Magick Is a (Psychological) Gun - KNOW THYSELF

[User1265455]

The first law of Magick is KNOW THYSELF. The following discussion is an explanation of WHY it's the first LAW.



Just to be clear - I am not discussing how powerful magick is. Nor am I discussing using it as a weapon. This is a metaphor. Please keep that in mind while you read my thoughts on the psychological impact magick has on the unprepared mind. Thank you.

NOTE - These are pieces of a conversation held on another forum. Only my posts, slightly edited, are included. Also - there are several mentions of possession cases. The demons we work with here at S&S are not the kind that practice unwilling possession. It's gross. However, there are sludge entities in EVERY realm that DO, and these types of possession are what is being discussed. However, possession is not the main topic here, but instead the naievete with which beginners approach magick, because they believe in the Hollywood versions, and don't understand how deeply magick impacts, and is in turn impacted by, psychology - which is the main point of this post.

Also - I know it gets a tad repetitive near the end. There were some... translation errors within the original thread which forced me to restate my premise several times. What you see here is the stitching together of multiple replies without the debating context to demonstrate the necessity of the repetitiveness. I'd have cleaned it up better and made it more fluid and structurally sound, but I was in a hurry at the time and felt that some things do bear repetition, so I just edited out the comments made directly to other parties of the debate for privacy's sake, copied and pasted what was left, clarified what was left as best I could given the time I had available, and called it good. I know it's not my best work, but it's still useful. *shrugs* Not a god yet. Perfection seems to even elude their kind. Did my best. Good enough for me.

Though I do have time now, I feel the original will probably do, so I'm leaving it as is.





We all get tired of the Art being disrespected by toddlers who shouldn't even have matches… And think that a blowtorch is a good idea.

You ever see 6th Sense?

Remember the boy walking down the hallway, with half the back of his head missing?

You know how a lot of us practitioners kvetch about newbies who try so hard to be all big and bad and the darker the better? Well, the reason we 13itch so much is we’re usually the ones who have to clean up the walls and the relatives afterwards. It gets old.

We’re the ones who took the gun safety courses, and then when we saw the corpse, wanted to smack everyone in the room for even owning one, because it was yet ANOTHER dead kid and our hearts are just broken because guns should be treated with respect and honor, and not handed to 7 year olds.

Magick, any kind of magick, really, is a gun. Anyone who doesn’t recognize that, shouldn't be playing with it. They don’t know how to tell if it’s not loaded.

People who know guns… they have the right eyes, and the know-how, to tell if a gun is loaded or not. All these newbie people who are playing with the arts… they don't have eyes, and they don't know enough about the stick in front of them to know it’s a gun and what it will do if they point the wrong end at their faces. They really don’t. Think like you're from some blind pygmy tribe still stuck in the stone age. You've never seen one before. You pick it up wrong, what happens? That’s magick, especially in the beginning if you don't have a good teacher… white, dark, black, doesn’t matter, magick is a gun.

These kids THINK it’s a stick, and they think they can hit people with it, like it’s some magick hammer/club that will beat all their problems into submission. They don't know it’s a gun. They don’t know what the flock a gun IS.

My point had nothing to do with the realism of magick, but the psychological effects. The comments stem from several incidents, such as the NMM incident which ended in the possessed raving about how he wasn't possessed and he had lied to us all and he was the great and powerful Oz. There are, apparently, a few more running around who are just like him lately. I spoke up, because I’m concerned about the… cavalier manner in which any magick has been being approached by children, who poo-poo us, completely not understanding that it’s their own heads that get reamed in the end.

Magick digs up and exposes the deepest subconscious goo, and forces you to face it and deal with it, and it is neither a kind nor pretty process, even when it’s white arts you're using. If you're not expecting that, if you're not working from an internal place of stability (or worse, you're going through puberty and have no idea who you are or where you fit or what you believe of yourself, others, and what you deserve out of life, except in some shallow entitlement manner) it’s going to blow a few fuses in your life… by doing so in your head.

Magick is a psychological gun. Better?

I've noticed a lot of people lately who are playing with magick, not understanding that it shows you yourself… and if you're flawed in ways that really need to be fixed… it’s going to show those the worst.
I've been hearing about another possible possession case… a kid who’s playing with dark arts and black arts for the usual egoic reasons – because he feels powerless, so he’s trying to mask that powerlessness by seeking what he considers to be something that frightens others.

The issue with that is, they always think they've got it under control… it’s like snake handlers… “I've seen everyone handle them for years, I did what everyone else did, and I got bitten… why?” Because you didn't actually pay attention to what we were really doing, and you didn't bother to listen to us in class, that’s why.

Magick is so deeply tied into your psychological make-up – it comes from within, and the biggest generator of energy in your body is your brain’s subconscious. If you don't have a leash on your subconscious… it will always, ALWAYS warp your magick.

It won't matter if you're reaching for dark, black, or even just plain-Jan non-flavored white. All that will matter is you touched the fence… and it’s electric, baby. That’s fun for a second, if you're kinky like that… but afterwards, it’s a 13itch to clean up.

I’m tired of cleaning up noobs who play with matches, bangsticks, electric fences, and whatever other metaphor you want me to use. I’m tired of them not listening to me when I tell them, there’s a safe way… and it takes a long time. Or there’s a fast way, and it takes a lot of pain… which way do you want to go?

I'm also tired of people, noobs and non-practitioners alike, saying that I'm blowing smoke.

Another kid is about to get possessed because someone in his life has made him feel that he’s powerless and the only way to be safe is to play with the magick matches.

Shouldn't we be worried about this as a community?

How many people will he hurt?

The original case of possession – the damage was relatively well contained. Plus, everyone got to see his mistakes, and there’s even a nice long thread on the original forum where the case occurred where everyone can weigh in, shake their heads, laud their own wisdom, and feel better. How wonderful. He’s still possessed. He’s still crazy… and no one can help him until he asks for help. Meanwhile, he’s going to destroy his own life, brick by brick. He'll drive away friends, family, work opportunities… he'll attack people, magickally and physically… and eventually, if he’s lucky, he'll end up institutionalized and very, very angry. If he’s not… he’ll end up on the streets, probably as some form of addict.

It’s not like I haven't seen this pattern before.

The thing is - it's not actually the the type of magick that's the real problem. It's the reasons behind messing with any of it in the first place. It's that feeling of lack, that desperation, that feeling of pain and being lost, that anger, that fear of never being loved... we've all been there. We've all been the misunderstood teen.

It's not magick that's the issue. It's their HEADS that's the issue.

Oh, and if you think magick is just a mild ability to affect a few random numbers… please try to remember that the brain is ALL random numbers… and these noobs messing with the arts, theirs are being scrambled.

Who’s going to be next?

To be clear: I'm not talking about guns as weapons that kill. Don't mistake my point. I'm not talking about magick as a weapon that kills. I'm not talking about ooo, magick kills, so don't play with it.

I’m talking about this concept, a metaphor.

How do you feel when you hear about a child who’s shot themselves. How do you feel when you see that scene in The 6th Sense, when that boy walks down the hallway with half the back of his skull blown off? I’m not talking about magick as a weapon against others.

I’m talking about its emotional and psychological impact on people who do not know that it has emotional and psychological effects. I’m talking about guns as a metaphor. Guns create trauma. Whether they go off the right way or the wrong way, someone or something, somewhere, loses out. Some child loses a relative. Someone loses something. Even when guns are used responsibly, there is a horrible impact mentally and emotionally, for something.

How does a cop feel when they have to shoot someone?

How does a parent feel when they have to scoop their kid’s brains off the wall?

Magick is like THAT. It’s not bad. A gun isn't bad either.

It’s what happens with that gun when people don't understand that there are consequences for every action, and that magick has more consequences, especially psychologically and emotionally, than most activities.
GUN IS A METAPHOR. It’s the only thing I could think of that even comes close to describing the impact.

I'm also not talking power levels, so don't go there, either. Archimedes once said: “Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world.” (ΕΛΕΓΕ ΔΕ ΚΑΙ ΔΩΡΙΣΤΙ ΦΩΝΗ ΣΥΡΑΚΟΥΣΙΑ,
“ΠΑ ΒΩ ΚΑΙ ΧΑΡΙΣΤΙΩΝΙ ΤΑΝ ΓΑΝ ΚΙΝΗΣΩ ΠΑΣΑΝ.) So it's not about how much power you have or don't have... it's about whether you know how to apply it appropriately. Whether you know yourself AND your power.

Someone started talking about power, and compared one practitioner as a ballistic missile to another practitioner's "gun." Why did I use the word Gun? Not only am I not talking in terms of power, but, a ballistic missile simply doesn't have the emotional impact that a gun does. Guns are personal. Unless you're at ground zero, ballistic missiles aren’t. And honestly, if you're at ground zero, you're not going to be concerned. Swatting a fly with a ballistic missile is impersonal. Shooting yourself with a gun because you don't know it’s a gun is deeply personal, and hurts a lot more people than just yourself… you're just going to be too crazy or dead to care about that.

THAT is what I meant.

I'm not even talking about the cumulative effect of random numbers. I'm talking purely psychological here.

Everyone knows I talk in pictures with high emotional content.

Magick isn't bad. I love magick. I've worked it my entire life. I've RESPECTED it my entire life.

I’m worried about the people who don’t. I’m worried about the people who don't know what it is, and what it can do when you're lost, in pain, and feeling helpless, dark and egoic.

Magick, even the malicious arts, aren't necessarily bad. Guns aren't bad.

Not knowing anything about either and playing with them anyway IS VERY BAD.

I’m not asking for you to measure your penises and comment on the length of others’ in the magickal sense. Who holds the biggest gun is NOT my concern.

Even a little SwissMiniGun is deadly if you don't know what you're playing with. You may not know anything ABOUT magick and you can still do a lot of damage… most of it to yourself and your own head.

THAT is what we should be concerned about.

I’m tired of watching people go powermad and nutty. It’s exhausting picking up the pieces. Get a cluebyfour.

I think that everyone probably has the same amount of raw ability when it comes to magickal talent, which is why I'm not talking about who has more power to do more destruction, or what have you… but different circumstances change their OPENNESS to that raw ability.

I admit that in most cases, magick DOES take time and practice, and it doesn't happen overnight... but every now and then, the sheer amount of psychological pressures, combined with the perfect chemistry project that puberty makes of the human animal, combines to blow random numbers and training out of the water... and Bad Things Happen - when you rush it – and that is exactly the issue I'm talking about. These kids think they're the keepers of these powers, and the power is just playing with them, from the inside. What are the long term consequences? You don't know. What we do know is that prolonged exposure for someone who doesn't know who they are, and who repeatedly assures you that they have everything under control, makes them instead increasingly unstable.

THAT is the situation I'm referring to.

I’m not at ALL referring to the amount of damage a magickal spell can do against an outside enemy. I’m talking about what magick does to the practitioner’s head who is unprepared.

I know that when I say the word gun, you're automatically going to think I’m talking about magickal attack, or power levels. I’m not. I’m talking about the effect that magick has on the psychology of the person practicing ONLY.

I don't care who wields a bigger stick. It has nothing to do with the conversation at all. I don't care what that bigger stick can do to another person – except as a side-effect of the practitioner themselves getting in over their heads psychologically speaking.

So… who want’s to have this discussion about the responsibility any practitioner has, but especially a noob, towards knowing yourself in magickal practice, and the consequences that can occur as a result of neglecting to do such internal work, whether you are working with dark arts or white arts?