diamond-cavalier - Diamonds and Swords
Diamonds and Swords

Hedge Witch I Suppose

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What Is Magic

What Is Magic

Now, I haven’t made a What Is Magic post yet, and I always like discussing the philosophical background of this kind of thing. So I’m making one now, but I’m going to say something important. This is how I see magic, so it may be very different from other people.

1. The Basic Concepts

I have ideas about how magic works, and although they may not line up with other people’s, I think it’s important I put them to paper. Sometimes seeing theory like this can help people understand magic better or assist in their paths or craft.

In the end I believe magic can be thought of as a combination of the workings of four different things: Will, intent, energy, and sympathy.

These four aspects of magic put together form the basis of most magic I know of, in a way even talking to spirits could be seen as having all of these components to them. I’ll be describing each part of it in this post.

What Is Magic

2. Will

Will is the base component all of magic, nothing works if you don’t have the will to make it work. Some things take a little will, some things take a lot of will, some things will take less and less will to make it work. For example bilocation becomes a simple matter when you’ve done it enough, and drawing elements becomes easier and easier over time.

In a ritual it’d be the power you imbue each component with, and in energy work it’d be the force with which you pull the energy you need to you.

So in my opinion, will is the force behind any form of magic. It’s the magic inside you, the drive that keeps curiosity on track, the drive that brought you to magic to start with, and it’s in more parts of your life than just magic.

Will pushes power into what you’re doing, it’s the electricity which gives life to a carefully programmed machine.

What Is Magic

3. Intent

Intent is the shape you give to magic, in a ritual it’d be the words you say to give the ritual meaning, in knot magic it’s what you ask the knots to do, it’d be energy work it’d be the codes you give to elements and emotions when making constructs, and the meaning behind every oracle or tarot card.

Intent works best when the intent and the element or sigil line up, which involves the sympathy component of magic, so I’ll cover how they interact later on in this post.

Intent is probably the most important part of any magic, without intent a sigil is just a drawing, a knot is just a knot, and a bone is just a bone. The will would be there, but without intent there’s nothing to direct it, it’s like trying to make tea without any ingredients. All you’d have is a cup of hot water.

Intent creates the path through which willpower can flow, giving shape and purpose to what you’re creating.

What Is Magic

4. Energy

Energy is something I count as different to willpower, mainly because although it can be seen to work in a similar way, it has even more uses and works on a slightly different plane.

Energy is the force which moves your magic and allows your magic to continue running. If you’ve cursed someone or performed a binding on someone, energy continues the effect after you’ve completed the spell. Energy is what’s around you at all times, you can be a natural producer of some elements of energy, like I produce chaos and air, making them easiest to call on for me.

If you’re performing a ritual using resources, there’s a chance you’ve used things charged with or made to represent different energies. Such as moon water, crystals, herbs, you get the idea.

Energy continues the effects of magic after you’ve completed the initial work, and sometimes assists in creating or affecting the world around you.

What Is Magic

5. Sympathy

I call this component sympathy, because that’s the basis of the word for sympathetic magic. The idea of sympathetic magic is that the energy of something can be mirrored by something else, for example a voodoo poppet is sympathetic magic, because it’s mirroring the energy of a person so that they can be affected by the witch using it.

Sympathy is the shape of a sigil, the crystals corresponding to different elements in a ritual, the physical form of the tarot card, and the taglock you use when trying to help another witch. Sympathy works together with every single other aspect of magic. It’s the method by which people can move energy vast distances, and it’s the visualisation used in bilocation. It’s the most abstract concept I’ve ever theorised in magic, and it’s what I spend a lot of time trying to isolate and work with.

Sympathy is the translator of magic, the connection between everything. It works to allow you to interpret as well as, in a way, speak the art form known as magic.

What Is Magic

6. Working Together

Will and Intent These two work in unison and are often hard to seperate, when you put your will into magic, using intent at the same time is natural. If I wanted to bind someone then I’d put the will to bind in with the intent, I don’t really know how to do it any other way.

Will and Energy These components work together by being the driving force that keeps magic going. Will causes the magic to work during the initial actions, energy takes it on after the initial setup is done. Take a ritual, you use willpower during the ritual but afterwards the energy takes it over.

Intent and Energy Energy in some ways can be used to shape intent, for example in energy work you often use certain elements with certain intents because those elements already have a similar intent. Chaos will want to cause chaos, air will want freedom, earth will want to be grounded. Intent and energy work hand in hand to shape the world around you.

Sympathy Sympathy works with practically every component of magic. There’s sympathy working together with energy when you use objects to correspond to elements. Sympathy working with intent when you use music. Sympathy working with willpower when you fortify yourself with tea and emotional strength.

What Is Magic

Artist Credits: 1. Spirit of the Forest (Tumblr) 2. Dan Dos Santos (Harry Dresden Sketches) 3. James Firnhaber 4. Julian Bauer 5. Loish.net 6. Jenny Yu

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More Posts from Diamond-cavalier

5 years ago

Tarot Interpretation 101

I haven’t done a divination lesson yet, so I figured I’d do one, and although this is a little more abstract than my normal lessons. It’ll be a spot of fun, I hope.

1. Upright Vs Reversed

There are two ways that each card can be read, upright (meaning the card is played the right way up), or reversed (the card is upside-down.)

A reversed card is either the opposite of its upright counterpart, or it’s a twisted version. For example The Sun Reversed is negativity, depression, and sadness. Which is the opposite of The Sun’s usual meanings of joy, celebration, and positivity.

The Queen of Swords Reversed on the other hand has connotations of cold-heartedness, cruelty, and bitterness. Which is a twisted version of the ideas of high logic, perceptiveness, and independence which Queen of Swords Upright represents.

Tarot Interpretation 101

2. The Major Arcana Cards

If you want to work with a smaller tarot deck, then it’s easiest to take the minor arcana cards out, leaving you with these bad boys. They don’t have a suit and are sometimes the easiest cards to read.

I thought as a bit of fun I’d rank my favourite and most terrifying card for each set! So for the Major Arcana:

Favourite: The Magician, I just love this card and the fact I get it often when people do readings for me? Makes it, The Magician is my all time favourite non-suit card, because there’s a bitterly sad Sword suit one which I love.

Most Terrifying: The Tower, especially the Reversed one is terrifying, it represents things you work for being torn apart. It’s one of the few change ones I find ridiculously scary. Getting The Tower is not good for my heart.

Tarot Interpretation 101

3. The Minor Arcana

In the minor arcana there are four suit cards, a lot like normal poker cards. This is mostly due to the fact tarot used to be a game, but I’ll talk more about that in another post.

The suits are Cups, Swords, Wands, and Pentacles. Each one represents a different element. Cups are water, Swords are air, Pentacles are earth, and Wands are fire. Now, I know I love air a lot but that has nothing to do with the simple fact that my favourite suit are Swords. That is also very edgy of me, but I like them because it’s always nice to see something always about choices and hearts.

There are fourteen cards in each suit. An ace, cards numbered 2-10, the page, the knight, the queen, and the king. This makes them the more versatile than their Major Arcana counterpart.

My Favourite Minor Arcana Card: This one has dual firsts. 3 of Swords, heartbreak suffering and grief. I find this card interesting, as it’s got the most intense imagery, it always means that something bad is going to happen, but it also means that it’ll make you stronger. 7 of Cups, this is by far the most interesting card, reversed or upright. It’s all about being at a crossroads and having so many choices leading so many directions that it’s hard to see which one to choose. There’s also an idea of illusion, that some of the paths have hidden meanings or lying meanings. Most Terrifying Minor Arcana Card: 10 of Swords, betrayal and defeat. This card is the most terrifying because there is nothing you can do about it occurring. It’s an external force and it’s coming your way whether you like it or not.

Tarot Interpretation 101

4. Tarot Decks

Good news! You can get all of the lovely tarot cards I’ve put up, so instead of art credits, you get links.

1. https://www.thewildunknown.com/ 2. http://www.amritbrarillustration.com/ 3. https://store.nixhydra.com/product/tarot

5 years ago

energy work tip

you can draw energy from just about any (if not all) abstract concepts. love? yep. divination/oracle? absolutely. art? go fucking wild.

5 years ago

Element Study 1: Air and Art

Each week I’ll be putting up a study of two elements, a natural one like air, and an abstract one like art. These are what I discussed just this morning with my delightful students! So I hope you like them.

1. Air

Air has many different uses, and I personally use it in almost everything I make. This element is one of the ones I’m most attuned to, so I do tend to favour it over other elements. Hence why I’m starting with it.

Air is an element related to communication, curiosity, freedom, and intelligence. In weapons, air can be used in ranged weapons to give projectiles perfect aim, in melee weapons to give them lightness and ease of movement, and in both of these types of weapons to boost the user. It’s also possible to use air to fly, but it takes a high level of practice to learn how.

When it comes to assistance, air is extremely helpful. It can be used to assist focus (curiosity and intelligence), break you out of a panic (freedom and breathing), track certain objects (curiosity), and deliver excellent public speaking or debate (communication).

image

2. Art

Art is an interesting abstract concept, and while we were exploring it we figured out its main uses were extremely similar to air. Communication, curiosity, freedom, and intelligence were very high up there.

Although, when we played around with it a little more, the art element enhanced any emotional energy we tried using. Any kind of sadness ball became strong enough to make sensitives cry upon opening them, putting art up there with water in terms of emotional strength. Although I’d argue its enhancing effects are stronger than water can produce.

Some students pointed out that art can be used in weaponry as a martial arts enhancer, because martial arts is, in fact, an art form. I’m inclined to agree with them and as such I’m including it here.

image

Art Credits: 1. Energy Muse (Instagram) 2. Eves_art_project (Instagram)


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5 years ago

Wendigos, Demons, Dragons.

I need to do a PSA about this, so please bear with me. This is about a phenomenon I’ve seen where inexperience will give rise to people assuming they’re dealing with a cooler/more dangerous entity then they are.

1. Wendigos

The first rule of wendigos is, it’s probably not a wendigo. If you think you’re being hunted by a wendigo then go through this short checklist before anything else, because the chances are that it’s going to be a nature spirit.

What season is it?

Where do you live?

Is there a forest nearby?

What temperature is it where you live?

Can you hear the wind howling your name like some kinda weird horror movie?

If the answer to 1 is anything other than Winter, move on. Wendigos are a Northern North America phenomenon (think Alaska, Canada, a little ways into the northern US states.) They hunt in forests, if you’re in an urban area chances are you’re fine. Temperature? Temperature is important, wendigos need cold. If it’s warmer than 10ºC or 50ºF, then the chances are you don’t have a wendigo.

That last one is probably optional but still, if the wind is howling your name then you check in with your nearest experienced witch.

Fun Fact: Wendigos can unlock doors.

↓ One ugly motherfucker.

Wendigos, Demons, Dragons.

2. Demons

As opposed to wendigos, if you think something’s a demon, it might fucking well be.

Demons do exist, and the issue I’m actually going to talk about with demons is that a lot of people assume when trying to work with demons, that demons for some reason will not fuck them over. They will and they do, if you have to deal with demons remember this: Get checked for parasites. Also, do not keep your demons, they can cause more harm to you than you could think possible. A fight with something mildly terrifying like an eldritch god is something I’d take over having a demon parasite farm. 

Fun Fact: You should not disrespect Goat Man’s bridge until you have some serious experience.

God bless Shane Madej.

Wendigos, Demons, Dragons.

3. Dragons

Guys, for real though, if a dragon is talking to you get that shit checked out. Entities lie, a lot, there are a lot of entities who will screw you over for fun.

Wendigos, Demons, Dragons.

Art Credits:

1. Until Dawn 2. Buzzfeed Unsolved 3. Merlin


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5 years ago

Elly’s Workbook

Alrighty folks! An update on my progress.

1. The Storm

I am more than aware that something is moving, and am unsure what it is. It’s nasty and is causing some stir amongst inexperienced or young witches who haven’t been practicing long. As well as those who aren’t good with shields.

If anyone has any information on this, please do tell.

2. The Coins

-Standard astral currency?

-Found by others across the astral. Definitely some kind of standard traveller’s currency.

3. Love

-Final attempt successful.

So this finally worked, thanks to everyone involved, I’m going to be sending a few samples to my friends and will find out more about it!

Elly Cavalier/Jones/Miramor signing off.


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