I often think about time, and what I think it is defined by, what makes it tick, literally. The thing is, time is really just us marking down the movement of objects in space, and applying all these lines of measurement to it. It's really funny measurements too, they aren't even at all, for example, the number of days in a year is actually an estimate, and to keep it from getting too off they created the leap years!
So I guess that's the first thing about time I want to discuss. The whys and hows of the measurement process are not all that important, though it is a funny thing about our current system for time. What is important to understand is that time is an invention of the minds of humans, as a way to mark the movement of our planet around the sun, and the events of our lives on the earth while it does so. Really it just gives us a frame of reference for that unknowable constant, the present, and it's relationship to the past and future.
The present itself is a bit hard to conceptualize as well. The moment that it is, is just that, and it is gone before you can even think of it as being the present. It's nothing but a marker for the precise moment that divides the past from the future. Really, it defies our ability to define it, and you could argue that it's nothing at all.
You may be wondering then, what time is, if the present is nothing but a marker for the division between the past and the future. Well, I feel like time is bound both by the earth itself, and by our minds. In other words, time did not come to be until we defined it, and through our definition of it, we have bound it to the movement of our planet as well. If you think about it, we have one day for one revolution of the earth, one year for one revolution of the earth around the sun. In the past we also had the months divided by the moon cycles, though now it's a bit more loosely based on that. This means that if humans were on another planet, even in this solar system, their time would be different. I think that if we do end up with multiple planets with human civilizations, we will need to revise this. It's crazy to try to keep track of the minutes and hours and days when you are on a planet that doesn't match up that way, it would get way too confusing. I believe that time has to be bound to the terrestrial home of the intelligent being that is keeping track of it, because this is part of how it is defined for us. Either how we define it or standardize it will need to change, or our understanding as a whole does. Though going to in depth into that is not really important as that hasn't happened yet.
One part about time that is important to define is the future, the unknowable void towards which we are always heading, to the end of time. There is some prediction possible for the future, but there are so many variables that the further from the present you get, the less likely you are to be correct in your prediction. But with divination, the view into time is different than coming up with a prediction based on the likelihood of an event. Divination is using a medium to contact the spirits or energy, however you define it, that exist outside of time and outside of what we know of the physical world. The information about the future that you get through divination is guided by your use of the medium, and your interpretation of the answers given. More than that though it is guided by the energies that come into play. The future seems to be veiled from us, but really it is there all along, and often times will come to pass just as it seems it will. The times when it does not are the important times. When things don't go as expected, that is when you can see the changeable nature of existence, and the amazing adaptability of all life forms.
The past to me is very important, but in the concept of the meaning of time, it's simply memories. Memories written down, or recalled in our own minds. Memories that are passed down in cultures or families. The fact is that the past is only what we remember of it. It's different for everyone, and often times inaccurate.
Time, as a concept is like I said, our invention, the lines we are marking out to keep track of ourselves. In other words, it's our perception of it, in a measurable form. If you allow time to branch out in it's meaning you can think about the perception of it, outside it's measurable (numeric) form. I'm sure most everyone can agree that a period of time can seem longer or shorter than the clock says it is. Sometimes just a few moments can seem like hours, and vice versa.
In using magic to manipulate time, generally I feel like the only part of time that I have been successful in manipulating is the perception of time. I can make the perception of time for myself and sometimes others I am with change, either to seem like more or less time than it really is. Sometimes when I am late I will imagine a clock moving less slowly, but I find it hard to effectively do. I usually would try imagining whatever clock it is that I need to slow, like my supervisor's clock on his computer, or the clock for the receptionist, depending of course on what I am late to. I don't really feel like that type of time manipulation has actually worked for me. The other way that I try to manipulate time in a more indirect manner is through fixing in my mind the need for me to get quickly through obstacles, and that has worked before. Like, having all the traffic lights green, or a car moving out of the way, that type of thing. I think it could also work better to cause a person to mistake the time they see, or to not check what time it is, or not care.
One bit of warning: when I have manipulated time and it had a dramatic effect, I also seemed to have some consequences for my success. Time seems to need a balance, so if you slow time down, you should account for time to speed up again and if you don't want it to do that at a certain point, you should probably assign the balance as well, so if you were slowing time down to get to work, you would want to allow time to speed up to balance itself out afterwards. Otherwise, time might speed up before, meaning you are still late! Or, if you were making something last longer, like a special weekend or trip, you need to account for the time that will be speeding up. So, to make sure that you avoid some twist of time coming back to bite you, account for the opposite of what you intend to accomplish in your spell too.
To sum this all up, I think time is something that is unchangeable, but the perception of that constant, and the manipulation of the people and things that exist in a certain time and place make it possible to change time with magic, but be wary of the balance needed to accomplish time manipulation.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Looking beyond the Earth - Magic in the Cosmos
Well, I am the type of person who ponders life's questions, sometimes for years until I feel I have reached an acceptable answer for me at the time. I find I end up redefining things and shifting my beliefs fairly often lately, as I reason things out and come to new, more insightful conclusions. This post contains my thoughts on using the whole universe, and even what lies beyond, rather than the more limited approach to invocation- of calling on magical energy from local sources.
In this case, I have been pondering the limited view of magical practice. That is, the idea that the magic you do is based on energies from the earth or our solar system. Like the Moon, the Sun and Earth. Generally those are the things called to. That and the elements of the earth, like water, wind, and fire. Earth too, but of course that's redundant. You can also find lots of information about the magical uses of the planets, as far as what types of aspects they embody and what their placement around the earth means at that time. What I'm saying is, that I feel this is limiting yourself. The earth itself is so tiny and insignificant in comparison to the universe at large. Well, it seems to be anyway. There are so many forces that could destroy our tiny fragile existence. I think it's important to look at the big picture, and in this case some of the biggest questions of the universe that science has not been able to answer have to do with the way that galaxies interact, whether the universe is expanding or contracting, and of course what matter is.
I find that in looking at those questions, it's helpful to keep in mind the idea that there are so many different things out there in the universe that are undiscovered, which also means there are so many things that come into play, meaning the magical forces of the universe are much much bigger than just the one star, moons, and planets near us. The challenge then is to keep this open minded attitude about the energies you employ, rather than limiting them by calling to them by name in an invocation, I would rather think of the infinite and call to that.
To me, the mysteries of the universe and the energies I manipulate with my mind when I practice magic are one and the same. I don't need to connect with the defined attributes others have assigned to the cosmos, but rather I'd like to creatively open my options up and work magic that is bigger than just the wind from the earth or the points on the compass. When you look at modern magic, it should employ things that are based on mankind's current understandings of the universe, rather than looking back to the ancients. For one the information from the past is more difficult to verify, so it has less meaning than what you as a person believe, because it doesn't even connect to you personally. If you have to memorize something in order to use it in a spell, then it's just not the right thing to use.
For example, I have been employing the runes for some time now, and though some of the meaning of the runes I have to look up in books, for the most part the language of the runes (the shapes of the symbols themselves) is understandable to me and so they work as a medium for magic. One reason that they do is that I am able to see the shape of a rune and from that understand how the cosmic energy is manipulated. More specifically, uruz is a rune that shows energy from the earth rising and then returning, illustrating the life cycle, where a person born from the earth returns eventually. Uruz is a rune for health, and life and rebirth. It's easy to see how the energy that comes out and returns could be seen as being a cyclical connection to life, rebirth, and health and prosperity. Understanding what the symbols are illustrating is a way of saying something without having to invest the time in explaining it, which is useful in magic because it is easier to fix your intent when you have an emblem like that to focus on that means what you want. If I didn't understand that part about the runes, or if the runes didn't have that, I wouldn't find them as useful to me.
I find that when you break magic down into it's basic form, it's manipulating energy through thought. Well, does distance matter with thought? No. So there's no real need to focus on just the earth. It is however important to know that the earth is the most important life giving entity for all humans. Whether they believe it or not, every second of every day humans, and all life on this planet, depend on the earth to live.One thing about that is that when you employ energy from an unknown source (i.e. a galaxy specifically, you would have to find a way to invoke it) you would want to direct that energy and make strong parameters for it's effect. I have a feeling that calling on something unique like that may have unexpected results. While employing energies outside the earth is a neat idea, the earth is still extremely important, and I'm not saying that the earth should not be involved in magical practice, I'm simply saying it doesn't have to be the only one.
I can see how just throwing out all you know and going back to square one would be too daunting for most people. I am still contemplating how I am going to apply these ideas to my own practice. But if you are interested in taking your practice to the next level, or you feel like you are not finding the answers you seek with your current practice, this may be a way to open up your horizons and find some new answers!
In this case, I have been pondering the limited view of magical practice. That is, the idea that the magic you do is based on energies from the earth or our solar system. Like the Moon, the Sun and Earth. Generally those are the things called to. That and the elements of the earth, like water, wind, and fire. Earth too, but of course that's redundant. You can also find lots of information about the magical uses of the planets, as far as what types of aspects they embody and what their placement around the earth means at that time. What I'm saying is, that I feel this is limiting yourself. The earth itself is so tiny and insignificant in comparison to the universe at large. Well, it seems to be anyway. There are so many forces that could destroy our tiny fragile existence. I think it's important to look at the big picture, and in this case some of the biggest questions of the universe that science has not been able to answer have to do with the way that galaxies interact, whether the universe is expanding or contracting, and of course what matter is.
I find that in looking at those questions, it's helpful to keep in mind the idea that there are so many different things out there in the universe that are undiscovered, which also means there are so many things that come into play, meaning the magical forces of the universe are much much bigger than just the one star, moons, and planets near us. The challenge then is to keep this open minded attitude about the energies you employ, rather than limiting them by calling to them by name in an invocation, I would rather think of the infinite and call to that.
To me, the mysteries of the universe and the energies I manipulate with my mind when I practice magic are one and the same. I don't need to connect with the defined attributes others have assigned to the cosmos, but rather I'd like to creatively open my options up and work magic that is bigger than just the wind from the earth or the points on the compass. When you look at modern magic, it should employ things that are based on mankind's current understandings of the universe, rather than looking back to the ancients. For one the information from the past is more difficult to verify, so it has less meaning than what you as a person believe, because it doesn't even connect to you personally. If you have to memorize something in order to use it in a spell, then it's just not the right thing to use.
For example, I have been employing the runes for some time now, and though some of the meaning of the runes I have to look up in books, for the most part the language of the runes (the shapes of the symbols themselves) is understandable to me and so they work as a medium for magic. One reason that they do is that I am able to see the shape of a rune and from that understand how the cosmic energy is manipulated. More specifically, uruz is a rune that shows energy from the earth rising and then returning, illustrating the life cycle, where a person born from the earth returns eventually. Uruz is a rune for health, and life and rebirth. It's easy to see how the energy that comes out and returns could be seen as being a cyclical connection to life, rebirth, and health and prosperity. Understanding what the symbols are illustrating is a way of saying something without having to invest the time in explaining it, which is useful in magic because it is easier to fix your intent when you have an emblem like that to focus on that means what you want. If I didn't understand that part about the runes, or if the runes didn't have that, I wouldn't find them as useful to me.
I find that when you break magic down into it's basic form, it's manipulating energy through thought. Well, does distance matter with thought? No. So there's no real need to focus on just the earth. It is however important to know that the earth is the most important life giving entity for all humans. Whether they believe it or not, every second of every day humans, and all life on this planet, depend on the earth to live.One thing about that is that when you employ energy from an unknown source (i.e. a galaxy specifically, you would have to find a way to invoke it) you would want to direct that energy and make strong parameters for it's effect. I have a feeling that calling on something unique like that may have unexpected results. While employing energies outside the earth is a neat idea, the earth is still extremely important, and I'm not saying that the earth should not be involved in magical practice, I'm simply saying it doesn't have to be the only one.
I can see how just throwing out all you know and going back to square one would be too daunting for most people. I am still contemplating how I am going to apply these ideas to my own practice. But if you are interested in taking your practice to the next level, or you feel like you are not finding the answers you seek with your current practice, this may be a way to open up your horizons and find some new answers!
Friday, September 17, 2010
Technology and Rune Magic?
Well, I have an iPhone, and so of course I'm often browsing the app store for interesting applications to play with. I came across a rune divination app that I decided to try out, despite my skepticism that using a phone to cast runes will be meaningful. The name of the app is Rune Magic Lite, and it was created by Dev-iQue for the Order Ars Ascensionis. I tried to look into who that is, but so far I couldn't tell.
I am skeptical for several reasons. I'm not sure of the mathematical formulae used in the app, but no matter what it is, I don't feel that it can mimic the act of casting runes. Generally, when I cast them, I feel the runes in my hand, and the ones that feel just right are the ones I hold on to and cast. I think the energy of your body interacts with the runes, charging them with your intent, your question to the runes, and then the runes respond to that, which is what I'm feeling for. I am certain that you cannot accomplish that with a push on the screen of the phone. Well, I don't know if you can, but I'm pretty sure that the random rune generator used in the app isn't affected by any energy you send into the phone. Okay, so I guess I could suspend my disbelief a little on that point. An agrument could be made that you could indeed do just that. For me though, pressing the glass surface of my phone to get an answer will never be my preferred method. There's a reason I made my runes with my own hand, from wood that I chose. I wanted my runes to be an extension of me, to be inextricably linked to my creativity. For me, a mathematical equation that expresses the random probability of runes to be chosen in a cast is meaningless when compared to the actual act.
Another reason why I am skeptical that the rune casting from a phone would be meaningful is that rune casting is an organic act, something affected by the touch and mind of the person doing it, and in the case of an app that does it for you, it would also be coming from the programmer who created it. If you beleive that the intent of the button pusher can affect the outcome of the rune cast, then you must also allow for the intentions of anyone involved in it's creation. This app was created by a third party app creation company, making it another degree further from the intent of the person pressing the button. There was one person who intended this app be made, and paid for this company to do it, and then, this company assigned the task to one or more software designers whose intentions with regard to the app could be any number of things. When you look at physical runes casting, you can certainly argue that the energies and intentions of the people who made the runes also affect them, but that's why the rune caster themselves often makes the runes, to keep the intentions of others out of the equation. Doing so with a phone application would be much more difficult for the average rune caster.
Despite these concerns, I did invest a bit of my own magical energy into the phone when I pressed the button, and I also came up with solid questions to focus on. Oddly enough, the casts were somewhat fitting to the questions. The rune casting which the free version of this app allowed is the single rune cast (Odin's rune). The runes that I got for my questions could be relevant, but because I do not yet know the outcome of the questions I asked, I cannot tell if the guidance I got was truly helpful to me. I wasn't intending to "test" it's accuracy, really I just wanted to have a quick magical moment at my desk, and at least when casting runes I am execising my mind's visualization and energy manipulation. Also, it does help me to refocus myself towards my goal of health. The other great thing about this app is that it has a study section. I haven't reviewed the information from my rune studying with the info on the app to note differences I see, but it looks pretty awesome so far. I do need to check the differences, if there are any, but really it could be helpful in commiting the meaning of the runes to memory so that when I cast it can be even more effective. In the end, I have decided that I like the app, but there is no way that it can ever replace real rune casting. It's simply a simluation of something real, but it's discreet enough that you could do it anywhere, and it's also a great tool for learning the runes.
I am skeptical for several reasons. I'm not sure of the mathematical formulae used in the app, but no matter what it is, I don't feel that it can mimic the act of casting runes. Generally, when I cast them, I feel the runes in my hand, and the ones that feel just right are the ones I hold on to and cast. I think the energy of your body interacts with the runes, charging them with your intent, your question to the runes, and then the runes respond to that, which is what I'm feeling for. I am certain that you cannot accomplish that with a push on the screen of the phone. Well, I don't know if you can, but I'm pretty sure that the random rune generator used in the app isn't affected by any energy you send into the phone. Okay, so I guess I could suspend my disbelief a little on that point. An agrument could be made that you could indeed do just that. For me though, pressing the glass surface of my phone to get an answer will never be my preferred method. There's a reason I made my runes with my own hand, from wood that I chose. I wanted my runes to be an extension of me, to be inextricably linked to my creativity. For me, a mathematical equation that expresses the random probability of runes to be chosen in a cast is meaningless when compared to the actual act.
Another reason why I am skeptical that the rune casting from a phone would be meaningful is that rune casting is an organic act, something affected by the touch and mind of the person doing it, and in the case of an app that does it for you, it would also be coming from the programmer who created it. If you beleive that the intent of the button pusher can affect the outcome of the rune cast, then you must also allow for the intentions of anyone involved in it's creation. This app was created by a third party app creation company, making it another degree further from the intent of the person pressing the button. There was one person who intended this app be made, and paid for this company to do it, and then, this company assigned the task to one or more software designers whose intentions with regard to the app could be any number of things. When you look at physical runes casting, you can certainly argue that the energies and intentions of the people who made the runes also affect them, but that's why the rune caster themselves often makes the runes, to keep the intentions of others out of the equation. Doing so with a phone application would be much more difficult for the average rune caster.
Despite these concerns, I did invest a bit of my own magical energy into the phone when I pressed the button, and I also came up with solid questions to focus on. Oddly enough, the casts were somewhat fitting to the questions. The rune casting which the free version of this app allowed is the single rune cast (Odin's rune). The runes that I got for my questions could be relevant, but because I do not yet know the outcome of the questions I asked, I cannot tell if the guidance I got was truly helpful to me. I wasn't intending to "test" it's accuracy, really I just wanted to have a quick magical moment at my desk, and at least when casting runes I am execising my mind's visualization and energy manipulation. Also, it does help me to refocus myself towards my goal of health. The other great thing about this app is that it has a study section. I haven't reviewed the information from my rune studying with the info on the app to note differences I see, but it looks pretty awesome so far. I do need to check the differences, if there are any, but really it could be helpful in commiting the meaning of the runes to memory so that when I cast it can be even more effective. In the end, I have decided that I like the app, but there is no way that it can ever replace real rune casting. It's simply a simluation of something real, but it's discreet enough that you could do it anywhere, and it's also a great tool for learning the runes.
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