I have no idea when I'll pick this thing up again, there are a few chapters after this one written, but I don't think that I have all the pieces that I need to take it further than it has gone. I think that the books of Daniel Quinn that I've been reading lately and the work of John Taylor Gatto have something to add, and they may push the thing off in new directions, but that's ok.
Anyway, on with the intro to my non-fiction work in progress tentatively entitled Find Your Own Kabbalah
What is Magic?
There are many definitions of Magic (or Magick to those who prefer it that way). To some it means the sleight of hand of stage magicians. To others, something dark and sinister. To others it is an expression of religion.
Aleister Crowley called magic "the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will."
In other words, how do you open a door with Magick? You get up, grasp the knob, turn and pull (or push). Anything that is done that causes change and is willed is Magick to Crowley. That's a pretty broad definition.
In his book Modern Magic, Donald Michael Kraig goes a step further to try to narrow it down a bit (no doubt he is a very orderly person in life, where Crowley had a bit more chaotic reality tunnel) and says:
"Magick is the science and art of causing change (in consciousness) to occur in conformity with will, using means not currently understood by traditional Western science."
So there's some science and art to it in Kraig's world. Opening a door like that isn't necessarily Magick, but if you cast the Yarrow Sticks to determine whether it would be profitable for you to open the damn door already, then since there was a change in your consciousness that tells you to open the door (brought on by the art of the traditional I Ching) then it would be Magick, but the Magick would be more the process, rather than the act.
But magic is all bullshit, isn't it? I mean, come on, how can any of it be real. All these guys are just having us on aren't they? It's just a game of intellectual elitism where some of the people have "secrets" that they can use to change reality. Nobody could really do any of those things can they? If the US government can indict Madame Cleo for fraud, then all this magic stuff has to be a hoax, right?
Right?
Well, if you believe that, then just stop now, because everything I say from here on out is just going to seem like so much horseshit to you, but if you're a bit more open to the paranormal, or the supernormal, then, please read a bit more.
For the purposes I wish to discuss, I propose that magic is anything that performs a type of sleight of mind. The commercial that influences you to buy. The homeless person that disappears from sight. The subtle manipulation used on us all in our daily lives.
This is all magic.
You may think that I am reverting back into some primitive state where I fear everything and think that little people live inside the television. I'm pretty sure that's not the case.
Everything is subjective metaphor.
What I experience is not exactly what you experience. Even if we are in the same surroundings, say at a sporting event, seated beside one another, reality is different for the two of us. We are all moving through our own reality tunnels, and only the intersection of these cause what we like to refer to as "reality."
What I experience may be the loudness of the crowd, or the smells and sights, while something else may hold your rapt attention, something that doesn't even affect me.
In later sections I will explore the ways in which governments, religions and other people seek to distort your reality tunnel to one more in keeping with what they want you to experience. I will also attempt to give you some suggestions and further reading to help liberate yourself from their influence.
But, truly do not take my word for it, for I am merely speaking to you from my reality tunnel here as I write these words. Perhaps it is not the same for you
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