Ok, I apologize, you make an important point about people's financial situations.
As for ebony, wands and gear, I know you can do magic without them. It's just in my experience they help so much that to me, anyway, they're pretty much necessary.
I don't think I agree that ebony is no more magical than any other wood. I would agree ebony isn't suitable for everyone.
right. so is you saying ebony just has different energy to other woods a fact, or a personal opinion? because if it's a fact, i'd love to be enlightened.
It's belief, not a verifiable fact. It is why one belief system may have certain correspondences for one species of wood, but another tradition may have a different set of correspondences.
At the same time, some of the magical traits of some woods are fairly consistent, based merely on the physical properties of the wood. For example, oak is a hard and strong wood. It is common to find oak listed as having strength as a trait, or being representative of strength.
We can't prove or disprove anything concerning subtle reality because we cannot isolate the variables enough to provide a controlled situation in which we can test a hypothesis. Saying anything magical, spiritual, etc. as a fact would be ignorant.
However, as Prsona has pointed out, we do have physical reality to go off of and magical "gnosis" tends to be "This happens more often than not" than "This is what is supposed to happen"
Another thing to point out is that subtle (nonphysical) reality, which is what we use in our practices, is not limited in time and space like physical reality is. That alone eliminates any idea that "this physical thing is more magical than this physical thing" except for common underlying ideas (referencing again, the majority of circumstances). Take, for example, the use of a plastic wand vs. the use of a wooden wand. Most people prefer the wooden wand because it is more "natural" in that it has a specific pattern of energy that is based off of years of evolution and mutation. Plastic is something that we "flawed" humans (referencing the idea that many hold nature above humanity as it is much more vast than ourselves) have created and thus has not stood the test of time.
Does this mean that plastic wands aren't magical? Yes and no. Yes in that people have used plastic wands successfully; no in that objects themselves aren't magical or mundane. The physical energy of the object is not what we use to manifest our intent, it is the subtle energy. Keeping in mind that there are layers upon layers of physical reality, and the very common belief of Animism, we would logically come upon the idea that subtle reality has at least as many layers, if not more. This then lends to the idea of "what works for you will not always work for someone else" because it is very possible that you are not working with the same "layers" of subtle reality as everyone else.
Nothing is ever truly without bias, but we can still be logical about things of which we can observe (and for the record, this is not about invalidating your view, it is about explaining my own).
interesting. just a couple of things: i get now that it's not an exact science but i wonder if ebony has proved magical more often than other woods. secondly, science does still come into it and ebony wood most likely contains chemicals that aren't in other woods. the same is probably true of oak.
magic seems to me to operate somewhere where space and time meet, which if i'm not mistaken by definition is the speed of light (if not faster). i don't really know, i don't know everything about science.
I have come to understand that subtle planes are nonphysical planes of existence and are adjacent to one another and the physical plane. Examples can range from Inner Realms and the dream state of various types of Modern Shamanism (which are not limited to the mind, but are the focal points in the previous examples) to the Etheric and Astral planes of Western Occultism (which are primarily spiritual in nature; however, both types tend to blend together).
If you want to get into the intricacies of physical make up reflecting spiritually, then you'll want to research the physical aspect (as you've already stated) of ebony and other types of wood. You'll also have to factor in that even legitimate spells won't work 100% all of the time, so you'll have to calculate averages of different aspects over time. You can also factor in your personal gnosis based off of experiences. Keep a spell/ritual/working diary if you want to venture into this.
I would personally factor in the etheric and astral energies of the wand as those are both aspects of my cosmological understanding of how reality works. To me, etheric energy mirrors physical energy in that it is the densest form of subtle energy and is adjacent to the physical plane. The astral plane (or as I prefer it, the cosmic plane), tends to be less dense and easier for people to work with when they are just starting out.
Subtle Body Theory (which isn't a scientific theory, but another one of those "we recognize this happens a lot" aspects of occultism) states that we exist in all planes at once, meaning, in my path, that we have physical bodies, etheric bodies, and astral bodies (for example. I personally include divine bodies, but that gets more into my specific path and is less of a common understanding). This is an Animistic view, which means your wand (and the tree it came from) also have physical, etheric, and astral bodies. I feel it could be something to take note of if you want to further spiritual research (again, if you personally want to factor it in or not).
I'm less certain of the "where time meets space" bit, so I can't really comment on that without further explanation.
distance is a type of space. so you can say, roughly:
speed = space/time
at the speed of light, which is still a type of speed, funny things can happen with space and time. but my point is that space and time are fundamentally linked, because the speed of light exists. it's an absolute.
it's like... you're making a cake. you need chocolate and eggs. cake = chocolate x eggs. it doesn't really matter whether you're multiplying or dividing as those are equals and opposites. the point is, chocolate and eggs are fundamentally linked, because of cake.
as for the rest of what you said, have you ever read the Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception?
I'm not as well versed on warps in physics, though I'm not really sure I agree with magic only existing at such instances. Magic is defined commonly as either a living energy that permeates everything or as the manifestation of will (depending on what context of path you're in or pulling from).
The main difference in our ways of thinking seems to be that you think magic is separate from mundane reality and I think they are connected (episodic instance vs. underlying reality, if you will); the other main difference appears to be our understanding of physics in the first place.
No, I have not read the Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception. What about it are you referencing?
