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Author Topic: What is your definition of doing magic (or energy work), and how do you do it?  (Read 3665 times)

Kayah

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How do you define making magic, and how do you accomplish it?
If you do energy work, do you feel anything or is it more of a belief that it works therefore it does kind of thing?
and.. I hope this isn't going to make the thread too broad but, what methods do you like to use - visualization, dancing, drumming - and why does it work for you?

I'm curious, because I have ceased to use any tools, and even my attempts at using candle magic have left me feeling that something isn't clicking and so it does not work.
It seems my best tool is meditation/visualization of whatever I'm doing, which still doesn't necessarily click with me. So, in the end I am not sure if the fault lies in not choosing a method of working with energy that suits me, or if I simply don't know how to work with energy at all.

While TC has a huge selection of spells on hand, I know it doesn't work that way - going through the motions without anything behind them isn't going to work, just like reading a book in an unknown language isn't going to make you understand the book.

(Maybe I just haven't found it) I haven't really found much on how to center/ground or work with magical energy properly. How you know when you have centered/grounded, and how do you know if/when you can shape/direct your energy/will to what you want to do?

I thought maybe getting a variety of answers of others' experiences might help me identify what I'm doing right/wrong.

Jenett

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Quote from: Kayah;10730
How do you define making magic, and how do you accomplish it?


I use the "change in accordance with will" definition, and consider my actual methods to be more or less equal parts: one part directed intention, one part psychology, and one part work with stuff I can't directly measure but seems to be reliably there (which means energy work, but also other stuff, including work with deities.)

Quote
If you do energy work, do you feel anything or is it more of a belief that it works therefore it does kind of thing?


A bit of both. There's a lot of power in what's often referred to as 'acting as if' - acting as if something were real and changing your situation, even if you're not sure it is. (That'd be part of the psychology part.)

That said, I've done enough work with others to be pretty sure that there's something there beyond me, and that energy in some form is a real thing I can sense. (I note: I tend to 'hear' it more than 'feel' it or 'see' it, which is hard to describe: English doesn't have good words for a lot of it other than some fairly technical terminology from music.)

Quote
and.. I hope this isn't going to make the thread too broad but, what methods do you like to use - visualization, dancing, drumming - and why does it work for you?


Depends on what I'm doing, and how my lungs are doing: dancing is usually not as high on my list of choices as meditation, breating, visualisation, or chanting, because there's a lot more of the year that my lungs aren't reliably up for it. (That said, I've found dancing and chanting the most reliable when working with people new to directing energy.)

Visualisation and other 'quieter' forms are harder to get feedback with, and they're harder to follow a described model with. Chanting, you repeat it a lot, until you feel it's time to let the energy fly. Dancing, ditto. (Sort of like running a footrace.) Visualisation is more like a story narrative, and needs to build, grow, climax, and resolve, and that's just plain trickier to learn how to do from scratch because there's more bits involved.

Quote
I haven't really found much on how to center/ground or work with magical energy properly. How you know when you have centered/grounded, and how do you know if/when you can shape/direct your energy/will to what you want to do?


Lots of books handle it badly - partly because it's a really complicated thing to put into words. My favorite starting place these days is Diana Paxson's _Trance-portation_, which is focused on meditation and visualisation work. I've also got material on my website that might help - the Practices index is the most useful place to start. (http://gleewood.org/seeking/practices/)
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Kayah

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Quote from: Jenett;10858
My favorite starting place these days is Diana Paxson's _Trance-portation_, which is focused on meditation and visualisation work. I've also got material on my website that might help - the Practices index is the most useful place to start. (http://gleewood.org/seeking/practices/)

 
I'm snipping most of the quote for shortness' sake.

Thank you, Jennett - your reply has given me much to think about. I really appreciate your feedback. It gives me some idea as to what I should be working on in myself. :)

RandallS

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Quote from: Kayah;10730
While TC has a huge selection of spells on hand, I know it doesn't work that way - going through the motions without anything behind them isn't going to work....

If that's what you believe, then that's likely how things will work for you. However, just for the record, that's not the only "theory of magic", many systems of folk magic rely on just doing the spell as written and don't require an real training or knowledge -- just a belief that the spell will work.
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Phoenix_Sacred

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Quote from: RandallS;14750
If that's what you believe, then that's likely how things will work for you. However, just for the record, that's not the only "theory of magic", many systems of folk magic rely on just doing the spell as written and don't require an real training or knowledge -- just a belief that the spell will work.


Both Randall & Jenett have greatly explained magick and spellcasting in general.

I believe that magick is creating a change in conformation with the laws of nature, by working/manipulating threads of energy which can be in terms of thoughts or visualizations. I agree that spells will work only if you believe that they do. You will have to focus your will & intent in order to make a spell work. I think that you will know that you are progressing when you keep doing meditation exercises daily, and with perseverance you will accomplish it.


"Life is not about how hard you can hit, but how much you can get hit and still keep moving forward."

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