the fundamental flaw

[Horab Fibslager]

"Wherever sympathetic magic occurs in its pure unadulterated form, it is assumed that in nature one event follows another necessarily and invariably without the intervention of any spiritual or personal agency.
       Thus its fundamental conception is identical with that of modern science; underlying the whole system is a faith, implicit but real and firm, in the order and uniformity of nature.  The magician does not doubt that the same causes will always produce the same effects, that the performance of the proper ceremony accompanied by the appropriate spell, will inevitably be attended by the desired results, unless, indeed, his incantations should chance to be thwarted and foiled by the more potent charms of another sorcerer.  He supplicates no higher power: he sues the favour of no fickle and wayward being: he abases himself before no awful deity.  Yet his power, great as he believes it to be, is by no means arbitrary and unlimited.  He can wield it only so long as he strictly conforms to the rules of his art, or to what may be called the laws of nature as conceived by {IX} him.  To neglect these rules, to break these laws in the smallest particular is to incur failure, and may even expose the unskilful practitioner himself to the utmost peril.  If he claims a sovereignty over nature, it is a constitutional sovereignty rigorously limited in its scope and exercised in exact conformity with ancient usage.  Thus the analogy between the magical and the scientific conceptions of the world is close.  In both of them the succession of events is perfectly regular and certain, being determined by immutable laws, the operation of which can be foreseen and calculated precisely; the elements of caprice, of chance, and of accident are banished from the course of nature.  Both of them open up a seemingly boundless vista of possibilities to him who knows the causes of things and can touch the secret springs that set in motion the vast and intricate mechanism of the world.  Hence the strong attraction which magic and science alike have exercised on the human mind; hence the powerful stimulus that both have given to the pursuit of knowledge.  They lure the weary enquirer, the footsore seeker, on through the wilderness of disappointment in the present by their endless promises of the future: they take him up to he top of an exceeding high mountain and shew him, beyond the dark clouds and rolling mists at his feet, a vision of the celestial city, far off, it may be, but radiant with unearthly splendour, bathed in the light of dreams."

     Dr. J. G. FRAZER, "The Golden Bough"."



this liek all other 'magic' forgets than reality is dynamically fluid. similar circumstances are miles apart from each other.


magic is dead. there is no houdini anywhere.

[Horab Fibslager]

there was more to it than that, but i keep forgetting. that btw is from magick in practice and theory, by mr crowley. if you'd liek a copy let me know. my ftp seems to be offline atm... :/