Hello. Newbie to the board, but an avid enthusiast of esoteric knowledge.
I have a question. Actually, two to three questions. Have any of you practiced any rituals or rites that have consistently worked? If yes, were these practices learned from others or discovered from principles?
And, in your experience/opinion, where does esotericism and the occult end and theatrics and illusions start?
Edit: I really don’t get all the downvotes. I’m just asking perfectly reasonable questions. And I’m even polite about it. Is it the thumbnail? Did people get offended by the greenscreen wizard? I hope that’s not the case, I like the greenscreen wizard. He has much wisdom to share.
Magic isn’t real.
I got a free Tarot reading today, and it was 100% accurate. How do you explain that.
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That is an actual thing that happened today.
On a more realistic note. You really expect me to believe we taught crystals how to do math with lightning and now we can talk to beings that don’t exist physically, and NONE of that is magic? Can’t fool me.
Also, a bit of a personal question. Do you go to Christmas parties where there are children and yell “Santa isn’t real! Jesus wasn’t born on Christmas!” or do you do these kinds of things online-only? Let me have a little whimsy, for fuck’s sake. 🙃
I think the Terry Pratchett approach to magik has been very fruitful for me since discovering it. Less work and more fun honestly. Nobody said it needed to be hard.
Can you clarify? The way Terry Pratchett did magic, or the way Terry Pratchett wrote magic?
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(To be honest, I’m not even sure what the right spelling is at this point. Magic, Magik, Magick? I’m just going to use “magic” because that’s how I’ve always spelled it, and I don’t think it matters.)
Start with headology.
I’ve not read it, but it seems legit.
Mirror, Mirror in my hand, who’s the _____ in the land?
This is not my personal tradition, but it will do:
https://debrawakitsch.com/classes-on-healing/the-mirror-principle/
As a message for our Young_Gilgamesh (delightful magickal name),
🪞
Quote from the article you linked “You are never, ever a victim. You are 100% responsible for everything that happens to you.” that is some problematic stuff right there. Wouldn’t tell that to a rape victim or anyone who ACTUALLY suffered in their life. From that quote alone I can tell the mirror principle is bullshit. (no offense to you, just a bad source of a demonstrably bad practice)
And your AI image link doesn’t work. You have to download the image first, then use “upload image” in the comment formatting. Like this:
Don’t use AI BTW, it is evil. It does not follow the covenant. It’s a Shoggoth. And it takes a lot of water to make an image. So if you do use it, be aware of the cost.
I think these are fine questions. People should ask such questions.
Anyway: I can say a lot for these questions, but suffice to say yes and no lol. Yes, I have found some published works whose rituals were very useful. But I also have freely adjusted and amended some of these to better suit my purposes as well. Practice and study made it clear where I could do this, since while it’s true that your practice should really be your own, reinventing the wheel is a waste of time and energy. It’s only really important that your rituals help you focus and direct your energy and intent properly, and to allow you to exit that headspace and return to ‘consensus reality’ afterward. Reading very broadly (i.e. every approach you can find) can help since then you can compare and contrast various ideas.
Well, as far as theatrics and illusions… The problem is that the answer is yes/yes. You need the theatrics and self-delusion in the moment in order to get out of your head, to get into a light trance state. But like I said above, you also need to come down from that state and return to ‘normal’ afterward. A lot of people do not like that last part. Magick can feel good, and the mental state in the midst of ritual can feel like something you want to use all the time, but it’s not healthy. I can’t say for sure, but it does seem that the more a person uses emotions to fuel their magick, the more danger they’re in of slipping into delusional states. Meditation tends to be an old mainstay practice within magick because it protects against that situation. If you get into a meditative state for trances, instead of winding up emotions, you should get better results on the whole, as well as find it easier to exit magick-mental space. After that, don’t allow someone else to do your thinking for you. Don’t make membership in a tradition more important than understanding yourself. :V
There’s a reason you start as neophyte, then graduate to next levels.
Magick is real, but not in the way most people think. Most people come craving worldly power, but aren’t worthy of holding it. The rituals are to prepare the vessel. Not putting new wine into a five gallon Tupperware container and sealing the lid while you go off about your business.
Or to put it another way, it’s not about painting roses red, it’s about tilling the soil, picking out the weeds and larger stones, watering and composting the soil, planting the roses, finding non-toxic pest control, weeding the bed, pruning, learning that as blooms die, to cut them just before the first fifth leaf so they bloom again, what to graft to what to produce a new breed, etc. And by then, red may not be your objective, perhaps you like lime green roses.
So, basically tychokinesis, yes? I believe some call it “synchronicity” or “reverse causality”? have found it effective, but not nearly as esoteric and interesting as I’d hoped. When you really get down to it, it’s just math and probability. Anyone can do it. Basically reverse-engineering an outcome.
Or are you talking about a different concept altogether?
😶
Then why bring it up in the first place? There’s no way to develop a field of study without discussing findings and having them peer-reviewed.
I get the “Esoteric” part of “Esoteric Knowledge”, but why make it more secretive than it has to be? I don’t think there should be any shame or stigma in discussing such things. So why not just talk about it plainly?
Magic isn’t real, if it means something to you, then that’s something.
Magic is a science we do not understand yet. Magic is definitely real. There is no casting fireballs and raising skeletons to do your bidding. But manipulating forces we do not understand through esoteric means? That is a thing. Would you agree?
Could you give me an example of something measurable that you think is possible?
Or are you talking about like “The Secret?”
