-It can bring you closer to a higher sense of self. that is it can allow you to feel confident in who you are as a spiritual being on this plane.
I wish i was a girl. You can see this by another post. I would Faust my self to hell if it was possible. So this could be possible. Being happy with myself isn't so much a problem as always wanting to try something i cant i guess.
- Allow you to experience unity with a higher power, a truly spiritual and joyous experience to most.
There are some core things that would make this hard. One, i dont know what the higher power would be, who it is, or if it exists. If it did, my view on life would change drastically. The idea of some planar being existing would make me think twice about ditching ideas of being a girl.
- Allow you to take control of your life, rather than sit back and hope.
Hope is only trumped by faith, which is just illogical hope. Proof is what would bridge the gap. personal proof is good enough. Maybe someone can give me sweet dreams tonight.
- Improve your confidence as a result of being capable of taking control of your life.
Sweet. Though i have never felt my life was in control by another.
I like your comparison with math, however I see some error in it. With Magick (which the reason I spell it this way can be answered in the link at the end) you give people the same problem (as you do with math) however, they will all get the same solution. The only thing that changes is the method in which they go about finding or solving this problem. Think of magick as an equation yet to be written. There is the same issue (or thing we are solving for - which is the intent in magick) however, there is not an equation developed to solve the issue yet. The solution is already known, but we cannot get there without an equation, so we create one - and these are the spells and rituals we create.
Beyond this there is a lot more in depth on spiritual practice and working with the divine, but the explanation above is a gross oversimplificaiton of the spell making process.
As a comment on your desire to have more universal laws (which I see the same as laws of nature considering the universe and nature are one - regardless of the philisophical connotation in modern language), we being human beings, are incapable of changing, bending, fabricating, or even creating other laws outside of the laws of nature, otherwise these laws wouldn't exist in the first place. They are absolutes on this plane of existence, and there is nothing we can do about it. *hint: This plane of existence.
One more thing: You are the creator of your own divine. Your higher power is as mean, or as lenient as you want them/it to be. Just keep this in mind.
People practice magick without even having a higher power, there are athiests who practice magick and get results. It is how you look at what the higher power is (which in fact can be your higher self) and how you use it in your practice that counts.
Magick is a way of shifting reality. It's an aid to help me make my life the way I want it to be in a way that I wouldn't be able to do otherwise.
Unlike a lot of people on this site I don't try to convince people that magick exists and I'm not going to try and convince you. I think that you as a person would be fine going through his life using his secular mind. You seem like a sharp guy I think you'll be fine.
Yes, I also agree with you jacubs. He sounds pretty secure as he is with his more secular mind, I simply saw this forum posting as a way to challenge his secular mind as that is what I thought he was asking us to do for him.
Your point is very vaild, and well noted. He can believe whichever way he wants, secular or not. :)
I am the opinion that you have a very healthy, very reasonable perspective to begin your exploration of magic, and all things spiritual. Too often when we begin our exploration we allow what we want to be true to interfere with the reality of life, and the universe. You see that all too often in many of the beginners' posts on this site, as they discuss how they moved fire, created a storm, etc. without ever considering the variables near the candle they worked with, or consulted the weather channel.
Magic, in my opinion, is the same thing it has always been. It is an explanation for that which science has not yet explained. It offers us an esoteric study of the feelings we get in crowds, in empty streets, in wooded paths. It gives us a way to study the presence of the spiritual. It offers us a deeper study of the way our conscious mind, our subconscious mind, and the world around us works. It offers incredible insights into how we function as people, and how the people we interact with function as well. It taps on the shoulder of theoretical physics, and psychology.
But approaching this understanding, and these insights, with a skeptic's attitude will keep you balanced. It will keep you analyzing what you experience, and looking for verification within controlled circumstances. It will keep you asking what other participants experienced before influencing their response with your own perception. It will keep you from being another gullible, naive new ager, heh.
Explore the traditions. Explore the history. Explore the new age theory. See for yourself what it brings into your life. It is, by no means, a necessary thing like learning to drive a car, or learning a vocation. But it can enrich your life with the chance at understanding that it offers.
The term magick was coined by Aleister Crowley around the turn of the 20th century. He wanted to create a way to differentiate between the magic that one practices in the craft and the magic that the stage magicians were doing at the time. I personally don't like magic spelled with a k for it looks too new aged to myself but that is my opinion. Either way you spell it magic is as magic does.
One thing that I do follow that Crowley said was, "do as thou will shall be the whole of the law". This was later revised by Gerald Gardner in the mid 20th century when he created his new aged religion Wicca. He changed Crowley's idea to. 'do as thou will and may it harm none". I personally can't live by a this because I have to eat and even eating vegetables kills the plant. How one interprets ideas can be different for everyone.
There will always be many different ideas about magic and how one should use it. As well as what is possible with magic. We as humans have been utilizing magic as well as studying it for thousands of years. There is knowledge that has been lost and knowledge that has been discovered. One thing for sure is that magic is ever changing just as the world is ever changing.
One needs to remember that technology is just as magical as the seed that grows to be a mighty oak. Science and magic are related, alchemy was one of the first sciences and it lead the way for our modern chemistry. Whatever you discover on your path may it be comforting to you.
