Some themes recur again and again in my life, and thus in this blog. I can get a bit dogmatic about them, but for me they form the major ascesis of my witching life.
One of them is that both the white magic and black magic brigades are on a hiding to nothing. An agency worker the other day was talking an impressive array of weird shit and ultimately said that her mother is 'a white witch '. I am not a white witch. Of course that is a statement which will have people up in arms. What I mean by that is that I am not a person who kids myself that all can only ever be positive and sweetness and light. Put like that it sounds ridiculous, but that is actually what white magic means. Personally I don't have time for all that - the real work of the witch calls and there are rapists out there needing erectile dysfunction.
Neither am I a black magician, although regular readers here will agree with me that my magic inclines towards the 'left hand path' of development by breaking taboos and conventions. The definition of black magic as being for purely selfish purposes is a parody of any magical system ever, and clearly originates in a fear of magic as well as an unquestioning acceptance of our society's equation of black with bad.
In fact any attempt to be all good or bad creates a dualism where the opposite springs into prominence. Hence the invention of the devil. A wholly good monotheistic deity leaves a vacuum which needs to be filled. Similarly attempts to ignore human impulses such as sex and hate creates a dualism where these impulses become the very devil.
I have been scouring the Internet and failed to find a definition I attribute to Crowley that the black magician is one who will not accept change (I'm doing this from memory and can't even remember where I read this so don't quote me). I'm guessing that he meant by that that that sort of magician misses the point of magic - for Crowley, the knowledge and conversation of ones Holy Guardian Angel - and instead aspires to some goal of his own devising. I'm interpreting this half-remembered quote therefore as meaning that 'black' magic misses the point completely. Interestingly in this view the black and white crowds actually fall into the same trap of setting their sights on the wrong thing and missing the point.
More of my little dogmatic opinions are that the Lady will always provide and the right resources will always appear at the right moment. One I think I've talked about less here is the paradox that the adventure of magic both keeps its practitioners young and also ages them. It ages people because magic works to move people on to the next thing, resulting in much illness and trouble in life. It keeps them young, because magic nurtures a childlike sense of play and adventure which the muggles just don't have. A sense of play combined with a matter of fact acceptance of the opportunities the universe sends ones way, is a recipe for a youthful resilience which can be extended well into old age.
The details are nowhere near sorted yet but a major opportunity seems to be arising in my work life. Away from Zippy permanently with excellent prospects for promotion and development. I have viewed my current difficult circumstances at work as an opportunity and so the universe has come up with the goods. Lucky I'm not one of those awful black magicians - damn, I've bitten my tongue, it's so far in my cheek - who set their minds on the wrong things and so don't accept the universe's gift!
One of them is that both the white magic and black magic brigades are on a hiding to nothing. An agency worker the other day was talking an impressive array of weird shit and ultimately said that her mother is 'a white witch '. I am not a white witch. Of course that is a statement which will have people up in arms. What I mean by that is that I am not a person who kids myself that all can only ever be positive and sweetness and light. Put like that it sounds ridiculous, but that is actually what white magic means. Personally I don't have time for all that - the real work of the witch calls and there are rapists out there needing erectile dysfunction.
Neither am I a black magician, although regular readers here will agree with me that my magic inclines towards the 'left hand path' of development by breaking taboos and conventions. The definition of black magic as being for purely selfish purposes is a parody of any magical system ever, and clearly originates in a fear of magic as well as an unquestioning acceptance of our society's equation of black with bad.
In fact any attempt to be all good or bad creates a dualism where the opposite springs into prominence. Hence the invention of the devil. A wholly good monotheistic deity leaves a vacuum which needs to be filled. Similarly attempts to ignore human impulses such as sex and hate creates a dualism where these impulses become the very devil.
I have been scouring the Internet and failed to find a definition I attribute to Crowley that the black magician is one who will not accept change (I'm doing this from memory and can't even remember where I read this so don't quote me). I'm guessing that he meant by that that that sort of magician misses the point of magic - for Crowley, the knowledge and conversation of ones Holy Guardian Angel - and instead aspires to some goal of his own devising. I'm interpreting this half-remembered quote therefore as meaning that 'black' magic misses the point completely. Interestingly in this view the black and white crowds actually fall into the same trap of setting their sights on the wrong thing and missing the point.
More of my little dogmatic opinions are that the Lady will always provide and the right resources will always appear at the right moment. One I think I've talked about less here is the paradox that the adventure of magic both keeps its practitioners young and also ages them. It ages people because magic works to move people on to the next thing, resulting in much illness and trouble in life. It keeps them young, because magic nurtures a childlike sense of play and adventure which the muggles just don't have. A sense of play combined with a matter of fact acceptance of the opportunities the universe sends ones way, is a recipe for a youthful resilience which can be extended well into old age.
The details are nowhere near sorted yet but a major opportunity seems to be arising in my work life. Away from Zippy permanently with excellent prospects for promotion and development. I have viewed my current difficult circumstances at work as an opportunity and so the universe has come up with the goods. Lucky I'm not one of those awful black magicians - damn, I've bitten my tongue, it's so far in my cheek - who set their minds on the wrong things and so don't accept the universe's gift!
Calvin and Hobbes agree with you.
ReplyDeleteI have to admire the way you find concise ways to express my ramblings!
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