I think Brysing has a good point, as I have seen contested so many times before about the differences between magic and spells. Unfortunately the great authors of old had a hard time getting works published back in the day, as magik was a very frowned upon topic. Now in our modern era, the neo-pagan era as some might call it, is more popular now than it was back then. But has been miss conveyed through television, film and the media, which often leaves our generation with a fragmented sense of what is what, and which is which.
I completely agree that magick doesn't require religion nor belief. So again if it's not Gods power ect then what is the source of this energy? Is it natural? Life force? Or just the power of our will and it comes from within us?
All of it is when you think about it, it's all about the co-dependance of our species, the coexisting with other species as well as plant life, although I wouldn't call it that since we destroy half the planet. The source of magik or it's origins is one of the great mysteries of life, or one could argue that your own conscious mind impacting upon the world is part of that magik. It's very much down to your own interpretation, and moreover where you decide to place you msgik, is it within you, do you draw it from a higher being or hand it all over to god. I believe magik is where your heart is :)
If your looking for base magic, that would simply be your faith or belief. From the point of view of the solipsist, it would be the mind. However if you believed instead that the mind and body where a part of existence, believing that reality would still continue after death your base magik would be shared with yourself and the cosmos. Which of either end of the spectrum you go, it all comes down to where you place your belief, I suppose in truth magik is everything, and belief is everything. And with those two in union with each other, both is just as believable as the other one.
The elements are only present in the Western mystery tradition and are used as labels for principles merely for convenience. They barely resemple the original phlosophical notion of the elements theorised by Greek philosophers.
When a WMT person mentions air, they do not mean what we breathe. They mean all the qualities associated with Air- the intellect, Mercury, Gemini, the Ruach, East, the rising of the sun, the dagger etc.
Re: My Theory of magick 2 By: Brysing Moderator / Adept
Post # 27 Apr 29, 2015
Even the word "energy", used so much in writing about spells, does not mean energy at all! Energy is Mass; MC squared. You cannot "direct" energy! To put it simply, it takes an amount of energy from your body to pick up a stone,the same amount of energy is expended by the stone when you drop it back to the ground. Everything that is made of atoms has energy; if it moves it has more energy.Water has energy when still. It has more energy when flowing; even more in a waterfall!
The only "energy" used in casting a spell is that used by the brain! But you cannot "direct" it into something else!
First the elements are also present in the eastern practices as well. The Chinese elements are Water, Fire, Earth, Wood, and Metal. Second energy can be directed to an extent using science, focusing or maybe channelling if you want to call it that. So maybe our minds or more like our spirits or life force is a conductor of magick. Maybe our very thoughts are like a pebble in a pond.
Re: My Theory of magick 2 By: Brysing Moderator / Adept
Post # 29 Apr 30, 2015
"energy can be directed to some extent by science".
Fascinating! Please tell me the science that can direct energy.
Energy can be "released", such as the energy contained in an explosive device.But only the gas, the "blast" from the explosion can be directed; not quite the same thing.
I think the important thing to understand is how energy applies to life as a whole, and how it applies to magic. See energy is in a sense directed all of the time by science, for without the discovery if electricity, power stations would not be able to transmit and direct the electric current that provides light for our homes. In terms of the elements as energy, or what we are more akin to in our magikal workings, some people are more akin to fire, some air, some earth and others water.