That feeling, in the moment after you think your feet have left the ground. Hold that feeling. When the rollercoaster starts back up again. When your wings catch you. When the spell goes off. That moment of wonder and awe when everything comes together. Learn that feeling. It may not be this song that does it, but something will. Find it, and remember it. Write it down, so that when you need that feeling, you know how to invoke it.
@HopTwoScale @latrani
It's a good question. I don't believe in a universal metaphor, but I think the _feeling_ is shared, and it's the feeling that's relevant, more than the metaphor.
@literorrery Do you think the feeling is congruent with the sort of universal-oneness/samadhi rush that some folks get, or is this something else?
@latrani I'm not so advanced that I want to say I know the difference, or so arrogant that I want to presume I understand samadhi while I'm not in it. What I can say is that, in the moments when I feel "flight," I am... "full of me," and when I'm in meditation, I feel... "empty of me/full of the universe." Opposite ends of the same spectrum. Em described it as _nous_, once. Attention. They're very likely related, but I can't say _how_.
That sounds like my next thing to study.
@literorrery I think that distinction makes sense, even though I suddenly find myself hard-pressed to find analogous experiences of my own toward either pole; the degree of 'me-ness' doesn't really seem to occur to me as a topic of inquiry, either in meditation OR ritual peaks. All of which makes me wonder if I'm 'doing it right', of course. :)
@literorrery This feels somewhat related I think to my orientation toward 'service' in my esoteric work; I've described my focus as 'down-to-earth' but that doesn't seem like the right word exactly. I know what it's NOT though, it's not a search for attainment or enlightenment (not that there's anything wrong with such a search for others)
@latrani This is a totally valid approach!
@literorrery I've been thinking about this stuff a LOT lately, as I work out what's next for a sort of life-theme for me.
For example, this is why the term 'spiritworker' appeals to me; it's a sort of practical, actions-based 'I do stuff for folks, not all of them human' thing.
@latrani Hence why I insist on "alchemist" despite "witch" being such a popular term for magic-worker these days.
@literorrery Yeah, I get that. Oddly enough 'witch' has a faint appeal to me; certainly 'sitting in the hut at the edge of the forest being weird, helping folks out with stuff when they come to you' has some obvious resonances for me. :)
A lot of the words we use are culturally-bound stuff that we brought forward, that never would have co-existed when they were first used. Lots of 'witchcraft' practice is arguably 'shamanic' by some folks; definitions, for instance.
@latrani I tend to think of "witch" as... imprecise? Vague? Like... the wrong kind of mystery is being wrapped around these ideas for what I want to convey. It's weird; there _is_ mystery, but less in the act itself and more in the details, not always expecting the results. Magic should feel wondrous, its results awesome, but not "miraculous."
Then again, I don't deal with any god I might not one day become, so your prayers may vary. =n.n=
@literorrery Interesting. 'Witch' for me speaks to a sort of 'whatever works' approach; I'm brought to mind of the Pratchett witches who often just used straightfoward non-magical headology to great effect. Or, consider herbal medicines that don't have to have any esoteric power to them at all.
...Then again, arguably part of the effect there is that it is the mysterious Witch who is the one telling someone to do these things, so perhaps in that way your statement stands. :)
@latrani "Witchever"? =n.n=
@latrani See, Moly wants to jump in here and compare Jon Coltrane and Johann Bach at this point, and improvisational jazz versus thematic variations and the relative efforts of making one into a focus-form versus the other.
I'm at work. I'm going to _have_ to put that thought on hold for the moment. But there is a _lot_ of thought to be uncorked back there.
@latrani Short-short, I think you're definitely on to something very important that's worth further analysis and a lot of discussion!
@literorrery Wait, which one of those two is me, then? ;)
@latrani I was _going_ to say you were Coltrane and I was Bach, which is going to crack me up if you thought I was implying they were the other way around! :D
@latrani (( They're both good! They appeal in very different ways and serve very different purposes. ))
@literorrery I figured that's what you were getting at, and I was gonna be all pouty because I love baroque but bounce hard off jazz. ;) But I think it's probably fair.
...then again, Bach was the one who was writing his stuff to honor a specific external higher power... ;)
@latrani The irony isn't lost on me on that last bit. :) I'm not a jazz person either, really, and I can see why you say that. Now I _really_ want to have that talk.
Let me get my taxes done and I'll schedule another meeting. I think this is a great topic.
@literorrery The god-dealings are a whole other interesting thing too; again when I think of witches I think of folks who may know gods exist but not want to have to deal with them (though again I think Pratchett is influencing me here!)
For my part (back to the topic of alchemists and magi and Great Works), ascension has never been much of a draw for me. But hey, when you all apotheosize, you're gonna want someone down here at the other end of the god-phone, right? ;)
@latrani And I think the key thing this illuminates is just how widely divergent ideas of magic can be, even for how similar some aspects can appear. "Witch" is a fine word, but it's not my word. And all respect and love to those who choose to embrace it.