From: jasonp@tiger1.prime.com (Jason Pascucci)
Newsgroups: alt.magick
Subject: Re: Is Magick worth the effort??
Date: 31 Jul 92 18:41:27 GMT
Organization: Prime Computer, Inc.

In article <Bs9Cnn.JI6@acsu.buffalo.edu>, oispeggy@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Peggy Brown) writes:
> In article <ggJRoB1w165w@hogbbs.scol.pa.us>, wce@hogbbs.scol.pa.us (Bill Eichman) writes...
> >u9038752@cc.uow.edu.au (roger bolton) writes:
> 
> I can't stand it when people mention their powers without 
> explaining what their powers are and how they got them.
> 
> I've come across too many people who do this, and when asked, 
> don't really want to discuss their powers - its a secret.  
> - Peggy -

For myself, as perhaps a prime offender of Peggy's, I find
myself far less comfortable with discussing magickal
'feats', if you can call them that, that relating
my parts of my mystical 'experiences'. For many reasons. 

Part is, of course, there is a danger to anybody who just hauls 
off and starts screwing around. Early in my career, I had a 
serious string of 'bad luck', ending up with myself in the hospital,
in one instance. Monetary troubles, problems with the 'elements'....
I can relate a wierd experience I had early on: at certain
points I can remember never being able to light a match, start
incense burning, the stove broke, etc, or that I had a problem with 
*any* toilet (I went to restaurants, etc) not working 'correctly',
only to start working again 'magickally' later. Of course,
while all these things are well within the realm of coincidence, 
I can also interperate them mystically, and as far as I know, they 
came about from ignorance. I came across some advice AC left 
in one of his books about insulation, and it clicked in my 
mind, and things like this stopped happening. Of course,
I realize the psychological 'problems' in thinking this way,
and whenever I write about it, I can easily rationalize it
to coincidence, or simply heightened awareness of a particular
nature, hence I don't like to write about it, and live in my
fantasy world. 

Part again, is, I used to be far more lucid, until I realized
I was getting into trouble. It was a fairly strong one-to-one
correspondence between speaking about something which I got
the 'feeling' I shouldn't be talking about, and a
(apparently, at first, unrelated) small to medium 'effect',
almost always bad. I recall a case where I was talking to
my (then) lover about so-called occult knowledge. She was kind of prying
me for knowledge, being a curious sort. While I was speaking, 
I 'opened' up to her, as it were, psychicly. I realized she
wouldn't really understand all I was saying, and definately
not the 'deeper' meanings, but she wanted it. Five
minutes later, she told me to get her purse, she was going
to have a petite mal, I believe is the term for it. I realized
what had happened, and 'closed'/insulated, while she was in the bathroom.
My guess is she took a pill of some form, which probably did
all the interesting work. This was the one that shook me,
even 'spooked' me. I laid off of magick for a while,
but, as usual, I walked into my local bookstore, and a
shiny new book beckoned me to buy it, and I was back on
track, as it were. Do I have a universal-level persecution complex? 
Maybe, but probably not. 

As far as I can tell, all my 'bad' effects are unintentional.
In my earlier days, I tried a 'hex' because someone ended
up pissing me off fairly well. I didn't really see
much rebound from it, but it didn't have any effect, and I'm
kind of sorry I did it now. I'm also a different person
now than I was then, but that could just be from age. It is
most likely also from experience, one you can't get
from reading a book, or from reading a posting  describing
all the wonderful or dreadful things that can happen to you.

It all very much has to do with the writer's intuition of the moment.
There are times to expound on ones sucesses, and others to
expound on failures, and others to simply keep silent. 

Looking at Peggy's message, perhaps it is the word 'powers' that causes 
distress. I see it as just a word, but it could be used (or
interpreted) as a 'I'm better/stronger than you' (or you than me).
If this was the intention of the author (Bill?), then I 
would simply ignore it. If it was the Peggy's interpretation,
then maybe she should think about it some. As I have
shown, coming out and bespeaking ones 'powers' can,
in addition to simply invalidating them (something
I've experienced quite well), cause grief. 

This has (as usual) been a little long-winded, but hopefully
interesting and informative. I guess what I'm saying is,
basically, Remember the Sphynx. :)

-- 
Jason R. Pascucci
jasonp@primerd.prime.com