I have heard from a few traditional Wiccans that the Rede is meant for novices as a tool to help them think of the possible ramifications of magick before they start casting. I have no idea how accurate that information is.
I like the idea of a ripple effect, where the spell is like a stone dropped into a still pool of water.
suspect the "threefold law" and the "rede" both arise from sloppy misinterpretations of the concept of "karma."
Agreed.
My problem here is the same one that I have with any form of prayer which seeks to actually exceed veneration/celebration to become coercion and begging, the problem of magick as a sort of Cosmic art of persuasion.
So a spell is the same as prayer? What are the similarities and what are the differences?
Magick is something that comes from within. Your Will affecting your world (internal and external). Many spells that call on gods or goddesses usually aren't prayers because the gods or goddesses aren't seen as being divine but rather as a symbolic representations of what is desired. There's no sense of worship or belief that would take the spell to the level of a prayer.
In ancient cultures there's usually not much, if any, separation between religion and magick. "He (the sun god) created for them magic as a weapon, to fend off the blows of the happenings." From the Instructions of Merikare, translated by Jan Assman.
It's common to most religions, but it doesn't have to be. We need desperately to divest ourselves of this image of magick as some sort of super-technology or the ability to influence the course of history.
Can it influence history? Maybe. I'm not counting it out. Is it super-technology? No, I think it's a fundamental part of humanity. I don't see it as being some "other".
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my two cents
Date: 2006-03-22 11:59 pm (UTC)I like the idea of a ripple effect, where the spell is like a stone dropped into a still pool of water.
suspect the "threefold law" and the "rede" both arise from sloppy misinterpretations of the concept of "karma."
Agreed.
My problem here is the same one that I have with any form of prayer which seeks to actually exceed veneration/celebration to become coercion and begging, the problem of magick as a sort of Cosmic art of persuasion.
So a spell is the same as prayer? What are the similarities and what are the differences?
Magick is something that comes from within. Your Will affecting your world (internal and external). Many spells that call on gods or goddesses usually aren't prayers because the gods or goddesses aren't seen as being divine but rather as a symbolic representations of what is desired. There's no sense of worship or belief that would take the spell to the level of a prayer.
In ancient cultures there's usually not much, if any, separation between religion and magick. "He (the sun god) created for them magic as a weapon, to fend off the blows of the happenings." From the Instructions of Merikare, translated by Jan Assman.
It's common to most religions, but it doesn't have to be. We need desperately to divest ourselves of this image of magick as some sort of super-technology or the ability to influence the course of history.
Can it influence history? Maybe. I'm not counting it out. Is it super-technology? No, I think it's a fundamental part of humanity. I don't see it as being some "other".