Magic: Who thinks they can do it, and why otherwise intelligent people buy it.

[Reginald Ret]

To me it seems like putting nice curtains on prison bars.

Point.  But you get to have a cool name like "Morgan Wolfshadow" or "Moonwolf Silverthorn", so it all evens out.

How about Wargwulf Wolfsson of Wolvenstein?

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Arent the ONA the ones who claim to use human sacrifice?

Yeah.  And commune with the "Elder Gods" a la Lovecraft.  And one of their previous leaders, "Anton Long" is allegedly David Myatt, second in command of the Neo-Nazi Combat 18, one-time bodyguards for the BNP's leadership.

Also, seriously, why do I know shit like this?  Why couldn't I just take up a normal hobby, like table-tennis or something?

Because you've been in Britain too long.  Sooner or later, you'll get yourself killed in some weird manner in some godforsaken wilderness.  It's what the English do best.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

2.

Then why call it "magic", if it's a psychological trick?

I mean, besides the whole getting laid with smelly pagans thing.

Because, for some, that's what makes it work.  For others it's a different term, like mind-hack.  It's whatever allows the temporary suspension of the present programming.  

Seems overcomplicated.

[Salty]

To me it seems like putting nice curtains on prison bars.

Point.  But you get to have a cool name like "Morgan Wolfshadow" or "Moonwolf Silverthorn", so it all evens out.

How about Wargwulf Wolfsson of Wolvenstein?

I wanna be Silverfish Von Wolfundbear

It's my magical name, you can't have it.  

[singer]

The things you do with it are a result of successfully influenced beliefs.  Did I leave anything out?

Yeah.  The part that explains what that means.

I thought you didn't want to talk about "that kind of magic" in this thread?  

Here's a couple of simple stupid examples of "the things you do with it are a result of successfully influenced beliefs".  
1) The sports star who cannot hit a home run unless he is wearing his "lucky socks".  
2) The Voudun victim who actually has a heart attack because some magical practitioner cursed him by shaking a juju bag in his direction.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

The things you do with it are a result of successfully influenced beliefs.  Did I leave anything out?

Yeah.  The part that explains what that means.

I thought you didn't want to talk about "that kind of magic" in this thread?  

Here's a couple of simple stupid examples of "the things you do with it are a result of successfully influenced beliefs".  
1) The sports star who cannot hit a home run unless he is wearing his "lucky socks".  
2) The Voudun victim who actually has a heart attack because some magical practitioner cursed him by shaking a juju bag in his direction.

Ah.  Superstition.

[singer]

With results.

[NotPublished]

Aye .. I Was having this discussion with a friend, she claimed her necklaces was cursed. So I told her 2 things immediately

1) If you believe it is cursed, then it is cursed.
2) You need to peform the "Banishing of Ulles Lesser Leer Syndrome of Human Invocation calling on Tetramong" ritual (Note how all the capitals spell Bullshit) [hehe got that idea from TCC, its an absolute gem]

She only thought I was mocking her at that point, but then I pointed out that you believe that a piece of Jewlerry which is cursed is having an influence on your life, atleast try do something which you find is symbolic in order to remove this. Whether it is leaving it under the moon, boiling it in tea water or accepting that it is just a piece of Jewlerry and it has no effect on you what-so-ever .. again she thought I was mocking her.

I forget how it ended, but it was with alcohol.


.. That was a useless tidbit of information

[Shai Hulud]

I've been reading some of the Order of the Nine Angels blogs recently, and that Satanism one rings so true.

They even refer to people who aren't in the ONA as "mundanes".  Srsly.

Never heard of these ONA folks before, but this reminds me of how nudists refer to non-nudists as "textiles."

[singer]

Well... calling the mind-hack superstition will work well if you want to remove a "curse".  But calling it a superstition won't work at all if you want your star hitter to actually nail that home-run.

And anyway, this is a bit of a thread-jack.  TGRR wants this to be a thread mocking people who believe they can light a candle by thinking really hard at it... and I'm all about mocking the Pentagon.

[Freeky]

i think #1 is a bit too closed off. You can have FSPM, after all.

[Epimetheus]

Then why call it "magic", if it's a psychological trick?

Why not?

[Freeky]

What would you call the otherwise decent people who still believe in magic, and think theyre the reincarnation of morganna and merlin, or think they have a second personality that is tied to their ability to use magic? And by decent people, I mean they ahve jobs, and boyfriends/girlfriends, and even children? Do they fall under #4, or what?

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Then why call it "magic", if it's a psychological trick?

Why not?

Because it's not accurate.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

What would you call the otherwise decent people who still believe in magic, and think theyre the reincarnation of morganna and merlin, or think they have a second personality that is tied to their ability to use magic? And by decent people, I mean they ahve jobs, and boyfriends/girlfriends, and even children? Do they fall under #4, or what?

Yes.