Messages

What kind of work would you use the wand for?
That would be the answer.
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yup.
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The human mind is a powerful thing.
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The Power of Love

I'll protect you from the hooded claw
Keep the vampires from your door
Feels like fire
I'm so in love with you

Dreams are like angels
They keep bad at bay-bad at bay
Love is the light
Scaring darkness away-yeah
I'm so in love with you
Burns the soul
Make love your goal

The power of love
A force from above
Cleaning my soul
Flame on burn desire
Love with tongues of fire
Burns the soul
Make love your goal

I'll protect you from the hooded claw
Keep the vampires from your door
When the chips are down I'll be around
With my undying, death-defying
Love for you

Envy will hurt itself
Let yourself be beautiful
Sparkling love, flowers
And pearls and pretty girls
Love is like an energy
Rushin' rushin' inside of me

The power of love
A force from above
Cleaning my soul
Flame on burn desire
Love with tongues of fire
Burns the soul
Make love your goal

This time we go sublime
Lovers entwine-divine divine
Love is danger, love is pleasure
Love is pure-the only treasure
I'm so in love with you
Burns the soul
Make love your goal

The power of love
A force from above
Cleaning my soul

The power of love
A force from above
A sky-scraping dove

Flame on burn desire
Love with tongues of fire
Burns the soul
Make love your goal

I'll protect you from the hooded claw
Keep the vampires from your door

- Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery.
But let not this blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams; it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.
--- Max Ehrmann, 1927
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More spiritual than magical, so to speak, but still valid.
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Absolutely correct, wands and staves are tools, and whether one uses one or the other or either is really a matter of preference.
However, I do disagree with the point that they're only of use to beginners.
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Tools can be used by anyone, and a practiced Witch (or whichever title you prefer) can use a wand to very good effect indeed, creating a powerful tool by storing energy within the wand itself, or simply as a focus for thier own manipulations.

Look at it this way, a person can do the math in their head, but the slide-rule will make it easier, and the calculator easier still.
Magic and Magical tools are similar.
Some people use their tools to very good effect indeed!

Personally, I use my finger, too... hands can be very expressive.
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Ah.
Then you perhaps meant to say "some people", rather than "wiccans"?
No disrespect intended, but you seem to be saying that people who cast "spells" are misguided or deluded or such.

quote: I suppose wiccans believe that if they write some rhymes about a certain subject and then sing it or read it with firm devotion they will somehow have magical power. Do you honestly think things work like that?

What's the difference between saying a rhyme with intent or prayer, and following a formulaic ritual?

As it happens, the Wiccans I know beleive that we *all* have access to magic, that many people use it without intentional knowledge of spell-casting, and that in fact, the stronger the intent and focus, the better the "magician" can manipulate magic, thus self-discipline is a necessary component to successful magic, regardless of which system is used.

Yah, what Murt said.
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Nagual, how about the smell of cut grass, warm cinnamon or chalk dust?
Or how about the sound of water dripping, a jet flying overhead, or fire crackling?

Yes, symbols are what they mean to us... but my point is that what they mean to us is often deeper and more subliminal than meets the eye (pardon the pun).

We cannot arbitrarily deny the power of a symbol until we actually take the time and effort to examine our own inner selves, and very very carefully, because it's roots may run so far within our psyche as to be completely submerged.

Talking in circles, perhaps.
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I think, perhaps, part of the circle is in that you're suggesting that the symbols themselves are exterior triggers for interior reactions, which I agree with.
However, you also seem to be saying that those triggers don't matter or are negligible, and I'm saying that they work on us whether we are aware of them or not, and in fact will work unless we actively negate them.

Also, whereas they *are* triggers, if you read with Murt's explanation, it can also be said that the illusions of 'exterior' and 'interior' are not firm boundaries in regard to our use of and interactions with symbolism.

If one pre-supposes that we are here to experience and learn, and that we chose the Path of this lifetime before our present birth, then it follows that these Teachers that enter our lives are here to help us experience what we need in order to grow, and that they arrive as we aquire the capabilities to understand what they have to teach.

No, KooLGZe, that isn't what Wiccans believe.

Wicca is a religion. They are followers of the Goddess, and believe that all things are possible, and that we are each responsible for all our own actions -
"Ever mind the Rule of Three
Three times what thou givest returns to thee
This lesson well, thou must learn
Thee only gets what thou dost earn!"

Thanks, Shaman. Yes, Wiccans do use elements of Shamanism, Wicca is a fairly young religion, based on European shamanism but with bits added from many different systems.

I repeat, not all Wiccans cast spells, and there are many many different "branches" of Wicca.

oooh yummy!
A thread unravelling in so many possible directions!
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On topic though... I too have an 11 year old daughter.
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There are levels and levels of knowledge, and suffice it to say she has a rudimentary grasp of magic.
She's a "natural" in many ways and it seemed the better course to give her the ethics and the basics as she was growing into it anyhow... much safer and healthier than letting it run away with her, was my exasperated thinking at the time.

She will probably grow up to be a Kitchen Witch, she's very good at listening to the Natural world.
Basically, I've taught her as much (and as little) as her self-discipline allows, magic-wise, and we've explored a lot of different avenues on what is and is not magic, and lots and lots of ethics.

I think that the age thing has to be played by ear according to individual tastes, talents and tendancies.


As for the segue into "REAL Magic"... No disrespect is intended although I do realise it is present anyhow; the divisiveness of elitism is a good way to ensure the retardation of humankind.
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Quoting myself is the epitome of arrogance, but I'll do it anyhow 'cause it's good Kitchen-witch sense;
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quote:There is always more than one way to accomplish any given task.

And that includes magic.
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good post(s) Tisha, thanks for the links. []

)<waves to Tisha>
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Respectfully, Nagual, I was responding to this;

quote: Show me a very used/famous symbol that I have no clue about, it won't have any effect on me.

Whether or not we consciously have knowledge of the meaning - or supposed meaning - of a symbol it can and will work on our subconscious or through our higher conscious, unless of course we've already worked all the "threads" or "hooks" out.

The defining criteria for symbolism specifies as such, psychologically speaking.  Even on a more practical level they speak so clearly to us that we use basic symbols as communication and teaching tools.

I do agree that we should not become too dependant on them in our own practices, but my point is simply that we can and will be influenced by symbols on levels we are not consciously aware of, unless we conscientiously examine each symbol that comes into our sphere of influence (which I recommend doing for anyone using symbols in metaphysical work, anyhow.)

A quick example is colour. We know that colour influences our moods, some colours can even give us the illusion of temperature change.
Yet another way is cultural use of colour... if you see a baby wrapped in a pink blanket, what's your first thought?  The colour for mourning can be black, or red, or white (or another colour) - depending on which culture, thus a person's instinctive reaction upon seeing that colour can be radically different from someone else's.

Choosing to do without the use of symbolism is admirable, conscientiously doing so completely is easier said than done.
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I recently eavesdropped on a fascinating conversation regarding the possibility of some of our scent-memories being actually gene-encoded.
Absolutely fascinating!

I don't think it was said that the symbols had their own power (at least I didn't read it that way []) but that they might have an influence we are not aware of... which is what I'm saying, that they can/do - at least until we carefully and honestly examine our inner selves in regard to individual specifics.
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Tisha is very correct, do not use symbols thoughtlessly or carelessly, sometimes they pack a punch you'd never suspect from cursory examination.

The Moon card would work... do you normally work with the Tarot?
If you're interested in the Kabbala and it's symbols, there's lots of websites available with the appropriate info, just follow your own senses. Personally, I would recommend you go with symbolism from within a system you're familiar with or that is from your own heritage because it will just be that much easier to work with - you're likely to get better results, faster.

Nagual, I understand your sentiment, but I disagree.
Even "mundanely" we know about the validity of subliminal messages, whether in text, sound, or visuals... probably touch, taste, and smell too, for that matter.

Just because we are not consciously aware of the symbolism of a thing does not mean that we are not reacting to it on another level.
Breaking away from the subliminal influence of something can be a painstaking chore requiring deliberate action and serious introspection to even recognise all the nuances, let alone remove the hooks in our though-patterns.

Wicca is a religion, actually, not a system of magic.

They believe in the reality of magic, but casting spells, per se, is not necessary to being Wiccan.
(Depending on semantics, casting a Circle can be considered casting a spell, or it can simply be considered creating sacred ground.)

I do actually know some Wiccans that don't cast spells - other than their sacred circle for religious purposes, of course.