I find some of the magic being practiced today somewhat backward, although the Catholic Church remains a major repository of ritual magic, despite the current scandals.
They deploy candles in almost all their rituals, and their use of candle magic seems more evolved to me that what the average wiccan believes, some of whom will tell you if you take a candle of such and such a color, and say such and such words, then so and so will fall in love with you, or give you a job, or drop dead from a heart attack so you can inherit the family fortune.
Yes, telepathic vibrations are real and spoken words can have telepathic impacts, but when you toss a vibe like that out it’s like tossing a coin into the sea and expecting your dreams to come true. Not really much going on and probably doesn’t have much of a success rate.
One of the things about magic that really bugs me is that the serious books all storm through the shamanistic history of the world looking for some magic secret they can bring home and make a fortune off of. Problem is, magic only works when people believe, and the more people that believe, the more powerful the magic. You can’t take a ceremonial ritual from one culture and transplant it suddenly into another and expect real results. And yet this has largely been the history of sorcery and witchcraft.
After being exposed to the Living Theater, I fell into a little known art form I call Improvisation Ritual Theater. The counterculture is improvisational at heart. So I didn’t need to study someone else’s ideas about magic and spirituality. I just let the spirit flow through me and tried different ways to amplify the energies, which, I learned, come in flavors, or if you prefer, frequencies.
At first, when I was organizing the Cannabis Cup ceremonies, I went to Stephen Gaskin and lived with him for a few weeks while ransacking his written material to assemble a guide to ceremonies that became the book Cannabis Spirituality. I figured as long as I needed to learn how to organize a counterculture ceremony, I might as well turn to a recognized expert.
But the funny thing was, when I asked Stephen to advise to me on the Cup ceremonies, he only said “I don’t prescribe ceremonies. I just let them unfold naturally.” And that’s really the difference between “being spiritual” and just being. The more spiritually aware people are consciously channeling ceremony and ritual in order to enhance their lives and chart a course through the telepathic frequencies: love, fun, peace, serenity, bliss is the counterculture recipe, and all cultures have a unique combination.
Compare that approach with say, “kill a frog and put it in a jar and go to the crossroads, draw a circle, put the frog in the center, and blah, blah blah.”
Maybe you know what I’m talking about.
Anyone that helps open up energy and creative flow is the real deal, and so is anyone who uses ritual to heal. But anyone who tells you they have discovered the secret to life and sells mantras is a hoodwink huckster. And there’s a lot more of hucksters than enlightened beings.
Enlightened beings radiate serenity, although a huckster can fake that. Unenlightened beings radiate negative and hostile energies.
i’m curious to hear if you had seen this http://www.paranoiamagazine.com/2013/02/the-dia-shamanism/
Yes, I saw that article yesterday and already posted the link on my facebook page.