From: C558215@mizzou1.missouri.edu (daemon)
Subject: intro
Organization: Campus Crusade for Cthulhu
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 23:43:22 GMT
X-Posted-From: mizzou1.missouri.edu
X-Posted-Through: sol.ctr.columbia.edu

 
I've arrived!  *expectant pause*  What?  Who am I?  Oh, yes, I
have a letter... (No, not that letter; give them the other one...)
 
This, as you may have guessed by the subject header, is a letter
of introduction.  I have read a few posts here and there, and
have come to know the general flavour of this newsgroup, so t'is
now my turn to introduce myself.  I'm Brian;  amongst some people,
I am more commonly known by the nickname 'daemon,' and it is in
this manner that I shall likely sign my posts and letters.
 
I have included at the end of this letter a formal definition of
'magick'; a definition I try to keep in mind when I study or when
I discuss the subject with people.  It's important as a definition
only in that it gives -you- something to know me by; it's a basis
for further knowledge, an introduction.  And introductions are
what this letter is about.
 
For most purposes, however, magick is not nearly so scientific, so
cold, so mathematical to me.  It is...well, magickal.  It is the
music which brings tears to my eyes, the dark misty night which
comforts me and protects me from myself, and the sometimes quiet,
sometimes boisterous conversation with a few close friends at the
corner coffee shoppe which somehow always manages to make me
smile, if only a little.  I try never to forget what magick
-really- is, especially when I discuss it in formal terms.  But I
can see this letter will be longer than ettiquette might allow for,
so I shall press onward and save the romanticism for another day.
 
Definition:  'Magick' is the act of influencing probability in an
     attempt to gain a specific outcome of a particular event.
 
Thus,
 
   o Magick cannot be employed to achieve an outcome impossible to
     achieve through nonmagickal means.
 
   o Magick of greater power will influence probablility to a greater
     degree.
 
   o Magick of greater efficiency will influence probability to a
     greater degree with equivalent effort, to the same degree with
     less effort, or to greater degree with less effort.  Thus, the
     act of firing a loaded handgun is frequently an act of more
     efficient magick than is the act of influencing, through sheer
     exercise of will, an individual's probability of dying.
 
   o Magick operates according to the laws of probability.  Therefore,
     an act of magick which performs effectively once may or may not
     be as effective a second time, all other variables remaining
     constant.
 
   o 'Karma' from a magickal act A will only haunt the magickian if
     the probabilities governing the outcome of the act A still have
     effect upon the magickian's self.  Even then, such repercussion
     is not a certainty -- rather, it is a potential event with some
     probability of occuring.  A talented and careful magickian can,
     by some act of magick, influence these new probabilities to
     his or her benefit (nondetriment?).
 
   o An indirect implication of this definition seems to be that order
     is merely a string of chance events.  In other words, order is a
     subset of chaos.
 
I know a great many of you will disagree with some or all of these
ideas, and this is fine.  I write this only as something to think
about -- and also to give you a general idea of my background, of my
approach to the practise of Magick, and perhaps of the alcohol content
of my bloodstream (That's a joke, people!).  This philosophy has
worked for me for nearly as long as I've been consciously practising
magick (which is not terribly long), and thus I feel it has at least
some small merit to it.  Your comments are welcome;  likely I will
discuss them;  likely I shall not debate them.
 
                     Yours throughout chaos and madness,
                                   ---daemon<<