I'm a Wizard! Ask Me Anything

[Jarhyn]

Ok, so, I figured that, since there are plenty of christians derping around here who just won't shut up about THEIR faith, a faith we are all tired of hearing about (as if a thousand such persons haven't already darkened each of our doorsteps a thousand+ times to tell us similarly...), that I would offer a counterpoint. Also, in considering the questions others have for me, it provides me with nucleation point for my own understanding of myself and my beliefs to develop; most people learn more through teaching than they ever learned from being taught.

Now, I will point out that there is nothing preventing someone of a wizardly persuasion from also being a Christian (or muslim, or hindu, or wiccan, or any other faith); the only thing that stands in the way of this is the wisdom and intelligence and journey of the wizard in question. I will admit, however, that the belligerence modern abrahamic religion shows towards anything "wizard" shaped is quite a strong reason as to why such an outcome is unlikely.

That said, I am surely not the only such practicioner here. So, if you would like to field answers, speak up. If you would like an answer from a specific person's perspective, though, please direct your questions explicitly.

Maybe by the end of this I will have convinced some of you to take up the title yourselves. Or maybe I won't.

Ask away!

 

[Politesse]

What sort of a wizard are you?

 

[Keith&Co.]

My second LPO thought of himself as a Catholic Wizard. To him, yhe only diff between spells and prayers was commanding vs. begging. Same energies, same chances of success.

The only question that comes to mind is "Which finger is the magic in?"

 

[ideologyhunter]

So...........if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard, because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with.
...............Is that right?

 

[GenesisNemesis]

Why? It's no different than any other superstitious nonsense.

 

[Jarhyn]

Why? It's no different than any other superstitious nonsense.

You are free to believe that. You haven't even asked any thing of me to determine whether it's superstition.

What do you get from an unbroken loop of precious metal, connected with other rare metals, in series such as to effect the world around you. Be careful what you call "superstitious nonsense". Because that "superstitious nonsense" includes as a primary rule "magic can only exist within the context of physics."

 

[Jarhyn]

So...........if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard, because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with.
...............Is that right?

Probably not. "Sometimes you have to wander to find yourself," if pithy nothing's are what you want.

 

[Jarhyn]

My second LPO thought of himself as a Catholic Wizard. To him, yhe only diff between spells and prayers was commanding vs. begging. Same energies, same chances of success.

The only question that comes to mind is "Which finger is the magic in?"

The magic isn't in the fingers. The magic is in the mind. It's where it always was. Commanding or begging, I don't think either get you anywhere. The only thing you can command or beg are yourself and others, and to me, magic is about commanding self, in the context of spell work.

Edit: sometimes I think the universe MAY throw you a bone if you do things right. This is on the basis of what is a very odd series of coincidences that cannot be interpreted reasonably as causative. I call this causative adjacency, because it is coincidence correctly adjacent to causation.

I have accomplished this twice, through strange means that I, again, do not believe can be reliably produced because the situations therein were strangely organic and just personally "right". As said previously, magic cannot be bought nor begged, to my knowledge.

 

[Jarhyn]

What sort of a wizard are you?

The sort that realize they do everything wizards have ever claimed to be able to do. The aesthetic just kind of happened to me, and then I asked myself what a wizard is and as I said, I do and know all that too. The current high magic I'm working on is a firmware for a bioassay reader. I'm the kind of wizard who knows magic takes work. Of low magic, I am learning lapidary. I seek to make a beautiful gemstone after the optical properties of a fungus called "goblin gold".

 

[Angry Floof]

Do you ever have wizard battles with other wizards, orcs, banshees, elves, fairies, or magical woodland creatures?

 

[GenesisNemesis]

Why? It's no different than any other superstitious nonsense.

You are free to believe that. You haven't even asked any thing of me to determine whether it's superstition.

What do you get from an unbroken loop of precious metal, connected with other rare metals, in series such as to effect the world around you. Be careful what you call "superstitious nonsense". Because that "superstitious nonsense" includes as a primary rule "magic can only exist within the context of physics."

You're just attempting to define magic into existence, then. Same as when theists attempt to define god into existence. Demonstrate to me that there's such a thing as "magic".

 

[Jarhyn]

Do you ever have wizard battles with other wizards, orcs, banshees, elves, fairies, or magical woodland creatures?

I was a soldier for a few years, though those were my wicca/witch years.

I can say I had a dream about Queen Titania a while back that has me feeling a little strange; dreams of faeries are about the extent of my experience there. We have a fair number of legends and superstitions that say that this is dangerous thing, though I both rendered service and had service rendered in that encounter. That is the extent of my experience with the fae, and was "naught but a dream".

What does this mean? It. Was. Just. A. Dream. But it was an amazing and magical dream to have had and had remembered. I don't think I shall ever want to forget it. It was like the dream where I just knew, a decade before inhaling on a cigarette, what the smoke would taste like if I ever got past the awful smokeyness of it. It was a good dream.

 

[Jarhyn]

Why? It's no different than any other superstitious nonsense.

You are free to believe that. You haven't even asked any thing of me to determine whether it's superstition.

What do you get from an unbroken loop of precious metal, connected with other rare metals, in series such as to effect the world around you. Be careful what you call "superstitious nonsense". Because that "superstitious nonsense" includes as a primary rule "magic can only exist within the context of physics."

You're just attempting to define magic into existence, then. Same as when theists attempt to define god into existence. Demonstrate to me that there's such a thing as "magic".

And you are here attempting to say that something is not the magic always promised, despite delivering on all those promises. This isn't to say it cannot be understood and harnessed; quite the opposite in fact. Magic can only exist within the boundaries of physics.

You cannot deny for a moment that you have a device that you fundamentally do not, perhaps cannot understand capable of sending, through a network of such devices, a message destined across the world.

You are in fact doing the inverse of what you accuse me of: defining "magic" out of existence. We got all the wonders of magic through hard work and understanding and then lexically wiped it of all wonder and awe out of fear of judgement from religious prudes.

You can demonstrate to.yourself if you want that you can find no magic, no wonder and awe from the act of understanding; that you possess no arcane and useful knowledge to reshape the world around you.

 

[Keith&Co.]

The only question that comes to mind is "Which finger is the magic in?"

The magic isn't in the fingers. The magic is in the mind.

Billy Barty would be so disappointed.

 

[GenesisNemesis]

You can demonstrate to.yourself if you want that you can find no magic, no wonder and awe from the act of understanding; that you possess no arcane and useful knowledge to reshape the world around you.

Are you trying to claim that without belief in magic I'm incapable of finding wonder and awe in things? Again, seems awfully similar to religious arguments.

 

[Politesse]

What sort of a wizard are you?

The sort that realize they do everything wizards have ever claimed to be able to do. The aesthetic just kind of happened to me, and then I asked myself what a wizard is and as I said, I do and know all that too. The current high magic I'm working on is a firmware for a bioassay reader. I'm the kind of wizard who knows magic takes work. Of low magic, I am learning lapidary. I seek to make a beautiful gemstone after the optical properties of a fungus called "goblin gold".

I think you and I probably have similar approaches to the craft, albeit phrased and contextualized a bit differently. I do definitely feel that Magick is contingent on Will, and if someone is unwilling to work for their goals in the pragmatic sense, then they are obviously confused about what they truly will. Ergo, their workings are meaningless.

How did you get into lapidary? Are you a rockhound? I always liked watching the machines at work (my dad is a geologist, we went to a lot of rock shows) but I never learned the craft myself.

Have you read any of the works of the Gnostic hermeticists?

 

[Angry Floof]

Which wizard would you be in this scenario:

 

[Sajara]

The cameraman...

 

[Jarhyn]

What sort of a wizard are you?

The sort that realize they do everything wizards have ever claimed to be able to do. The aesthetic just kind of happened to me, and then I asked myself what a wizard is and as I said, I do and know all that too. The current high magic I'm working on is a firmware for a bioassay reader. I'm the kind of wizard who knows magic takes work. Of low magic, I am learning lapidary. I seek to make a beautiful gemstone after the optical properties of a fungus called "goblin gold".

I think you and I probably have similar approaches to the craft, albeit phrased and contextualized a bit differently. I do definitely feel that Magick is contingent on Will, and if someone is unwilling to work for their goals in the pragmatic sense, then they are obviously confused about what they truly will. Ergo, their workings are meaningless.

How did you get into lapidary? Are you a rockhound? I always liked watching the machines at work (my dad is a geologist, we went to a lot of rock shows) but I never learned the craft myself.

Have you read any of the works of the Gnostic hermeticists?

As to lapidary, I still have to take the first step on that journey. My reasons, however, owe to the fact that I spend maybe 1000 bucks a year on sapphire ore from the Phillipsburg alluvial deposit, and want to have direct personal control over how the stones are cut, without comments from the peanut gallery that the way I have done it is somehow "wrong" because my goals are not for settable gemstones but rather to speak to the original form of the rough stones. I have no doubt that traditionally cut, many would be quite pretty. But they would be the same boring, magickless prettiness that any other stone has rather than creating a unique collection of things worthy of being held and appreciated for their unique properties and flaws.

As to will, yes, I think you're quite spot on there. Any task requires motive, means, and opportunity. I think distilled to it's core, being a skilled wizard comes down to maximizing your means contextually to your will, while being realistic about what opportunities exist, and then being patient and observant for the opportunity. It all starts with that goal oriented direction of will, though, as you say.

 

[Jarhyn]

Which wizard would you be in this scenario:

View attachment 30109

I'm with Sajara here. The wizard in this picture is definitely the guy behind the camera. That whole shot is pure fucking magic.