Casting while sick.

[Syntax]

I've heard your not suppose to do it. I can see a few reasons for why this rule is generally followed, but I was wondering if it was a rather loose or hard rule. In other words, if you are ill, try not to cast, or simply, never cast.

Oh, and what if you have a chronic illness. Diabetes? HIV? Etc.

Does this go deep into astral biology, or is this a relatively shallow topic? Anyone have any thoughts?

[LordArt]

Like the other rules, it's a guideline in the sense it's a bright idea not to ignore it.

The reason in this case is because of astral biology and how people are able to control magical energy in the first place. Their own soul reactor puts out enough energy to run all of their own spiritual systems with a little surplus. In that surplus is how magical systems have grown. (Much like your own physical body has a surplus of blood so it can afford to spill a little or give blood to hospitals).

When you get ill, you body (and sometimes your inner), will use that surplus of energy to heal you. If you remove that resource because of your own casting, you only hurt yourself. The simple fact is, your body has been healing itself all your life. It has LOTS of practice and knows what it's doing. There is no spell that you are going to do that is better than what it knows intimately about yourself. So if it's a trade off between your spell of healing running, and your body's way, your spell isn't going to cut it. (Keep in mind, external help will still help a lot, but I'm talking about an either/or situation as mentioned is problematic, not additional external support)

Generally the result of removing the resource is to get even sicker. Now, there ARE ways around this. Much like anything else, if you know the CAUSE of the problem, you can find a solution to it.

One is usually safe to cast when you feel it FIRST coming on, because there is a window of oppertunity that your body hasn't kicked into high gear trying to heal itself. So if you are going to cast, then is the time.

The two solutions to the "don't cast while sick" problem in Omnimancy are capsule spells (Precast spells in a special holding spell to keep it fresh and non-power drawing), and something a lot more direct using astral biology knowledge and ability to manufacture the right types of energy in the right places (don't even think of using normal astral or ambient energy for this, you'll just poison yourself. I've seen people try. Energy from other people is more compatible but still will end up poisoning yourself because of incompatibilities for where I'm refering.)

Wounds do not count as illness, however, infections do, or any other disease that makes one lethargic. As far as chronic diseases like diabetes or HIV, it depends what it does to you. Diabetes while an illness is more of the body malfunctioning rather than infiltration by something else, so wouldn't count as much unless it's making you feel "wiped out". HIV, well, the infection of HIV itself isn't what screws you up, it's all the opertunistic diseases that jump you while your defenses are down that do. So in HIV's case, unless you are in remission, you might be asking for a death sentence, but honestly, I haven't tested that last statement, so take it for what it's worth. Lets put it this way, there is no reason to give the attacking diseases more help!

I hope that answers your question.

[Syntax]

Yessir, quite thoroughly.

I have a ton more questions about the inner, the soul, etc, but as far as what I asked, you answered it.

[Obsidian]

You know what's creepy? The exact day the original question was posted I tried logging on to the forums to post the same thing. Thanks to my dynamic IP dialing a blocked address I wasn't able to. Glad someone else did!!

I've been thinking back to all the experiences where myself or friends of mine have cast whilst ill. Tech trades and the like don't count as casting, do they. I remember plenty of times where I've heard, "Hey ::x::, I need you to cast this to help me get better".

Given the way the Omnimancy system works, you're able to utilise massive amounts of external energy with very little internal expenditure. I sort-of thought that, if you cast the right thing, you'd be able to bring vast quantities of energy to your body to heal with rather than your own surplus. Perhaps that's what you meant in one of your 'two solutions'?

You deserve congratulations Syntax! For beating me to the punch, good work =)

[Contrary]

Given the way the Omnimancy system works, you're able to utilise massive amounts of external energy with very little internal expenditure. I sort-of thought that, if you cast the right thing, you'd be able to bring vast quantities of energy to your body to heal with rather than your own surplus. Perhaps that's what you meant in one of your 'two solutions'?

Not quite. The problem is that your 'surplus' tends to be in short supply when you're sick, because the body is utilizing it to heal yourself. Thus, drawing from your own resources while sick, even a minute amount, does have a large effect on your rate of natural healing.

Your body's energy is unique. If you start pouring in external energy to bolster your flagging reserves, it won't necessarily help. Think of giving someone who's blood is O+ an A- blood infusion. You can process external energy to make it more compatible with your own, but it's still rarely as good as what your soul reactor produces naturally.

To make the point, by the time you've gone through all that effort, between processing and casting and powering.. you've just used up a big chunk of internal energy that was slated to help you get better, so ultimately you've just pushed back your body's healing schedule and given your illness an oppotunity to get stronger.

I've been thinking back to all the experiences where myself or friends of mine have cast whilst ill. Tech trades and the like don't count as casting, do they. I remember plenty of times where I've heard, "Hey :Mad::, I need you to cast this to help me get better".

If you're moving energy around mentally, you're using at least a little of your internal energy to do so. Even sensing counts, so if you really want to get better faster, don't. ^_^

[MageMindy]

Interesting sub-topic: Stepping out of body while sick.

I have a mild heart condition that causes my heart to beat rapidly and very hard when triggered. I am also sick with a cold at the moment. So, of course, the heart condition triggered tonight.

Thanks to PsyFactor, it has been discovered that stepping out of body can sometimes cure what ails you: like a rapidly beating heart, a pounding headache, or nausia. The body kind of re-boots itself while you're not looking.

I tried this the last time I had a VERY bad attack of my heart condition being triggered, and it worked. It took 3 times of stepping out and it didn't hurt that my fave goddess was around to help out, but I've tried this several times since, and it always helps, if not simply stopping it altogether.

So tonight, my heart condition was triggered AND I am sick. Not a fun combination. But interesting for research and it was worth it to me at the time to try and step out. I HATE hospitals.

I know a few of you can do it. Usually when I step out (even when experiencing an attack of my heart condition), I simply visualize myself literally standing up and stepping out of my meat-slab, no problem. Well, tonight was different and I can only account for that being based on the fact that I'm sick.

It was like trying to sit up after laying in a tub full of molassas. My astral body felt all heavy and stuck and weighted down into my meat-slab. Ever been in a pool in clothing and then have to pull yourself up and out on a ladder? It was kinda like that.

I managed to get out and it did help my heart rate decrease.

When I came back into body I felt the cold a bit worse then beforehand. I had taken some cough meds and hadn't been coughing in hours, but when I came back into body I began coughing again. I've always found that when I cast while sick I get slightly worse right after casting until my body can even out the energy again, so this wasn't surprising.

It's interesting to know what it feels like to step out while sick. I think I'll be reserving that trick for emergencies only, like tonight was. I suggest you do the same.

The moral of this story is: Better to be in a tub of molassas then the ER.

[Syntax]

I've always found that when I cast while sick I get slightly worse right after casting until my body can even out the energy again, so this wasn't surprising.

So do you consider astral projecting a type of casting? Or are you simply saying that using your energy for astral projection/sensing/casting or whatever lowers your energy reserves. I'm curious cause I've only been out of body a few times, and I want to learn to do it at will. If you see it as casting it that will likely change my current practice. Otherwise I'll continue down the road I'm going.

[indigoblade]

Would not casting magick while sick include utilizing your chakra system to increase the speed of your healing? I have found this method to work remarkably well and it is a sort of magick.

[Syntax]

Would not casting magick while sick include utilizing your chakra system to increase the speed of your healing? I have found this method to work remarkably well and it is a sort of magick.

**Disclaimer: My thoughts/opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Omni as a whole.**

I would consider it sort of casting. Personally, I have some energy work techniques and a few spells that do rather well in fixing me while I'm sick. There is quite a bit of truth in not casting while sick based on evidence and observations of the energy systems of the body, but there are also some exceptions. I still preach that people not cast while sick as I find it is a good rule. I also tend to mention that there are ways of making yourself better. Unless you are sure of your techniques though, I wouldn't experiment in bed with pneumonia. The no casting while sick rule really shines when someone attempts to do magic or spellwork of some sort that is in no way related to healing themselves. This tends to deplete the energy stores of the person and slows the healing process. There are exceptions to this to, but what rule is without?

Curious, are you doing your chakra stuff when you start feeling yourself getting sick? Personally I find that this time is rather open season for curing myself of what ails me. It seems that the body is kind of slow and doesn't kick the immune system into high gear at the first sign of a threat.

[LordArt]

Would not casting magick while sick include utilizing your chakra system to increase the speed of your healing? I have found this method to work remarkably well and it is a sort of magick.

Much like anything else, it depends on the techniques you are using and what the reprocussions of those techniques are. Weither or not a particular technique will end up making things worse depends completely on what is making one sick (and therefore what will help against it), and how much of your surplus energy is used in the technique one is using to combat the illness. If you have X surplus energy and your technique uses less than X, then there is no problem. As one gets sicker, X gets smaller, so the same technique that wouldn't cause an issue earlier on, may cause problems if it eats more than the smaller X.

Chakras end up being more like valves. So in my opinion, many of the techniques involving them are either about opening up those valves further for energy to flow better or unblocking them (which from some points of view is why a person is sick in the first place). But that's a control of oneself technique versus manipulating external energy on a larger scale. I wouldn't think manipulating one's own chakras as eating too much energy. Much like commanding a capsule spell doesn't take much energy.

Like anything else, it depends on how skilled the practioner is in their own system. As it was mentioned above, the no-casting while sick thing is for beginners not to make things worse for themselves until they can find techniques to get around the issue. Unfortunately, no single technique is a cure all since illnesses vary so drastically as well as what it does to the individual.

And to ACTUALLY answer the question of is manipulating Chakras a form of magical casting, that's a grey area. I would lean toward no, since casting to me means creating a spell, but I can easily see the argument saying it is casting because you are manipulating energy. I suppose in the end it would depend on HOW one is manipulating the Chakras, but even then, it's a grey area. There are different mental techniques I do that I consider "emotional tech", but I'm not sure if I would consider it casting. I guess it would depend on the day you asked me. For the purposes of this topic, I would say if one is skilled enough to use their own Chakras for effective healing of oneself, then it's simply a technique to get around the rule of not casting while sick, which there are a few. But one had to get to that point, and before you got to that point, I'm sure you did a lot of fumbling around as the rest of us did when first starting magic, and it likely wouldn't have been as effective and perhaps caused more harm than good. And as I mentioned, the "rule" is a guideline for newbies to be aware of the problem, rather than stumbling into it.

[indigoblade]

Curious, are you doing your chakra stuff when you start feeling yourself getting sick? Personally I find that this time is rather open season for curing myself of what ails me. It seems that the body is kind of slow and doesn't kick the immune system into high gear at the first sign of a threat.

I've used such techniques both when first beggining to feel sick as well as when an illness has been full blown. I don't really have a set technique per say(sp?), but rather let the energies of my body tel me whats going on so that i can see whats up and manipulate the chakra system so that it will work for me....ps...er..I'm not quite used to this forum system so bear with me