THE ARCANE ARCHIVE
	a cache of usenet and other text files pertaining to occult, mystical, and spiritual subjects.

To: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.magick,alt.paranormal.spells.hexes.magic,alt.pagan.magick,alt.witchcraft,alt.lucky.w
From: nagasiva 
Subject: Everyday Magic -- Cantrips, Sigils, Amulets, etc., etc. (was The 'Always...)
Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2002 22:49:19 GMT

50020612 -- 7th Year of the Aeon of the Adversary

"Asiya" :
> I have never heard of anyone who could attract a specific person
> with their own qualities, use spells to "help them along". 

perhaps you're not used to interacting with those for whom magic
is a daily and/or common implement in the facilitation of personal
and occupational security and placement, protection and assault.

> If you had a steady source of income, easily able to meet 
> financial obligations, and wanted to buy a new TV, would you 
> cast a money spell to "help it along"?

I might if I felt that I had insufficient interest or ability
to research it sufficiently to my standards and I'm trying to
cut corners for my ignorance. ;> for example, you may wish to
arrange it so that you'll have little serious distractions from
your magical career (spells to achieve this can be effective in 
assisting toward this end -- Crowley's "white magick"), and the
bother of delegating it any more energy or time than it has to
have to succeed can free up your available time and energy to
more relevant and extravagant things.

sometimes we can't help our deficiencies and seek to compensate 
for them through alternative means than what might serve those 
with aptitude (magical rather than merely conventional application 
of tool-use) during our trials and social conflicts. sometimes
we are just lazy. ;> if an edge is sufficient, it might (some say)
even compensate for a lack of overt movement on the part of the
magician. such extreme control (repeatedly successful DESPITE a 
lack of overt action seeking its end), would potentially indicate 
true magical ability ('an ability to run the table', as Crowley 
enjoyed), or someone deemed "extraordinarily lucky".

> Ah well. Perhaps I'm just too biased towards sensible people.

yeah? well, if you have any sociological research data which
supports your assertions with respect to them then I'm sure
interested, because it lies in contrast with my own experience.
you say the lovespellcasters have 

	issues that made 'em feel they could only get a 
	lover through magick". 

I'm not aware that this is so prevalent, though many of those 
who spearhead "Give Me a Love Spell" threads in usenet may be 
of this type. if you have particular experience which sustains 
what may be commonly disputed about the issues that most 
Love-Spell-Seekers share (e.g. that they were abused as 
children, or that magic is actually a kind of drug which destroys 
those who use it and feeds into the problems they are experiencing 
in obsessive ways, etc., whatever), please share this by reflecting 
on it here. we may benefit from your direct experience. 

also, please point out where we might educate ourselves on the 
subject and begin to address and treat these issues you are 
identifying. perhaps the remedy may include magic?  :>

>>>> there would be a quick reputation built up around them
>>>> that they are too dangerous to attempt.
>>>
>>> They do have a reputation of being foolish,
>>
>> in certain circles. in others, ignorance of their power
>> and their reliability for bringing what and who one
>> wants to the witch of power is what is foolish. fiction
>> may be full of admonishing moralism geared to influence
>> our acts towards charity and nonviolence, but where the
>> notion of what constitutes violation begins and ends in
>> a *magical* sense varies considerably and with little
>> regard to what moralists may desire.
>
> Sure. But then do you acknowledge that there is "violation" 
> in there somewhere?

there may be, depending entirely on where one draws boundaries.
there may also not be, in any number of principled or constructed
cosmos at the whim of some being to whom one may be devoted.

the exercise of will using available technology is what many
in the occult and Neopagan communities consider to be magic,
regardless of whether violation is considered important to assess.

a love spell which enhances an already ripe situation becomes
the perfect heaven of ideal action, the playful dance of those
engaged in the exercise of their will toward truth. when we are
enjoining love with our mated Beloved, why not bolster its 
intensity and intimate communion? a marriage may be compared to
or, depending on its structure, actually be a kind of lovespell.
engagement activities and any number of well-wishes and societal
recognition of true hearts joining together constitute spells of
a group-directed variety by some definitions for 'spell'.

>>> and among those that believe in karma or similar things,
>>> of being dangerous.
>>
>> I have no evidence that karma exists except as the action
>> surrounding agents of change. 

someone else in this thread asked for elaboration here. the
term "karma" literally means "action". I see no solid polar
center in selves to which some circumference might be devoted
(such as 'souls', 'atmans', 'jivas', etc.). residues and 
demerits do not appear resident in more than human minds. as
such, actors are beautiful living processes, without essence,
formed and dissolved as part of an everchanging natural world.
 
>> I have evidence that people using love spells think these 
>> spells have helped them.
>
>"Helped" them in what way, specifically?

they believe that their spell has tipped the balances of
otherwise unpredictable and uncontrollable actors in their
social drama toward their desired end(s). this is viewed as 
"helping themself" and considered conventional in some
cultures. minimizing observation of the act may assist one 
in seeing it through to its successful completion, so attention
is paid to secrecy within certain contexts and time periods.

they maintain that without the spells, they would have failed
in their efforts. their assessment standards are operating in
defining "help" here, though I can sometimes speculate. it has
varied slightly (interviews in person, via internet, etc.).

nagasiva