#sensory magic

[existentiallipgloss]

🕯️ Ritual: charged my perfume under the moonlight. wore it like armor.

[wastewacipi]

So a boy i went to grade school with suddenly messages me earlier saying he wants to be friends. I immediately sensed something odd. Like why message me? He was apart of the cool kids clique back then and never gave any attention to me ever except today. I want to believehe is genuine, but I keep thinking “why me?” “Is there something he wants?” “Is he pranking me?”

Id appreciate any feedback. Tell me what you sense too.

Thanksy!

[the-unseen-realm]

*beep beep*

JUMP IN 👇 (and don’t let “meditation” stop you)

WAKE THE FUCK UP (A Meditation Challenge for the Boldly Disconnected) by Ember & The Unseen Realm

YOU’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE. SCROLLING. NUMBING. DISSOCIATING. STARING OUT THE WINDOW, WONDERING WHERE THE LAST MONTH WENT. HALF-ALIVE. HALF-

we start tomorrow (Aug 11)

[benlorica]

The mystics never preach a denial of the senses, rather they speak of the transfiguration of the sense. They recognize that there is a certain gravity or darkness in Eros that can sometimes predominate. The light of the soul can transfigure this tendency and bring balance and poise. The beauty of such a mystical reflection on Eros reminds us that Eros is ultimately the energy of divine creativity.

Anam Cara, John O’Donohue

[sequoia67]

Sparkling Twilight.

(Sunday, the 3rd of June, 2018, Somewhere between 22:00 and 22:20.)

I step out onto the porch and the air, once more, wears the tantalising aroma of coriander. I suspect this perfume- herbal, citrus, reviving- stems from some foliage in the neighbours’ front garden arrangement, But its root, like this spirit-dipped Summer evening breeze Swirls and dances with hushed, quietly confident magic and…

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[desertleviathan]

I‘m having an idea for a Magic System

So let’s say we’ve got a fantasy setting, and Wizards in that setting recognize five “Circles” within which they can cause magical effects.

Thought

Touch

Smell

Hearing

Sight

All Magic is transmitted via Communication, so the circles reflect the increasing range at which it is generally possible to communicate with each sense.  These range bands can fluctuate however, depending on many circumstances.

Thought Magic is easy enough to understand, as the Sense of Self.  Nothing is more familiar to the Wizard than their own Body and Mind.  Because Thought is a communication format that is not easily observed, a Wizard casting magic on themself can do so very subtly.

Touch Magic forms a very direct bridge between the Self and the Other, but it’s not as easy as just landing a palm on somebody and dumping a bunch of Magic into them.  Well, you can, but if you want to transmit anything worthwhile doing that, you have to crank the spell way up so that what gets through the interference will still be worthwhile.  Skilled Touch Magic requires contact with specific energy junctures distributed on the body, which are receptive to different types of Magic, and Wizards who focus on Touch magic tend to get good at Kung Fu pressure point stuff.  Luckily, most of the best chakras to target with Battle Magic are also pretty great places to land a fist or a boot.

Smell Magic seems like just a source of jokes about Fart Wizards, but I think there’s some real potential for interesting, evocative effects.  A Scent Wizard carries incense and perfumes, made of sympathetic materials that communicate his Spell in a very insidious manner.  By the time enemies recognize that a specific blend of odors heralds a particular magical effect, it’s too late, they’ve already filled their lungs.  Smell Magic is especially powerful when it is prepared in such a way as to evoke a memory from the target relevant to the nature of the spell.  For my purposes, Taste is just a manifestation of Smell that trades short range for high intensity.

Sound Magic is extremely common, versatile, and has a good mid-long range.  Most Wizards tend to think of spoken words as the default form of their spells, which they translate into touches, scents, or gestures.

Sight Magic has the longest typical range, but communicating this way takes the most effort from the Wizard, who has to use gestures, or actually write the spell down large enough to be seen at a distance.  The ability to cast Sight Magic through writing opens up interesting tactical options however, for a Wizard to leave a spell waiting for someone to read it, when it will resolve whether or not the caster is still around.

In any case, the target must perceive the spell being communicated, but does not necessarily need to understand it.  So you can use Verbal Spells against a deaf person, because the magic is still being carried by sound waves that bounce off of their body, which they will perceive as vibration.  But the spell will be far less effective, possibly even negligible in effect.  You can use Verbal Spells against someone who can hear, but doesn’t know the language the spell is spoken in, and it will be all right.  But the best of all is if they understand your Wizard Language... with the obvious downside that they will then know exactly what you’re doing, and be if they are also a Wizard, will be able to directly act against it with their own magic.

These five ranges are sorted in order of “typical” maximum distance, but there’s all kinds of trickery that can expand or contact them.  In particular, the definition of Self can be expanded by mystical rituals linking objects or other people to one’s spirit, or even by sharing an understanding with a person that’s so pure that you become part of each other on a spiritual level.  The best Wizards, I would imagine, learn to overlap as many of these spellcasting vectors as possible, to ensure that they’re coming at their target from many directions.

I am definitely in favor of people using whatever sensory trickery they can to expand or contract these ranges.  I want to see Blind Wizard Zatoichi learning to target spells by echolocation, and Wizard Poison Ivy sending scented mind control curses through the mail.

Does this make sense so far?  Any points any of you would like clarified?