Correspondence Courses - Magickal Defense

As much as I have enjoyed having a full month off of teaching, I'm starting to get that itch again folks.  Some of you probably had suspicions that this might happen when I left the Grey School, but yes I am going to start offering correspondence courses in a few subjects in the coming year, beginning with a full course series on Magickal Defense.  My plan with these courses is to offer in-depth information with a goodly dose of personal attention.  The lessons themselves will be downloadable pdfs with a goodly number of images and videos as is appropriate to the subject.  All of the courses will include a certain number of either google hangout or skype sessions so all students will have some real one-on-one time with me.  Of course, this is all a work in progress so things are still very fluid.

For those of you who have read my book or saw my Grey School course offerings, you know that magickal defense is one of my specialties.  It was the first magickal practice that I obsessed over and I've created A LOT of materials in it over the years.  I'm planning to create a three course series in practical magickal defense running from pure beginner into the quite advanced. 

I'm hoping to have the beginner course ready for its first students by Ostara at the latest and Pantheacon at the earliest.  The beginner course will cover shielding and filters, energetic awareness, magickal camouflage, the materia magica of defense and protection, creating simple protective charms, and clearing space.  Are there any topics you'd like to see me cover in this first course that I didn't mention?  Leave me a comment or shoot me an email - I'd love to hear from you!

The intermediate and advanced courses are in the pipeline and should follow a few months after the basic course is up. Further down the road I will be creating a course series on shadow magick, and possibly one on magickal pests, to go with my book.

So what do you folks this of this idea?  This is your chance to have some input on how these courses form so speak up!  Leave a comment or shoot me an email emily (at) e-carlin.com.

Pagan Pride Day is almost here!

This Saturday, October 5th, is the Central Puget Sound Pagan Pride Day celebration!

This year the Grey School (represented by me and Rae du Soleil) will be running the opening ritual at 11:30am. Come on down and join us in celebrating all things magickal!





Saturday, October 5th, 2013 - From 11am - 6pm
Freighthouse Square 2501 E. D St. Tacoma, WA 98406
www.cpsppd.org

Schedule:

11:00 – 11:30 - Bellydance By April Dickenson
11:30 - 12:00 - Opening Ritual- Grey School
12:00 – 1:00 - Workshop: Elemental Meditation
1:00 – 2:00 - Workshop: History of Herb Use
1:30 – 2:00 - Bellydance by Jewel
2:00 - 2:30 - Midday Ritual - COBM Church
2:30 – 3:00 - Workshop: Pagans in the Military
3:00 - 3:30 - Workshop: Elements
3:30 – 4:00 - Workshop: Primal Paganism
4:00 – 5:00 - Drum Circle - BT Rhythm- bring your drum & join in the fun!
4:30 – 5:00 - Workshop: Shadow Magic
5:00 - 5:30 - Closing Ritual - Hawk's Hearth Kindred

Unintended Consequences

Earlier this week was the Grey School’s Pacific Northwest Urban Conclave.  This was a three day event held here in Seattle, which my friend Rae and I organized.  (It was totally awesome by the way.)  During Conclave we went out on the town, took in some local sights, did a lot of magickal work, a few exercises involving magickal perception, had a ghost tour and a ghost hunt, and one rather kick-ass community building ritual (hooray collaborative ritual development!).  Since a lot of our activities were actually done at my house, I spent a goodly chunk of the week holding magickal space for the group (holding protections, grounding flares, keeping energy levels even, etc.).  As you might imagine, this was rather tiring.  When the event was over I crashed pretty hard.  I expected that.  What I did not expect was that the whole thing seems to have sensitized all of my magickal perceptions.

Sapphire Soleil sensing energies at the Phoenix Theater

Normally I shield pretty hard, so the everyday energy bumps and dips of those around me don't affect me much.  However, after spending a very intense three days paying much more attention to my magickal senses, I'm finding that the energies around me are affecting me much more strongly than normal.  For example, a rather depressive co-worker just walked into my cube and it felt like someone let all the air out of one tire on a car (everything went wonky).  In order to hold space during Conclave I had to open myself enough to constantly feel the energy of the group and respond when it needed tweaking.  It seems that the openness I cultivated is still active.

While not exactly comfortable, I don’t really see this as a bad thing.  As a rather paranoid person, I tend to over shield – not to the point where I don’t feel anything, but to the point where I just don’t pay much attention unless something trips one of my alarms (which is rare).  It’s a lot like having energetic tunnel vision.  While there’s nothing inherently bad about it, as a witch I feel that I really should pay more attention to what’s going on around me so I can be more proactive about how I interact with it. 

This renewed awareness is going to be interesting to deal with.  Now I just have to make sure I don’t accidentally turn it off again when I have an off day or get too lazy to deal with things.  It’s so much easier to just let things slide, but that’s not the shadow magick way.  *sigh*

Magickal Community - I Want It

A few weeks ago I attended a local Pagan Pride Day planning meeting down in Tacoma.  The current group running PPD are a hard working and incredibly welcoming group.  It was so nice to walk into a group of people I barely know and instantly feel welcomed and respected.  I knew it was a group where I could make suggestions and give my opinion, and that they’d form their opinions on the quality of what I said, rather than what group I was a part of or who I studied with.  It made me realize just how much I miss being a part of an open-minded local community group.  

When I first started practicing magick, back at Wellesley, I was blessed by being part of an incredible group.  We were all beginners struggling to learn together.  Everyone was pretty much equal and everyone pitched in and helped the group to learn and grow.  In retrospect I realize how incredible that group was.  I found a second family in that group and some of us will be sisters forever, even though we’re spread across the globe now.  The most remarkable thing was that because none of us had any “lineage” in the craft, we could only judge each other on what we actually said and did.  We had no past to be judged on.  

When I came back to Seattle I expected to be able to find local groups that would be as open and welcoming as the group I left.  To say that I was disappointed by what I really found would be a gross understatement.  What I found was a community shattered by politics.  I found people who didn’t care who you were unless you were introduced by someone with status,  I found “open” groups with no interest in even saying hello to new people (let alone welcoming them), and I found it almost impossible to even find the community without an “in.”  My friend and I once went to an open sabbat and spent 30 minutes in a dark room while the group hosting the event came in, late, and one by one passed us by without even saying hello.  When we asked if we were in the right place we received looks that clearly stated we weren’t welcome - even though the event was advertised as open to all.  Gotta love the Seattle freeze.  I’ve found people that wouldn’t give me the time of day because I wasn’t 50; I’ve had others that wouldn’t talk to me because I wasn’t under 25; and goddess help me if I mention that I don’t “embrace the warmth and light of the great mother.”  I once had a fellow practitioner tell me to my face that I was evil for working with Kali - way to be understanding lady.  

I had almost lost hope that there were, in fact, decent groups out here.  Then I started hosting Grey School info booths at the local PPD events.  The thing about PPD events is that their entire purpose is to foster community strength and understanding.  The folks that take the time and trouble to come out to them are, generally, friendly people who genuinely want to talk to new people.  At this point PPD is pretty much the one day a year I spend out in my local community (other than supporting local magickal merchants).  Through PPD I’ve met several local community leaders that don’t make me want to pull my hair out.  (There’s a really terrific Dianic group here - too bad I’m not Dianic.)  

I’ve met some amazing people in the local area, so what on earth is stopping us from coming together?  Terrible inertia? A lack of leadership?  Fear? Come on people, getting together in a coffee shop once a month isn’t exactly rocket science.  I suppose if I want local community I’m going to have to put on my big girl pants and make it happen.  *sigh*

Getting Started - Part II - Working With Others

Once you've done a little research and know enough to ask the right questions, it's time to jump into the Magickal/Pagan community.  Depending on where you live that might be as simple as heading to the closest open Sabbat or asking questions at your local metaphysical store.  Or, it might be quite a bit more difficult.

Online Community

In this day and age the magickal community is just a click away - simple right?  If only.  First off, there are a lot of different online communities and each one has a different character.  There's Facebook, Tumblr, Witchvox, PaganPages, PFI, COG, and many other places to choose from.  Some communities are easy to access and are full of people just starting out, others are much more difficult to get into and are often full of elders. You'll have to try them out and see which one best fits who you are and how you like to communicate.

There are two MAJOR drawbacks to online community: lack of vetting and rampant miscommunication.  Anyone can get online and call themselves the grand high poobah of anything.  It can be really hard to know if someone is actually what they claim to be and if the information they're giving you is accurate.  Of course, there are also plenty of trolls out there that will give you bad answers because they think it's funny.  They are douche bags.  This is why I always recommend getting multiple answers to your questions.  The more answers you get, the easier it will be to see which ones are way out of left field - making them less likely to be accurate.  Of course, sometimes the wacky answers are the most inspired, but it's often best to leave that kind of exploration until you've got a better foundation to work with.

The other, and possibly biggest, problem is miscommunication.  Just because you can make yourself understood in person doesn't mean you can make yourself understood online.  Things like humor, sarcasm, emotions, etc., don't really translate well into text alone. It is really easy to be rude unintentionally online and a lot of people are quick to anger at any imagined slight.  Don't get yourself into a Witch War just because someone forgot to add a winky face to show they were joking in a post. 

Also, a lot of magickal concepts are pretty darned complicated and can only be fully explained in person.  Have you ever tried to describe the feeling you get when you know you've cast your circle successfully?  It's so much easier to show someone in person then to try and explain it in text. Images, animated gifs, and streaming video have made things a lot easier in recent years, but there's still no substitute for being there.


In-Person Community

Depending on where you live, finding in-person community can be fairly difficult.  There are still a lot of places where being "out of the broom closet" is still a very risky choice, and even in otherwise open places (college campuses, major cities, etc.) folks still might need to keep their magickal tendencies a secret from co-workers of family.  Joining any in-person community raises the risk of someone who doesn't know your magickal side happening onto it be accident.  If you're deeply in the broom closet you will need to think carefully about how much risk you're willing to bear.

The first step in finding in-person community is often a trip to your local metaphysical shop.  Occult bookstores are a sort of unofficial community center for magickal folk.  They'll often have flyers or notices for local magickal events and the owners usually know what groups exist in the area.  Many metaphysical shops will actually host workshops and rituals with local groups, so they're a great place to start.  Next, check Witchvox.com for listing of local groups and events in your area.  Lots of magickal and, most especially, Pagan groups will post their events up on Witchvox and a lot of elders will have personal listings there.  Any group or person who has posted their contact info on Witchvox should, at least, be willing to talk to folks who are just starting out.

Once you've found a local event or group you'll need to approach them.  Public events are a great first step toward joining a local community.  Groups expect new folks to come to open events, that's why they're open.  They should make and rules and instructions clear in advance, so you'll know what you're getting into and what, if anything, will be expected of you.  Some groups that put on public events are amazing, others are total crap.  Go to as many different things as you can, so you can find out which groups are worth learning more about.

If you find a group that you really like, it's time to look into joining them.  This is where it can get really tricky.  If you've been to an open event chances are you've had a chance to talk to some members of the group and hopefully get to know them.  If you have, that's great.  It will make figuring out your next steps very simple.  Unfortunately, some groups, particularly longstanding ones, will have an insane and complicated dance of manners and etiquette they require from seekers, and sometimes they won't tell you what the rules are.  These aren't the most welcoming groups in the world and I tend to get frustrated with them and go find a more approachable group.  Unfortunately, these finicky groups often have some of the most knowledgeable elders so it's a toss up as to whether they're worth the bother (of course some of these groups are just a hive of ego and meglomania). 

If you do find a group and are able to join them remember - just because you've joined a group doesn't mean you're stuck with them forever.  People grow and change over time.  The group might not be what you thought it was, your needs might chance, the group itself might change.  There will probably come a time when you'll need to move on and that's completely normal.  I don't know anyone that found their perfect group on their first try.  Honestly, I don't know anyone that's found a "perfect" group at all.  Every group has its challenges and it's up to you to decide when to stick it out and when to head for the hills.


Finding A Teacher

Finding a one an one mentor seems to be the Holy Grail for a seeker.  I can remember how badly I wanted some experienced person to take me under his or her wing and reveal the secrets of the universe (like they do in so many books and movies) back when I was starting out. Depending on where you are, who you are, and what you want to learn finding that kind of apprenticeship may or may not be possible.  I can't really give advice for finding that kind of mentor because I never found one. It is much, much easier to find group classes and workshops.

You can find in-person classes the same way you find in-person events and local groups.  Once you find a potential class be sure to check out who's teaching it.  Has it been offered before?  Can you contact people who have taken the class or worked with the teacher?  What's the teacher's reputation?  There are a lot of amazing teachers out, but there are a lot of mediocre (or crappy) ones too.  It should always be possible to contact a teacher and ask questions before you commit (and pay) to any class.

There are also a lot of online classes available these days.  Many well known community elders, like Kerr Cuhulain and T. Thorn Coyle offer online classes - which is a great way to learn from a master.  There are also online schools that can offer a huge variety of magickal learning.  Of course, as a graduate and faculty member, I'm quite biased towards the Grey School: an online non-denominational school (we teach magick, not religion).  At the Grey School you can learn just about every major magickal practice out there while working at your own pace.  It's also got an amazingly supportive community built into it, which I love - like I said, I'm rather biased.

In the end, you'll just have to jump in and see what works for you. 

Back to Part I

Seattle Workshop - Urban Magickal Self-Defense

Saturday April 6th, 2013 3pm-5pm

Learn magickal methods to increase your awareness, prevent being hassled in a crowd, improve your work area, and safeguard your home. We’ll be looking at auric control, magickal camoflauge, wards, witch bottles and more. This workshop is appropriate for people of all levels of skill and experience, from any path. All you’ll need is an open mind.

Join me afterwards for dinner and an informal chat at a local eatery, or take the fabulous Spooked in Seattle ghost tour.

$20 per person, Cash or Credit Card

    102 Cherry St.
    Seattle, Washington 98104

Phone    (425) 954-7701
Email    reservations@spookedinseattle.com
Website    http://www.spookedinseattle.com

Pantheacon 2013 Recap

Two conventions on two consecutive weekends is really one convention too many.  I desperately needed a breather in there somewhere, but instead I went straight back to work to earn that pesky "living wage" thing.  Ah well.  I feel like I need to sleep for a week.  Here is my report on this year's Pantheacon.

After four days of magickal madness I was content, excited, and completely exhausted.  I have to say that this year might have been my favorite Pantheacon yet.  I went to amazing workshops, powerful rituals, and met some great people. I have to give huge kudos to the organizers this year because I think things went very smoothly, despite a bad case of con crud that decimated our numbers (including me) and made schedules a bit erratic.

I got down to California on Wednesday afternoon with the rest of our Seattle contingent and enjoyed spending a low key evening with friends that involved massive amounts of tea and sushi - as it should.  On Thursday we began our day by visiting the Winchester Mystery House, which I had always wanted to visit but had never had the chance.  It was all that I hoped it would be with its ookie yet beautiful architecture and resident spirits.  I saw the ghost of a young woman in fancy dress looking up at us angrily from a staircase.  She wasn't frightening at all, just rather annoyed with us.

We checked into the hotel that evening and were happy to see that the casino across the road had finished construction and had a decent restaurant in it.  Food is always a bit of a problem at Pantheacon since the regular hotel rooms don't have fridges and the restaurants in the Doubletree are super busy and less than spectacular.  We had a nice dinner and then I went back to my room to finalize my notes for my presentation.

Friday began early, with my pre-workshop nerves waking me up at 6:30am to finish up my handout and get it down to the printers.  We checked in and got our badges just after reg opened and had no lines or issues of any kind.  Then we sat down for a spell of people watching before heading to the presentation room.  I talked about my presentation earlier, so I won't rehash that here.

I decided to skip the next presentation slot and decompress by visiting the splendor of the vendor room.  On of the gals I was with had never been to Pantheacon before and had no idea of the garden of temptations she was about to enter.  Watching her eyes pop out of her head was quite enjoyable.  She didn't make it a quarter of the way through the room before she found something she just "had" to have.  I felt quite lucky that I both knew what the vendor room was like and that I had a full compliment of tools before going in there.  This year the vendors were really at the top of their game.

I wound down the evening quietly.  After dinner I went up to to the CoG suite and met a bunch of very cool people.  It was a little intimidating walking into an established group as an outsider seeking entry and I had to fight my nerdly inclination to sit quietly in a corner.  Why is it that I can happily present to a hundred strangers, but approaching a stranger in a one on one situation is terrifying?  The world may never know. 

Saturday began with the CAYA Waking Up the Spirit ritual.  It was a fun and engaging ritual that really started my day off on the right foot.  It was all about recognizing the divine in all the folks around us and I think it helped me to approach the rest of the con with a more open mind.  After that it was over to Kay Pannell's Magickal Stones workshop which was very interesting.  She approached crystal work as a geologist, and thus had very different ideas of which stones did which things than a lot of mainstream crystal guides.  It was really interesting and I'm quite looking forward to her writing a book about it.

Then I hopped over to the vendor room for the Grey School picture.

After lunch it was time for a little Vodou 101.  I know a little about Vodou, just what I've gotten from a few books really.  I'm coming to realize that Vodou is a lot like any other branch of magickal beliefs - you get really different explanations of the same thing from the different people you ask.  It's all quite fascinating.

That evening I went to one of the most entertaining rituals I've ever participated in: Papa Gede's Boneyard Boogie.  Oh yes, it was a New Orleans jazz style devotional to honor the ancestors.  There was singing, dancing, drumming, and a whole lot of incredible energy.  If they do this again next year I am so there :)

After that I went to an interesting presentation byJason Pitz-Water on Gods and Goddesses of the Forge.  I went to their workshop on Hecate last year that was fantastic, so I had high expectations.  I admit it was a bit of a let down.  The material was mostly interesting, but by 9pm my energy was flagging and I think theirs was too.  They spent a goodly chunk of time reading deity descriptions off a piece of paper and it was less than thrilling.

On Sunday I slept in and decided to get some Starbucks rather than run to a 9am workshop.  That left me refreshed when I went to Jason Pitz-Water's workshop Preserving Our Past, Preparing Our Future.  It was a really interesting discussion on preserving the work of our elders, making things more accessible, and bridging the divide between the old guard community elders and the tech driven solitary newcomers.  I think this and the hallway discussions afterwards were probably my most valuable moments at Pcon this year.  There's a great write-up of that workshop over on Patheos that I highly recommend.

After grabbing a quick peanut butter sandwich in my room I ran to a 1:30 over in Club Max where Thalassa was talking tarot.  This one wins as one of the most entertaining presentations I went to.  She was hilarious!  I think the technical glitches she had to deal with just made the whole thing more entertaining.  She basically talked about how she essentially scrys her tarot cards rather than following the book definitions because the book definitions rarely feel right.  Since I do tarot exactly the same way I felt quite a kinship with the folks in that room.  It was good fun.

After that is was a workshop on Public Ritual presented by the Dark Forest coven - the same group that put on Papa Gede's Boneyard Boogie.  It was a fun workshop on what to do and, more particularly, what not to do in a big public ritual.  We all had a good laugh talking about our "worst ritual moments."  It reminded me of the ritual I went to where the organizers called the quarters into the corner of the room so no one could hear them and then did what I can only describe as a symbolic great rite quickie.  Ah, memories.

I took the evening off to do some divination and catch up on some writing in my room.  By Monday morning I had completely run out of steam and spent my time having a leisurely breakfast after a mad dash to pack and check out in time for our driver to get to a 9am workshop.  I spent the rest of the morning cruising the vendor room and sitting out in the wifi area attempting to ground.

All in all it was a fabulous and utterly exhausting weekend.  I can't wait to do it all again next year :)

A Great Weekend Past and a Look Towards Mabon

Last weekend was the Seattle Esoteric Book Conference which I visited with some good friends from the Grey School.  The conference itself was a bit expensive for my wallet so I decided to save my hard-earned for the vendor room, rather than going to the workshops.  I have never seen so many small press occult publishers in one room before.  It was really neat to see so many wonderful rare and antique editions, some of familiar works (1st edition Drawing Down the Moon!) and some bizarre things that I've never heard of.

A fun bit of public art down at the Seattle Center, next to the Experience Music Project.

 There were a lot of amazing books there, but I must admit it wasn't really my crowd.  I'm a witch and the majority of what I do is intuitive.  Old grimoires and esoteric theory are wonderful bits of color and enrichment, but they don't really inform my practice.  Historical research into how particular magicians did things a hundred years ago is interesting in an anthropological way, but I'll stick to listening to my Gods for figuring out how I'm supposed to best honor them.  Now, my alchemist friend just about lost her biscuit  with all the amazing hard to find alchemical titles they had and I imagine any ceremonial magician would have felt like they'd entered candyland.  I think this conference is a wonderful thing and I'll definitely be back, but probably just for a turn about the room.

After the conference my friends and I went on a ghost tour with the always lovely Jake of Private Eye Tours.  We did the Spirits of Seattle tour, which I've been on before and enjoyed immensely.  Our group was most of the van and pretty much commandeered things.  We were joined by two lovely ladies who didn't seem to mind our outspoken and matter of fact magickal talk and may even pop by the Grey School some time - which would be fab :)

Jake telling us about the spirit of a minister haunting his former church.

All in all it was a wonderful and witchy weekend.  I came home with some interesting grimoires and will eventually have some interesting book reviews for y'all.

Now, Mabon is coming up this week; Sept 22nd at 7:49am pst to be precise. Here in Seattle we're enjoying an odd Indian Summer, with temps in the high 70s to low 80s all week.  I've never welcomed autumn in shorts before and I can only imagine it will be a weird experience.  However, you can tell the seasons are shifting because I'm arriving at work when the stars are still out and I need a coat in the morning.  I think perhaps I'll welcome autumn by making a special batch of applesauce or maybe some nice beeswax candles on Thursday.  I'll have to think about it. 

Qualities of Evil

No, I have not fallen off the face of the earth.  I've just been bogged down with a severe case of writer's block and who gives a crap.  I think I may have finally vanquished my blahs and am writing again.  At the moment my writing priority is a class for the Grey School called "Concepts of Evil."  This is a total re-write of an old class written by Elizabeth Barrett.  Since she and I have rather different approaches to the subject I'm starting from square one.  Here is a lesson from the class called "Qualities of Evil."  Enjoy.

There are certain qualities of thought and action that seem to always be present when the term “evil” is justified: lack of empathy, dehumanization of the other, selfishness, and cruelty.  Let us explore each of these qualities.

Lack of Empathy

Empathy is the ability to recognize what someone else is thinking or feeling and, to a certain extent, to share those thoughts or feelings; it is what allows us to respond appropriately to the emotions of others.  In effect, empathy is what allows us to care for others.  When someone lacks empathy they do not accurately recognize or value the emotions of others.  Someone who lacks empathy may not recognize that another person is experiencing a particular emotion, or that person may recognize that someone else is experiencing an emotion but attaches no value to that fact.  People who lack empathy are often called “insensitive” because they don’t respond to the emotions of others the way most people think they should.  

Imagine that Sally and Jim are sitting in a cafe and Sally tells Jim that she her grandfather has passed away and she begins to cry.  If Jim had an average amount of empathy he would recognize that Sally was sad and might feel awkward watching her cry or feel moved to comfort her.  If Jim lacked empathy he might not realize that Sally was upset or he might see that she was upset but not really care.  Rather than feeling badly for her, he would act the same way as if Sally had said she bought a new pair of shoes.  

It is perfectly normal for people to lack empathy some of the time.  Everyone has days where they are stressed out, angry, distracted, tired, etc., when they just don’t have the mental or emotional energy to be terribly empathetic.  A temporary lack of empathy doesn’t make someone evil.  Lacking empathy all the time doesn’t necessarily make someone evil either.  There are people with certain neurological disorders who lack the ability to empathize with others; they cannot understand the emotions of others but it doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t care.  People can lack empathy, but still care how other people feel even if they don’t understand those feelings.  A tendency to evil arises when someone just doesn’t care what other people feel, when they attach no value to the emotions of others.  People who don’t care what other people feel with never see the wrongness in hurting others and that can lead to evil.

Dehumanization of the Other

Dehumanization is the process of making a person less than human.  When a person dehumanizes someone he mentally turns the other into something less than human, such as an animal, object, or enemy.  This usually happens when someone sees another person, “the other,” in negative ways which over time leads that person to see “the other” as undeserving of the consideration and kindness usually given to another person.  

Dehumanization is the process that allows someone to look at another human being rationalize doing terrible things to him.  Dehumanization can be personal (one person turning another into “the other”) or group (one group turning another group, or anyone not in the group, into “the other”).  For example, Jerry doesn’t like Lori.  In his mind, Jerry starts to think of Lori as a parasite, someone whose sole purpose is to get in his way and make his life difficult.  He ceases to think of Lori as another person, but as an enemy, something that needs to be defeated.  As a result instead of talking to Lori and trying to reach an agreement with her, Jerry goes out of his way to get in Lori’s way and make her life difficult because Jerry can’t “win” unless Lori “loses.”  This type of thinking also leads to feuds between groups of people.   If group A feels that its members have been wronged by group B, the members of group A may start thinking of the members of group B as a nebulous enemy, rather than individual people with their own unique thoughts and feelings.  This may lead members of group A to retaliate against random members of group B for the perceived wrong.  It is this sort of dehumanization that leads to feuds, hate crimes, and war.  Dehumanization takes away the soul and identity of another person and turns him into “the other.”

Selfishness

Selfishness goes hand in hand with lack of empathy and dehumanization.  As we all learned as children, selfishness is putting one’s own needs and desires above those of others.  As with lacking empathy, everyone has times when they act selfishly.  This is perfectly normal and, at the right times and in the right amounts, can even be healthy.  It is when selfishness is chronic that it becomes a problem.  We all know someone who always has to do things his or her own way and will always take what they want whenever they can, regardless of how it affects others.  Those who consistently put their needs and desires above those of others are unpleasant and often mean, but selfishness alone does not make someone evil.  It is when selfishness is combined with a lack of empathy and a tendency towards dehumanizing others it has disturbing implications.

Selfishness makes someone consider their own needs and wants to be more important than those of anyone else.  Couple that selfishness with a lack of empathy and the selfish person will not see the affects of their actions on others as being important or meaningful.  Combine that with a tendency towards dehumanization and anyone who stands between a selfish person and his or her goal becomes “the other,” a less than human obstacle with no value and no rights.  When they obstacle to someone’s goals is an object with no value and no rights, anything act against that object is justified and incredible harm is often a result.  When acted upon, the combination of lack of empathy, dehumanization, and selfishness is what leads to evil.  

Cruelty

Cruelty is a tendency to inflict pain or suffering on others due to indifference to or enjoyment of that pain.  Cruelty is seen as morally wrong in just about every culture on earth.  When you combine a tendency towards cruelty with the qualities above you have evil.  Any act that combines cruelty with a lack of empathy, dehumanization, and selfishness is going to be horrible - likely beyond horrible.  We will go into examples of this in subsequent lessons.

Interview in Grey Matters

Hey folks, I recently did an interview for Grey Matters, the Grey School magazine, talking about my book and defensive magick in general.  Head on over to the Grey Matters website to read it!

Is Magick Real?

As any long-time reader knows, I teach Dark Arts at the Grey School.  I love teaching magick for so many reasons, but right at the top of that list are all the things I learn from my students.  A few days ago a student asked me a question that touched on something I’ve been thinking about for quite some time now.  What he asked me was just how much of what I teach I actually believe in and to what extent.  On the surface it seems like a pretty flippant question, but in reality it’s a very good one.  As someone who teaches people fantastical things like how to fend off psychic attack and how to banish monsters, yet is a stable and educated person who holds a normal full time job I actually spend a fair amount of time thinking about just how I define my reality. 

Really, it’s a question that comes up almost constantly, though usually in very subtle ways.  Anyone who has mundane friends who do not believe in “any of that weird psychic stuff” has probably been asked, “You seem like such a smart person, how can you believe in all that?”  It’s rather like having someone with opposing political views ask how you could possibly vote for the (insert derogatory term of choice) that you like so much.  I know those folks don’t mean to demean my entire paradigm, but they do.  Being the obstinate sort, I like having an answer ready for my critics and sincere seekers alike.  The following is what I told my student.

Yes, I do believe in magick and monsters because I've had undeniable experiences with both.  That being said, how I define magick and monsters is rather particular. 

In my experience magick is just the practical application of quantum physics to thought and intention.  In his book Real Magick, Isaac Bonewits describes magick as atomic-psychokenesis – the ability to affect the sub-atomic world with the power of the mind.  Science has proven that the human body works by transmitting electrical signals from the brain to the rest of the body.  It has also proven that the human body emits certain electrical signals (like those read by CAT scans).  Magick assumes that those sub-atomic particles that are naturally emitted by the human body interact with sub-atomic particles in our environment (no stretch of scientific credulity there).  Magick further assumes that by focusing our minds we can subtly direct these emissions to encourage the world around us to conform to our will.  That would be the bit where we’re making a bit of a leap.  Quantum physics has shown us that the way sub-atomic particles behave is affect by people observing that behavior (see the Uncertainty Principle), so is it really so strange to think that what happens accidentally could be done deliberately?

Another teacher at the Grey School, Jymi X/0, looks at magick as a way of shifting the waveform of reality.  In any given situation there is a bell curve of possible outcomes, those at the center being the most likely outcomes and those on the edges being the least likely.  For example, when I catch the bus in the morning it’s very likely that the bus will arrive reasonably on schedule, that I’ll get on it, and that it will take me to work – that’s the center of the bell curve.  There’s a less likely change that my bus will arrive and take me to the wrong place – towards the edge of the bell curve.  There’s an even less likely change that I’ll get on the bus and find a million dollars in cash – the very edge.  Magick is the art of using all the mundane options at your disposal plus the mind to shift the position of that bell curve to make your desired outcome in a situation more probable.

I look at magick as nothing less than due diligence – do everything you can physically and then do everything you can psychically.  That’s what I believe magick is.

As for monsters, my life is occasionally weird.  Really weird.  Like reality bending and things knocking on walls and moving my stuff weird.  I haven’t ever experienced monsters as truly physical beings.  I’ve always experienced them as the metaphysical (energies and forces that exist beyond what our normal senses can perceive).  There are forces that I cannot see with my physical eyes, but that I can see in my minds eye and they interact with me as if they were intelligent entities.  Treating these forces as if they were particular kinds of monsters (based on what kinds of behaviors they exhibit) gives me the results I want from the interaction (usually to make them go away or at least stop being obnoxious).  Does this necessarily mean that what I'm dealing with is an independent entity that identifies itself as an imp or a pixy?  Nope. Could this just be my brain's way of trying to make sense of things that are outside of my experience?  Sure.  However, this has been going on for a very, very long time - all my life really.  Over the years I've kept treating the metaphysical as various creatures and magickal forces and it keeps working.  Correlation does not equal causation, but over a long enough time period 100% correlation can effectively be treated as causation. 

Basically, my experience and every intuition I've ever had tells me that my belief system works as a way of dealing with the world.  Do I have occasional bouts of doubt?  Of course.  Sometimes I feel like a crazy person and doubt everything I've ever done.  But eventually something will happen that will once again show me that my way of looking at the world works and that's enough for me.