Magic, Magick and Magic.

Stage, Ceremonial/Chaos etc, and the Gathering.

Greetings and salutations, my most lauded and interrogative readers! I would like to take a few minutes of your time to shine light on a subject that has piqued my interest in innumerable times and ways, magic. Broken down here into 3 types that I plan to expound upon thus-to-with-for… sorry that got away from me, I'll write about more in later posts.

Sorcerer and sorceress dancing with fire and lightning

My first time using the built in Substack art generator, not bad, but needs more electricity.

Stage Magic- Houdini, Copperfield,

Charlotte Pendragon

etc

Slight of hand, death defying feats, illusion, trickery,

AND ENTERTAINMENT!

When I was growing up in the 80s-90s, most people I knew thought of stage magic or card tricks, when they heard the word magic. Today, both are still popular, but thanks to marketing dollars, MTG is the top search result for the term “magic.”

As Charlotte already discusses stage magic and stunts with a professional level interest and I am more focused on the latter categories, I will recommend her selection of articles, of which I've only scratched the surface. Charlotte's series on her and her husband's fascinating lives in the stunt world are a literal peak behind the curtains.

Magick- ceremonial, chaos, sigils etc.

Mage, wizard, witch/warlock, sorcerer/sorceress are but a few titles used to indentify those who practice some forms of this concept called magic(k).

The concept that one can use non-physical/non-direct methods to cause effects on and in the physical world. In previous posts, I have commented on and explained my ideas about certain concepts in this vast repository of complex mental and physical “gymnastics.” Concepts such as qabbalah, alchemy, witchcraft, and every type of -mancy, fall into the category of magic(k).

The k was added to differentiate “real” magic from stage magic (personally I have found this spelling change to be hit or miss as far as differentiating between them is concerned, likely due in part to the link to Crowley). Some other labels that are associated with this subject include; the occult or occultism, mysticism, astrology, divination, and shamanism (and this list just barely scratches the surface).

Demi at

The Starfire Codes

is a great example of someone who lives her magic everyday.

MTG- Magic The Gathering (not Marjory Taylor Greene)

My penchant for big words was fed by many things, Magic the Gathering being significant among them. MTG is a collectible card game created by Richard Garfield, a mathematician. The game has tens of thousands of different cards, so they had to get creative with naming.

The great thing is they used all the big words effectively and their meaning was reflected in what the card does(mostly). For example, Ancestral Reminiscence draws you cards, gaining knowledge from the ancestors, then makes you throw away one, like pouring one out for the homies that didn't make it.

The game was very good and well supported until it was sold to Hasbro. (Mama said if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing, so I'll move on. <ok MY mama might not have said this, but SOMEONE'S mama did.>)

One of the best things about MTG was meeting and interacting with new people(the game is a battle between 2 or more players). While playing a game that requires creativity, basic math skills, understanding complex card interactions, with timing and layering of actions to boot!

MTG is how

SimulationCommander

and I met. So it is also partially responsible for me typing here right now. Obviously SC deserves more credit/blame than Mark Rosewater(MTG head designer) or Mark Poole(MTG artist).

(Image from www.markpoole.com )

My intention here is to get the ball rolling and lay down some core concepts and then completely change the subject to sports to rant about how the Ravens have the worst name in NFL history. Only joking, I love corvids. You will likely never read anything about professional Bread and Circuses sports from me (unless the meme is really funny or relevant to the topic at hand).

My Angle/Outlook

I come from a big extended, Christian family. The Bible speaks of miracles performed by Moses and Jesus and more. Moses battled court conjurers in front of the Pharoah and his staff-turned-snake ate theirs, parting the Red Sea, plus all the other miracles and prophesying. Jesus turned water into wine, walked on water, healed a bunch of people and raised the dead, both himself and Lazarus. Jesus even stated that there will be those that come after that will perform even greater feats than He. I propose that if any religion believes in magic, it is Christianity(some sects more than others).

Before anyone gets their knickers twisted about magic having negative connotations or called evil. Intention matters in all things. Just know that the catholic church(and to a lesser extent, most religions that I have studied) uses so much ritual and symbolism, (very imporant parts of ceremonial magic) the information could fill a giant underground vault of archives, guarded by a private army, under stolen totally donated land, in the middle of a boot shaped country, hypothetically…

While I was aware of all the things mentioned in the previous 2 paragraphs, I still hadn't really looked into magic(k) as a subject (outside of board/card/video games). That all changed a few years ago, 2017ish. A friend and I were talking about spiritual stuff when he recommended that I read a book, and loaned it to me. Manly P Hall, The Secret Teachings of All Ages.

While the specifics of the book currently allude me, it sparked a fire in my mind and rekindled my curiosity and thirst for knowledge. I researched and listened to many podcasts on the subject. Now, thanks to. (mostly) estate sales, I have many, many books about magic(k), the occult(this means hidden), mysticism, related subjects and a bunch on self empowerment of various types.

I've even read some of them. (pats self on back)

Why share this? To show you that I come to this subject as an eternal student. Never seeking guru status, striving for co-learning. Someone that groks that there is a higher power. A person looking for why and how these things still survive and how they might be useful for team Mankind in a positive, loving way. One that is wary of negative forces that could corrupt that work.

I hold no deep beliefs on any of these subjects. When we get in-depth about chaos magic, we will find that belief itself can be used as a tool, and like any tool, the user determines the intent.

I plan on discussing magic both from the “armchair magician” and the practical side of how this information can be useful in everyday life. While doing my best to address potential hazzards.

Lastly, I think that we are all creating our realities every moment of every day, collectively and individually. Which IS magic. I figure the more people are made aware of this and shown how to do it on purpose, the sooner we can all start manifesting “Heaven on Earth” in the meat-space we occupy together.

Much love!

Antila Hypocrisy Belist

Comments, questions or concerns?

The diffence between free ai art(first pic in this post) and the newer paid options is huge.

(I snagged this from

Christopher Cook

I'm only guessing this was from a paid ai service. )