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Started by: White Crow Sent: 18/01/2001 18:13 12 Replies
Here's a topic I'd love to have some input from everyone, although a little personal. What is magic to you, why did you get drawn into it?

For myself, my aim in my magic is to find a peace and understanding in my life. In this so called 'modern world' it is so easy to end up wishing your life away waiting for a bigger car, next raise, better job.

I try to use magic like a lens to put my life into focus, to look and enjoy the wonderous things in this world. I hope such an appreciation allows me the courage to fight some of the darker elements in life!

The end words of the films The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao sum it all up for me,

"The whole world is a circus if you look at it the right way.
Every time you pick up a handful of dust, and see not the dust but a mystery, a marvel.
Every time you stop and think, 'I'm alive, and being alive is fantastic'.
Every time such a thing happens, you are part of the circus of Dr. Lao."

Blessed Be,

White Crow

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From: Shollo Sent: 18/01/2001 20:17 1 of 12
Personally, I think I kinda blundered into it. Most of my family, so it would seem, are Tarot readers, and mediums and so on, (except No-one ever told me). I think i just got interested in Tarot, it stopped me getting beat up at school, and then i got into more and more things. It seemed a lot more fun back then anyway, but things always do when youre just mucking about.

Anyways, after school and college (the first time) I seemed to be the only one who bothered to keep it up, and here i am, so many years on.

As for what it is to me, I think it kinda replaced religion, I dont follow any particular deity, even though i believe all gods are one god, i dont think praying to him or her would help. So the rituals, and all the other stuff that comes with - became what i believed in. And from there just developed my personal theories on life death etc.

Quite a lot of it still irritates me, but hey, thats how it is sometimes i guess. Ive learned a lot over the last 13 years, and i keep learning new things, and my belief in it changes again. Ask me again in six months and I'll probably have a different answer. :-)

shollo

From: freyarainbowtree Sent: 18/01/2001 21:54 2 of 12
Magic for me is a way of finding peace, and a sense of belonging. Not to a group, but as a part of the web of life. It's a connection with the other "me's" that I have memories of. I cannot imagine being anything other than a witch. Although I am lots of other things, this is the one thing that i feel is enduring, it's the thread running through everything I have ever been, everything I am, everything I hope to be. Magic is what makes life wonderful, beautiful, mystickal and the energy I feel through it I can only describe as my lifeforce.
Blessings,
Freya

From: Ebonyriver Sent: 22/01/2001 15:48 3 of 12
I was attracted to the religious side of wicca before i considered magic; magic is just an added extra to being able to connect with the god and goddess - a very welcome extra I might add! I see magic as using your own will to control the natural energy that is in every thing - energy that is in every plant, animal, rock even the smallest dew drop. Simply recognising and respecting this energy is is a step towards true magic.

From: jason Sent: 25/01/2001 21:49 4 of 12
i became a witch by just going on to ask.com. when u go on to this site its shows you what other people have wrote down and i saw something say witch spells and it's just gone from there.
i have only been a witch for a few months so i dont know what its done to my life but i soon will find out. ok then bye
blessed be

From: Farrah Sent: 26/01/2001 22:43 5 of 12
Magic? Magic is energy. The sort of thing that physicists talk about but don't quite get. You know, action causes reaction. But it's also much more than that. It links everything to one. A Witch is someone who realises this and can to an extent control it and manipulate it to cast a spell and weave magic. This is my theory anyway.
I am finding it hard to express what I know in words. It's a feeling knowledge rather than a factual wordy knowledge...I'll shut up now
Farrah
(why does this thing not have a spell check? Too much effort to check by self)

From: Farrah Sent: 26/01/2001 22:45 6 of 12
I think 'Star Wars' said it best: May the Force be with you

From: freyarainbowtree Sent: 27/01/2001 20:34 7 of 12
Farrah, I know where you're coming from! I have an excellent picture of my youngest daughter Niamhie in her dressing gown, holding her cousin's light sabre! She looks just like a Jedi! When I figure out how to scan stuff, I'll post it in the photo album.
Love, peace and sunny smiles,
Freya

From: White Crow Sent: 28/01/2001 11:57 8 of 12
I like this distiction between magic(k) and illusion.

Magic(k) and illusion fill us with the same emotion, awe and wonder. However magic(k) is when we are in awe and wonder from seeing something as it truely is, whereas illusion uses trickery and lies to produce the same emotion.

From: Alan Sent: 04/02/2001 20:14 9 of 12
The force thing (sad tho' it may seem to be conneting with a 20th century film regarding something so ancient as our religion) isnt so far wrong. I sussed that there was a greater presence/power all around first whilst (here's the shock horror bit) I used to go shooting and fishing (always alone). When you live in the country and are a hunter and concentrate on your prey and all the animals and plants around, you can become very aware that we humans are, or should be "part" of it, and not something seperate as 99.99% of the population believe (that is, if they ever thought about it). Its impossible to describe what I mean here, the nearest I can tell you is also from a film - do you remember the part in highlander where Sean Connery gets (forgotten the french guys name) him to breathe like and eventually "feel" the Stag? Well, thats it... I really experienced that, time and time again (tho' no, I didnt then run as fast as the Stag - I er, ...ate it) - I then found that I could predict the next movement, or even conciously alter it to get a clear shot. At that time, I was not even aware that this altering of circumstances in a tiny way, was magic - I just knew I could do it, and accepted it as fact - I've since heard native hunters in Africa and Australia describe exactly the same thing. Only later did I discover what all this meant, and since then have learnt via wicca to create tiny effects for greater good in the human world too. I think magic is being part (body, mind and soul) of the "force" (cringe) , and loving it (to achieve what I mentioned above, you have to respect and love the prey - some may find that hard to understand, but I find a quick humane kill vastly more kind than meat bought in the supermarket from a slaughter house - here endeth the lesson...) . Not everyone will like this, but its the path that brought me here, and its honest. Of course, I'm into the Green Man, Herne etc....

Numenius.

From: freyarainbowtree Sent: 04/02/2001 23:40 10 of 12
Alan, I think I get where you're coming from here. I see the Goddess and God as personifications of the magic and wonder that created and continues to create the universe in which we live. I believe that that energy runs through all of us, and that we understand it in a way in which we feel comfortable. Scientists are beginning to understand that energy now through quantum physics, aren't they? From what I understand of it, please correct me if I'm wrong here, but I think the point is that on a sub atomic level, everything is made up of particles of the same stuff, i.e. all things contain the essence of life, or as some would put it, the web of life runs through all of us.
May the force be with you!
Freya

From: Star Sent: 05/02/2001 11:24 11 of 12
Hi, I may be in a minority here, but I dont really consider my beliefs to be a religion. I am an eclectic witch/ kitchen witch and dont really have any gods in my magic. I worship nature, but only as a part of it. I worship the moon, so do wolves, they howl at the moon, especially when it is full, is that religion? Many plants close at night and then open up with the dawn and worship the sun and the rain, they are lifegivers for them. Perhaps because there is alot of ritual in human worship it then becomes a religion but I really dont see it that way. I see ritual only as a way of focussing, channelling and drawing from the energies of nature both within and around me. I worship trees, mainly because I feel respect for something living that is so old. I am a part of a much bigger picture and I want to be. To me that is not a religion it is a not even a way of life, it just is life. Some people are not aware of it, some people are reverent of it. However it occurs to me as I write that it may only be my definition of religion that is different to the rest of you, because I am pretty sure it is not my beliefs that are. I dont know if this is the right posting for this view but I did feel it came under "what is magic to you" because to me it is life, life in and around me. It flows through us all. And we can use it, we can abuse it, or most commonly - we can ignore it. But I dont think the latter two apply to you lot.
Blessed be
Star

From: Alan Sent: 07/02/2001 23:47 12 of 12
Freyarainbowtree - your point about quantum physics is particularly apt now that it has been established that particles (I believe it was sub atomic) "behave differently when observed". So it is scientificaly accepted that the observer has an effect simply by observing. The reason, of course is still "unknown" - (though I dare say that WE all could hazard a guess) but of course its probably the nearest thing to scientific proof of what we are talking about. When I read this, I had to read the paragraph over again, because to me it was really exciting that here, jumping out of the page at me was unconcious effect over matter being scientifically observed and recorded. Magic? - if its not, then I don't know what is.