My witchy document

[azurelunatic]

I've got an 88k text document all on magicgeeking. I started it last week, formally, and I've been slacking some on it. Ooops.

The general focus is orientation to the new practitioner as well as orientation to the non-practitioner who may have family or friends who are practitioners or new practitioners.

So. Anything that you would have liked to know when you were new at this, or, if you are new at this, anything you would like to know (especially that current books you've run into don't cover)?

Comments

[calligrafiti.livejournal.com]

Cool! This sounds fascinating.

Things I wish I'd known:
1. Someone who's been practicing 6 whole months longer than you doesn't have all the answers to things magical. It's not fair to either of you to expect this. Do independent research.

2. Psychic attack, drama-queening, or low-bloodsugar? Don't always assume it's the first.

3. Just because it's weird or new to your experience doesn't mean it's magic. (3a. Just because it's weird or new to your experience doesn't mean it's not magic either.)

Hope this helps. Good luck with the document!

[amberfox.livejournal.com]

Good points, all of them. =)

[azurelunatic]

Yep.

[azurelunatic]

Thanks. I've added stuff on those topics.

[boojum.livejournal.com]

Some introduction oriented at the tech-thinker? I'd love some equivalent process to the standard intro to programming process: a Hello, World program and its running instructions and information on how it works that will allow me to modify it. Yes, nobody actually wants to use Hello, World, but it lets the learner poke around with cause and effect. I'd settle for an equivalent to showing off one's knitting-in-progress and guiding my hands through a few stitches, although I don't see how that could be done in text.

[tygerr.livejournal.com]

Sadly, it doesn't seem to work that way. Computer programs and suchlike are procedural, and if you follow the instructions properly it'll always work the same way.

Magic is way more Zenlike. Kind of like baking bread from scratch--too much depends on instinct and experience. It may be possible to write down the ingredients and the steps, and it *might* actually work after a fashion when a beginner tries it for the first time...but getting really good results requires actually doing it over and over until you get a "feel" for it (preferably in tutelage to an experienced "baker").

Heh. Magic is like biscuits, not burritos. ;-)

[boojum.livejournal.com]

Pretty much everything can be introduced that way, though. It never gets you good results, or even particularly predictable results, even in computers[1], but it's a really good starting point for learning, because it lets the learner start understanding cause and effect. A ton of cooking knowledge is cause and effect -- this is where the baking sheet needs to go, these are what you have to prepare before your hands get goopy, letting the biscuits cool on the baking sheet means they're hard to get off, with vanilla (unlike garlic) the fact that a little is good does not mean that a lot is better.

I think a Hello, World equivalent in cooking would either be the first recipe from one of those cooking for college students books (the "This is an egg. Don't eat the shells. You get them from the grocery store." sort) or a comparison between [flour mixed with water] and [flour mixed with baking soda and water] dropped in blobs on a cookie sheet and stuck in a 350 degree oven for ten minutes. Or maybe grilled cheese made in the microwave.

The average person isn't going to become a master chef from grilled cheese, a cookbook, and noodling around, but they'll learn how to feed themselves. The only thing they'll learn from doing spatula exercises every night for three weeks is that cooking is silly.

[1] One of Murphy's Corollaries seems to be that there's always something wrong with the computer setup or the example code, especially in programming classes.

[azurelunatic]

Since it's my field of expertise, I would say a divination where the result is already known, preferably by someone who's not you (since the operator knowing the desired result will probably throw it off).

[azurelunatic]

I'll see if others have suggestions on Hello World things in things other than divination; I'll probably devote a good deal to structural analysis of spells too.

[sithjawa.livejournal.com]

1. Even though belief is key doesn't mean belief has to come first. i.e. when you're having a crisis because it's all too much is not the time to lapse on maintenance rituals.

2. Practicing *will* make you more sensitive. That's normal.

3. How to deal with the reluctance to talk shop that's common in dealing with such an esoteric subject (either your own or other people's).

4. Don't feel a pressure to adhere to all the specifics of one practice just because some of its details fit you. Example from my own experience: Just because you mostly fit into the mold of a chaos mage, and many chaos mages find kabbalism a useful tool, doesn't mean it's right for you.

5. Sometimes silence is also a part of your dialogue with the universe. i.e. taking a few months off can also be a part of your magical growth, even if it doesn't feel like it at the time.