiki" that a reiki practitioner had "transmitted" durring a vision. Sai Babba allegedly appeared and gave her a new empowerment. Sai Babba was contacted and said 'Nope, wasn't me.' But still, it worked!

Origin stories are neat, but especially the more and more fringe you get in the spiritual world the more out there and unverifiable.

Sometimes, I would guess, that it's whatever objective powers beaming in to the personal psychic soup of the reciever.

Good things the results are verifiable!

jetgirl said...

Always interesting to see the old Parker books referenced. I am just old enough to remember when they were pretty much it for pop occultism. At least as far as I can remember.

Rufus Opus said...

A few years ago, I would have laughed at Vortex Healing and probably your "channelled Angelic tech." Since then I've started doing magic, and yeah. Totally.

I don't talk about some of the hokier stuff I learn, but when I post a meditative-contemplative ramble on the kinds of weird stuff I experience, the posts always seem to be the most popular. They generate cool comments and even cooler emails from folks who don't want to seem incredibly loonie in public but have had really cool lunacies in their magical lives.

The wack-fringe is always beckoning to us, and I try to tread carefully when I start getting too close to the edge, but still... fun stuff. I wouldn't trade it for all the gold in China.

Well, maybe some days. But not the rest.

ChandraNova said...

What you all said. :o)

I'm thinking, if I could possibly imagine what it's LIKE to be an immortal (or near enough) angel/elemental or whatever, I'd actually get pretty pissed off at people who think they just have to go through the motions like their great-great-grandfathers did, and I'd maybe throw out a few effective lifelines to people and see whether they'll let that oh-so-base desire for "authenticity" overcome Listening To Me.

I have NO dispute with traditions that work, but to say there can be nothing new under the sun (and let's face it, this is a pretty hokey generation) is to act like the PTB can't handle flexibility, and granting the occasional boon in a way that's appropriate for its era.

Most traditionalists would think nothing if they saw [insert name of powerful being in your Path] wearing a cloak and holding out a goblet, yet they'd baulk if that same being was holding out a can of soda, and wearing shades: yet for most of human history, woven capes and cast metal were unheard of, and then for a long time they too were once gee-whizz modern technology...

I think it's pretty bizarre when you think about it, to assume Spirit doesn't move with the times?