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Studies in Magic

Alchemy is just ancient Chemistry.

If you want to study it, study the real thing.
 
Moxie said:
I tried to study kaballah but didn't get it - at all. I keep trying to go back to studying it, and come up with the same 'do not understand.' I also knew someone who was big into alchemy. There really isn't that much out there to study it.
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I think I like the idea of Kabbalah so much because I've been translating the Hebrew Bible - I wrote a 37-page paper about a passage of Hosea this past semester - so I kind of GET what's going on, on that level. So much of it is, I presume, based on the Hebrew ambiguities of the texts...

I remember what I had to look it up for now - I had to do a paper on Anselm Kiefer (German Jewish painter) and he was into it. This was the quote I liked from the Wikipedia article:
The foundation of all foundations, and the pillar of all wisdom is to know that there is God who brought into being all existence. All the beings of the heavens, and the earth, and what is between them came into existence only from the truth of God's being.
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That strikes me as being true.

Also from the wikipedia article, about the four levels of interpretation:
Peshat (lit. "simple"): the direct interpretations of meaning.
Remez (lit. "hint"): the allegoric meanings (through allusion).
Derash (from Heb. darash: "inquire" or "seek"): midrashic (Rabbinic) meanings, often with imaginative comparisons with similar words or verses.
Sod (lit. "secret" or "mystery"): the inner, esoteric (metaphysical) meanings, expressed in kabbalah.
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I can get to Derash on my own - that was the 37 page paper. Haven't tried to go farther.
 
Moxie said:
I used to practice 'good' wiccan spells, but never really felt like they worked for me - but the belief really wasn't there either. I've tried playing with crystals and 'touch' healing, but those didn't really seem to work very well either. I'm not sure if you have to have a belief in something for it to work - it seems to me that things should work if they're going to work, regardless of your beliefs.

The past year I don't do too much of any of this except runes. I have a theory that your ancestry guides what divination abilities you will be best at. The Runes have always worked well for me, but Tarot doesn't nearly as well. One of my friends who is Italian swears that the Tarot works well for her, every time, but the Runes don't work for her. All of these things work for me, just not as well as Runes and Bibliomancy.
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just a few things. there's no such thing as a bad wiccan spell (except one that's poorly done). Wicca's main precept is "harm none," so if the spell is aimed to harm, its not wiccan. Also, one's specific beliefe set doesn't matter when it comes to magic, but confidence does. if you go into a spell expecting it to fail, it will most certainly fail.

Also, I don't know if ancestry really has that much to do with the tarot/runes preference. I have much more Norse blood than italian, but the tarot works much better for me. however, from what I've heard, everyone seems to have a preference for one or the other, and very rarely both.
 
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Shai Gar said:
Alchemy is just ancient Chemistry.

If you want to study it, study the real thing.
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I would appear on the surface that the alchemists were trying to change lead into gold but I have to side with the Jungian interpretation of their practices. The were trying individuate.

I am fascinated by this topic but confess to a materialism that makes me skeptical of many "spooky force at a distance" claims. (misquoting Einstein there) I have read several books and articles by Dan Merkur on mysticism which are appealing in that he is unconcerned with whether or not the magic is physically working but concentrates on the states of consciousness experienced. Here is a web address for a list of some of his writings. http://www.danmerkur.com/pages/online.html
Hey jlynnr, maybe you could post excerpts from your paper?
jlynnr said:
I think I like the idea of Kabbalah so much because I've been translating the Hebrew Bible - I wrote a 37-page paper about a passage of Hosea
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Rezityletsopa said:
Hey jlynnr, maybe you could post excerpts from your paper?
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I've PM'd you - the excerpts that are worth posting are long and not particularly on topic.
 
Thank you for sharing Jlynnr,


I read this on another thread.
Naxx said:
The feeling between the out of body and the aura expansion isn't much different, both modes I can feel the land, glass on the ground, the sound of the cars, flow of the wind, interactions of people, etc.

Except when I am in half sleep/awake the areas I can explore is still limited to my aura size except that aura is no long attached to my body.
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would this qualify as magic?
 
Solar Empath said:
Oh? :)

Erotic unions with spirits have occured throughout history, but the methods have been suppressed and lost, save for references and fragments in ancient alchemical and magical texts. This book presents a magical system for initiating sexual unions with spirit beings and using the energy released from these unions for self-empowerment and personal transformation. It offers to show the reader: magical sexual practices and a sexual spiritual union to surpass the pleasures of physical sex; rituals to encourage the movement of Kundalini energy; magical uses for sexual fluids; techniques for creating a homunculus - an artificial human.
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HAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ROFLMAO!!!
That was... that was... wow. Funny. What the @^#! are they going to use the fluids for??? Hair gel? I want to buy the book just to find out.

Ahem. Sorry. Please continue. Pardon the nuisance.
 
I've had intercourse with spirits...

I had a mushroom cap first of course...
 
If your going to any type of magic. I heed thee. To read the rede.
The Wiccan rede. It's the first thing you should do, and then the next thing is that you should follow the rules thereof. And ye harm none. Do as thy wilt.
 
:]
you're cute.

BUT the wiccan rede only applies to wiccans. It is not a prereq for all magic. What needs to be understood is that there are consequence for every action, and you need to know what those consequences are (law of returns).

Also, its "'An ye harm none," not And. It means "so long as."
 
The only magic I do is using my talents.

My ancestors though were Maori witches. I am currently investigating my ancestors involvement with witchcraft and other practices.
I wouldn't engage in it myself, I don't need to nor do I have the desire to. Spiritually, I believe that its unsafe practice. You are dealing with things that you are not 100% sure about, things that could be extremely dangerous and far more powerful than yourself. I have seen many strange cases involving beings that are not human, things that would make grown men shake in fear. It may seem harmless fun, but that's how it starts. I don't mean to be biest nor come across as a nutcase in my views.
I have personal friends that are Wiccan.

I can say from personal experience there are things that out there that are far more powerful than ourselves that we should be weary of.
 
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