Path: typhoon.sonic.net!news-out.cwix.com!newsfeed.cwix.com!europa.netcrusader.net!195.92.193.196!diablo.theplanet.net!dispose.news.demon.net!demon!news.demon.co.uk!demon!kiblah.demon.co.uk!jake From: jake Newsgroups: alt.magick.tyagi Subject: Belief versus technique . Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 10:37:49 +0100 Organization: kiblah Message-ID: <9ck1yQAtPKS5IwTp@kiblah.demon.co.uk> NNTP-Posting-Host: kiblah.demon.co.uk X-NNTP-Posting-Host: kiblah.demon.co.uk:194.222.62.222 X-Trace: news.demon.co.uk 961061952 nnrp-03:16050 NO-IDENT kiblah.demon.co.uk:194.222.62.222 X-Complaints-To: abuse@demon.net MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Newsreader: Turnpike (32) Version 4.01 Lines: 50 Xref: typhoon.sonic.net alt.magick.tyagi:23626 In article <8i9md1$8kp@bolt.sonic.net>, nagasiva yronwode writes > >>Its no good just reciting the words if you don't mean it. You need to >>believe that the spell is going to have the effect you intend it to. > >I'm not sure that this is true. > I'm certain it is only partly true, and need not be an over-riding consideration. >>You've got to pour your energy into a spell to give it power. Thus the >>chanting of the words. Its a component of spellcasting. > >this is one of those common presumptions about the importance >of the spellcaster and the origins of the cause of change. it >is not an universal presupposition, however, as some believe >that the components themselves have a power which may be >guided into resolution by those knowledgeable in the proper >combination, timing, and activation. quite so, and this isn't unknown in Western Magick, where (for example) the correct sounds and the correct time can be far more important than belief. Even a feeling of 'energy raised' is no guarantee of success, while a casual action correctly performed can have major results. In practice I've frequently found 'dutiful disinterest', rather than excited belief, to be a mental state associated with results. Fashionable modern 'Psychological' models over-emphasise belief at the expense of technique; exploration of traditional approaches is frequently neglected in direct consequence. 'Moderns' also overlook the possibility of increasing the 'Order of Magnitude' of results. They assume that the limits of their result are set by their own consciousness - rather than their technique. Oddly this does not hold true of advertising, politics and other covert applications of 'word magick'. Therein other peoples consciousness is the target and the operators belief is not even a factor. ALways JSK. 'he that professeth magic without astrology, doth nothing, but altogether is in error' Cornelius Agrippa The Gnostic Alchemical Church of Typhon-Christ http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/7770/