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Post by teppic on Oct 6, 2006 15:40:20 GMT -5
Erm, believe it or not they actually kind of are. And i'm not even joking. When you understand how various magical practices work you begin to see the exact same pattern in modern technology.
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Post by annemarieirene on Oct 7, 2006 16:06:07 GMT -5
I'm not kidding, either. Short of going to the library (long ways from me without a car!!), can you reccommend any reading on it... even online?
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Post by teppic on Oct 8, 2006 15:44:06 GMT -5
It depends what area you want to read about. Any of Scott Cunningham's books are well worth reading if you want a good grounding in solitary Witchcraft, Wicca, or natural magic. That covers much of the basics and there's usually a good sized bibliography with recommended books for reading about more specialised areas. Marian Green has written some good books on an older style of Witchcraft with some Ceremonial Magic influences, though her books often cover lots of different subjects and are often linked to an older generation of magical practices based within the UK. If you want to approach the subject from a more Shamanic point of view then 'The Way of the Shaman' by Michael Harner is a very good book. Books by John and Caitlin Matthews (individually or together - they're husband and wife) are a good grounding in Celtic mythology/magic/religion, though their texts go from being simple and easy to follow through to the downright difficult. It's been quite a long time since i read one of their books, but they have a website/newsletter online here. One of my favourite 'magical tradition' authors is R.J. Stewart, who has a grounding in the Western Magical Tradition and couples that with Shamanism and Celtic Mysticism. The books i enjoyed going through the most were 'Earth Light' and 'Power Within The Land' (they're companion books and you need to have read the first before the second or you'll be completely lost) which deal with Faery lore. However, his books are much more advanced than any from the other authors i've mentioned, and he expects that the reader already has a good grounding in magical traditions and techniques before they even start reading his books. You also need to slightly adapt any practices you take out of his books on the Faery Tradition if you live outside of the UK to whatever the local folklore where you are is, which may complicate things slightly more. He's also done some very accessible books on his own and with John Matthews about British mythology which are well worth reading if you want to learn about the subject. Again i haven't read any of his recent books so don't know what direction he's currently following, but his earlier books had some of the biggest influences upon my own path out of most author's works i've read. For practices which follow the Asatru Tradition (based upon Norse mythology) i highly recommend 'Teutonic Magic' and 'Teutonic Religion' by Kveldulf Gundarsson (though i should probably point out that he himself changed his view on a few little aspects of the contents of 'Teutonic Religion' as it went to press apparently - but it doesn't stop the book being one of the most accessible introductions to the practices). The books written by Edred Thorsson/Stephen Flowers (who're the same person) are very good guides to to the Northern Tradition, but be warned that he comes from a highly scholastic background and so with the exception of a few books his work is very intense theory which can be very difficult to follow.
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Post by annemarieirene on Oct 8, 2006 18:57:55 GMT -5
Wow! Thanks. I definitely will follow up on those links/tips. I'm one of those people who has all these gut feelings about stuff, but the more stuff is "proven" to me, the less I believe in it. Did that make sense? That's why my spirtual faith is so solid... I've never ever questioned it, or had reason to. It seems, the 'blinder' my faith is, the more I have to show for it.
And (most) math and a lot of science are just too formulatic and fact-based to suit my core personality.
You know?
Like: "lately, i'm into circuitry,what it means to be made of you,but not enough for you...and i wonder if you can bilocate -- is that what i taste...your supernova juice? You know it's true... i'm part of you..."
Reason for Editting: suddenly related to certain T. lyrics...
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Post by teppic on Oct 9, 2006 15:39:35 GMT -5
Well i've had a couple of instances which have 'proved' magical and spiritual energies to me over the years (really don't want to get into them tho). I'm the opposite to you i guess, in that i need things to be proven to me... Sometimes you get a feeling when you're onto something, but for me i need something which satisfies me enough that there really is something real.
I guess i'm the same with my spiritual beliefs as i am with everything else, in that i believe in everything being 50/50 from both sides. For me to have faith in something i need to have personal proof from it, and once i have that i can start to put my faith into it more. The funny thing is that people look at my religion and beliefs and assume i must be pretty open to suggestion - in reality i'm one of the most cynical, fault-finding, difficult sons of bitches that i know. ;D Faith will only take me so far before i need something to prove to me it's worth my while going any further.
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Post by artemesia on Oct 16, 2006 19:56:21 GMT -5
ok, that is odd. I am all about energy and all that, but that is really odd. I even put all the energy I could into another symbol and it still guessed it. Anyone want to pm me too Please. thank you
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Post by artemesia on Oct 16, 2006 19:59:43 GMT -5
sorry for the double post but I just thought of a random number, didn't look up the symbol till after, andit STILL got it right and I did it like a ton of times because I wanted it to be wrong. almost creepy, online psychic computers
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Tigbee
Nautical Twilight
[M0:0]Give me Life, Give me Pain, Give me Myself Again
Posts: 167
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Post by Tigbee on Oct 17, 2006 15:42:55 GMT -5
Kinda the same here Lynn... the first time I did it, I did it completely wrong! And it guessed it right... Then I figured I'd done it wrong, and did it right... and it got it... My excuse for not understanding it... I'm blonde!
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Post by annemarieirene on Oct 17, 2006 23:03:20 GMT -5
It's magic, I tell ya....
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