THE ARCANE ARCHIVE
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To: occult@hollyfeld.org (Occult Elist)
From: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (nagasiva)
Subject: Learning Magick Online


How To Learn Magick Online
--------------------------
Information
See the _MaGI's Guide to the Internet_.  There's a nexus which will 
allow you to scout out your own torrent of information overload: 
elists with which to pelt your ebox, ftp sites to swim in until you 
overload your memory-quota, and Usenet groups to overload your 
newsreader.  The problem is not access to information any more (at 
least not once one has oriented and this doesn't take much time), it 
is sorting that in which we can find value from that in which we 
cannot.  { http://www.luckymojo.com/magi }


Authority
A great part of the problem is that what's 'authoritative' is somewhat
relative to the individual who is doing the review.  There are emotional
and imaginative approaches, dry and intellectual affairs, those based on
not much experience, those based entirely on it, those who prefer their
magick in armchairs, those who prefer it in Hell, in Heaven, in Space,
in the Dirt, some with connections to organizations (covens, lodges,
grottos, pronaos, churches, temples, etc.), some to traditions (lineages,
sects, etc.) and some way out there in weirdsville-whoknowswhere.


Thoughts
The first step in determining 'authoritativeness' is to look INWARD.
What sorts of questions do you find valuable to contemplate?  Are they
pragmatic (how do I do X?), theoretical (what does X mean?), ethical
(when is it bad to do X?), or some combination of these?  If YOU were
devising a test for aspirants (don't bother that you may be one
yourself), what questions would you put on this test (don't worry if
you don't know answers!)?  Making up the test will assist you in
beginning a comparison of knowledge-bases with others in the occult
community online or off.  Continue to look at these questions.  Watch
how your responses change as you meet people who approach the questions
from different places.  Add to that list of questions and restructure
them as you proceed in your self-education.


Tastes
The second step in determining 'authoritativeness' is to look INWARD.
What are your TASTES with regard to magical and occult subjects and
practices?  If you don't know, then EXPLORE!  Find out what tastes
good.  Do angels and bunnies and light just turn you on?  How about
Alien Infestations from the Horrid Depths of Space?  Strange words
and weird mathematics?  Just swimming in cool ponds during autumn?
There are many many different approaches to magick, even religious
ones! (see Islam/Sufism or the spate of repressed forums ostensibly
dedicated to a discussion of "Christian Magick".  Explore as many 
as suits your taste.  Sometimes settling for what comes first is not 
the best means of attaining any goals you may have.


Activity
The third step in determining 'authoritativeness' is to EXPERIENCE.
Do things.  Try out things and above all, FAIL MISERABLY.  The failure
is as important as is the success.  The two are ultimately a product
of warped thinking anyway.  *Do things*, as the alt.magick.chaos people
love to say.  Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth
living.  It may be equally true that the UNEXPERIENCED life is not
worth living.  Be imaginative.  Fly by the seat of your pants.  
Take risks.  Do the FORBIDDEN.  


Reflection
The fourth step in determining 'authoritativeness' is to REFLECT.
See what people say in their words/actions/expressions which seems to
conform to your experience of the world.  When you can get a 'fix'
on someone and you LIKE what they are saying, then compare these people
with others who may qualify in a similar way.  Engage others and draw
from THEIR experience and reflection.  Develop your own ideas as a
result of critical thought ('Question Authority, dammit!) and your own
practice as a result of creative exploration ('Do something, dammit!).


Abstraction
The last step in determining 'authoritativeness' is to PROJECT.  Just
because someone says something about which you do not agree this does
not make them idiots.  They may have experience which you do not have
and they could be representing a very important and oft-overlooked
reflection.  It is for this reason that it is quite difficult to be sure
just who is and who is not an asshole without substance.  Along the path
of wizardry we do not burn our bridges, even while we may place small
signs near them which say 'Of Uncertain Value'.


Growth
The most important principle in determining 'authoritativeness' is to
develop it within ourselves.  Suckling at the teats of masters may be
important at certain stages of our growth, yet eventually we must
break away from the nest, we must try out our wings, we must take
risks and become reservoirs of experience and wisdom ourselves.  If
nothing else, through such exploits we may become humble.

-------------------------------------

afternotes in response to request for elaboration:
|>Make it up as you go along.  Create your own style.  This is how the
|>current paths appeared.  Keep making it up, revising as you learn more
|>and more.

get imaginative.  Explore the length and breadth of religious
and magical disciplines and techniques.  Visualization?  It is quite
effective for those who don't have a need or resource for material tools.
Look at all the divination systems available: astrology, qabalah, tarot,
runes, etc., etc.  Look at the spiritualist supply stores: ouija, rapping
tables, esp cards, etc., etc.  Look at the ceremonialist's shoppes: wands,
swords, incenses, candles, cauldrons, etc., etc.  Look at the fetishist
supply stores: dildos, floggers, clamps, needles, razors, etc. etc.  Look
at the primitive and modern religious practices: drums, rattles, bells,
lights, chanting, spinning, singing, etc., etc.

Check into the resources on 'natural highs' and 'psychotropics'.  Check
into the billions of ways to become a sorceror (one who explores the
realms of consciousness).  Magick may find its way to you.

...

Limits?  There is no limit to magick.  It can infuse and encompass
your entire life experience.  You can click into the Wave of the World and
become the Great Fool-Magus that attains to the Great Work and sets the
world arights.  Refashion the Cosmos to your liking, become God, do the
Hokey Pokey!

=====================================================================

copyright (c) nagasiva 1999

All rights reserved.  Permission to distribute the text is
hereby granted providing that distribution is electronic, no money
is associated, reasonable attempts are made to use the latest version
and all credits and this copyright notice are maintained.
tyagI@arkaotika.Abyss.coM (I@AM)

EOF