If anybody would be interested in the esoteric side (and not just the physical doings), I'd be happy to oblige... well, as long as the rate-limiter is turned down.
(as an aside.. it's strange to start seeing quite an upturn on mystical and esoteric articles in such a short period. It usually happens a lot slower normally.)
if you're willing to answer esoteric questions beyond the scope of this article... Chaos Magic, what's the deal there? It seems to claim to be a kind of meta-approach to mysticism but for someone like myself who isn't involved in the practice, that doesn't make intuitive sense.
Chaos magic starts with the idea that magic is real, but all other systems are mired in religious trappings and pointless ritual. The goal here, is to discern the underlying actions and isolate them as a scientist would do.
For example, a spell requires a deity. So, you try it without one. Then you choose something that isn't a deity, say Pikachu. Do it again. Then finally try with a real deity. As a chaos mage, you can hop from one religion to another, testing and using techniques like they are tools, not religious trappings.
The key here, is the chaos mage is inherently a scientist, running experiments on reality. However due to the nature of how they are ran, N=1.
As for me, Is like to increase N to a reproducible large number. So I guess I do share quite a bit with Chaos Mages.
I'm actually building a device for this as a side project- I'd like to talk shop with you more privately- could you list an email or some way to get in contact?
I've trained myself to be sensitive to different types of energies (or whatever they really are). But my spells are to manipulate these energies in ways I wish teem to be.
For example, I felt 'malice' from a server I and a colleague were working on. Servers shoukdnt have emotion, unless someone left that imprint. Well, turns out it was a popped machine from 6 months ago from an Apache Tomcat install where they badly fixed the hacked server. And they didn't clean it well enough. Rkhunter and chkrootkit both found kmods that were still resident.
In that case, it was noting more than feeling maliciousness, and then using my technical prowess to prove it.
Other cases, I've done things like debug heisenbugs simply by willing them to resolve or make the error evident. Most of those types of "spells" are mental. I dont need candles or whatever.
Another time, someone in our hackerspace got ahold of Mathers Grand Key of the Legemetton and decided to do a demonic summoning as provided. He was an atheist, and was just following the motions. It worked. He trapped something there, that was frightening every sensitive type that walked through the doorway.. I found it, and took care of it in the proscribed manner (release, dismissal, and freed from any cost it may have incurred to me).
But to answer your question, no its not like casting D&D fireball. Most things dont have physically perceivable effects. But the underlying question: yes, harm to others can very much be done.
Its old laws, when dealing with Demonics especially, that if you do something for them, they have a debt to you. In this case, I freed one that was bound. I, therefore, effectively owned it if I chose.
I've had plenty experience in this realm. I didn't want someone harmed. Nor do I have some great need for resources. And it couldn't/wouldn't provide knowledge that I require. The easiest thing to do here is to free it of any obligations it has to me. Because otherwise, the costs of what amounts to slavery is just too much.
_____________
What happened:
I made that decision rather quickly, when I saw this. The idiot hackerspace member left a pentagram on the table in blue painters tape. I recognized the junk latin words as from (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesser_Key_of_Solomon). The presence in my mind was that it was howling and screaming at everything and everyone. Anger was present everywhere. Murderous anger. Usually, to dissolve these bonds is to do so by fire and salt, if it's a demonic presence. Didn't have salt, but fire was readily available. I verbally said it was free (but also said esoterically - look up vibrating names with the practice of LBRP, similar idea).
After I set it free, I could hear it ask me what I wanted. Frankly, no. Not worth it. So instead of reserving this for later, I absolved any and all debts owed to me for freeing it. I said so verbally and 'vibrated'. I felt it mostly left. It was still angry at the one who trapped it.. I ended up having to protect this place for a time against it, for retribution reasons. But I'm more than happy to be past that whole situation.
Gotcha. Wasn't quite understanding what you were asking.
It was a demon, one of. There's honestly too many different types of things out there, I'm never too sure if there even is a nomenclature that could be attributed. But this thing was definitely a demon. That's what the first half of the ritual does, from the Mathers' book.
Do note, some of them are rubbish... But not the ones you might think. Things like "become invisible" doesn't always mean that you turn transparent - it can be that nobody notices you.
This one, had a murderous vengeance towards the one whom imprisoned it. We just installed a vehicle lift in our hackerspace, and there was an open house that evening. It would have been catastrophic if 'somehow' that lift malfunctioned and crushed someone... And having an electrical malfunction or a hydraulic breach would be well within the power of that entity.
What can a normal person do to avoid harm from these things?
Obviously in earlier times people took all sorts of precautions as outlined in the original article about the items found in a chimney.
Is it that we don't cross paths with them as often as we did, or perhaps the concern to protect oneself in the past was overblown, or perhaps they don't even exist?
I admit I am very skeptical, but it's been interesting topic to discuss.
I hope you don't mind my many questions and wild speculations.
> What can a normal person do to avoid harm from these things?
The best defence against this sort of stuff is ignorance. From my experiences, knowing opens these 'doors'. It doesn't make you immune, but staying away from it certainly helps.
Then again, I look at these techniques as part of what makes me human. And living and being is dangerous. I'll embrace these things, to know thyself. It is a very dangerous road. I know the Buddhists also talk of the same, saying the route I take is the quickest to enlightenment, but also one that can have disastrous consequences (usually to myself).
> Is it that we don't cross paths with them as often as we did, or perhaps the concern to protect oneself in the past was overblown, or perhaps they don't even exist?
Oh, they exist alright. I've met many, and butted heads against a few. Go no further than reddit.com/r/occult . There's 40k members subscribed. There's a healthy book selection at the local bookstores over Paganism, Wicca, Witchcraft, and Occultism.
One thing, is the secrecy is still in effect. Even I created a throwaway to disambiguate my normal tech persona from this. If people at my workplace found out what I believe and do, who knows what would happen. Mockery, derision, fright, anger, indolence. Ive had those aimed at me, by both atheists and christians (but usually christians).
> I admit I am very skeptical, but it's been interesting topic to discuss.
That's fine. So was I. And in a way, I still am. I'm talking with someone with a background in physics about further ways to make sensors that can bring the occult to physical world. Instead of this realm being all eerie, and shrouded, I want to blow this idea of occult wide open, so that all may participate. That, as you can probably understand, angers quite a lot of people.
>The best defence against this sort of stuff is ignorance.
When we were kids we used to mess around with Ouija boards and one of my friends had tapes made by a priest that crusaded against the occult messages in Rock 'n Roll, which ironically got us more interested in the occult rather than less.
I remember us playing records backwards and scaring ourselves shitless, eating apples in front of mirrors and so on.
Whether that was just silly child's play or real danger I don't know, but I wouldn't mess with stuff like that now.
Also as a supposed rational lapsed Catholic, you couldn't pay me to spend a night in a 'haunted' house, despite the fact that I rationally don't believe in that stuff.
On the other hand, I can say that when I was a kid I had some childhood trauma to process and it may have taken the form of nightmares[1] and fear of supernatural entities. This could also explain my fascination with the topic back then---as a roundabout way of dealing with difficult emotions.
Anyway, if ignorance is a defence, what made you 'eat of the fruit of knowledge' so to speak?
[1] It also didn't help that my room was in the basement and so far from 'help' that I was totally on my own.
> Anyway, if ignorance is a defence, what made you 'eat of the fruit of knowledge' so to speak?
It was a long string of events that started with my ex fiancee and I unwittingly witnessing a Thelemite ritual in the state park. I could feel the waves of hatred and anger off of it, even not having done anything in the occult.
My ex had an instantaneous migraine. To the point of screaming for it to stop.
I happened to know someone who was a practising pagan, and we explained what happened. Evidently she has had run-ins with that group before. She and I went to the site. Lets just say craziness happened. I saw 3 of them show up, like holograms over my vision. She knew 2 of them but didn't know the third. I described the third, and knew her.
Nonetheless, remote viewing shouldnt be able to occur with our technology. Nor is separating the energy side of a human from their body temporarily. And other things. But I saw them. My ex felt them. And she saw them.
I knew from that night, that this realm is real. Can't prove it. But I know it. And I'll figure out its laws; its rules; its physical attributes of how it works.
They prey on weak minds. The best defense is through a long-term meditative practice such as that detailed in "Turning the Mind Into an Ally" by Sakyong Mipham and Pema Chodron.
Years ago I dabbled in Golden Dawn ritual and almost lost my mind. A Buddhist friend told me I needed to chill out and gave me that book. After a month of 30 minute per day meditative sessions, my paranoia and delusions went away. There were many more benefits that came from continued practice - I could detail them but most people would scoff. Most ignorant people don't believe in magic, so why would they believe in mental powers attained through meditation?
Best analogy I can come up with is a garage door opener. You push a little button on a box, and a door magically lifts open.
Magic, to the uninitiated (ignorant), is the coincidental linking of two unrelated events. Mix eye of newt and bat dung with newborn blood and chant the magic words under the new moon and all of a sudden, the castle's well becomes fouled.
A person who wishes to practice magic must have a clear intention of the result they want, and then they must formulate a spell that will connect and 'cause'.
That seems to be reinventing the wheel. Why not experiment with a magical system thousands of years old?
See, a spell is a formula. An analogy is like its a road to a destination. Would you rather whack your way through the underbrush, or ride down a path that others have already proven to work?
This is the difference between subjectivity and objectivity. If a spell or a divination practice works for you but not for someone else, its entirely subjective. If it works for anyone, it is objective, and therefore valuable knowledge to have.
Additionally, there is more energy expended in 'casting' a newly formulated spell than there is expended in 'casting' a proven spell that others have used before.
I was wondering if you could dive into the purpose of some of the things found?
I know the purpose and meaning of some, but not all of these:
> First a candlestick, then shoes, the ribs of fans, strips of textiles, sharp objects (nails, bobbin pins, a razor, shards of glass), a comb, and eventually the remains of halved lemons.
Do you have any evidence to suggest the phenomenon of consciousness is (or is not) isolated to the brain?
(Existence of human spirits, natural spirits, that sort)
Particularly with the Chaos mages, there is an indication of an extra fundamental force to reality- much like electricity would have seemed in the 1600s. Do you think this is the case? Or do you think there is some other interaction between the mind and the 4 normal fundamental forces?
What theories do you have with regard to the prime mechanism of action in magic?
> Do you have any evidence to suggest the phenomenon of consciousness is (or is not) isolated to the brain? (Existence of human spirits, natural spirits, that sort)
You're not going to get material evidence. Anyone who can is probably looking for money or other goods. They're usually a good sign to stay away from.
The proof I talk of, is personal. I look at it more like one would look at a Zero Knowledge proof: there's no such thing as 100% confidence, but (2^64-1)/(2^64) is pretty damn close to 100%. Same idea.
> Particularly with the Chaos mages, there is an indication of an extra fundamental force to reality- much like electricity would have seemed in the 1600s. Do you think this is the case? Or do you think there is some other interaction between the mind and the 4 normal fundamental forces?
I would accept this to be fact if we can find proof of this new force. But as for now, I'm operating under the fact that we know of 4 fundamental forces. I'm assuming that most magic and auras are actually specifically under EM, and not Weak/Strong/Gravity.
Although, some divinations I've done does seem to indicate that there might be another force, but not as a "force".. But more of interdimensional interference. If one accepts the Multiple Worlds Interpretation, there are a near-infinite amount of dimensions nearby. If they could interfere with each other, we could see effects percolate from seemingly nothing. My divinations also indicate that a likely area where we will first see this effect is with the EM_Drive. If this is shown to be proven correct, this is the first case of a reactionless drive--- The key here is a new phenomenon to investigate. Possibly leading to a new force.
> What theories do you have with regard to the prime mechanism of action in magic?
Hard to say. I'm doing the equivalent of firing bowling balls into a kilogram of solid gold, and trying to interpret its atomic structure...
hi there, i read your comments and i'm intrigued – though I don’t have much experience in this area. could you please point to some reading material that’d properly introduce me to this subject? it’s difficult to tell what’s worth my time as a newcomer.
Listed buildings are money pits. It's not just that you've bought a house that's older than most countries, and is therefore wearing out in so many ways, it's that you have to do the repairs using original techniques and materials whereever possible, and they will check up --- you need to get consent for modifications, in advance, backed up by big penalties, including massive fines and imprisonment.
You're limited on modifications, too. So even something as simple as installing double glazing can be fraught.
Owning a listed building is really reserved for people with huge amounts of money whose idea of a good time is filling out government forms.
Thanks for this post. Being American, I didn't even realize that "listed building" meant "historical building." I thought it referred to the building being listed for sale.
We'd likely call it a "registered building"--referring to a registry of historical buildings--as "listing" a building is putting it up for sale and advertising on the MLS, the Multiple Listing Service.
(as an aside.. it's strange to start seeing quite an upturn on mystical and esoteric articles in such a short period. It usually happens a lot slower normally.)
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