Fact or fantasy

[astralspinner]

Was flicking through a fantasy book recently, and the wizards were throwing fireballs and changing shape and leveling mountains as they do in stories.

It made me wonder: Which of the magic powers beloved by fantasy stories do you believe ARE fantasy, and which do you believe can actually be done?

Here's a list of popular powers, give each a "yea" or "nay" according to your belief:

Flight/levitation
Weather control
Prescience
Change of appearance (changing into someONE else)
Change of shape (changing into someTHING else)
Curses (Causing bad things to happen)
Charming (Causing good things to happen)
Extended/eternal life
Pyrokinesis (fireballs etc)
Mind-reading
*wave* "These aren't the droids you're looking for" (Mind control)

[no_leaf_clover]

*wave* "These aren't the droids you're looking for" (Mind control)

I dunno about the rest, but that definitely exists on some level. Your example may be exaggerated (though not by much), but there are very powerful psychological tactics of changing a person's opinion on a matter without them even realizing it. Ridiculing something comically while it has already been assumed (misleadingly) to be a truth, especially while using a stereotypical judgment, is a pretty cheap and common example today. For example, when someone hears a pedophilic Michael Jackson joke, the joke forces them psychologically into the mindframe that Michael Jackson is a pedophile automatically; that goes assumed and unquestioned by the psyche in order to follow the joke, and it may very well stick and leave a lasting impression on someone's opinion of Michael Jackson whether they realize it as such or not. Again, just an example.

There are a lot of tactics like that. Besides forcing your mind to make assumptions, other such deceptive tactics may involve diverting your attention to more trivial points while missing a bigger issue, or convincing you that there is no issue at all when there actually is. Or much worse, having you assume there's no issue, and therefore the problem never even occurs to you at all! Extremely deceiving to say the least. Governments and religious institutions use these tactics quite often. As you can imagine, it's very dangerous for society. How do you think Hitler convinced all those Germans that he was good for Germany? The same way Bush got us into war in Iraq. These aren't the droids you're looking for, indeed.

[bloodsong]

Hope you don't mind, I'll take all of these one at a time and give an opinion based on what I have read and seen from others. (Not a practicing magician, you see...yet)

Flight/levitation

I don't believer this is possible physically, but entered popular concepts of magical people from stories presented about OBE and astral travel from the time that all these things were under the control of one tribal master and thus all fell under the banner of magic.

Weather control

I think this one is possible.  I know that I have had quite a few people who spent time with me that were into the occult say that I have some natural talent and the only thing I can think of that makes me believe this is how the weather seems to follow what I want sometimes.  If I want to see raindrops, as I have lately, it takes a while, but eventually it starts raining, and more often than normal, until about a week after I get tired of it.  So yes, I definitely agree that this is legit.

Prescience

I've seen my mom come up with some winners in this category, so I am a believer.

Change of appearance (changing into someONE else)
Change of shape (changing into someTHING else)

I include these both as one because as I understand it, both of these fall into the category of Glamor magick.  If it does work (still skeptical on this one) I believe that it has less to do with actually changing the subject whether it be alive or not, and more to do with making certain things about that object, that are already there, more or less noticeable to the target onlooker(s) through a sort of "mind trick" as mentioned in your last part.

Curses (Causing bad things to happen)
Charming (Causing good things to happen)

Again, both of these fall into the same category, so I put them together.  I do believe that these things can be done.  I live in Southeast Louisiana, Voodoun capital of America, so I have had opportunity to see practices for both of these ways of magick, and, outwardly, I can say that the processes seem very similar, at least in a Voodoun ritual.  If it is the same way for the practitioner, I cannot say as I am not an adherent to any religious philosophy and they refuse to teach the "nonfaithful", which is as it should be!

Extended/eternal life

I have read into the philosophies of Alchemy and other paths that pursue this and haven't been able to find anything more than circumstantial evidence to back this up, so I remain skeptical of it.  However, the fact that some of the more recent Alchemist famed to have uncovered the Philosopher's Stone (most notably Nicloas Flamel) have no record of death, is a bit peculiar.

Pyrokinesis (fireballs etc)

In my opinion, pyrokinesis is one in the same as telekinesis.  My reason for saying this is simple.  Flames are caused by three things, oxygen, fuel, and heat.  Heat is caused by the excitement of atoms, causing them to move in an accelerated pace.  In pyrokinesis, therefore, my hypothesis goes that if you can mentally induce the acceleration of the atomic structure of an object enough, enough heat will be produced to cause it to be fuel, as anything can burn if it gets hot enough.  I am a little skeptical of telekinesis, but only very little as you can probably tell from the fact that I have though this much about it.

Mind-reading

I refuse to believe the mind can truly be likened to anything so simple as a book.  However I do believe in empathy, the nonphysical means by which one can tell the emotional state of another.  If this "sense" is heightened, who know what is possible?

*wave* "These aren't the droids you're looking for" (Mind control)

This is the crux of Glamoury magicks, from what I can tell.  Mostly, it employs very simple techniques from mesmerism and modern hypnosis to carry out its work.  At least in the form that I have read.  The only material I have read on this, admittedly is from "To Light A Sacred Flame" by Silver RavenWolf.  I do recommend that book if you would like to learn more of that technique.  It seems sound, though I am loathe to try it as I feel that a person's perception of the world should not be messed lightly with.

[Joe_Oh]

I say they are all possible, its just understanding how each one works and how much energy is required to pull off those feats. Lots and LOTS of energy mind you. While others are just finding ways around the "laws" of physics or bending the rules a little.

Except coporeal time travel....thats just rediculous

[ilikepizza1123]

Sustained Flight: Not sure, I think it's possible, but mainly on freak occurrances

Levitation: Yup. There is a common game (at least common amongst witches)  called Light as a Feather Stiff as a Board where four people levitate a fifth person. I've never seen this, but my friend said she's done it, and I've seen quarters levitated.

Prescience: You mean precognition? Knowing things before they happen. I do this on a regular basis.

Change of Appearance: I can make myself "unnoticeable", so people don't notice me (this rarely works). I try to make myself more attractive for the ladies , no idea if this works or not.

Change of Shape: I really doubt this one. I mean, spoons can be bent and mangled, but you can't say, turn an apple into an orange. Realistically.

Curses and charms: Been there, done that. I've gotten hit with a curse or two, and I constantly perform charms.

Extended/Eternal life - You might be able to add years to your life, but I am not sure how long.

Pyrokinesis: On a small scale, yes.

Mind-reading/influence: Are you serious? What, are we living in the dark ages? Yes, I do both of those on a daily basis.

[AstralSailor]

I would say they are all possible... We seem to think we are so limited...
I would not prefer to be mind controlled thought
LL&L