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How Does Magic(k) Work?

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    #16
    Re: How Does Magic(k) Work?

    Exactly. People cling to their worldviews at the best of times, and when you have scientists and academics who've dedicated their lives to, or built a career on, a specific idea or concept, or have fundamental ideas which they were taught at an early age and have had reinforced for decades, it's understandable that they have a really hard time letting them go. Nobody likes to see the world change under their feet, or admit that what they've been saying their whole life is wrong.

    Hell, I had a really hard time moving from a a hardcore, materialist, atheist to, well, whatever the hell I am now, and that was with constant exposure to all sorts of weirdness staring me in the face, but I blocked it out for ages because 'it couldn't be true.' I still find myself scratching my head sometimes and wondering when all this crazy stuff became a part of my life, but at the same time I couldn't deny it any more than I could deny that the sky is blue. So I can sympathize.

    I can't remember who said it, but I was watching a lecture a while back where a researcher made that exact point, new ideas don't become accepted by changing the minds of the current establishment, but by exposing younger individuals to them while their minds are still flexible and they're less invested in their worldview, who then grow up to be the new establishment. Which gives me some measure of hope for the future

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      #17
      Re: How Does Magic(k) Work?

      Absolutely. You'll never convince the vast majority of the old guard of anything. They'll laugh and snicker and giggle and look down their nose.

      It'll be their great great great grandchildren that invent FTL (Faster than light) travel. Not them. Not because it was inaccessible in theory during our age, but because these people will not have all the false presumptions that we've been saddled with. In other words they won't be told that it's impossible. Remember, it wasn't too long ago when manned flight was 'impossible'.

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        #18
        Re: How Does Magic(k) Work?

        My father was a lifelong AT&T employee starting around 1955. He rode the wave of computer invention. I remember him telling me that one day, SStar Trek-ish 'communicators would be commonplace. Every time I've used a cell phone I've thought of him!
        sigpic
        Can you hear me, Major Tom? I think I love you.

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          #19
          Re: How Does Magic(k) Work?

          I'm no professional in esoteric matters. I'm highly skeptical (which works well, as Heathenism doesn't have a lot of magic in it), but speaking hypothetically, if magic exists, I feel it would have to belong to an as of yet undiscovered branch of physics. That's not to say that, if it is ever quantified by science that it will stop being magic, the word "magic" will simply lose its ties to the supernatural.

          In my opinion, "magic" was the olden days psychology and herbalism.

          Note: I'm just stating my opinion and have no intention of offending anyone. If you've worked magic and it has worked for you, great. I just haven't observed it "working" myself.

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            #20
            Re: How Does Magic(k) Work?

            Originally posted by Emmerich View Post
            Heathenism doesn't have a lot of magic in it
            Debatable.

            Considering it is Freyja who taught Odin our chief god how to practice
            White and Red 'till I'm cold and dead.
            sigpic
            In Days of yore,
            From Britain's shore
            Wolfe the dauntless hero came
            And planted firm Britannia's flag
            On Canada's fair domain.
            Here may it wave,
            Our boast, our pride
            And joined in love together,
            The thistle, shamrock, rose entwined,
            The Maple Leaf Forever.

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              #21
              Re: How Does Magic(k) Work?

              Originally posted by Doc_Holliday View Post
              Debatable.

              Considering it is Freyja who taught Odin our chief god how to practice
              That is true, though, historically, it was not widely practiced (according to the sources I've gathered).

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                #22
                Re: How Does Magic(k) Work?

                Since I've just now read this thread in its entirety...I'm only going to say one thing...mostly because I'm not entirely sure the OP is still here, and also because I've got at least a half dozen posts rolling around here with my opinion on this topic...

                HYPOTHESIS, Corvus...HYPOTHESIS!!!!

                ...not a theory

                (sorry, this science professional hates the misuse of the word theory)
                Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of HistoryPagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
                sigpic

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                  #23
                  Re: How Does Magic(k) Work?

                  Originally posted by Doc_Holliday;107354Considering it is Freyja who taught Odin our chief god how to practice [I
                  [/I]
                  Hey Doc, for one who is still learning, if you could find the time, could you elaborate on this in the Heathen forum at some point please? Ta!
                  ThorSon's milkshake brings all the PF girls to the yard - Volcaniclastic

                  RIP

                  I have never been across the way
                  Seen the desert and the birds
                  You cut your hair short
                  Like a shush to an insult
                  The world had been yelling
                  Since the day you were born
                  Revolting with anger
                  While it smiled like it was cute
                  That everything was shit.

                  - J. Wylder

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                    #24
                    Re: How Does Magic(k) Work?

                    Originally posted by Celliehwyn View Post
                    How Does Magic(k) Work?
                    A divinity told me about this...
                    Real magic is the result of making the spirit plane interact with and effect the material plane, and there are different degrees of magic depending upon the degree of interaction and effect. But most supposed 'magic' does not do that, but is mostly just imagination and power of suggestion.

                    Originally posted by Aeran View Post
                    Exactly. People cling to their worldviews at the best of times, and when you have scientists and academics who've dedicated their lives to, or built a career on, a specific idea or concept, or have fundamental ideas which they were taught at an early age and have had reinforced for decades, it's understandable that they have a really hard time letting them go. Nobody likes to see the world change under their feet, or admit that what they've been saying their whole life is wrong.
                    Ah, you mean the big bang. A cosmic spirit, aka divinity, told me that the universe was not created in the dimension of time that we are familiar with, but from a higher dimension, and that the big bang doctrine is an elaborate academic fraud. So I googled around to look into that, and it turns out that it is true. Google 'cosmology statement'.

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                      #25
                      Re: How Does Magic(k) Work?

                      I only just read the OP, so that's what I'm addressing here. I'll go and read the rest of the thread later.

                      I actually wrote a blog on this some time ago (over on Wordpress). Would you like me to repost it here? Or I could just put up a link.
                      "The doer alone learneth." -- Friedrich Nietzsche

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                        #26
                        Re: How Does Magic(k) Work?

                        My theory (which I will say right up front is based on a lot of contemplation but almost no experience) is that magic bends probability, if you will.

                        I think thought is basically a programming language. The reason for that is this: If I picture a chair in front of me in my mind's eye, I see that chair in my brain. If I astrally project later, having forgotten about the chair, that chair will not be there in the astral. But if I'm in the astral and imagine a chair, one will appear (as I understand - again I have never actually projected).

                        The reason, as I see it, is that "you" - your self-awareness, which I will call "atman" for simplicity - are basically a subroutine of the overall cosmic machine/mind. When you want to view a chair, your atman communicates that INTENT to your brain. Your brain then carries out the thought. If you're in astral form, your astral body does it, and since the astral is a realm of thought, the chair becomes a real object.

                        I think that magic can never violate physical laws - only work within them. Magic can affect astral "energies" to make things occur in the physical - but they will always have a "rational" explanation because nothing impossible can actually happen.

                        -Valhalla

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                          #27
                          Re: How Does Magic(k) Work?

                          Quite honestly, I believe that magic is a talent that works like this; a person with the talent desires an effect, be it seeing the future or the past or causing some some sort of physical manifestation. They start by connecting with the necessary forces (if it is a precognitive or postcognitive attempt, they try to spiritually connect with time and space; if it is the manipulation of something on a physical level, like rain-calling, wind-summoning, what have you, they try and connect with the respective forces that are related to the aforementioned elements). They may then visualize things that inspire the spark within them that will give the spell more "umph",if you will, and what form this visualization takes depends on the person; for instance, they may visualize a mystical circle forming around them with arcane symbols written on it, or they might actually use tangible item that inspires them during the casting of the spell (perhaps a clock to symbolize the desire to see through time, or a bowl of water to symbolize the desire for rain). These items in and of themselves do not offer power; the power lies within the witch utilizing the magic. However, they may eventually give rise to the inspiration that is used to FUEL the power. Kind of like an artist. The talent lies within them. All they need do is pick of the brush or pen (if they are writers) and go to work, but being surrounded by certain things that set the mood can lead to inspiration, which can make the experience richer and much more powerful for the person involved...and the same goes for spellcraft. Once that sense of inspiration is reached, the witch may feel an aura of magic surrounding them. It may sound kind of strange, but, it is almost like the atmosphere surrounding the caster has become preternatural. This is one connecting with their magic; to the naked eye and to most (if not all) the people in the area, nothing has changed, but the spellcaster feels like they have entered another state of awareness that allows them to understand and feel the flow of magic. Once in this state, the spellcaster takes their desire (see above), the inspiration from the symbology around them, and the "enchanted" state they are in to focus and send their spell out. And finally, there may also be a sense of inevitability. The only way I can describe it is to say that the spellcaster is deeply connected to whatever they are trying to summon/change/sense, and like magnetism, the spellcaster and the thing being summoned or sensed will respond to one another more often than not. Once the spell is complete though, their is still a sense of "devotion", if you will, to the spell. That is to say, the ritual itself may be over, but until the spell comes to fruition, the spellcaster keeps focusing on it, continuing to use their will to call for whatever they are searching for. This of course, is how *I* deal with magic. Others will have different ways of going about things, but I hope this helps in some manner.
                          Regards,
                          司马 (Sima)

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                            #28
                            Re: How Does Magic(k) Work?

                            First of all you need to ask what is magic?
                            Magic is when you put your energies into motion purposely to achieve what you want.
                            Magic is used in various ways.
                            It may not matter how you use it but the fact that you get what you want after using your energies that is magic.
                            First of all, many great beliefs in the world were inspired by magic.
                            Now when I see someone using the strength of his/ her minds no matter whether that person is praying or casting spells, that is magic.
                            A spell does not work if your energy is not strong enough and a prayer does not work too if your energy is not enough.
                            No sig for you.

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                              #29
                              Re: How Does Magic(k) Work?

                              Originally posted by Aeran View Post
                              And hell, if you want to drop the labels and call a spade a spade, parapsychology pretty much is a euphemism for 'the scientific study of magic.' Of course they'd rather poke their own eyes out than suffer the embarrassment of using that term, but any difference between what they currently label 'psi phenomenon' and magic is largely semantics. The problem is that despite producing quite a hefty load of published, peer-reviewed, reproducible evidence for the phenomena they're studying, parapsychology gets the shaft from the mainstream scientific establishment because accepting their evidence means a major paradigm shift for science in particular and society in general, and those kind of things just don't happen overnight. But the field is there, and they're quietly chugging away doing some fascinating work on ESP, OBE's, psychokinesis, spiritual healing, meditation, etc etc.
                              Would you be able to list some of the peer reviewed articles you mentioned, Aeran, or names of researchers? That is something I'd really be interested in learning more about.

                              Thanks,
                              Kiya

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