My Views on Magic (and screw spelling whiners)

Magic as I see it includes "magick" and all that huffy rot. It does not include stage magic, which, while an art form deserving respect in its own rite, has absolutely nothing to do with actual magic.

It is NOT as portrayed in fiction, movies and games, and is nowhere near as visually impressive as people picture. Most of what people think they know about magic is fabricated, or at least exaggerated. Most of the loudest and most shocking people and groups involved are motivated by shock value. They do NOT represent the reality of it. Most serious scholars of magic are just that: scholars. Many are very well educated, impressively intelligent and intellectual individuals who got to a point and saw something more than just what science was accepting. I have, in fact, noted that insanity seems less common among these than in the general public. Sanity, senses and the perceptive filters are far more scrutinized (both by themselves and others) than in most other people.

Magic is real, although I hesitate to guess the sources, other than that there are almost definitely different sources for different forms of magic. I have seen, felt and experienced the effects, and we are at a wonderful scientific cusp, where serious, educated researchers are looking at various ancient arts and finding scientific basis for them. Now, rather than scoff at a Medicine Man, many try to find out how and why his methods might work. I already mentioned psychic abilities; the research thereupon is far more serious than ever recorded before. We are finding more about geo-magnetics, and there is probably a link to space dementia. Even fanatics are more likely to accept that chemicals and other outside influences have effects that prayer alone cannot. We have, as a society, accepted the existence of jaundice and Seasonal Effective Disorder, without ridiculing the sawbones for worshiping the sun.

Not all magic is simple to explain away by science, either. Some defies rational explanation, and some gives us a glimpse at a potential future technology.

I do not use traditional magic, neither ritual nor spell. What I have done, I was not thinking of as magic, although I have since been assured that it does, in fact, qualify.

I used to be plagued, cursed with empathy, sometimes too strong for me to handle. I spent many years and a lot of effort before it receded... I will experiment with trying to use and control it, but for now I am just thankful to not have to deal with it with the high emotions and near panic of this political and economic clime. I am honestly afraid of being stuck with it again, unable to turn it off. In the years since, I have been able to use the reverse of it, to allow my wife to feel my love through my touch. That I know of, I never reversed it in any way before.

I have encountered unidentified entities. Twice I concentrated on relatively distant places and mentally "pushed" them there.
The first times I encountered one (the same one on several different nights in the same area), I was dubious enough of my own senses (was, after all, drinking in a cemetery, a teen). When I was close enough to see it for sure, I was pleased enough to survive, and left the whole thing behind me. That is a story in itself... included in "A Skeptic's Foray Into the Unknown."
The next entity was a few years later. I was not aware of what, if anything, I actually did, only the deep concern that this collection of nastiness (a frenzied dark shape that was accompanied by overwhelming nasty feelings) would hurt the people I was with. As I entered the room where it was, it flew away, blowing out street lights on its way. Again I doubted my senses, and saw it as an amusing anecdote when in the right company, but otherwise something I didn�t even think about.
The third, I was talking to a friend who was actively involved and experienced in a ritualistic form of magic. He and I were outside talking for a while in an area of Chicago where ghosts are not uncommon. As we were talking, we felt something dive bombing us like an angry bee. We did not see it, rather recognized what was happening when we both instinctively ducked similarly, in synchronicity. We made vague threats at it, and it seemed to go away, sparking another conversation about "pushing" and "sending". When I left, it started doing the same thing as I drove, irritating the hell out of me. I thought about the area where I saw the first, got a good image of it, and focused on forcing the nuisance there. Moments later it returned, more agitated, but keeping more of a distance in its passes. I then threatened to send it on a tour of the Chinese hells, and it left with a huffy feeling.
Since then, I have felt things on a few occasions, but have yet to have another such encounter. Some appear to have something like an emotional signature, I can recognize the first very easily, and have never felt the third again (it too I would surely recognize).

One of the things that is being discussed and cursorily researched now, we have dubbed "technomancy". In me, this was started many years ago, when I was first learning how to drive. My father taught me to feel the vibrations, to diagnose the entire vehicle and all of its moving parts the entire time. I can picture the entire system, can tell when something is awry, off kilter, or rubbing, needing lube, etc. In factories, when first working on a machine, I put my hands on it and close my eyes and envisioned where each vibration was coming from, where the parts were and how they worked together. On the road, I have handled serious problems better than the vehicle should have been able to (like in Texas, in a 22 ft RV with a sudden double blowout on one side; no accident) and forced parts to hold until it was safely at the destination. It has never been magic in thought or intention, just concentrating on a need, focusing on the result when one would normally be getting the mental state and releasing the same "push" through heartfelt prayers. "Please, God, just let us make it..." Yes, prayers are potentially, in my somewhat-less-than-humble estimation, spells to unlock the psychic powers we�ve spent generations trying to suppress.

The other effect I have had has only been on my own self. When I can concentrate enough (which I hope will keep getting easier, requiring less, it�s a stipulation that REALLY, truly sucks) I can push illnesses through faster. Colds are very difficult too, as they leave more "residue", they require more to get rid of. This is something else that parallels prayer. I had a great aunt, a nun, who went in to the hospital several times over the last decade of her life. Each time, we were told that this was it, the cancer had progressed too far and she would not be coming out. Each time, naturally, the cancer went into inexplicable remission. This phenomenon is far too common to continue listing examples, and I�m sure you know of some from your own life.

As an update, I have since gone further with that healing and repaired my ulcer! I can now eat peppers, which I have not been able to stomach for a decade. I realize that may not be such a big deal, but I am thrilled to be able to eat things spicier still than foods that would have so recently caused me great pain.

The point is that faith is a tool, in this case a control that people use to unlock their own ability. Where the energy to accomplish some of these things is from, I cannot say for sure, but from what I�ve seen and heard of, it never just happens on its own.
My best guess is, when my hand itches, my other hand scratches. I don�t need to think about it, the afflicted hand doesn�t think about it, and can not comprehend the whole. It just lets the rest of the body know that it has a need. As parts of our Gods, we send information as well. We tell the whole what we need, and what we merely yearn for is often ignored, aches go without massage, scabs are left itching, but serious injuries are more often than not cared for.
We just have to remain mindful that even losing our very lives does not constitute injury to the whole, and that our own agony and horror are also parts of the purpose. And yeah, that bites, but without pain, pleasure means nothing. Without death, daredevil feats would be boring. Without bitterness, sweetness is nothing special. Also, one cannot grow without painful experiences; they make up some of the most valuable lessons in life.