The Element Encyclopedia of 1000 Spells: A Concise Reference Book for the Magical Arts. Judika Illes

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ at least until the power they sought had been unleashed with too much force to ever be denied.

      If one tells the story of Marie Curie’s quest in simple terms, it resembles a modern-day fairy tale. Marie, laboring obsessively in her laboratory/shack resembles the quintessential alchemist feverishly attempting to extract and develop the philosopher’s stone, that legendary substance reputed to bestow eternal youth, health, and life.

      In a sense, Marie Curie extracted the anti-philosopher’s stone. Modern fairy tales are sanitized for children; today’s adults are uncomfortable transmitting the truths contained in them. Real fairy tales—the original versions—don’t always have happy endings, just like the tale of Marie Curie doesn’t. Marie’s quest ultimately led her to death; many of her surviving books, materials, and tools are so packed with the deadly power into which she tapped that even today they remain too radioactive to handle.

      The goal of magic is to tap into a different energy, an energy so powerful and benevolent that all aspects of life improve. The most potent magical books, tools, and materials (just like those books and papers of Marie Curie) hold, retain, and radiate their power and energy infinitely.

      How do you measure exposure to nuclear radiation? While scientific tools of measurement have been developed, ultimate, undeniable proof comes in its effects on the body. Similar scientific tools to quantify, measure, and identify magic power have not been invented, yet (to the magical practitioner) its effect upon the individual is equally clear. The term, a person of power, is meant literally. People who possess magical power in substantial quantities, who live in close proximity to it, are magnetic and charismatic personalities. They radiate personal power. Other people find merely being in their presence invigorating and empowering. Although into every life some rain must fall, for the person with strong reserves of magic power, the world exists as a place of possibility. If, on the other hand, you feel consistently drained or frustrated, if your libido and life-force are chronically diminished, if you foresee nothing ahead of you but monotony or gloom, if life lacks joy, if your goals seem so out of reach that it’s pointless to try, and it’s hard to muster enthusiasm for anything, then it’s very likely that you suffer from a serious deficiency of this life-power. Most of us fall somewhere in the middle, although these power reserves are continually shifting. Like a gas tank, magical life-power needs to be replenished as you use it, and acquired if you lack it.

      This power is contagious. It can be transferred, transmitted, increased, decreased, or lost. These power-exchanges occur continuously, with or without human participation. The power is contained within a botanical plant or crystal, for instance, whether or not a human taps into it. You can ignore this power and these energy transactions, although their effects upon you continue and remain, for good or ill. You can also attempt to harness this power for your own benefit and the benefit of your loved ones.

      Perhaps magic may best be understood by considering one of its branches: the school of magical arrangement, feng shui. Once obscure outside China, the art of feng shui is now discussed and debated worldwide; it has even grown sufficiently commonplace to merit, for a time, a newspaper column in the Sunday Los Angeles Times’ real estate section! (Although apparently there were enough complaints about the intrusion of magic into real life for the column to eventually disappear.)

      Feng shui’s literal translation, “wind and water,” implies that this is a natural art, not a manufactured one. According to feng shui, objects are manipulated to create good fortune, minimize hardship, and (hopefully) eliminate disaster. Likewise, one must pay attention to natural earth formations (mountains, valleys, waterways) in order to harmonize one’s own energies and desires with them for your maximum benefit. This conscious manipulation and harmonizing of energies and forces is the basis of all magic. By manipulating various magical powers, goals are achieved, success attained, and misfortune prevented. For instance, the presence of lavender theoretically empowers any other spell or materials. Powdered vinca, the sorcerer’s violet, transforms any bouquet of flowers into a tool of seduction, although some flowers (roses, orchids, tuberoses) are powerful enough not to require any assistance.

      Of course, rationalists refute all of this as nonsense. It can’t be proven scientifically—therefore it doesn’t exist. Magical practitioners are either gullible idiots or outright charlatans.

      The magical practitioners’ response to this criticism is that rationalists have invented and are clinging to a very limited notion of a world that really doesn’t exist. Practitioners would say that scientific method, as well as so-called logic, are unrealistic, artificial humancreated constructs designed to deny and place limits on Earth’s true mystery and grandeur. According to magical theory, some sacred mysteries cannot be explained, defined, or controlled, although one can attempt to use them for one’s benefit. Ultimately, one could say, magic is another way of looking at and understanding the world. If you are not yet initiated into this magical world, then be prepared: once you’ve learned some real magic and successfully cast some spells, you will see the world in a different way than you did before. Will you trust your own experiences and insights? Or will you be among the many who say, “I can’t believe what just happened to me?”

      Although modern science is the child of the magical arts, most especially alchemy, its world vision and goals are diametrically opposed to its parents’. To enter into the magical world is to be a willing, conscious participant in a dream landscape. One accesses power by surrendering control over boundaries. The magical world is a huge, unruly, fluid, dream-like place filled with invisible powers, psychic debris, positive and negative forces, guardian spirits, and radiant beings existing on all sorts of planes of energy that defy human definition, domination, and control. Everything pulsates with vibrant, potentially powerful life, including you.

      Magic is a partnership between powers, human and otherwise. The question of whether magic is used for good or ill depends upon the practitioner’s intentions, not the inherent nature of the system. Every interaction is an energy transaction of some kind, although, obviously, some are more significant than others.

      Scientific method demands consistent, predictable replication of results. Magic revels in the unique, the unusual, the individual, and the exception. Magic refutes the entire concept of coincidence. Anything that appears coincidental possesses some magical significance; the more unusual and freakish the coincidence, the more worthy of attention and analysis. Anything too easily replicated is either a very basic natural law (stick your finger into fire and it will hurt) or else lacks power and is thus magically worthless (that lifeless plastic bottle).

      Confusion derives from a limited word pool, as we have seen. Identical words are used to indicate different meanings. Magic defies boundaries: life doesn’t terminate with death. Death is not the end, nor is it the opposite of life; it’s merely another mysterious stop on the spectrum of existence. Dead as in “Uncle Joe is dead,” may be meant literally, but life, living, or alive usually refer to something very different in magic-speak. Life in magical parlance is a quality, a capacity for power: someone or something has it, in varying quantities, or they don’t. If something is unique, not entirely predictable or reproducible, and also possesses potential for power, it’s alive.

      Everything that exists naturally on Earth or is constructed from naturally occurring parts possesses the capacity for power, including you. This magic power, this baraka, is what ultimately fuels Earth. Fans of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy may recognize parallels to those novels’ controversial power, dust. Without it, existence is drained, lifeless, frustrating, joyless, and bereft.

      This holistic power expresses itself on all planes simultaneously: physical, spiritual, mental, sexual, and emotional. This power is not generic. Every plant, every stone, every species of living creature radiates a specific type of power, although the most powerful are incredibly versatile. Roses seduce, but they also heal, comfort, and summon benevolent spirits. СКАЧАТЬ