#magic philosophy

[wizard-spiral]

Ponderances.

I think an Orb is more of a function than a form. For the purposes of ponderance – classically the primary function of the Orb – an Orb can serve its purpose regardless of the rotundity of its profile or the luminosity of its core.

In this sense, to ponder the humble coffee cup, the raindrop, or the Depths, would turn these concepts, for the time being, into one's Orb.

Of course, the familiarity, the Platonic ideal of the orbular Orb, gives such an object perhaps more power (in the pondering sense) than, say, a less reified Orb (such as the Depths).

Additionally, the orb-as-repository function of the classic crystal/glass/stone Orb entails significant advantages over the more ephemeral raindrop-Orb.

[mamaangiwine]

There are these things people say in magic and occultism that might feel kinda contrived when youre starting out, if not altogether cliché:

"Everything has a spirit. "

"God is in everything."

"God is in you."

And there is a tendency when we hear those things to go "yeah, yeah that's obvious". Because it feels obvious. It feels obvious in the same way a mountain is obvious- but like, despite mountains being obvious, mountains are still sacred.

A mountain is easy to decipher and recognizable from a distance; but ancient, awe inspiring, and almost incomprehensible in its enormity when you have reached its base.

And so you go into magic.

And you think, "yeah, yeah everything has a spirit. God is in everything, and God is in me. I get it." But you don't. Until one day you do, and suddenly you're trying to swallow a mountain.

[decks-on-fire]

Recently I've been talking with a bunch of layfolks about the magic theory/philosophy side of things (just because it's a thing I'm interested in) and have honestly been incredibly encouraged at the results. Without having to use the allure of a trick to get them to my side, I'm finding folks who have barely ever thought about this artform getting really, genuinely interested in hearing about what's behind the curtain in ways that we generally don't consider interesting, even as magicians. Getting to hear peoples' experiences of magic, their perceptions and ideas, allowing them to engage with it as the respect-worthy thing we all believe it is, but rarely portray it to be. It highlights two key things to me, that are incredibly motivating for my work:

1) People are interested in magic. Deeply, genuinely interested. I sometimes quote magic as something that "no one thinks is cool until it happens in front of them" but this experience has proved me wrong in the best way, showing they don't need to see it to engage. We don't need to make people care about magic. They already do.

2) People are ready to meet our aims. If our goal is to get magic to be a respected and moving artform, we don't need to shape the public consciousness as much as we think. There are plenty of people ready to catch our passes and treat our magic with the dignity and care we do. We just need to start throwing the ball.

Admittedly, this post is based on a small sample size. I've really only had a couple conversations with a couple people about this. More experience might prove me wrong on this. But, if this trend continues, if more and more people are wanting to discuss magic without tricks, then that bodes incredibly well for all of us. Here's to more magic, better magic, and better art.

[nameless-goddess94]

I don't believe the idea of "destiny" came into our lexicon simply to act as a plot device for fantasy novels. It has very little to do with the movement of the stars, a game of dice between gods, or ancient prophesy.

Destiny, like most things, is often propelled by human imagination and words. It is expectation and vision manifested to such a degree, and moving at such a speed, that it seems as though it is the only option and the only logical conclusion; fated, foreshadowed and foretold. So much, that if it is no longer what you want, or never wanted, it seems inescapable like a rip tide.

Is there really any need for divine decree on the fabric of fate? Especially when we already embroider and entangle ourselves in our own designs?