Looking for a little insparation for a wordbuilding project I am working on. I am curious what supernatural/ witchy ritual you have experienced, how you felt and if you’d do it again? :3
At a festival, very intoxicated, had lost track of my friend. I drew a circle in chalk on the ground, sat cross legged in the center, and placed my palms on the ground. With all of my mental focus I inwardly chanted his name while visualizing pulses of energy flowing out of my hands and away from the circle. A few moments later he tapped me on the shoulder and said ‘I went to Jimmy John’s to get us some sandwiches’. Most magical turkey tom of my life.
This is more fun than serious but… I worked at a small company who contracted out it support. One day I got a call that a computer wouldn’t turn on, no signs of power at all. This was in a bank. Per their policy the teller had a list of things to check. They notify the branch manager who checked all the same stuff plus some extra. They then call a vp who checks all the stuff with some even more extra. If still broken, they would call us. On this day the call was no power on computer, branch was about an hour away, drove company car to client and immediately saw issue. The god damn power strip was turned off. The teller, the manager and the vp were to check this so I decided to have some fun. I told them there was an evil spirit and we had to “cleanse” it. I had manager go get leave from outside, I found some old candles from a old birthday, the lights were turned off, I called out some random non-sense about mother gia and cleansing and whatnot, arm motions, everyone’s head down and eyes closed. Meanwhile I flipped the power strip switch to on and within seconds the windows xp sound was heard (yes I’m old). Everyone was confused but amazed and easily signed the paperwork to say I fixed it.
I drove back to my office and on way the vp asked me to come to his office as he had questions. I went to his office, he asked me to explain the issue at the branch which I did and how I “fixed” it. He was obviously upset but said "next time that happens call me first ". I was confused but said “ok”. He then followed up with “we could have had a animal sacrifice” and pulled a rubber chicken out of a drawer.
I didn’t technically work for him but he seemed like a great boss…
This sounds like an episode straight out of IT Crowd.
It kinda felt like it but I could tell he was kinda mad. Me driving there to push a power switch the both the teller and manager were supposed to check and the manager confirmed to him personally on the phone cost him about 300 dollars in his budget.
He wasn’t mad at me but more mad at the teller and manager for not actually checking the power strip. Found out later the cleaning crew was told not to use computer power stripes for their vacuums. It wasn’t their fault and I know there was other fallout from his anger (no one fired but there were “meetings”) but yeah. Cleaning crew plugged vacuum cleaner into power strip after hours. They vacuumed and then turned strip off when done. Next day teller comes to work and can’t turn on her computer. She assumed computer died, reality was the power strip was turned off…
Decades ago, I used to be a fairly involved practitioner of ritual magick, and developed and co-administrated a popular occult forums.
If you just want to know if I’d do it again, no. Living that lifestyle with a sense of dedication regularly leads to psychosis of varying types and degrees. I’ve seen it firsthand in many others, and I myself began to lose my footing in the immediate, “tangible” world. The more I tried to influence and expand my understanding of the world (seen and unseen) through occultism and magick, the more I actually just lost grip on it.
I escaped through pivoting to studying philosophy and analytical psychology, which actually taught me how to understand myself, how I fit into the world, and how to influence my surroundings to fulfill my goals.
If you have any more specific questions, feel free to ask. I may or may not answer them.
I’ve seen it firsthand in many others, and I myself began to lose my footing in the immediate, “tangible” world.
I guess that you mean seeing verification of rituals and miracles. Can you share examples of things that you experienced that you now realize weren’t legit?
I really just meant I saw people lose their minds. Paranoia, schizoid behaviors, and generally being unable to differentiate between fantasy and (for lack of a better word) reality.
Everything I experienced was legitimate in some sense. I never dealt in miracles. I’ve seen and involved myself in lots of things that just never saw any fruition, except perhaps a momentary dopamine spike. On the other hand, I’ve seen and spoken to beings that I couldn’t to this day in good conscience tell you I am able to differentiate as a real entity, or just the power of human subconscious.
The moral of the story is none of it had any positive effect on my life or mental well being. If I had at any point objectively involved myself in the uncovering of some sort of hidden knowledge, then it was hidden for a reason, and I’m happy to let it remain hidden. Living life in the basal world is complicated and involved enough.
The question I have after hearing that is: Do these things drive people mad, or are the mentally ill drawn towards the occult?
I can’t rule anything out, but I think it’s more likely that these are preexisting conditions.
I’m not a head doctor, so take this just as an observation during the years of my involvement.
Occultism seemed to attract a lot of people who were ill, or at risk. It seemed to attract a lot of people that felt helpless or like they weren’t in control of their life. These people commonly were looking for a leg up. Often that leg up was some sort of understanding of the bigger picture, or a toolset that would allow them to influence the world in ways favorable to them. My deduction is that, aside from those I’d refer to as “the scholars,” occultism more often than not attracted the vulnerable in one sense or another.
It also seemed to attract the damaged, who wanted to intentionally share their damage. But I felt like they were rare, and they also fizzled out very quickly.
Interesting. I’ve studied magick off and on for years.
I certainly think there are those who are delusional and want to live in a fantasy, and I’m sure engaging with the occult can fuck with that kind of person’s head.
But most of the occultists I’ve met have been fairly level headed individuals, who recognize that magick is basically just a collection of practices to influence your own subconscious. They’ve generally been the most down to Earth and well-adjusted people I know.
Depends on the scene I guess.
Are you intentionally spelling “magick” that way? If so, why? Is it different from “magic”?
Simply an accepted way to distinguish stage magic from occult magic(k).
Except there isn’t any difference in practice.
You’re preaching to the choir, but I’d also suggest you have poor social skills.
I went to a party once where the main event was a “medium” doing a large group (~15) reading. It was painful to sit through. I remember it taking a little over 2 hours and this dude just kept fishing for something to latch onto so he could do his thing. He had a couple people kinda go along but he pushed them away when they weren’t perfectly aligned with what he was looking for. I am familiar with public speaking and tried teeing him up with answers and even that didn’t work. I was looking for a way to politely leave when it finally wrapped up
I was already a sceptic thinking most mediums are bullshit artists and this only further solidified my views, as much as I tried to be open minded
How would you explain it? Is it the afterlife you’re communicating with or with the disembodied souls of those roaming the earth? What are they doing here, if it’s the latter? And what are you basing this on if it’s the former? Western European mythology, meaning either Elysium/Valhalla or idk whatever forest fairy kingdom Germanics believed in? Or are you going full Semitic monotheism, Heaven and Hell stuff? Cause idk if Jewish or Muslim tradition allows for seances. 🤔
Anyway I’m just being too serious for no reason, lol, most people wouldn’t drop a book simply because their cosmology is nonsensical. I would, though. 😅
Oh it’s still very early on - the throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks-phase xD But you raise great questions and some topics I’ll look into. :) thx
I only use !askouija@lemmy.world
My parents held a seance with a “medium” (a grifter my mom knew), trying to contact the spirit in the house named Edward (the man who built the property and lived there until he died in a fire he started while drunk).
I was 10-12 or so and it was really dumb. They recorded the session on a boom box (this was the 90s) and importantly I rested myself on it throughout the whole thing so I probably ruined the whole thing because the only notable anomaly on the tape was a heartbeat, and it was probably mine.
However, as a result of all the chatter around the supernatural, I had “unexplained occurrences” for the next couple weeks due to being attuned to that sort of thing which I’d normally have blown off. Im not religious, not spiritual, and don’t really believe in supernatural phenomenon, other than “we cant explain this but it definitely happened” sort of stuff. Many of the things I experienced the following weeks I’ve been able to explain as my knowledge of the weird natural world expanded, so…
So far, what I’ve discovered is it’s much harder to summon a Mia Fishel goal than Etsy witches would lead you to believe. I’ll let you know more about the process once I, you know, actually succeed.
These things are real and tend to snowball. Along the lines of “if you go looking for trouble you’ll find it” but not quite. I think this is what people have called a thinning of the veil. Magic thrives in uncertainty, like a fading sense of deja Vu you cannot interrogate. But it is there if you think it is there. Find yourself a dark corner of the world and look at it with the corner of you eye. Convince yourself something is there then decide it isn’t. And the something that might have been will growl in frustration.
My mother wanted to do a Cuban purification ritual. She was into it, I didn’t mind
What do you mean by world building? Honest question.
I’ve had some contact with wiccans, pagans and other people that held belief in the supernatural and watched some of rituals but I don’t know what to tell you that may go into what you are looking for.
I enjoy writing and wanted to see if I could build a world around mysticism/witchcraft. So laying down the setting the rules and history of the world before really diving into writing a story. I am not familiar with the topic and hoped to get some pointers or cool experiences here that I can draw insparation from.
I understand. Thank you for the clarification.
And, not to deter you from your goal, you have a lot to pick from.
There is a lot of background from which you can pick and build from but what would be the end result you are envisioning? I can tell I got to know a particular “tradition” where no rituals exist; initiates undergo a sort of tutelage under more experienced individuals but at some point it is supposed for each individual to set out their own path. No dogma, no saints, demons or higher powers; they just take the universe as a power source and it is the people tapping into it that can use it for “good” or “bad” endings.
The wiccans I got to know were essentially neo pagans, drawing from a favourite personal pantheon and ancient culture. I knew a Neo-aegiptyian priestess, a couple of neo-druids, a neo-norse shaman, one new age witch and one neo-meso american priest. Each just associated with an ancient culture they most closely identified with and delved into it. I watched magic circle drawing, offerings of food and items to gods and even assisted in a ritual of personal sacrifice, through fasting, sweating and intense physical exertion.
But I sense this is not what you expect as information. Feel free to pose more specific questions.
For world building purposes, I recommend Real Magic by Isaac Bonewits. He hits the highlights and commonalities that permeate most ritual magick practices. It’s a great place to start if you’re trying to build a ritual system that feels authentic.
Thanks, I’ll look into it
I’ve had people tell me I have a gift of manifestation. My own observation is that I’ve had some good fortune in my life, but it’s balanced by my fair share of struggles. I keep the negatives to myself so people only see the gains.
I wouldn’t say I believe in it, but in dark moments the confidence of others has convinced me to try willing things into existence. If there’s any truth to it, I think the universe has a way of balancing it all out. If you ask for something, be prepared to give up something of equal value. If you ask for anything that affects the agency of others, the price is especially high.
Who knows if there’s anything to it. I try to be a reasoned skeptic, but I’ve seen plenty in my life that borders on the paranormal and I can’t explain, so I keep an open mind.
but I’ve seen plenty in my life that borders on the paranormal and I can’t explain, so I keep an open mind.
would love to hear any stories you’re willing to share
There was one house in particular where a lot of weirdness happened. The house was actually two structures that were relocated from a nearby mining town and joined together. That town was mostly abandoned and had a weird vibe.
When I was on one side of the house, I sometimes heard a voice calling my name from the other side. Electronics turned themselves on. This was back in the 90s and the appliances were already old, so there was no remote control that could be malfunctioning, it was all mechanical controls.
One time I was staying at a friend’s place, and the phone at home rang. When Mum answered she heard the conversation in the room I was in at this friend’s house, but nobody had called from there.
A lightbulb that wasn’t even turned on spontaneously exploded above me when I was in the toilet.
We later moved to another house, and I don’t know if it had its own haunting or whatever it was followed us, but that place had some weirdness too. I often heard breathing sounds from the walls. That could have been possums, so I didn’t think much of it until I saw a pile of clothes breathing like there was an animal under it. I watched Mum slowly remove every item, and there was nothing under there.
Years later I passed through that town and drove by those old homes. The first place was demolished, and the other had burnt down. I can’t help wondering if later residents decided it was the best way to deal with them.
When I was 16, and on a bunch of LSD with a group of friends.
Accordingly, we hallucinated very much, and had a lot of fun by letting go and indulging in the surreal.
In the morning, when we woke up, we fully understood, even at the age of 16, that we had a bunch of drug-induced fun, and that’s all it was…. because magic isn’t real.
But who am I to interrupt anyone else’s fun?
This is my favorite book on magic(k) by far.
