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Virtual Magick?

To: alt.magick
From: tyagi mordred nagasiva 
Subject: Re: Virtual Magick? (9407.cybrite.tn)
Date: 49940703

Quoting: |mlaubach@indiana.edu (Marty Laubach) 

|There was an "online" Beltaine rite conducted on compuserve this year. 

This is liable to happen more and more often.  That was one of the reasons
that Divination Web (I and II) were created, as environments for precisely
this kind of thing.


|Considering the traditional nature of the Beltaine rite, I wouldn't choose to 
|make that my first online rite, but what the hell...

Why not?  Tinysex has been a hit since the early days of Mu*ing.


|I will be getting a copy of it for Black Moon's Archive project, and will make 
|it available online if anyone is interested. It should be interesting to see 
|how that group overcame the obvious problems.

Please do.  I'm curious what Black Moon (Publishing in Milwaukee?) has
done online.  Are they scanning their docs into ascii and putting them
online yet?  They've got a great copy-service at cost, so I don't imagine
they'd be losing anything to shift it to cyberspace.


|I have mixed feelings about the idea. It would seem to limit the kinds of 
|rituals you can do. I suspect it will certainly be a while before the OTO does 
|their initiations online.

Never happen, I think.  Pseudo-rites or re-enactments among members perhaps.
I've talked with other members about it and we more or less dismissed the 
idea of formal initiations but we *have* talked about Masses and variants 
of all kinds of things.  As I'm not much into ceremonial magick I've not 
spearheaded anything, though I've done a few shamanic journeys and 
participated in one Wiccan-variant.


|But when you think about it, what actually occurs in "ritual space" isn't 
|necessarily connected to what you are doing in physical space. 

Plus sometimes it translates from cyberspace to physical.  Weird experience
to kiss someone in cyberspace and feel it on the lips, don'tcha know, not
to mention more intimate encounters. ;>


|In some forms 
|of ritual, one of the first tasks is to create an astral temple. This allows 
|you to conduct effective rituals in your bedroom while your neighbors are 
|blasting their radios. 

Yes, that was one of my first personal projects when exploring the idea of
Cyber Ritual (I think the term 'virtual' is a misnomer).  Abandoned the
idea temporarily in favor of re-orientation to another Mu*.  Now I'm
seriously thinking of reconstructing such a place, strictly based upon
_Book Four_.  I might like ceremonial magick in cyberspace more than non.


|The people who play MUD games over the net call it a 
|"text based virtual reality", 

Text-adventure goes online.  Fancy names don't change it much.


|and seem to feel that they can trance into role 
|playing games. Isn't that one step away from a good magickal ritual?

Trancing is definitely possible.  My rite isn't usually structured and
I don't divide it much from my ordinary experience, so people talking
about 'specific ritual events' have to deal with my kaotika.


|On the other hand, can you create an effective enough mind link with a large 
|group over the nets to have the kinds of synchronicities and power effects 
|that come from good rituals? 

Yes, but it requires people who are dedicated to working together on a
repeated and regular basis.  Most so far haven't had the shared values
and incentive to make it work, as I've seen them.


|It sure throws out drumming and dancing as a way 
|to build a group trance...

No it doesn't.  :>  One method is simultaneous noncyber tape players
and physical movement while seated and typing.  Even the cyberdancing
is effective, as I've felt it.

MOST of this depends on how familiar you can get with the medium.
Working and living in cyberspace Mu*s for about a month helps.


|_mll

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