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To: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.xyzzy,alt.magick,alt.magick.goetia,alt.pagan.magick From: nagasivaSubject: Academic and Practical Studies of Magic Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 20:38:05 GMT 50040526 vii om Journal of Academic Study of Magic (J(A)SM) announcement snipped thanks!! Gnome d Plume: #>#> It will be remarkable if this journal publishes any first hand #>#> reports of current operations written by experienced practitioners. truly, and completely unexpected, given that, as Dave, explains, "Dave Evans" : #> ...it is not our intention to do so: the Journal is "about", #> not "how to", although firsthand accounts in the context of #> academic analysis would be welcome. which is a step forward. it wasn't too long ago that academes would not be interested in anything newer than the 1800s, medieval, etc. Gnome d Plume : # ...this unfortunate gulf between those of us who "do" and the # narrowly focused academics who profess to know what we are doing # without doing it needs to be addressed. I'm hoping to build some bridges in that regard. that's in part why I'm constructing that bibliography I mentioned. I've been consulting academic sources and I hope to contribute to the SASM list somewhat. I'm working out the details of format (deciding on a parallel which I'll probably finish in a few days). # Just a few weeks ago Julius cut loose with an "academic" shot at # self-hypnosis.... usually academic analyses include the rudiments of physical practice, rather than what is (or especially was) done internally. there are of course exceptions, especially as it transcends to overall psycho- social evaluations of the expectable results, how people maintain(ed) a continued believe in the supernormal effects, etc. # ...we see it as a self disciplined program especially when interpreted within this psychological paradigm. it definitely becomes a mystical discipline of sorts, rather than, comparably, a self-exploration intuitively-directed and perhaps more inconsistently engaged or based on external conditions of need. # wherein the consciousness # mind takes control of the subconscious mind in the same manner and # from the same motivation that one might take up yoga or a course in memory # enhancement; i.e. self-improvement this is pleasing to those with interest in conscious control of one's personal experience, subconscious mind, etc. at times I've termed this type of magic "White Magic" because it proceeds primarily from aims and intentions directed by and with intention to control from one's waking consciousness (as you say, like yoga or memory- enhancement -- good comparable examples, especially as they tie in to the Art of Memory (FYates) and conventional hatha yoga techniques). # ...the uninformed academic seizes on the # clinical definition and runs with it. It's often the same with other # aspects of ceremonial magic. my impression is that the academic apprehension of the occult varies, as does the occult understanding and reflection on how things work. it behooves us all not to presume simplistic approaches even if some conservative attitudes have been traditional within academic circles (interpreting magic in terms of superstition, folklore, sociodelusion, rudimentary and misplaced scientific explorations, and any number of other alternatives which may not be the most complimentary views and may not include the real and important benefits magicians enjoy). # How often have we read some # professorial account of the magician's hysterical inflation of the # ego, and the induction of hallucination by such means? I'm not sure, but I do think that some types of magic (perhaps all) lead to ego expansion, and that the focus by some mystics on its destruction may be a socioformatting technique to enshrine hierarchs. please understand that I don't consider such ego expansion to be by itself a problem. some psychologists including modern Jungians have described quite compatible personality/ego expansion in the context of a system that is supported by internal conditions as a stage of development and maturation. I mistrust the focus on ego-death greatly, especially as it arrives from external sources informing others that this is something required or necessary to the "magical path". # Steve Savedow # might fit this model but he is a rare exception. he's fairly convinced of the traditional notions about the Goetia, it seems, as a directory of "evil spirits", ontologically exterior to human consciousness. I respect his work, think it is well-presented, and would caution against infighting amongst magicians who may have a variety of approaches to theory and practice. we're far too few to persist in it long. usenet flamefests notwithstanding, I hope to encourage bridging amongst my occult kindred, and see Savedow as an asset to occult methods and exploration. that I do not believe in 'evil' per se leads me away from his perspective, but I think his careful notation as to what he has found and the character of what he is experiencing proves useful to us all as it is presented. # I've even read where # academics have stated that magicians have shifty eyes and are usually # in an agitated state, yes, Mauss and other academics have postulated this within special circumstances (as when we might be observed performing a spell or trick). my impression is that the awkwardness or peculiarity of behaviour may be a distraction away from the task being performed at hand. the academic world has in some measure refined the evaluation of magic as a field in ways practitioners sometimes avoid or cannot understand. at times theorists and writers have drawn from classic accounts of magical theory such as by Frazer, to support their own. what is described by Kieckhefer as the 'demonic' or 'necromantic', for example, may be more easily understood to *be* magical, and this in a thaumaturgic sense, whereas spirit-work or theurgic enterprises may in part display characteristics of religion. mystical employment of magical techniques is of course very popular, and yet some mystics see the world through their mystical eyes and generalize their own perspective across the spectrum which it is possible to see magic, what qualifies as such, and how it works. # when the exact opposite is the case! I'm not sure that in these burgeoning occult times these kinds of simplistic generalizations of physiognomy or any more convincing than the culture-bound attempts at physiognomancy these resemble (classing those outside one's genetic map as somehow inferior). # Magicians # have a steady, unblinking stare that sometimes makes the professor get # agitated and look away..... this is a very interesting commentary, Poke. since I tend to represent this exact activity and consider myself a magician I may have somewhat of a less convincing defense of exceptions (:>), yet I suspect that you are speaking here of a certain type of magician, perhaps the one with which you are most familiar. I'd be interested to know if you think this characteristic is always true or develops more over time. i.e. is 'a magician' an equivalent of some condition of expertise, adeptship, or are magicians (compare the Potter 'Wizards/Muggles') just *different kinds of people who always maintain unblinking stares*? # Another example is so-called "magical thinking." .... I've run into this a few times also. sometimes it can be quite insulting, agreed. and yet I've met those who used the term in less egregious and insulting ways to speak of a certain kind of regard for magic (incorporating it into their worldview, for example). as the former, your criticism is, I think well-placed. # Um hum. I may write an article for this journal---if they have # the guts to print it we may open an interesting area of academic # exploration: "Hermetic Studies/ lecture and lab." go for it, Gnome! that they're willing to consider modern mages at all seems to me to be a step in the right direction. :> y r B o l b n e e w s a o s s d e t e d ! .com@nagasiva
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