Fortune Telling: The Principle of Card Reading [2/3]

Okay, so, we clarified that there are some issues with fortune-telling, still, it would be nice to do it nonetheless. You can still avert one or the other disaster or maybe it's nice to know it to tell the difference between fake and real much better or to understand how it works out of curiosity. Whatever the reason may be, let's get into it.

Requirements

To be able to do card reading you need to do some preparation. You need to take care of two things. First of all, you need cards. Card reading isn't card reading without cards, duh. :P Second of all you need a system on where to place the cards. Let's go into the cards first.

Famous Cards

The most famous cards used for card reading are tarot cards. This deck features 22 cards. Each of these cards features a completely different theme. The themes are^[1][2]:

I.	The Magician		XII.	The Hanged Man
II.	The High Priestress		XIII.	Death
III.	The Empress		XIV.	Temperance
IV.	The Emperor		XV.	The Devil
V.	The Hierophant		XVI.	The Tower
VI.	The Lovers		XVII.	The Star
VII.	The Chariot		XVIII.	The Moon
VIII.	Strength		XIX.	The Sun
IX.	The Hermit		XX.	Judgement
X.	Wheel of Fortune		XXI.	The World
XI.	Justice

Each card has its own meaning that is taken from what is represented in the picture. To be able to do card reading you need to familiarize yourself with the meanings of each card. Keep in mind that - as always - your own interpretation also plays a certain role in their meaning. It is very important to realize that you don't need to know the cards in and out but you do need your unconsciousness to know them.

The System^[3]

The system in card reading is the way you place the cards. Here each position where a card will be placed has a meaning. Multiple ways can be found all over the internet. The Celtic cross, for example, has a layout where you lay the cards like this:

The positions share the following themes:

1.	Present		Perception, state of mind of the current happening and the happening
2.	Challenge		An immediate challenge, issue or problem that makes life harder
3.	Past		What lead to the present and maybe the challenge as well
4.	Future		What will happen in the next weeks or months; the next step on the journey
5.	Above		The goal, aspiration or the best outcome of the current situation
6.	Below		Underlying feelings, motivation, drive associated with the situation
7.	Advice		Takes everything into  consideration and gives advice for the challenge
8.	External influences		Represents people, energies or events that have influence on the challenge (things where there's no control over)
9.	Hopes and/or  fears		What is hoped for and/or what is feared
10.	Outcome		Represents the current direction the challenge or situation is taking

The Reading

Now that you are familiar with one way for the system and one deck of cards you could potentially do card reading already. To do this you mix the cards randomly - actually you can make the person whose future or fortune you want to read mix them, especially if they know the meaning of the cards and positions unconsciously. Then you draw a card and place it in the first position. You could stop here to interpret it as is, I think it's better to keep on going as not to mix up your conscious and unconsciousness during the reading. So, place the cards in order until you're done without thinking too much about it. Once you're done the meaning of the cards should be taken into the context given by the position as well as within the context of the relationship between each other. (What does the present show? Does the challenge match the present?). Then the result of that can be presented in the context given by the person to further clarify possibilities and details.

Breaking the Tradition

Maybe you noticed it by the way I wrote this post. You are not required to pick existing cards or an existing system. You can actually make your own. The only important part here is that you need to familiarize yourself enough with the meanings of the cards and positions. It helps to assign certain directions to certain meanings. Like for example having a card placed higher could mean older age, in the future, later in life or maybe a superior thought, idea or body part. You can see in the Celtic cross tarot spread that the challenge is placed on top of the present. These types of symbolism play a huge role in the system you use to place your cards.

To prove this to you I'm gonna give you an example and tell a story in the next and last fortune-telling post of this on-going post-series.

^[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarot
^[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Arcana
^[3] https://www.biddytarot.com/how-to-read-the-celtic-cross-tarot-spread/

Jinx - The Curse

"Don't Jinx it, don't jinx it, don't jinx it, don't jinx it.
Now you Jinxed it... "

Jinx Origin

The word Jinx also written as Jynx which supposedly stands for a spell or charm and was used to address the wryneck which is a bird that is used in divination and Magick.^[1] As a spell or charm and due to its popular use with a negative connotation it could be compared more to a curse instead.

This is also the Jinx I want to talk about. No, not the children's game, sorry.

The Idea Behind It

The basic concept behind it can be explained best on an example. Let's say we have a sports game. (I could use a player vs player match as an example but I won't xD) Before the game starts one person says that they're gonna win (or that they're gonna lose) and another person could add "Now you jinxed it" to it meaning that now they really will lose.

Thinking It Through

First, let's break it down. We have something where multiple outcomes can occur but it's not yet determined which one it will be. We have someone mention one of the outcomes and then a certain outcome to occur that is either the one mentioned or another one. Additionally in most cases when we talk about jinxing we assume a negative result.

Now I know the idea of taking Quantum Physics into consideration here is either overkill or doesn't make much sense as there is no visible relation, however, I think it is important to take this into consideration as we have no idea what really is happening and so this might be one explanation that could potentially be possible if not disproven.

So.. if we take Quantum Physics into consideration and assume that the match's outcome is in a superstate between - let's say - "Won", "Lost", "Given Up", "Stopped". Throughout the game, the end result becomes more clear. If we now take into consideration how magick is used or work we expect the result to be influenced by each participant's expectation and beliefs. These expectations and beliefs then again are influenced by telling that the match will be won (or lost).

This does not only influence the way the people perform but also modifies the reality according to our bubble system (I need some more serious name for that).^[2] So for each person that hears this the match's outcome should change accordingly.

Accordingly?

If we assume that if someone says that their team wins. Then their team should be more likely to win right? Well, it's not so simple. Saying and believing that they will win may only be on a conscious level. If we assume that someone unconsciously thinks that this cannot be the case it will result in the opposite. Additionally, if you hear something this might actually bring up memories or thoughts which go through the alternative options even if unconsciously. These may end up playing a role as well.

If you sum all this up you end up with the possibility that regardless of whether you claim to win or lose a match both cases will end up jinxing the outcome or increasing the chance to lose the match.

Generalized this means if you state that an unknown outcome is going to occur it may result in the opposite or different (most often negative) outcome.

Resources

^[1] https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=jinx
^[2] https://www.greenyneko.com/2018/09/toaru-kagaku-no-railgun-personal.html

Toaru Kagaku no Railgun: Personal Reality and Bubble World Concept

I wanted to make another post about magick since it's been a while at the same time I kinda felt like watching an anime. So I got a suggestion to watch Toaru Kagaku no Railgun and yes I'm enjoying it. Something that they kept repeating was this stuff about personal reality and probability and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. おもしろい (Interesting).

Story

I can't talk about an anime or movie or other content without talking about the plot. :P Toaru Kagaku no Railgun plays in a scientifically-driven city called 'Academy City' in which pupils or people, in general, are taught to be espers. The main plot focuses on a student called Misaka Mikoto who is considered a level 5 esper and she can control electricity.

That should give you an idea on the scope of the anime without revealing anything that's happening.

Personal Reality

In some of the teachings, the anime keeps repeating the idea of finding your personal reality or your own reality. This goes well with a principle in magick that I and a few people in my contact circle often like to call bubble worlds. The basic idea is everyone lives in their own world or in their own bubble. Everything they believe in is real in this bubble. If two people get near each other those bubbles merge to a certain degree. If both bubbles are the same (same beliefs) nothing changes. However, if those bubbles differ the intersected area can be considered to be in a superstate as first. Which means it is at first not clear what it's gonna be like. What it will actually be like is later determined by the probability of which of both bubbles matches better.

Magick User vs Magick User

Even if both magick users or espers believe in magick to work differently it will still exist in both worlds depending on how open-minded they are both systems may work or both systems will work to a lesser effect.

Magick User vs Skeptiker

Assuming the magick user knows about the real world and sees it as one of many realities there's a higher chance for the normal world or real world as we know it to be the one the superstate will result in.

Skeptiker vs Skeptiker

The probability of magick to exist is nearly zero. The result of the superstate will be the normal world as we - and probably them too - know it.

In Context with the Anime

So, if we take this back to the context of the anime the idea is for your esper ability to improve you need to find your own reality, the reality in which your ability exists to a high degree. Unfortunately, this is not so simple as it sounds and it may be even more difficult in real life. The issue is that there are more than just millions of people on the world and each of their bubbles almost completely intersects with another. There's hardly any space that does not intersect. Hence why magick users create their own room or area to perform magick. At the same time, this is also the reason why magick users form groups to perform rituals as multiple bubbles with the same beliefs overlap resulting in a higher success on magick. Additionally with an increase of people believing in magick or simply being open-minded or not denying it would increase the probability of successful rituals as well. Hence why academy city houses mostly espers and almost only people who believe in it.

Outro

Lastly, it's really interesting to see another form of artwork to base itself on a concept that is used in modern magick. It makes one think if the author was inspired by those beliefs had the same thought process of maybe it's something we all unconsciously know and believe in? Whatever it is it's our best bet to explain magick scientifically. Whether or not this explanation is correct is something we will figure out as we continue to understand quantum physics and as we dive deeper into the lowest levels of physics. Funnily enough, people already believe in the placebo and have proven which amazing feats it can do and they keep on studying it. "Glaube versetzt Berge" (Faith can move mountains) is a German saying that matches this too well.

Thought Experiement: In Balance With All

Through my journey through learning about magick in an unbiased way, I came across this weird concept. This concept of being in balance with all and even weirder being all.

What is a Thought Experiment?

You might have heard of common thought experiments like Schrödingers Cat or the Trolly Problem. Thought experiments allow us to think about psychological or philosophical problems, questions or concepts. They also allow us to follow an idea, concept or thesis. In the case of both examples, I named actually performing the experiments would be animal cruelty or would mean humans are being sacrificed. Of course, you could argue that this is for the greater good but I think we all agree that this just can't be done. In both examples either humans or a cat is killed directly or indirectly. Thought experiments allow us to think these experiments through and sorta simulate them with the way we know the world works. As such these are very useful to think through unusual, absurd, impossible or inhuman experiments and their outcomes without hurting anyone.

The Idea

The idea behind this thought experiment is to follow this idea of being all and in balance with all. It's a concept I talked about people that assumes that we repeat our life over and over intending to be one with everything. I have no idea how this affects different people or what kind of feelings come up going through this.

Please read the disclaimer before participating. For all I know this may help people who have depression, it could make it worse, it could open people's eyes or change their way of thinking or maybe it doesn't have any effect. Our mind is something very special and very strong as the placebo effect has shown us over and over. So participate if you want but be aware...

*** DISCLAIMER: Actually performing this thought experiment is done by your free will as such I do not take any responsibility on how this affects the reader or the performer.

Preparation

It's not as easy when reading instead of listening as you can't close your eyes and let it affect you. Something you can do however and something I'd advise you to do is take the following statements for granted. You don't need to believe them after the thought experiment, you don't need to fully believe them but give them a benefit of a doubt. If you disclaim any of the following statements you might ruin the thought experiment and the idea behind it. I also don't mind reading through it first, do as you wish. Another good idea is to write your experience down afterward somewhere and try to share it with me via my E-mail, twitter or any other way. As the experience of other people plays a big role in research and in thought experiments.

Thought Experiment

We'll start easy with something I hope many people can relate with. First, let's think about any bad thing you've ever done. Anything that can be considered bad or evil can be mentioned here and from any time in your life. Stealing something, hitting someone, cursing, destroying something, being mean, trolling, even the thought of raping, killing or in some other way wishing someone hell.

You are a bad person, you are evil.

Now think about all the good things you have done in your life, helping people, supporting someone, doing anything another person liked, making someone smile or making someone's life easier, again anything goes.

You are a good person, you are good.

Yet you are evil. You are good and evil at the same time.

Let's think about what you've learned through your world. All the information you soaked up like a sponge, school, work-life, everything you can do, all the skills you have, all the languages you speak. You are intelligent, you are wisdom.

Look at the animals they can't speak their people who are not as intelligent as you. Yet, you make mistakes, you do stupid things. Some people are more intelligent than you. There's so much you don't know so much you should know. So much you can't know.

You are stupid, you are stupidity.

Yet you are intelligent. You are wisdom and stupidity at the same time.

You do sport, don't you? You move around every day, even if it's a bit, you move more than nothing. You do more sport than other creatures, there's always some creature that does less, that is lazier.

You are an active person, you are a sport.

Do you run a mile every day? Do you do 50 push-ups every day? Do you go by bike for hours on hours? You never move as much as the next person, there are people more active than you and even if you were the most active person ever you could still be less lazy and move more.

You are lazy, you are inactivity.

Yet you are sporty. You are active and inactive at the same time.

You can feel your body, you can touch your arms and legs and you can feel it. This is your body, this is you. From head to feet this is you, this is what you are.

You are your body, this is you.

Where do your thoughts come from, is this really your body? Or are you imprisoned in the head of this body? Track your thoughts back and where they come from, are you sure this is your body? Is this really you? This isn't you, this isn't your body, you're something else.

You are something else, you are different.

Yet this is you. You are this body and you're not at the same time.

Do you remember how old you are? Of course, you do, no one forgets their age. You celebrate your day of birth every year, you're reminded of how old you are every time. This is your age, this is the number of years you have spent in this world, this is your time. You've been on this old for so long already, so much time has passed already. Thus...

You are old, you are an older generation.

You can feel it, you are still young, sometimes you don't feel how old you are, you might call it your inner child and avoid calling what is part of you, you. There's still so much you can do and no reason not to do it. Because...

You are young, you are the inner child you feel.

Yet you are old. You are old and young at the same time.

You are living in this life, maybe you're enjoying yourself and every second, maybe you're trying to achieve something unique no one else has or you try to compete with someone, whatever the reason or goal you have is you are alive, still alive.

You are alive, you are life.

Every day, every second a part of you dies, you slowly rot away. Your regeneration worsens day for day, year for a year until it can't keep up anymore.

You are dead, you are death.

Yet you are alive. You are dead and alive at the same time.

Whether or not you believe in life after death or death afterlife. Whether or not you believe in god or not. You are just a human, after all, a fragile, finite creature that in some way could be considered an animal, you are not as wise, you are not as omnipotent, you can't compare with a god-like figure.

You are normal, you are a mortal being.

Yet God has created you like a copy of him, you have the power to change things, you can learn your whole life your whole time, you can even be reborn according to believes. God isn't only in your heart.

You are god, you are immortal.

Yet you are normal, you are a mortal being.

You are construction. Yet you bring destruction.

You enjoy violence. Yet you want peace.

You love things. Yet you hate things. 

You are a demon. Yet you are an angel.

You are awake. Yet you are asleep.

You don't believe what you can't see. Yet you are a believer.

You are everything. Yet you are nothing.

You can't do anything. Yet you can do everything.

Is My Hero Academia's Full Cowl Possible? (Part 1)

A few months ago I made an episode on Midoriya's training in Boku No Hero Akademia or My Hero Academia, where I explained from a wizard's point of view that it could technically be a real thing. I'm interested in whether or not it's possible or plausible in real life, or if it's a myth to be busted.

Energy Control

I've also talked about being able to control what seems to be energy in my body, I can focus it or move it around, which basically seems to work very similar to the way All for One most likely works on Quirkless people. If we look at the ability of Full Cowl, we can see it primarily enhance the strength of the user, which in return allows Midoriya to increase his speed as well. This makes sense if you're applying more force to the ground or an object you jump off of the opposite force is applied to you allowing you to gain greater speed or higher jumps, Newton's third law.

Assumption

If we assume "Full Cowl" to work the way we described it just now, it can be assumed that a person who is assumed to be able to control his bodies energy, Chi, Qi or any other phenomena similar in nature to enhance their bodily functions to increase the force applied to adjacent objects. As an example given a person who uses this phenomenon can increase their running speed.

The Experiment

I'm using that example for a good reason. If these hypotheses are indeed correct, I should be able to apply my practice from the past months to manipulate my running times. Unfortunately, there are a lot of factors that play in, especially since I'm anything but an athlete and at the same time I don't have that much spare time to spend. I still want to do this so I came up with a plan.

I want to measure the time it took on a certain distance while running and alone. Getting a distance is rather easy since all you need is a start and an endpoint. The sport place at my old primary school will do good since it's open space to my knowledge. For the time measurement, I will need a stopwatch that fits into my hand. It needs to be handy, as I'm going to stop the time myself and something like a smartphone won't do the trick. Since there's a time constraint I can't just run 24 hours, additionally there's the weak endurance I have. Another factor is the "getting warm" phenomena.

All these factors need to be added to it, so I came up with the following. I'm going to do some jogging first. Then I'll give myself just a measly five minutes of rest. After this, I'm going to do the first timed run. This will be a normal run to get the time without and modifications. This too will be followed by a break, but this time 15 minutes. This will be followed by another run now focusing the energy on my legs and feet. Assuming the way I described it earlier works this should yield a faster time. This too is followed by a 15 minutes break. After which I'm going to do a run using the "Full Cowl" technique. Then taking another rest of 15 minutes before I'm doing a last normal run as a control run to make up for the improvements since the first run.

Thoughts

While this schedule only gives me two normal control runs and each one enhanced and a "Full Cowl" run it is still a tight schedule. If the times of the "Full Cowl" and applying energy to my feet and legs should fall into the control run times, the experiment is over. However, if there's a slight but significant difference, the experiment should be reattempted on another date. The schedule I created here takes 5 + 15 + 15 + 15 = 50 minutes. It's neither too long nor too short. The result of these experiments may be a prove for there being more than we think, or I just might be one of the first people to evolve Quirk.

I have no plans on when to do this experiment yet and it heavily depends on a lot of factors in my real life. Well, at least I have this planned out now, hooray!

Boku No Hero Akademia: Midoriya's Gran Torino Training

The past weeks I've been watching Boku No Hero Academia (a.k.a. My Hero Academia) to catch up. Yes, I binge-watched two seasons and I'm now up-to-date. And a certain aspect in that anime inspired me.

Also spoilers for season 1 and 2. You've been warned.

The backstory of Boku No Hero Academia

Boku No Hero Academia plays in a world where the human bodies have developed to a much more streamlined version and at the same time developing uncanny abilities known as quirks. By the time the story plays 80% of the population have quirks. These quirks go from producing nitroglycerin sweat that can be made explode to being able to do whatever a frog does to producing fire and ice as well as superpower or invisibility and many more. 

How One-For-All Works

Well, I warned about spoilers already so let's start with the story of this quirk. One of the first quirks that came to be was All-For-One. This quirk allowed the owner to take and pass quirks. The person who had this quirk had a brother who had no apparent quirk. So his brother gave him a quirk that allowed him to stockpile power. Surprisingly his brother did have a quirk that is useless on its own. The ability to pass on his quirks. This ability combined with the stockpile ability and created a new quirk, One-For-All. From here on out One-For-All has been passed down stockpiling the abilities from one person to another person. In the anime, the quirk is given from the number one hero All Might to the main character Midoriya or Deku.

So that's the history of it, All Might also mentioned that One-For-All is an augmentation-type quirk. So let's look at how it operates for Deku and Allmight.

Many of the reporters, news as well as other people think of All Might and Deku having some kind of super strength or super speed, in the case of All Might even invincibility. Understandably so as they both increase their speed and strength when using One-For-All. Looking at Deku specifically it's important to analyze the animation. When Deku uses One-For-All focusing all on one body part, the body part starts to glow pink to red and there are veins shown lighting up. Another interesting fact is that All Might starts smoking whenever he's swapping to his buff version or vice versa. Some more information that we get is the idea of focusing the power on a body part. The word focus plays a huge role here. In the anime, it's even said that the energy is focused. If something contains a lot of energy it's particles increase in speed. Faster particles result in more collision, more collision then again results in friction, which produces heat. If something reaches even higher energy it may even emit photons of light. This is what makes the body parts look glowing red, especially since compared to All Might Deku is not able to contain the immense amount of energy in his body. Heat reacting with the air also results in the air heating and the body cooling which can result in vapor or even smoke depending on the water contained nearby, explaining Allmights smoke. Even the training with Gran Torino shows Deku having green lightning appear occasionally around his body as well as his body emitting some kind of light. All these elements show One-For-All being pure energy that is added upon the human's energy thus augmenting any ability even quirks if quirks are available. So what happens when One-For-All is passed on to the next person? It will contain Midoriya's energy as well.

One-For-All in Real Life

Quirks don't exist in real life, not as they do in the anime, however, something can definitely be taken from this anime and I can tell this from experience. Whether or not you believe me is your thing. When I was a child I thought that lying down and focusing on a part of my body or a state could heal it up faster. Surprisingly it at least felt like it would really work. Funny thing is this came naturally for me. I've kept this ability through my teens using it to amplify attacks when playing with wooden stacks (I'm sorry for breaking your self-made wooden sword with a normal stick, Robert) and I'm still able to focus energy on certain body parts as a young adult. So while it's not a stockpiling ability and I don't think, making anyone eat my DNA will give them my power, with enough practice it should work to reproduce at least... let's say 0.01% of One-For-All or something. Hey, One-For-All in the anime is way too strong, even 5% is already way stronger than anything considered above average. Unfortunately, I did not go through the training regime Deku went to. I'd consider myself more like a mob from Mob Psycho 100 than an All Might.

Gran Torino's Training

So one of the realizations Deku made in his internship at Gran Torino is not calling upon One-For-All but making it a part of himself. The idea behind this is to just have the power active at all the time having it part of his whole body instead of just one part. So the goal of this exercise is to focus not on one body part but to focus on the whole body. This gave the idea for me to try it myself. I already could focus energy on one body part so all I had to do is apply the same procedure to multiple body parts.

Applying the Theory

The first try was a total success at first, except that I lost focus after moving just a little like the way it felt changed. Next, I repeated the procedure and this is what I noticed. As it's shown in the anime Deku must be a natural. The concept behind it is simple and it's easy to get it to work when standing or sitting still (when not moving basically). However, in real life moving with this is not as easy and here's why.

Damn You Physics...

If you paid attention during physics you may know that if you want to jump for example you have to apply a force to the ground to gain an opposite force that accelerates you, right? Now if you're focusing energy on your whole body and you try to move or jump you will most likely lose the balance of energy as you automatically start to apply energy and/or the focus to the affected or required body parts to apply the force required to do the movement. Now I'm just human I don't have One-For-All it's not a big issue for me, but if Deku would focus on his whole body to split the 5% of One-For-All and he moves or jumps and applies the energy he may easily focus much more heavily on the body parts required to produce the opposing force for acceleration. The result of this would be applying a higher amount than 5% in the worst case it will result in him damaging himself.

So that's why I said he's a natural.

What's the Result?

In the anime, Deku increases his strength and speed using 5% of All-For-Ones capability. Implementing the same principle in real life seems to increase precision in movement. You can reduce unnecessary movement, the senses related to touch seem to be sharper and it seems to improve the strength and force applied to the surrounding area also affecting movement speed. It comes with a drawback though. If not trained it actually may hurt.

I know I can only say that it seems to do these things I haven't been able to use it long enough to notice definite effects and I haven't trained it enough to know the results of that.

Regardless this is gonna stay on my list longer. 

My Experience With Imbuing

A huge part of the magical path is to imbue yourself. It is important to learn to know or experience all kinds of energies.

Why Care About Imbuing?

If you plan to be a wizard, witch, shaman or anything similar it is very important to have experienced or even imbued yourself with all kinds of energies. The reason for this is quite simple. Magic is working with energies. So if you have experienced different types of energies you can distinguish them from each other, feel their qualities and use them in the most efficient way possible.

How To Imbue Yourself?

You might have heard before that if you think about fire you might feel warmer. Doing so allows you to feel the warm energy this thought produces but that's not the only way. There are many ways. For example, you could try to be the fire. Imagine you are the fire or you being one with the fire. Another way would be to experience the fire by touching it - though I'd discourage this. Maybe I should've chosen a different example.

Our body has tons of sense build in, from touch to temperature to time to pain. Just like scientists we don't have a sense of magical energies. So what we're trying to achieve is to use the senses that are given to detect the energies and categorize their type.

My Experience With Imbuement

I've made multiple experiences but these are the most elemental. For the first one, I did a simple experiment. I love to take a bath every Sunday. I do this one to two hours long removing any stress and preparing for the next week. What I tried this time is, as the water-filled bathtub I imagined myself being water, just like the water that filled the tub. At some point, I actually did feel like I was part of the water like I was water. I was able to achieve a deep meditative state in which I was convinced that I could breathe underwater. I didn't try it and I regret the decision.

I've experienced the other one when I worked in north Germany for a few days. Since I shower every Wednesday I showered there too. To my surprise, the water had a smell of clay to it and also felt a little bit different. 

Currently, I'm in France, Nantes. I plan to do the same experiment on Wednesday again and I'm excited about the results.

Conclusion

It's often said that knowledge is power. This does not only mean pure knowledge but also the experience we've gathered through our lives. Technically you can fill 20 years of your life learning something new in magic every day. The amount of content to learn is incredibly high. It's the same with the energies available to work with. However the more you know, the more you can use and with enough practice and experience, you know when using which results in the best effectiveness reaching the goals. So get going and imbue yourself and experience as many energies as possible! It will help in the future.

What's Behind the ABRACADABRA?

You may know this magical word people use when doing a magic trick in show business.

ABRACADABRA

It's not actually something someone made up it actually does have to do something with magic and it actually explains a concept or a type of magic. You might wonder which one but we're getting to that in due time. Most often you will find it in a fashion similar to this:

ABRACADABRA

  ABRACADABR

   ABRACADAB

     ABRACADA

      ABRACAD

       ABRACA

        ABRAC

         ABRA

          ABR

           AB

            A

Analyzing this construct we notice 3 things. First of all, each line loses one letter of the word. Each line is then moved to the right by a little. And last, this produces a triangle form. The upside-down triangle is a symbol of the female principle, the actual meaning of the word abracadabra is unknown.

And that's all the information we can get out of it so far.

The Concept of ABRACADABRA

The concept of this magical construct, if we may it call such is quite simple. You can see that with each new line one letter is gone. The idea behind this is to weaken the construct with each new line. For example, you could say you're scared of an exam in mathematics. Now you could technically do the same as with the ABRACADABRA:

MATHEMATICS

 MATHEMATIC

  MATHEMATI

   MATHEMAT

    MATHEMA

     MATHEM

      MATHE

       MATH

        MAT

         MA

           A

If you write each line with the intent to weaken the power of math if used correctly in a ritual it should take any fear or worry from you. Aside from that saying math instead of mathematics also makes it sound more casual after all, doesn't it? Though keep in mind since English is a common language and I assume people who visit my blog as of now speak English it wouldn't be the right choice to use the English word. It would be better to use a less commonly spoken language like Latin, Greek or Hebrew or any other for that matter but you get the idea.

Historical Usage

Appearances of the ABRACADABRA have it often connected with usage in medical environments. This is understandable. The idea of it is to weaken something. If you use it to weaken an illness or a medical issue such as the severity of an injury it's easier for the body to fix itself and regenerate. Something weak is easier to beat.

Conclusion

So technically whenever we want to weaken something or make something big and or strong small and insignificant this concept can help us. Aside from that, it's just another example of how magic works and something one should know or have heard of.

So don't make a big deal out of it.

Oh god, that was bad... I'm already starting to bring bad jokes and puns like Matpat from Game Theory... 

Weekdays and Associated Gods

Why is Monday called Monday? Why is July called July and August called August? Most often these names come from ancient times or are inspired.

Just A Click Away

Something I really enjoy about google and especially about the internet is that you can easily find where words or names come from. For example, I can go on google search for "Monday" click the Wikipedia post and in the first paragraph I'm already told that Monday is derived from the Old English "Mōnandæg" and Middle English "Monenday". This was translated from the Latin "dies lunae" which means "day of the moon". You can go through every day of the week and you will find something interesting. 

TUESDAY This day is derived from the Old English "Tiwesdæg" and the Middle English "Tewesday". This literally means "Tiw's Day". Tiw is also known as Tiy which is a Norse god.

WEDNESDAY  Again derived from the Old English "Wōdnesdæg" and the Middle English "Wednesdei". This means "day of Woden". Odin is known as Woden in Old English.

THURSDAY This one is derived from the Old English "Þūnresdæg" and the Middle English "Thuresday", which means Thor's day.

FRIDAY Friday is derived from the Old English "Frīġedæġ" and it means "day of Frige" which associates the Old English goddess Frigg with the Roman goddess Venus.

SATURDAY Coming from Latin "Sāturni diēs" meaning "Saturn's Day" devoted to the goddess Saturn.

SUNDAY The last day of the week is named after the sun. Actually after the god of the sun. The god sol.

Notice Something?

Did you notice something? Every day has been devoted to a god. When working in ritualism or when doing magic we can use these associated gods to use their energies to increase the intensity and improve the chance of our magic projects.

Try It With Your Language

I did this with the German names before and I never did it with the English names. The result is fascinating. The respective gods the names were derived from actually depend on the language and its evolution. As you just read Wednesday came from a day of Odin however if you look at the Italian name for Wednesday, for example, it has been derived from the god Merkur instead.

Using This Information

To use this information we need to know, which god is associated with which day and what these gods are associated with. For example Sol the sun god is associated with vitality and drive and more. This means if you want to make some ritual that is supposed to prepare you for some upcoming event and need motivation you should most likely do this on Sunday.

Here are some gods and some brainstormed words that are associated with them.

SOL 

Vitality, inner being, inner drive

LUNA

Feelings, expressive fantasy, dreams, wishes, desires

MERKUR

Ability to learn, mind or wit, communication ability, understanding, making things understandable, spiritual swiftness

VENUS

Aesthetic sensibility, art, well being, enjoy, nice things, pure luck

MARS

Energy will drive, inner drive, fighting spirit, courage, ability to get through arguments, assertion ability

JUPITER

Luck, wealth, prosperity, growth

Let's check the other way around which days should be used for what. Again I'll give the day the associated god and some keywords, which rituals, projects or magic matches the respective day.

MONDAY
is associated with the goddess Luna.
Femininity, intuition, feeling, sensitivity, dreams, strength to give birth, receiving, spawning, dissolution, change, volatility, rhythm, cycling knowledge, emotional synthesis, feeling of structure;

TUESDAY
is associated with the god Mars.
Impetus (Dynamic), self-assertion, sexuality, zeal, fight, contest, aggression, courage, self-defense, fight for structure;

WEDNESDAY
is associated with the god Merkur.
Intellect, language, communication, the art of healing, cunning, finesse, thievery, business sense, noticing structures;

THURSDAY
is associated with the god Jupiter.
Overview, abundance, wealth, overflow, religion, generosity, consecration, ethic, extent, growth, increasing structures;

FRIDAY
is associated with the goddess Venus
Harmony, connection, love, erotic, beauty, art, romantic, flair, harmonizing structures;

SATURDAY
is associated with the god Saturn
Restriction, concentration, hardness, inauguration, concrete, grounding, durability, wisdom, attention to detail, illness, death, time, Chronos, enforcing structure;

SUNDAY

is associated with the god Sol

Vitality, ratio, conscious, centricity, potency, giving, creating, linear knowledge, intellectual analysis, giving structure;

More Than Just For Rituals

These don't have to be used for rituals only. Technically you can use this information to restructure your life accordingly. It probably won't hurt if you go with the flow so to speak. I haven't tried myself but in my conversation with my "teacher" I mentioned this idea and there was an agreement that this would definitely be possible and would probably improve life. Though it's questionable if the outcome is worth the structure and input. So whether or not you want to try it I'll leave it to you.

How to Actually Weaken A Demon

Heh, defeating a demon. What a weird topic.

What Is A Demon

Definition from the dictionary:

an evil spirit or devil, especially one thought to possess a person or act as a tormentor in hell.

So we're talking about an evil spiritual being. Now I don't know if you've met one of these most likely you did not. There is a reason science doesn't believe in spirits, ghosts or demons. For a long time, scientists tried to debunk all these occurrences for normal natural phenomena, like the heat exchange and the change of the size of materials resulting in certain sounds or for the brain playing trickery due to missing sleep or maybe even electromagnetic waves resulting in something. So technically demons don't exist.

If the Believe Counts

However if the approach this topic with the mindset I've established myself and encourage others to give a benefit of a doubt we can assume demons exist just because there are people out there who believe in them. Any movie, film, imagery or other media that presents the author's opinion or thought of what could be would be enough to increase the chance of one to actually exist. So let's assume they do exist for the sake of this post.

The Encounter

The encountering may be any at hand. You could meet one during your spiritual journey, find it at some forgotten long uninhabited home or workplace or even at an old spiritual place. So exploring places humans don't belong may or may not result in this. However, chances are extremely slim you'll pick one up even if it's shown like that in movies. Movies may or may not depend on real happenings but I'd assume at least 70% of them are made up. Another way to encounter a demon is by summoning. This can be through evocation (manifesting outside) or invocation (manifesting inside or from the inside). Luckily there's nothing to worry about evocation or invocation of a malicious spirit. You can't summon something stronger than you if you do not use tools or aids. So if you think your rituals through there's nothing to worry about.

How Spiritual Power of a Demon Supposedly Works  

I already mentioned this in the Goosebumps post. An entity gains power the more thought and attention it is given. This will mostly count for demons too. The more attention and thought you give it the more powerful it becomes. This is not the only way demons gain power. It is commonly known that evil siphons fear so to speak. Whether it's the case due to people knowing or believing in this or if it really is doesn't matter. Fact is you should know that a demon may gain in strength if you feel fear or if you're scared.

Knowledge Is Power - The Greatest of Mankind

The saying "knowledge is power" plays a great role here. We now know that demons gain power through attention and especially through fear. This is what we can use against the demon. If we don't take the demon serious and maybe even laugh at it by heart it can easily be weakened and a weak demon can be banned.

"Laughing is the best way to ban"

The problem with this? If you have your first encounters with a demon and it goes crazy all-out throwing stuff around or attacking, are you able to laugh it off in all seriousness? Can you actually stay positive enough and believe in yourself to be stronger? These questions play a huge role in something I would call "The Believe Fallacy of Magic". The power of magic is unlimited they say. You can do anything you want with this power. If you're able to.

How to actually ban the demon is another story. One I don't know as of now, but I assume it depends on the culture and what's a way that you find appropriate.

Goosebumps - The Power of Believing

My family and I watched several movies over the Christmas holidays. We watched "Behind the Blue Door", "Mad Max" and "Mother Krampus". A few days later I remembered that I wanted to watch "Goosebumps", the movie Jack Black plays in since I enjoyed several of the movies he played in.

Goosebumps

If you know the books, that's what this movie is about. The idea behind it is that the creator, R. L. Stine of these books actually made up these creatures in his childhood and they're locked in the original manuscripts of the books. In the movie, the main character Zach unlocks one of the books because he's more or less friend Champ begs him to do so. When the girl, Hanah, Zach worried about suddenly appeared and asked what they're doing in the house he drops the book. In an attempt to pick it back up the monster locked in the book gets released. After all the books open their goal is to catch all monsters and lock them back in the books. If you think you read a spoiler, no worries this is all in the trailer or can be concluded from watching the trailer. So no spoilers yet.

Minor Spoiler Warning

So the thing I'm going to address next is explained in the movie but doesn't further the plot, instead, it explains the back story and how this situation or problem came to be. Still, in case you want to avoid potential story or lore spoilers, I'll warn you in advance now before people complain. :P So feel warned!

Still Interested?

Okay, good. So the topic I want to address is how these monsters came to be. In the movie, the author R. L. Stine explains that he made up these monsters in his childhood because he hated humanity so much. They were.. in a sense his imaginary friends at some point. Though they didn't stay that. At some point, they became real to him and later real for everyone. So to save humanity from this threat he locked all monsters up in the books he wrote - the original scripts. The interesting aspect of this is that they were just imaginary and now they're real.

Power of Believing

I've already mentioned that one way to see magic is a way to change the possibilities of reality. Let's say you imagine there to be a cube on your desk. You picture exactly how it looks like lying there on the chest and you continue to imagine it being there. You do this every day and at some point, you convince your unconsciousness that there's actually a cube on your desk. At some point, the chance of there actually being a cube should increase until it's high enough to be there. So that's the idea or concept from our scientific viewpoint out. It should work the same with anything else than a cube, though much more difficult. This matches perfectly with the explanation from the fictional character R. L. Stine.

Witch's and Wizard's Familiars

On a side note, this is also how witches and wizards create spiritual familiars. It differs in detail but the basic concept is the same. If you want to create a spiritual familiar the first thing you do is a small ritual that creates the entity. Usually, this is done by breathing on an object that should be bound by the entity three times. This is supposed to represent a part of your soul being infused into the object. Though you should make sure what the purpose of this being is supposed to be before, for example, an entity to protect your room. Once you've created the being the next part is quite simple. All you need to do now is sending attention to the being. Talk to it or with it. Greet it every time. In some cultures, people even place food items and drinks to connected objects. For example, in Thailand, people place food and drinks to the "ghost house" that is supposed to be either occupied by the previous family members or a spirit that is supposed to protect the family. The more energy, time and attention you spend in your familiar the more likely it is going to be for it to become more real. By the way, these creatures do not need to be bound to an object though it improves the success of the implementation.

Conclusion

Again a movie that does something right either coincidentally or on purpose. I really like to see this happen. Oh, by the way, I really enjoyed the movie, it's a great one that I can suggest for the whole family. Though I guess someone else's taste may be different than mine... hm. Anyways have a nice evening and maybe when you watch it with your family you do like it as well. :P

Losing My Religion

Losing My Religion is a great song by R.E.M... I really enjoy listening to this band, however, neither the band nor the song has much to do with today's post. The reason I used this title is, that it fit the cause or topic.

Born a Christian

I was born and raised like a Christian, luckily as a Lutheran Christian. I always heard bad things from catholic friends. Things like, they had to learn too much and that they have to go to the church every week and to go to confession. I didn't have to do any of those. It felt freer and I enjoyed it. My own faith? Hm. It changed according to how things were going in life. Sometimes I prayed to the god other times I didn't. Just like many others at a young age, I thought of god being some old man in heaven. Of course, it bums out after years that nothing ever happens and that God isn't doing anything. So if you think about god being some old man or some powerful entity that can change anything and is omnipotent you kinda start to doubt everything.

Apparently, There's This Thing Called Agnostic

A few years into the Realschule, one of the subsequent schools you have to go to - if you had to choose between the best and most exhausting education, the worst and most chill education and a middle path, this would've been the middle path. I met this one guy that came to our class. It was a weird fellow. He was like hardly even in school always missing and yet he kept getting the best grades. On raising questions about his state teachers told us that he had a psychic problem. Unusual but happens, I guess? Anyways on someday - I don't remember if it was the teacher, me or another student - he was asked what he believes in and explained that he's agnostic and what that means. I don't remember the details but it must've sounded perfect for me back in the day. So obviously I started to call myself agnostic as well. I really liked the idea behind it.

What Is Agnostic?

In case you don't know. People who call themselves agnostic stopped wondering about the question of whether or not God exists. The basic premise of this religion is that asking yourself if god exists and how to behave costs too much energy and time. So instead they're going for an approach to say god either exists or not, we can't prove it, we can't disprove it so just live with it. At least this is what I've taken from it and how I've lived for quite some time until... something happened. Years later, though.

A New Era of My Life Started

So after graduation and finding a job, working there, in the third year of my apprenticeship I met this shy being online in an MMORPG WildStar and I kinda got talking to her and figured out she likes magic. I've always liked magic since I was young. The reason behind this is partly because I had some experiences during my school where it felt like I could heal myself after being hurt or exhausted. Another reason was that I was fascinated with the idea of magic like shown in games and movies. Since all those elements of ritualism and magic from the medieval times still exist and people have been claiming magic exists for several years, you can't just write it off. At least that was my opinion. So anyways this kinda got me into magic again. I found this book called "Die Hohe Schule Der Magie" (engl.: "The High School of Magic") by Frater V. D. and started reading and working through it. A quarter way through my coincidence I found out that a person that played Guild Wars 2 has deep knowledge about magic and when we got into talking about this we kinda made a little contract. She teaches me magic at the same time I pay her in in-game items I receive. Of course, I agreed to that contract.

How Did This Affect My Religion?

Well, there's this thing called Kabbalah, which is a religious-philosophical system. This kabbalah interpreted the well-known sentence differently.

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

 They say the idea behind this is, that God created us as gods. So we can be omnipotent. We are a god. I liked this idea and it helped me grow spiritually so I changed my religion to "agnostic with tendencies to Kabbalaism". I don't know if that's a thing but now it was. However, things didn't end there. A few years later like two or three, I've learned enough about magic to create my own opinion of it and well. From what I learned from a very distant, scientific and skeptical point of view it seemed quite obvious to me. The question if god or any god in that matter exists can be explained by how many people believe in it. If magical creatures are created by sending them attention, this would mean that gods might also exist for the same reason.

So There You Have It

This is my current belief. I believe in everything to have the potential to exist under the circumstance that at least one person believes in it. The chance for something to exist changes accordingly to the number of people who do believe them to be real.

I don't know if anyone else has reached this opinion or view on religion or if I'm the first but I have no idea what this religion is or will be called and I'm not going to come up with some stupid name so I'll leave it to others. If you know this exists or if you even know what it's called feel free to share. I'd love to know.

Why Do Wizards Still Use Latin?

Ever heard about the rumor that wizards use Latin? Let's talk about that.

What Language Do Wizards Use?

The idea behind the choice of language heavily depends on the languages you know actually. For example, if you were born in Germany, you would choose a language like Latin instead of German or English. If you were born in Japan, you would use a language like German or Latin instead of Japanese and English. If you were born in America it heavily depends on the languages you learn there, though Latin may be one of these. As you may notice Latin is an option for every case here. Though hypothetically if you were born in the old Rom, you would most likely not use Latin for magic.

So what's the reason?

The Idea Behind the Choice of Language

The reason for these language choices is quite simple actually. If it's a language you use every day, you should not use it. If it's a language you occasionally use for something else, it's better but there are other options. What we want here is to choose a language that has no other purpose aside from magic. The easiest here is to choose a dead language since no one uses it anymore. The next thing is, instead of making up your own language - which would definitely work - you can just use one of those ancient languages and there's a reason why. If you connect Latin with magic, it brings a certain connotation with it, this is exactly what we want. This language you choose should only be used for magic and you should also connect it to magic only.

So Why Latin?

Latin is the most known language that is also taught on the highest education paths in our society. It is used in the church as well as in religion but also in old literature and chemistry. But Latin is not the only language that is not spoken but still used. Old Greek is used as well. For example in Psychology with words like Arachnophobia. So we have two languages that are not spoken but used in science and you can still learn them. A great choice. These aren't the only languages though. There are even more languages. Here's a list of a few that are still used for magic:

• Latin (erstwhile spoken by Romans)
• Old Greek (erstwhile spoken by Greek)
• Sanskrit (erstwhile spoken by Indian)
• Hebrew (erstwhile spoken by Israelis)

Which One Should I Choose?

Well as I'm a huge fan of the path free wizards and witches take I'm going to support anyone to go the same way. So check all these languages out and choose the one you like the most. Just make sure to use it only for the purpose you want to learn it for. If you use it for something else than magic it's not gonna have the strong effect it might have had before. I personally would probably go with Latin and Old Greek, as these sound the best in my opinion.

The Magical Meaning of Colors

Colors are a beautiful thing, aren't they? There are so many and you could make up so many color names. From fox orange to burned brown. Additionally, everyone has at least one favorite color.

Influence of Color

There's no doubt about us being affected by color. There are studies out there that confirm that players of a red team play more aggressive and players of a blue team play more calm and thoughtful.

We even associate feelings with colors.

From color theory, we learn that:

Red represents

fire, blood, energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination, passion, desire and love.

Orange represents

joy, sunshine, tropics, healthy food, fall, harvest, strength, and endurance.

Yellow represents

sunshine, joy, happiness, intellect, energy, cheerfulness, food, honor, loyalty and cowardice.

Green represents

nature, growth, harmony, freshness, fertility, safety, lack of experience, hope.

Blue represents

sky, sea, depth, stability, trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, heaven, tranquility, calmness, piety, sincerity and expertise.

Purple represents

royalty, power, nobility, luxury, ambition, wealth, extravagance, wisdom, dignity, independence, creativity, mystery and magic.

White represents

light, goodness, innocence, purity, virginity, perfection, safety, purity, cleanliness, successful beginning, faith, and purity.

Black represents

power, elegance, formality, death, evil, mystery and grief.

Though the color theory is not what this post is about, it's interesting to compare the color meanings according to color theory and according to magic.

Magical Meaning of Colors

This is most likely what you came for though I must say these are just a small bunch of meanings I got taught. So if you've learned something different from your sources they might be right just as well! I'm not saying neither are wrong. Anyways here we go:

Red is the most active of all colors.

It increases strength and power and helps against depression.

Orange is the color of vitality, it increases spiritual power, supports communication and cheerful serenity.

Generally, yellow is an active color that supports interest in learning, increases interest and understanding. It is useful for and improves thinking while attracting the positive and changes things to the better.

Green is also an active color that brings good luck in business. It represents the flow of movement and makes faltering energies move again. It improves spiritual growth, heals feelings and is the color of choice when working or interacting with children.

Generally, blue calms and removes anger. It decreases any kind of stress while supporting concentration and relaxation. It counts as a color that heals and protects.

Lavendel is a spiritual color. It decreases any kind of stress and improves calmness, spirituality, and internalization.

White counts as a neutral color.

Black deflects negative influences, can be used for banning and protects from influences from outside. It also purifies and protects from dark scheming.

Comparison

Alright. I have some more but let's compare these for now. It's actually quite different but the most different is probably the color black. In color theory, it is compared to something unknown or evil whilst in magic, it is supposed to protect oneself - from evil as well. No wonder witches and occultists like to wear black, everyone likes to be safe. 

Physics Digression

Also, physicists may notice that red is called the most active of all colors here.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/62/Electromagnetic_spectrum_-de_c.svg/2000px-Electromagnetic_spectrum_-de_c.svg.png

As you can see red is one of the colors of light with the lowest energy. So what happens here? Shouldn't magic and physic agree if they're connected like I mentioned in an earlier post that magic is a science? Of course, there must be a reason for this. I would assume that it's a leftover in the unconsciousness of us all. Everyone knows if something is shown as hot it's shown a red. If something is cold it's shown as blue. If something heats up the particles increase in speed and if something has speed it has energy. Following this through one would assume red would have more energy. Maybe it has to do with the warmth of the light since it matches the spike of heat flux near the red light? I guess this is one of the problems magic has that haven't been solved yet. The problem is that most often something in magic is taken for granted. In magic, almost everyone goes for the effect or end result instead of the way to get there which is understandable since in physics you too can tell a quantum computer to calculate 1 + 1 but if you actually look at how it calculated 1 + 1 you might get three as a solution. Alright, enough of physics digression.

Additional Magical Meaning of Colors

Let's go through the rest of the list I have noted down so this post is complete according to my current state.

So two variations of yellow are:

• Gold, which strengthens the spirit as well as every type of perception. It can be used for gold and money spells.

• Amber develops visionary abilities, improves communication with spirits and supports reaching a deep meditative state.

Using Guild Wars 2 For Rituals!?

Just the idea of using games content for rituals is absurd. As if it's not absurd enough yet to do rituals themselves. Either way, it follows the same concept as normal rituals.

What It Represents Matters

Whether you vibrate the names of gods and spirits or the gods and spirits of a game. Technically it comes the same. The important part is, that your unconsciousness knows what they stand for, what they represent. So to know this we need to read through the lore of said represents.

Dwayna

The goddess of healing, air, warmth, and life

Melandru

Is the goddess of nature, earth, and growth

Lyssa

Is the twin goddess Lyss and Ilya of beauty, water, and illusion

Grenth

Is the god of darkness, ice, and death

Kormir

Is the goddess of order, spirit, and truth

Balthazar

The god of war, fire, and courage

Abaddon

God of water and knowledge

As you can see, each of these represents something. It's the same with most polytheism.

How Would I Go About It?

Once you know what something represents the best thing to do first is meditate over these. Whether you meditate over the planet of the day, the symbol of the planet, the spirit, the element, the zodiac sign or even the Chinese zodiac sign. This way you can attune to it and feel what its energy feels like. One would assume that the energy of Melandru feels way different than the feeling of Grenth, just like the feeling of earth feels different than ice.

After doing this to your satisfaction you should be ready to go to build them into a ritual. A few things you notice hear is each god in  Guild Wars 2 has also at least one element added to them as well as other things they represent. So whenever you use elements, like in the Pentagram Ritual you can replace the angels you call with the gods of Guild Wars 2 for example or if you would use the heart Chakra to heal some wound you could use Dwayna's energy. Another way you could use them is whenever you call a Greek god, like Dionysus to make your plants grow, for example, you could use Melandru at this point just as well.

The Downside of This

Depending on your confidence this may or may not work. Like I've mentioned several times the more you believe in something and the more others believe in the same thing the more likely it is to exist. So if you don't believe in this to work, it probably won't work. Even the smallest doubt can be fatal. At the same time, one would think since it's some gods from a game, most likely hardly anyone will believe in them being real, so technically one would assume that it's inefficient to work with these. However, I'd say if you use these energies and you feel comfortable using them then it might work wonders for you.

Conclusion

After all the idea behind all this is something that many free mages and witches strive for:

"Find your own path, your own style."

References and More on the Topic

Here are some links to inform yourself about these gods and the religion of Guild Wars, if you're interested.

Six Human Gods

Dwayna

Melandru

Lyssa

Grenth

Kormir

Balthazar

Abaddon

Starting Into The New Year

A new year is approaching I've started writing this post at 2:00pm UTC. So only 10 hours until the new year. Get your timers ready!! HYPE!

Anyways...

During My Childhood

We always celebrated new years either at home or at a friend's family, sitting on the couch watching the television program eating all kinds of snacks, sweets until the typical final countdown of the year. Once the timer reaches zero - the obligatory new years welcoming celebratory shout followed by some smaller firecrackers. Afterward, it's going out watching fireworks explode and also starting our own. Well, at least the adults. We children got those beans that explode when thrown on the ground, not that it mattered much. Unfortunately, I always had an issue with loud noises - Sylvester, church organs, concerts - I either had to put something in my ears or close them with my hands. Even a vacuum cleaner is almost too loud. I walk away from them like a cat. So getting older...

Teenage Celebration 

I started to celebrate the new year like I would celebrate anything. Chatting with people I like online and playing video games. I basically celebrated by doing what I like. Nothing wrong with it, right? I would watch the fireworks from my windows, or the windows of the house, still enjoying the view, but avoiding the smoke, the smell of gunpowder and the loud noises. I didn't mind this I enjoyed it just as much as with anyone else, though I felt bad for not celebrating with my family.

Celebration Now

Now it's back to what it was before, except that I'm not participating in friends' families celebration. Now I usually stay at home and celebrate with whoever's there, drinking some festive cocktails and enjoying the fireworks from either inside or outside depending on whether or not someone is there who got some so to say, heh.

Celebration This Year

So this year, I'm gonna be home alone with my brother since my parents are celebrating with their friends in a nearby city. I don't know what is planned exactly but the way I know him it's probably going to be cocktails and gaming this year. Not that I mind! I enjoy this kind of way. Besides being home alone with only my brother allows me to do some new year's rituals.

New Years Rituals

A new year is an abrupt change. The old is left behind and the new will come and it only takes an extremely short amount of time to flip. The best part: due to these "timers" counting down the last 24 hours there's a kind of energy accumulating. With each second the year's end comes near. With each second the excitement increases. All this energy and emotions can be channeled into a ritual just nicely. So what could a typical new year's ritual be about? Simple. You know how people make themselves a set of things they want to improve or do differently in the next year?

Let Go of the Old - Embrace A New Chance

Just think about everything you didn't like, everything you hated, everything you want to change but relate these things to the current year. You can either do this the whole year or the last seconds or minutes. Once the clock switches to midnight wish it gone and think about the new year (positively) what it brings, the improvement, the change. Don't look back to the old year and what happened. Even better after you're done thinking about the new year forget about the future and live in the now. This will allow everything of the old year to be gone and the second part will allow the energies to weave the improved future, the improved year.

So this is at least the idea behind it. You could also write everything of the old year, or throughout 2018 on a paper and burn it exactly at midnight focusing on how it's gone and start a-new on a new paper with a new year and new goals.

Like with the Christmas rituals, all you have to do is convince your unconsciousness. If done right, it might be enough.

By the way, a small post like the Christmas one. I just want to use this to tell a bit about my life and share some ritual ideas with anyone interested in giving it a try or to get people an idea of how these celebrations can be used for rituals. I mean if the atmosphere is there and the energies are there too, why not use them?

Well, Happy New Year everyone! A year, where life - hopefully - is fully enjoyable for me too.

A new year full of new blog posts.

Misuse of Symbolism

I have something for you:

Image 1

First Impression

What's the first impression or the first thing you think about when seeing this? Think about it for a moment. Are there any other impressions you get from this?

I would assume most people would think of Nazism first. Of course, it's famous, the oh-so-famous swastika of the Nazi's. Unfortunately, the symbol was more or less stolen and changed to what it is now known for. Officially the symbol represented spiritual principles and looked more like this:

Image 2

But this is not the only symbol that has been mistreated by the national socialists. Check these out:

The SS Misuses a Rune:

Image 3

Image 4

Comparing the images these symbols don't seem similar at all.

Image 5

However, the rune Sowilo can also be written like in image 5 as well. Now, this looks almost exactly like the symbol the SS used. Sowilo is the rune of victory, of being successful. That might be the reason the SS used this rune.

Misunderstanding of the Pentagram

Image 6

The pentagram has been used for all kinds of rituals and magic, even alchemy. However, the pentagram has nothing to do with the devil as common belief lets us think. I often hear people associate it with Satanists and the devil which is technically not right nor wrong.

Satanists also use rituals that are deeply inspired by the older rituals that are used in ritualism and magic and yet both shouldn't be lumped together.

If you see a pentagram don't jump to conclusions to say someone is a satanist. I have a perfect example in this regard.

Image 7

Meet Aleister Crowley. Edward Alexander Crowley was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist and mountaineer who lived from 1875 to 1947. His most famous quote and book of the same name: "Do what thou wilt" tells people to align with their true will. However many people misinterpreted and took that quote out of context. The new interpretation was "Do what you want" which was allocated to satanism. He didn't seem to mind according to sources though. Anyways if you're interested in him, then check him out.

Misunderstanding of the Hexagram

On we go with the next symbol. Similar to the pentagram the hexagram is used for all kinds of magic rituals and ritualism. It symbolizes the union of the female principle and the male principle as well as 6 planets on each corner instead of the 5 elements of the pentagram. The hexagram is often assigned to witchcraft and/or satanism as well. Another symbol that falls victim to the misunderstanding of symbolism and just like the pentagram the symbol itself has no fixed assignment. It all depends on who uses it for what. So you could say it's neutral. It has been used as the symbol to unify two equal triangles, to symbolize the planets and the energy in or between them, to represent the six elements of nature, as the star of David or as seal of Solomon. As you can see the usage is vast, just like the pentagram.

Conclusion

So what's my goal here? Simple. I want people to stop misjudge symbolism and symbols. I want people to stop having prejudices when they see those symbols. I want people to give others using certain symbols a benefit of a doubt. Just because someone uses the pentagram for anything or a ritual doesn't necessarily mean they're a satanist. Just because someone uses the swastika or the Sowilo rune doesn't mean they're racist. At the same time, the ban of the swastika used in Hinduism just because it looks similar to the swastika of the national socialists is the same problem. Of course, there are tons of symbols to use, but if at some point every single symbol gets ruined due to a group of people, what are you supposed to work within the end? All I'm saying is have an open mind, stay skeptical if you want but don't judge too early without knowing the whole story.

Sources

Image 1: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/SWASTIKA_%CE%A6_%28%CF%83%CF%87%CE%AD%CE%B4%CE%B9%CE%BF%29.jpg

Image 2: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/HinduSwastika.svg/1003px-HinduSwastika.svg.png

Image 3: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c2/Flag_of_the_Schutzstaffel.svg/2000px-Flag_of_the_Schutzstaffel.svg.png

Image 4: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/

commons/thumb/f/f3/Rune_letters_sample.svg/1280px-Rune_letters_sample.svg.png

Image 5: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Sowilo.png
Image 6: https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2013/07/12/18/57/pagan-154085_960_720.png
Image 7: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Aleister_Crowley_as_Osiris.png

Christmas - A Ritual

Merry Christmas everyone.
Yesterday's post was quite a heavy topic, should've decided on something else I guess. Well, today's gonna be nicer. It's about Christmas!

Christmas Traditions

Cookies have been baked, soon the feast's preparation is finished. The family is happy, everyone's excited about the presents. The Christmas tree is standing in the parlor, decorated as it's supposed to be.

Playing board games, talking, hanging around with each other.

Christmas - A Ritual

a religious or solemn ceremony consisting of a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order.

~ Google Dictionary

Let's see. A religious ceremony?
In some cultures we got the Christkind who brings the gifts, in other cultures I've read Thor, Santa Claus or Father Christmas do the job. Even the idea to celebrate the day Jesus Christ was born is a very religious influence.

Next, we have a ceremony consisting of a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order.
This can be argued about as it may differ from family to family, but I think it's saved to say that this does count to almost all families. Has your Christmas celebration ever changed? Mine hasn't.

Alright, so Christmas fits the definition of a ritual. That's nothing special though. Even brushing your teeth every day can be a ritual.

The procedure of Our Christmas

So how do I celebrate Christmas? A few days prior we prepare the food. At Christmas we talk and hang out eat lunch together, everyone does their things then until we eat cakes and cookies and drink coffee and cacao. Then we return to what we do until dinner. At dinner we eat together we have planned to eat sausages today. Then we're playing board games together until midnight. At midnight it's time to open the presents. Then we continue to hang out play some games until half-past or even 1 o'clock. Sometimes even later. The next day we eat a rabbit at lunch. More hanging out, more talking, more games.

 How To Use Christmas For Ritual

Rituals can be used to achieve something. A change. The goal is to convince our unconsciousness. So here is a ritual idea you could add to your yearly routine.

Gift yourself a wish.
This may take a bit more preparation but the goal is if you wish for something you could make some kind of symbol or pack something that has to do with your wish being successful. Give it to someone who celebrated Christmas with you and forget about it. At Christmas, they'll give it back to you. If you remember the wish to imagine it coming true with this present. After Christmas, you should store it somewhere so your consciousness doesn't remember it.

This is not the only one. Can you think of your own? Just use the knowledge you have, the knowledge you get from history or knowledge of something most or almost all people believe in and try to convince yourself that your wish comes true using the Christmas procedure for your own yearly ritual.

Just.. don't start hanging around hexagrams and pentagrams or make sacrifices. I think that would leave the wrong idea if people don't know the details about it. ^^'

Merry Christmas everyone!

All About Yule

Whelp, I've never been too good at summarizing stuff and I'll probably summarize it too much but hey. I need to do some tribute to participate my way in today's yule.

What Is Yule?

I know you could just look it up on Wikipedia but here you go: Yule is an old traditional Celtic celebration matching the winter solstice. It is said to have somewhere between November and February through nowadays witches and magicians celebrate it on the 21st December, hence the topic of the post. The goal was to celebrate the end of the dark season and welcome the lighter time of the year, as well as the rebirth of the sun. It was most likely replaced with Christmas by the Christian church even though the topic and celebration differ strongly.

How To Celebrate?

On my search for information, I found different ways to celebrate it. Some historians connected Yule with the wild hunt. There is information on a lot of boozing also. And some information on gathering huge logs and light them, surround the huge fire, dance, sing, eat and drink.

And Nowadays?

Most magic-oriented people celebrate Yule and the winter solstice by performing rituals. 

The most simple ritual would be to kindle candles and other fires throughout the night until sunrise.

The goal here is to celebrate the end of the dark time and welcoming the light and the lighter part of the year. The sunrise represents the result of the successful ritual.

A more traditional way would be to prepare the celebration by extinguishing all light sources. Then once the celebration begins lit all candles, torches, fireplaces available. Once all the light sources are lit the feast will be started with a toast.

Seems Oddly Familiar

Jul took the saying "the festival of warmth and love" more literal, I guess. Contrary to Christmas or other similar celebrations, depending on the people who celebrate it the focus on rituals is higher or lower. At the same time, the meaning of the rebirth of the sun can be used for other rituals with a similar concept as well. For once, as a person who currently does not enjoy the ice-cold temperature, I don't mind a festival to celebrate it to get warmer.

'Tis The Season To Be Kindling Fa la la la la...

Imagining a festivity which consists of simply lighting things on fire sounds a bit weird if you take away the ritual meaning and everything. Additionally, if I would've known that certain rituals done on Yule take until sunrise I would've prepared earlier to make sure not to stand up like 6:15am. Oh well. I've informed myself to read a lot, way too much about this and tried my best to summarize it for you. So I guess, I've done my part? Oh and before I forget it. Maybe it's a good idea to celebrate the rebirth of the sun. I mean... we should be thankful for it still existing and not going imploding on us yet or something.

Happy Yule to you all!

Burn the halls with boughs of holly
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
'Tis the season to be kindling
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la 

Don we now gaze the fire

Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la.
Troll the ancient Yule-tide carol
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la.

See the blazing Yule before us.
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
Strike the harp and join the chorus.
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la

Follow me in merry measure.
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
While I tell of Yule-tide treasure.
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la