Category: Magical Theory
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On Fate and Free Will
I’ve always struggled with the idea of karma. The notion that the universe is cosmically just and balanced, and gives each of us what we deserve.1 At the root of my dissatisfaction is a simple question: why do Bad Things happen to good people? Because, make no mistake, bad things do happen to good people.…
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On Magical Language
Meredith Graves, occult powerhouse and magical director for Kickstarter, makes a wonderful observation that our own first exposure to magic – whether it comes through fairytales, Disney movies, or stage illusionists – leaves a lasting impression in the way we comprehend and interact with the unseen later in life.1 That initial conception of magic sets…
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What They Meant Was…
One of my biggest pet peeves with modern analyses of historical texts is when an author states – with authoritative confidence – they have decoded the true meaning of a text, and that it is something only tenuously implied by the text itself. And this happens all the time with magic and occult topics. Things…
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A Long and Winding Path: part 2
This post is part of a two part series. You can find the first part here. Last time I talked about how I first got into magic. When we left off, I had just discovered ritual magic in the style of the Golden Dawn. I spent the next several years practicing meditation, divination, and banishing…
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A Long and Winding Path: part 1
I often hear magicians and occultists speak about how they first got into magic: how they led a childhood filled with paranormal encounters, or regularly talked to the ghosts of their dead ancestors. I’m frankly sort of envious when I hear about these experiences; they could not be further from my own. I grew up…