|
|
|
June 10th, 2009
02:45 pm - Musings on Chaos Magic
Many years ago, I read a certain article about chaos magic, one that struck me as rather poignant. It's called "GO UNDERGROUND and be a CHAOS MAGICIAN" and is form Joel Biroco's The Exorcist of Revolution. While it's generally an aimless meandering through Biroco's brain (though not at all uninteresting), the thrust of it is that Chaotes cannot be a part of the corporate world and really practice their craft to its greatest depths and heights.
It was from this essay that I first got an image of the peddling magician, creating amulets out of discarded aluminum cans and bits of string and held together with old chewed gum, a sort of modern day begging priest, or goes for you Hellenes out there. I have always liked this model, always thought that it was something that we need in this society, and always thought that there might be a place for me to do such a thing. Well, perhaps not the discarded gum part.
Re-reading the essay, though, brought me to think on it a bit more than I had in the past. I would fall into the "nine-to-five magician" category that Biroco holds up: I live in a corporate world, and the thought of quitting right now does, indeed, scare the hell out of me. I'm pleased with my job, where I am, and where I am going. Contentment, which I'm sure would be frowned upon by Biroco, is something I know in this place right now, even if it is sometimes a bit stressful and often a very hard job.
On the other hand, I purposefully did not arrive here through magical means, nor through ritual, nor even through prayer. I did no work other than the work of my own hands to make it here, put on no ceremonial clothes outside of the suit I interviewed in and the clothes I chose to wear daily, spoke no incantations beyond the statements made in my interview, and manipulated the selection process only by submitting a resumé. Biroco's "nine-to-five magicians" ignore their impulses for a more romantic life, and direct their mystical work toward their own career direction.
Suddenly, I fit the one-tracked, stunted "nine-to-five magician" mold a bit less.
In many ways, I find that the focus I have now (and have always had, though sometimes to greater extent than others) on being careful about what I practice magic for and who I practice it for/on has mitigated some of the limitations of the corporate world that could trap a guy like me: I practice neither on nor for myself. I've developed some interesting amulets over the years (the Cthulhu amulet being one of my favourites), done some amazing sigil work, involved myself in healing rituals that went better than I could have imagined, and given offerings for all sorts of people in amazingly sacred spaces (high on Mt. Olympus and beneath the Temple of Apollo at Delphi being the best of them). All this work was done for others, or at the request of others, and there's very little direct benefit to myself. Certainly, none of it is directed at my choice of career path.
Do I agree with Biroco's thesis, that I am not the magician I could be were I free of the shackles of oppression that the 9-5 world has clasped me in? I think that he might be right on that point. The other half of his thesis, though, that exiting society's rules is the only way to go, that it somehow naturally creates the Chaote and brings him/her to a state of deep magics with great heights, is flawed.
Chaotes are self-made: there Biroco and I appear to agree fully. What I don't agree with, though, is that environments themselves are enough to set our fates and overcome the self-making process.
We are who we are because we wish to be ourselves: no more, no less.
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: busy
Current Music: "The Great Filling Station Holdup", -JB
|
November 30th, 2007
11:43 am - Fighting the War on Christmas, Christian soldiers strap on Amulets!
 This morning, I noticed that World Net Daily is selling magical amulets to Christians. For those unfamiliar with the site, it's an evangelical Christian "news site" (really, "sensationalist news site" would better describe it, or possibly "tabloid") that claims "uncompromising journalism" and to be "a guardian of liberty," while usually just spewing the usual claptrap that comes from the general right edge of sanity.
Those of you who know my reading habits (and my magical interests) know that I'm really into amulets, and devouring any ancient magical literature I can find. Amulets, ancient Christian magic, and connections to the modern world really interest me deeply, so when I read this article, I recognized what WND was doing immediately.
Here's a quote from the article:
There's one more component of your Christmas-defense kit: It's the "Operation: Just Say 'Merry Christmas' Bracelet." They make great stocking stuffers, but why wait! Make your feelings about Christmas known to one and all. Wear them to pick up the kids, when you buy groceries and when you go to work. They're guaranteed to ward off the evil spirits of the ACLU grinches.
If you'd like to purchase one, you can pick up the little bracelets on their site (I've pictured one at the top right for your convenience). Hell, I'd love to find one in my stocking!
The characterizations of the ACLU "grinches" as "evil spirits" caught my eye. I'm reminded of when Christianity was a young religion, and the world was full of demons just waiting in pagan temples to posses some young, nubile and naive Christian. There's an old tale of a pair of Christian night watchmen who would walk past a temple each night, and each morning they required an exorcism, "just in case" the demons had come out of the temple and possessed them.
This isn't any different, really: by wearing this amulet, you can ward off evil spirits. WND has de-humanized the ACLU into something that is dangerous, but they have the answer! They have a nifty little device that you can buy to protect you from these dangerous things, for the power of Christ is best harnessed by a rubber wristband.
Honestly, I'm impressed with the WND's rhetoric here. Just look what they've done to those who carry an ACLU card, and to top that, they've offered a protection scheme to overpower their creation.
On the one hand, I see this as a genuine religious concern for a genuine religious group that has a genuine interest in protecting its congregants from dangerous spirits.
On the other hand, it really sounds like what the Ghostbusters were accused of: "These men are complete snowball artists. They use nerve and sense gases to induce hallucinations. The people think they're seeing ghosts and call these bozos, who conveniently show up to get rid of the problem with a fake electronic light show."
Well, okay: my other hand is sounding reasonable. . .
On a side note, I found out about this little warding kit that they're selling through their article about Alaska Airlines' "discrimination" against heterosexuals. I find it interesting that, in a world where the Religious Right has always sought to keep discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation legal, they're bitching and moaning when they perceive it going the other way (and, of course, it's not discrimination; they can get the same discount just by typing in the code: there're no ticket-counter screenings to determine "fondness for cock," at least, not that I'm aware of. . . But the TSA has been getting a bit more "personal" in searches for years).
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/smile.gif) amused
Current Music: "The Wino and I Know", -JB
|
April 7th, 2006
04:54 pm - Thinkin' about women
I spent my lunch hour sleeping out on a bench in front of Baker. I was, honestly, truly, totally going to study up on amulets for my presentation at Desert Magic. . . One can never know enough about a subject like amulets.
Instead, though, I spent my hour lying on the bench, snoozing and daydreaming. I daydreamed about lots of things, but none of the things I daydreamed about were related to my amulets workshop, even though my "pillow" was a copy of the Greek Magical Papyri in Translation. (We're praying for osmosis here.)
These daydreams were, I think, entirely related to women: ones I know, ones I'd like to get to know better, and ones I just don't know enough about. Then, of course, there are the women that I cannot stop thinking about. I imagine some of those women might be surprised at how much I think about 'em, what they mean to me, and how they mean it. :)
When I think of my friends, most guys walk into my mind, hang out, and leave. Girls, well, they hang around and make themselves comfortable. I should explain that better some other time.
It doesn't help that I saw someone I wish I'd asked out 8 years ago today. That's probably the central reason for the thought process.
But for now, that particular bit of information is staying under my hat. I'm very busy at work. (Fortunately, true to form, everything after this sentence was written before I came to work today, though some editing has been done in the few minutes of downtime I get.)
( Thinking about women and dating )
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "Gypsies in the Palace", -JB
|
April 20th, 2005
09:17 am - What a day. . . Sigils and time-traveling mages. . . Stay away from me, please!
Well, yesterday was officially the busiest day I've had in a long time.
I met 15 total time-traveling mages, and found out that they can really keep one busy.
I noticed that my sigilzation technique changed. I think this was self-defense, actually, as I found myself suddenly required to make sigils at the drop of a hat, with little thought and lots of creativity.
In the past, my sigils have been mostly words formed into symbols; yesterday, they were mostly cartoonish drawings and initials (when letters were actually involved). I'm not so impressed with how they look, because some quite clearly convey the exact intent, which is sometimes considered a no-no in the sigilization world.
Truth be told, they are, in general, poor displays of sigilmanship (if such a thing exists) if you look at them from the armchair of Chaos Magic theory. If I had seen these sigils on Monday, I would have suggested that the Chaote who drew them go back to Sigil School.
I will have a copy of all the sigils I did at Trillium this weekend, if you're really interested. Here are the highlights for people who won't get to be there (I'll hopefully be able to get pics up later for the ones that have no pic):
- The sigil that started it all was for
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) fred_smith, and is for opening a pickle jar. - A sigil for tlachtga to get her boyfriend to pick up his clothes, or at least not leave them on the floor.
- A sigil for a guy named Jaxx Splaxt, who noted that he was currently in the Anderson System and in the 25th century. I created a sigil to help him find his Yarston Blaster (whatever that is).
- A sigil for tanrinia because she needed one.
- A sigil for ceolnamara to find a free table at lunch.
- A sigil for a girl named Cynthia who introduced herself at lunch.
- A sigil for singingwren, who needed her sound card fixed (unforunately, no amount of magic can fix the sound on a computer without a soundcard. . .)
- A sigil for saffronhare to ward off the bugs.
- A sigil for perlgirlju for some R&R.
- One sigil was written on the back of a five dollar bill for a cashier at Wendy's who was looking for a boyfriend.
- A sigil for mistw02 for a test.
- A sigil for an idiot who couldn't install SPSS (passed over the counter at work).
- A sigil for rfunk for his attendance at PSA in the past.
- A sigil for ceolnamara was also done to help her open an Orange Juice bottle on Sunday, but it hasn't been done yet.
- And finally, a sigil for the campus preacher dude who is very obviously a time-traveling magician, but was very resistant for a while to taking the sigil, because I think he wanted to keep his status as a mage on the DL.
But most importantly, a big thank-you to everyone who was not a time-traveling mage yesterday. You have no idea how much I appreciate your normalcy.
Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: "Boat Drinks", -JB
|
|
|
