The Attributes of Magick Through the History of Magickal Combat

by :':Frater:':Random:':Order:':Error:':

The Physical Level

In the Age of Taurus there was the physical means of Magick. People used objects of power in order to get the desired results - to bend reality. The technique of making a puppet in the shape of someone and burning it was frequently used. This is what Fraser call sympathic magick - a thing and it's likeness are the same. Woodoo dolls work the same way - I create the doll, I use pins the colour of which symbolise my will, and wheee! Bye-bye, health of my enemy or sickness of a friend. Defence against this type of Magick works the same way. I create a doll / picture of myself, I use physical symbols to draw evil intentions into my likeness, and declare that I and the symbol are not the same - and in case of ill will the curse flying my way should target the object, instead of me.

The Aetheric Level

Later on pure energy became the focus of Magick. In the Age of Aries physical focuses became secondary to different types of energy. Present forms of this type include Reiki, Prana Nadi, and the good old bioenergy / chi / ki. This type of Magick requires both the ability of sensing and focusing the energy. Different moods, elements, god-forms, astrological signs / planets, etc. also have energies attributed to them. For example, if I was to heal someone, I could use the power of the element of water, the god-form Hermes, or the planet Mercury. Should I ever need to defend myself against this type of Magick, my work would be quite easy, for a Certamen* of this type is quite straightforward - I use my energies to create shields, walls, labyrinths, and to fight back with it. Power of the mind, mastery of energy-forms, strength through practice, and you just won a combat.

*Certamen: a duel between two mages. It is a most ancient tradition, for since the dawn of time "The plural of 'Wizard' is 'War'", as Terry Pratchett put it.

The Astral Level

The Age of Pisces brought yet another change. Faith and belief took the place of power. Wishing something and asking some sort of a god to do the job for me are the main techniques. The trick is the strength of belief bestowed upon the appropriate god-form. If I believe that the god likes me, he will not like my enemies, so he will curse them for me. Thus, defence is easy: keeping the god satisfied - and my consciensce clear is sufficient. Sacrifices, prayers, and visiting the proper places of worship do it all. NOTE: This only works if I have belief in the given faith, or at least I believe that I believe - remember the "fake it till you make it" technique.

The Mental Level

We have reached our age, the age of reason, the Age of Aquarius. All Magick is done by the force of Will, through understanding. Under the present circumstances, Magick doesn't usually manifest, unless the performing mage knows exactly what he / she is doing. This lead to the invention of Informatic Magick. No energies or powers needed, neither from within, nor from without, save for the information and the Will. The idea is quite simple: let's say I think about a person. I gather all the information that is him - what informations does he consist of? Who is he? How does he look like? How does he think? What are his feelings? Once I have gathered the informations (I have dowbnloaded him, as a program), I can re-write it - all I need to do, is think over all the previous informations, delete the ones I don't like, and replace them with ones I like. Once I'm done, I just "upload" it, and here we go. Most of the time his Mental body will accept the changes, for it is not a static thing anyway, and most of the information is the same. Defence against this type of thing is almost impossible. Information doesn't have strength, so "mind-wrestling" is useless. "Downloading" and "uploading" are acts of Will, but once it is done, it is set. There are two things I found effective, however: - making copies of myself (sigils, symbols, suchlike), and re-programming myself every time I think some tried to program me; - Writing a program of my own, which acts as a retro-virus - it betters me all the time, while re-writing all other changes.

Epilogue

The technique of "programming" is a relatively new one, and I would appreciate ideas and thoughs on the topic.

Vissza