Magic in the moments
Mar. 22nd, 2008 02:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wolven7I've been doing a lot of seals and sigils, lately. Drawing them on napkins at R. Thomas, and keeping them, studying them, later, after the fact. They're like dreams, in a way, I think.
You have a lot of influences, a lot of things swirling through your conscious and your unconscious, and you sit down, and you enter a differnt-that-normal state, and out comes this Thing. And, if you remember that thing, later, if you manage to hold on to it, you can parse it, piece it apart, tease it out, and figure out exactly what the fuck it's supposed to mean to you.
It's also a cathartic experience, in and of itself, the building and processing of influences that have been riding you, for some time. For instance, I've been squaring a lot of circles, and circling a lot of squares. Unifying things that approach the same score from different angles. I think that says something about me, as a person, but that's not the thing under investigation, at the moment...
Think about the nature of presence-- that is, of Being Present. Many considerit a state of unthinking, of instinctual action, but I regard that the same way as I regard the idea of a priori knowledge. Doesn't happen. There's nothing in life that we know except for having learned it, and there's no instinct we have that we haven't processed and assessed. We train ourselves out of instinct, out of trusting the processes we make, for the sake of deeper understanding. We gain knowledge, we know more, and we can apply that understanding out into the rest of the world. We map and we isomorph, so as not to get stuck in the same patterns, such tha we may adapt. There. A combination of static knowledge and dynamic understanding and application.
The more we know and understand, the more informed our instincts become, and the wider they reach. We can act more clearly, quickly, confidently. This is true for magic, as well. The more we pay attention to our symbols and associations, the more we know how language affects us, and how we can be manipulated, and how we manipulate ourselves, the more clearly and quickly we can put these things together, in magical works, to focous our intent, in the case of prescribed spells and rites, or to allow us to more capably build our own tools, when we're working on the fly. Applying Nose, Celtic, African, Latin, Sumerian, or whatever may resonate, as it resonates, and knowing that the syntax and the conjunction are what you're looking for. Adaptability and the fluid application of patterns recognised.
I gave last night's seal away. It didn't feel like it was mine, and there was only one other person there who resonates "Germanic runes" to me, so I'll have to ask her if it helped. I think another part of That problem may be that I'm too close to most of the other people for whom they'd be designated.
On the other hand:
http://www.tomwaitslibrary.com/lyrics/theblackrider/crossroads.html
You have a lot of influences, a lot of things swirling through your conscious and your unconscious, and you sit down, and you enter a differnt-that-normal state, and out comes this Thing. And, if you remember that thing, later, if you manage to hold on to it, you can parse it, piece it apart, tease it out, and figure out exactly what the fuck it's supposed to mean to you.
It's also a cathartic experience, in and of itself, the building and processing of influences that have been riding you, for some time. For instance, I've been squaring a lot of circles, and circling a lot of squares. Unifying things that approach the same score from different angles. I think that says something about me, as a person, but that's not the thing under investigation, at the moment...
Think about the nature of presence-- that is, of Being Present. Many considerit a state of unthinking, of instinctual action, but I regard that the same way as I regard the idea of a priori knowledge. Doesn't happen. There's nothing in life that we know except for having learned it, and there's no instinct we have that we haven't processed and assessed. We train ourselves out of instinct, out of trusting the processes we make, for the sake of deeper understanding. We gain knowledge, we know more, and we can apply that understanding out into the rest of the world. We map and we isomorph, so as not to get stuck in the same patterns, such tha we may adapt. There. A combination of static knowledge and dynamic understanding and application.
The more we know and understand, the more informed our instincts become, and the wider they reach. We can act more clearly, quickly, confidently. This is true for magic, as well. The more we pay attention to our symbols and associations, the more we know how language affects us, and how we can be manipulated, and how we manipulate ourselves, the more clearly and quickly we can put these things together, in magical works, to focous our intent, in the case of prescribed spells and rites, or to allow us to more capably build our own tools, when we're working on the fly. Applying Nose, Celtic, African, Latin, Sumerian, or whatever may resonate, as it resonates, and knowing that the syntax and the conjunction are what you're looking for. Adaptability and the fluid application of patterns recognised.
I gave last night's seal away. It didn't feel like it was mine, and there was only one other person there who resonates "Germanic runes" to me, so I'll have to ask her if it helped. I think another part of That problem may be that I'm too close to most of the other people for whom they'd be designated.
On the other hand:
http://www.tomwaitslibrary.com/lyrics/theblackrider/crossroads.html
no subject
Date: 2008-03-22 04:47 pm (UTC)I sometimes feel like I'm not putting everything I could be, into this, but there it is, and it makes me really glad when people see it, and notice it.
I'm also glad for whatever help it may be giving. :)