What got you into magic?

[Ogre]

Being that you are reading this, you are probably interested in magic to one degree or another. What got you into it, and when did you get into magic?

-Ogre

[dbrown]

What got me started with magic was about 20 years ago it was around Halloween time and I had to write a paper for a “Creative Writing” class (I think that’s what it was called). Well when I went to the library I was amazed to find out that witchcraft was real. Up until the age of about 24 I thought it was just folk tales. Anyway, I wrote the paper. The teacher was very interested in it. She said her grandmother was Italian and was a “witch.” She said her grandmother wanted to teach her but she didn’t want to learn because she didn’t believe it was real – until …… The teacher’s baby got very, very sick. She took the baby to the E.R. and the doctor’s couldn’t find anything wrong. The baby was so sick and had such a high fever that they were worried the baby was going to die. So as a last resort in desperation she called her grandmother. The grandmother came in and did something she called the “Fashima.” (Not sure of the spelling of that, but that’s why I mentioned that the grandmother was Italian because this must be an Italian word and I would love to know what it means in Italian so if anyone knows, please tell me). Anyway, my teacher said her grandmother said that someone was getting even with her by making her baby sick and that it must have been a very strong spell because she was very tired after that.

Also, while looking up info for this paper I had to write there was one spell I found in the school library (remember this was 20 years ago so that’s all I could find was one spell and there was no internet then that I could get on). I used this spell (or what I like to call a meditation) over the years and it worked very well. I didn’t use it often because it’s a harmful spell and I don’t use it unless someone has done something really, really harmful to me and I’m livid.

The second thing that got me interested in magic was when I met someone about 10 years ago who made energy balls at a demonstration he was giving. He could throw energy at you and you would LITERALLY feel it enter your mouth. (Just like I felt Steve shake my shoulders Monday night – that was fun!! Thanks again Steve! I hope you read this.) I didn’t keep in contact with him because I moved, I had a toddler with very bad asthma who was always sick, etc. (long story). I was a little afraid of it too. Later I wished I had kept in contact with him though. He said it was just positive energy he threw at us, and it never hurt me over the years so I though, heh, I wish I could find him again but never could. So when I ran into the Omnimancy web page, I knew that what was on there was true and that I would love to learn more and get involved with it. Over the past year before starting as a newbie with Omnimancy I had learned more about energy work from reading and experimenting and made up my own way of doing magic and working with energy without religion (some spiritual factors to it though). I’m fascinated with the stuff Omnimancy can do, which is way, way beyond what I can do. I’m grateful that Art let me start newbie lessons. I hope to learn more and eventually be an asset in some way if needed.

diane (newbie Omnimancer)

[Jow]

I remember waaaay back, Time Life Books had one of those "Mysteries of the Unexplained" books sets out, the commercial advertised that if you "acted now" you'd get a genuine free spellbook. I think that is the first time I wanted to try magick. Unfortuneately my parents would not buy their 7 year old a spellbook.

Later on I got fanatically into Catholisism and looked into magick to see if I could find a way to convert the practitioners.. and I wanted to throw fire balls. I mean, who doesnt? I got the "Sacred Book of Magick of Abramelin the Mage" and sadly.. no fireballs.. in fact, in every book that I looked in, no fire balls! Then the more I read, the more THEY made sence the the more the Church seemed either incorrect, misguided, or corrupt. When I finally had to admit the Church was wrong( not something it said, but the Church itself was Wrong!), I tried Atheism and couldnt find a point to existance. So I decided to go search for one in Magick. Fast foward 7 years and here I am!

[MageMindy]

wayyyyyy back in 2001 i had this friend named beth who had this boyfriend named ogre who was having a birthday/toga party and they decided i should get hooked up with someone at this party...
long story short, i got my first jesus name that night ("I slept with Jesus" ) and in dating john (lord feh) i got interested in that thing he did every monday night
two insane years later i'm at G8 ... wait a minute... how'd that happen so fast?!

-m-

[-bsg-]

How did I? How about how am I?

in the two years since mindy has been entangled in this happy web I've been sitting outside, a long distance correspondant via Ogre. I've been calling trucks to entertain myself, fixing his chair, fixing cats and ponies. I guess I am the fix-it one. Helpful-like. Anyway it's Ogres fault.

I knew there was magick since...
....since annie hyponotized me and I could see
....since I was in vietnam
.....since I realized Harvey would "say" things to me
.....since I lived with/loved a mage


Since now, when I "come out" to the site, in case anyone sees it.

Did you ever feel like Molly Grue? "How dare you come to me NOW? When I am this!"

When my biggest concerns are making 6 cats all play nice. making sure there's coffee in the house. making sure I have someone to come home to.

Whether I "get it" or not, whether I become a full mage or just sit alone out here forever, I know it exists. Which is something, for now.

-bsg-

[Rene]

What got me in was the opportunity, and the desire to finally acknowledge and search for a way to have some control over the stranger things that had been present in my life since before I could walk. A desire to know why. A desire to explain events to date.

My involment in the group has only been the latest step in a long line of acknowledgements for the strange.

[Contrary]

For as far back as I can remember, I believed that magic was real. Don't know why, I just did. I also believed since no one was throwing fireballs around, then the vast majority of the people out there doing magic must not be doing something right. Therefore, I didn't bother much with attemping to learn magic, since I figured I'd have to find the one-in-a-million person who really had a clue, and who would be willing to teach me.
Freshman year in college, two of my new friends come back from a pagan's students group meeting and begin telling me about this guy they met who could alter probability with magic, and was going to teach them. I bugged the crap out of them to let me tag along and the rest is history.

[sk4p]

After having a strange experience involving a UFO when I was 10, I started studying all sorts of paranormal things. When I was 12, in an attempt to convince myself that magick was bogus, I tried a summoning ritual. It worked a little too well. I fled into fundamentalist Christianity for a few years, was set free by exposure to Hinduism (story available upon request), and from there the die was cast.

Having taken a hiatus from the world of magick in the form of a really awful marriage, I'm back now with a vengeance. And through a chance set of circumstances, here I am posting in your forum.

Hi there, to those of you who know me.

--Shawn
(yes, that Shawn)

[Kaijima A.F.]

I've always had some sense of myself being something "different", since I was a kid here - chalk it up to being a theri, if you like. Part of what went along with that always seemed to be some vague awareness of, well, reality that's taken for granted not being all there was to the burrito, so to speak.

In the mid 90s, things kind of crashed down on my head when I accidentally got in the line of fire with a big magical balyhoo going on at the time - that's a viking saga and a half by itself. But at any rate, I got crash course in magic and the spiritual world in order to just keep myself healthy and sane, with the assistance of a few people I met via the internet, such as Baxil.

And then like, a whole lot of things happened.

[Ogre]

I am guessing that Shawn is who I think it is... Otherwise someone did a great job of impersonating him.

-Ogre

[LordArt]

Hey Shawn! Great to see you alive and well again. I'm glad your back in the land of magic.

As you can see, things have expanded since you last saw us.

I'd love to catch up, and talk to you about your fundie experiences (as well as other things). I have an old freind of mine that has been turned, and would like your perspective.

Arthur
"It's Good to Be Da' Mage"

[Itsu Kirin]

I've always been doing magical things without realizing it, and the moment I realized what i was doing I startesing focusing on it more.

I remember my froshman year in highschool there was this Wiccan girl in my art class who was trying to explain what she does so some of the brain dead jock types who thought taking an art class would be an easy A. (They were trying to get her to cast a spell to let them pass.)

I remember listening in on what she was saying and thinking to myself 'but i can do that. . .and that. . .and that. . .' So I started looking into it. I never claimed to be a wiccan though, i discovered most the wiccans I talked to didn't know what they were talking about anyway.

[vexen]

Want some candy little boy?

This statement sort of comes to mind when asked 'what' drew me in. I would say that to the best of my knowledge it was a combination of a few things that really got the ball rolling.

First, when I was younger, about four to about eight to be exact, I had the fortune of encountering beings that most people never get to check out at all! I got to see Leprechauns first hand. Only on St. Patricks day too, for some strange reason. They wore these really kewl looking green robes, heh, my mom even made one for me and my brother in later years ^_^.

Second, getting to know your astral neighbors sort of opens a few doors. You'd be surprised at what you can learn from beings that cannot be precieved by the normal senses. I met a kewl spirit, who shared much with me. I aslo had the misfortune of running into less friendly spirits and 'learning' a thing or two from them. I'm glad that I was able to learn about the existance of something besides 'flesh'.

Third, and lastly, my own intuition had alot to play into things. I found myself drawn to this 'energy', which I later dubbed magic. At first I wasn't sure what to make of it, but after learning about magic to some degree, I decided that it must some how be related.

Now, the most important one... probably intuition. The statement at the top sort of symbolizes my curiousity, to recieve the 'candy' of the unknown. Damn tasty too *chew* *chew*!. Though I could have become aquainted with it through the ethereal entities, the leprechauns simply served to help me open my mind a bit. BTW I don't really know much about the leprechauns or their habbits, because the only time I saw them was what seemed to be merriment in the woods. They weren't very talkative, of course it probably did not help that I was trying to catch them to see if I did indeed get three wishes! (which I never was able to catch the fast little buggers!)

~Vexen (With -87.526% L337 talk!)

[sk4p]

At our good Arthur's request ...

I became a fundie because I bought into the notion that I was sinful and hell-bound, particularly since I played with magick and discovered that it was real. Hey, I was young and naive and raised by Christians and all that fun stuff. I started listening to Christian radio and watching Christian TV.

However, somehow no one had ever told me that Kiss (yes, the rock band in makeup) was "satanic" or "evil" or anything: just rock stars in makeup. And ever since I was a tiny kid I thought they were the coolest. And one day I saw this Christian show that was bashing rock music for being evil, and they picked on Kiss. And I thought "that's really stupid", but dismissed it as an extreme element in my religion, perhaps honestly misinformed.

The real breakthrough was when in 9th grade, our physical science teacher decided what we needed was a field trip to the Hindu temple in Penn Hills, not far from Pittsburgh. I was kinda uncomfortable - heathen place! But the nun who was our guide was very nice and positive, and at one point, I pointed at a picture of Nataraja (dancing Shiva), drawing upon my knowledge of world mythoi, I said "Why do you guys worship a god of destruction?"

She replied "See that little demon-thing he's crushing under his foot?" "Yes," said I. "Well, that demon is Ignorance."

With that, my brain exploded. I realized how much I had closed off my own mind. In a matter of days, I had stopped consuming Christian media, stopped going to church, and declared myself a Satanist. I got better, of course, and proceeded through every religion I could find in the search for truth. I've never stopped, never settled for very long, since then.

My former marriage to a missionary Baptist was anomalous in a lot of ways, but let me assure you I never adopted her beliefs; I just put up with them.

--Shawn

[Ace_DeSpada]

Hail and well met everyone,

This is my intro:

1. What is your name or name you would like you to called; or what is the name you wish to be addressed by, in this club?

My online moniker is GLadius Doka and or Ace DeSpada... GLadius, GLad and or , Ace are all aliases that I will respond to

2. What is my gender/age/location?

I am male. I am currently 32. and i am currently living in Cali however, soon i should be moving back to the east coast.



3. What is your favorite color? And what do you think this color says about you?

If anyone really cares what my favorite color is, it is all of them! If you push me further I would have to say "starlight white" as to me this is a color of Trancendence. I once heard a psyche question like this, basically your favorite color and the qualities your ascribe to it are what you see yourself aspiring to be or become.

4. Please tell us about your family.

I have a beautiful wife, who isnt exactly magickal but she tolerates it well, and 2 awesome daughters, ages 6yrs and 5 months.

5. When you have time to yourself, what do you like to do?

I like to engage in my hobbies.

6. What hobbies or interests do you have?

Aside from martial arts, hatha yoga, and magick... I am a voracious reader and I also have the guilty pleasure of being a roleplaying gamer particularly of the "Amber Diceless Roleplaying Game", and White Wolf Studios "World of Darkness" games. I also watch TV... baaaaad me, baaaaad me.

7. Are you still in school? If so what grade, or what are you studying? If your not in school, what do you do for a living, and do you enjoy what you are doing?

I am no longer a full time student, however, I am working on getting my RN. My occupation is currently as a hospitalcorpsman in the US navy. I will be very Happy to be out of the service. Soon I shall probably be called something like a "medical technician" of some sort and soon there after a registerd nurse. I like this work somewhat. In a perfect world, I am running my own Dojo full time.


8. What type of music do you like?

All kinds, except country. My overall favorit music group is Tool, currently my favorite song is "Bring Me to Life" by Evanescence. nuff said.

9. What is your favorite movie, and why?

I have a lot of movies that i love, particularly in the scifi genre. But all time favorite movie StarWars was completely upstaged by The Matrix (soon to be trilogy).

10. What is your favorite book, and why?

Picking a favorite book is harder than picking a favorite Movie or song or even a color. All of the Tarzan books by E.R.Bouroughs, "The Swordswoman" by Jessica Salmonson, and all 6 of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever; These were all books which either had a profound effect upon my outlook on life or greatly impressed me, or both.

11. In your path do you work with a group, or solitary?

For now solitary, but I have made magickal friends over the internet.

12. What is your spiritual and/or magickal path?

As to my spirituality, I consider myself a devout essentialist (as opposed to a fundamentalist) christian. What does that mean? well...if you want to know more about it you will have to ask me Otherwise i never push the issue. as to my magickal path, I am a n.e.s.c. (novice eclectic solitary ceremonialist). However, the bulk of my mystickal/magickal training is actually in the Eastern Internal arts...listed in order of expertise: Aikido (& jujutsu-but that isnt really very internal), Yang family Taijiquan, a little smattering of Bagua and Xingyi, and Hatha Yoga.


13. How long have you been practicing or following your path? What kind of experience do you have in the magickal arts?

Well, although my interest in magick goes back as far as i can remember, I started beginning my research into the occult when I was 16. however, I was only just recently, Jan 2002 initiated into the "Golden Dawn current" (not the actual order though). I am working through Kraig's and the Cicero's book as well as using Regardie, Tyson, and many others as references. I am currently working on the regimine put forth in Kraig's book as daily exercises Kabbalistic Cross, the LBRP, BRH, MP/BoL circ, Tarot Contemplation Ritual and miscelaneous other psyche building exercises. So with regard to ceremonial magick I consider myself quite a novice, albeit a rather well read one; with regard to the eastern the Eastern Internal arts; I have been practicing those for almost 17 years now and teaching for about 10. through those arts I have had some pretty wild mystickal experiences and confirmations of the reality of magick. Although, I am by no means a master, i do, however, consider myself, reasonably, an expert in certain facets of those Eastern arts.

14. Have you came out into the open regarding your
chosen path?

With some people namely my close friends, yes. With my parents and most of my extended family, no. I get enough grief from them as it is, besides; why throw my pearls before the swine? As for the rest of humanity, its really none of their business.

15. In your area, do you find it easy or hard to find the things that you need for your chosen path? Or do you need to get these things from off of the net?

So far I havent had trouble finding things but I also use the net. Btw, if anyone knows of or has seen a yellow hand fan for sale let me know.

16. How would you define a Diety, or Great Divine?

Deity or the Great Divine for me is Ain Sof...I also greatly enjoy the term "The Omega Point" or T.O.P. On the other hand, deities are expressions (as are we all) of the above trancendant entity seen through various cultural lenses. The also seem to be embodiments of Natural Forces. How theses relate to Psychological Archtype theory I am not certain except that there is a relationship. These expressions seem to be a bit closer to the Source though I would never render worship to one of them. Respect yes, Politeness yes, worship never.

17. Do you celebrate sabbats? Which ones, and what do you do for them?

No, but soon I intend to use those dates of power for regular magickal workings.


18. What drew me to this group?

fate