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If anybody would be interested in the esoteric side (and not just the physical doings), I'd be happy to oblige... well, as long as the rate-limiter is turned down.

(as an aside.. it's strange to start seeing quite an upturn on mystical and esoteric articles in such a short period. It usually happens a lot slower normally.)

Do you have any evidence to suggest the phenomenon of consciousness is (or is not) isolated to the brain? (Existence of human spirits, natural spirits, that sort)

Particularly with the Chaos mages, there is an indication of an extra fundamental force to reality- much like electricity would have seemed in the 1600s. Do you think this is the case? Or do you think there is some other interaction between the mind and the 4 normal fundamental forces?

What theories do you have with regard to the prime mechanism of action in magic?

> Do you have any evidence to suggest the phenomenon of consciousness is (or is not) isolated to the brain? (Existence of human spirits, natural spirits, that sort)

You're not going to get material evidence. Anyone who can is probably looking for money or other goods. They're usually a good sign to stay away from.

The proof I talk of, is personal. I look at it more like one would look at a Zero Knowledge proof: there's no such thing as 100% confidence, but (2^64-1)/(2^64) is pretty damn close to 100%. Same idea.

> Particularly with the Chaos mages, there is an indication of an extra fundamental force to reality- much like electricity would have seemed in the 1600s. Do you think this is the case? Or do you think there is some other interaction between the mind and the 4 normal fundamental forces?

I would accept this to be fact if we can find proof of this new force. But as for now, I'm operating under the fact that we know of 4 fundamental forces. I'm assuming that most magic and auras are actually specifically under EM, and not Weak/Strong/Gravity.

Although, some divinations I've done does seem to indicate that there might be another force, but not as a "force".. But more of interdimensional interference. If one accepts the Multiple Worlds Interpretation, there are a near-infinite amount of dimensions nearby. If they could interfere with each other, we could see effects percolate from seemingly nothing. My divinations also indicate that a likely area where we will first see this effect is with the EM_Drive. If this is shown to be proven correct, this is the first case of a reactionless drive--- The key here is a new phenomenon to investigate. Possibly leading to a new force.

> What theories do you have with regard to the prime mechanism of action in magic?

Hard to say. I'm doing the equivalent of firing bowling balls into a kilogram of solid gold, and trying to interpret its atomic structure...

I'm always fascinated by religions of all kinds.

I was wondering if you could dive into the purpose of some of the things found?

I know the purpose and meaning of some, but not all of these:

> First a candlestick, then shoes, the ribs of fans, strips of textiles, sharp objects (nails, bobbin pins, a razor, shards of glass), a comb, and eventually the remains of halved lemons.

if you're willing to answer esoteric questions beyond the scope of this article... Chaos Magic, what's the deal there? It seems to claim to be a kind of meta-approach to mysticism but for someone like myself who isn't involved in the practice, that doesn't make intuitive sense.
Chaos magic is weird, but does make sense.

Chaos magic starts with the idea that magic is real, but all other systems are mired in religious trappings and pointless ritual. The goal here, is to discern the underlying actions and isolate them as a scientist would do.

For example, a spell requires a deity. So, you try it without one. Then you choose something that isn't a deity, say Pikachu. Do it again. Then finally try with a real deity. As a chaos mage, you can hop from one religion to another, testing and using techniques like they are tools, not religious trappings.

The key here, is the chaos mage is inherently a scientist, running experiments on reality. However due to the nature of how they are ran, N=1.

As for me, Is like to increase N to a reproducible large number. So I guess I do share quite a bit with Chaos Mages.

What does a spell 'working' look like? I'm guessing something closer to 'i found my keys' than 'i cast fireball' (?)
That's hard to say.

I've trained myself to be sensitive to different types of energies (or whatever they really are). But my spells are to manipulate these energies in ways I wish teem to be.

For example, I felt 'malice' from a server I and a colleague were working on. Servers shoukdnt have emotion, unless someone left that imprint. Well, turns out it was a popped machine from 6 months ago from an Apache Tomcat install where they badly fixed the hacked server. And they didn't clean it well enough. Rkhunter and chkrootkit both found kmods that were still resident.

In that case, it was noting more than feeling maliciousness, and then using my technical prowess to prove it.

Other cases, I've done things like debug heisenbugs simply by willing them to resolve or make the error evident. Most of those types of "spells" are mental. I dont need candles or whatever.

Another time, someone in our hackerspace got ahold of Mathers Grand Key of the Legemetton and decided to do a demonic summoning as provided. He was an atheist, and was just following the motions. It worked. He trapped something there, that was frightening every sensitive type that walked through the doorway.. I found it, and took care of it in the proscribed manner (release, dismissal, and freed from any cost it may have incurred to me).

But to answer your question, no its not like casting D&D fireball. Most things dont have physically perceivable effects. But the underlying question: yes, harm to others can very much be done.

>freed from any cost it may have incurred to me

Can you expand on this?

Its old laws, when dealing with Demonics especially, that if you do something for them, they have a debt to you. In this case, I freed one that was bound. I, therefore, effectively owned it if I chose.

I've had plenty experience in this realm. I didn't want someone harmed. Nor do I have some great need for resources. And it couldn't/wouldn't provide knowledge that I require. The easiest thing to do here is to free it of any obligations it has to me. Because otherwise, the costs of what amounts to slavery is just too much.

_____________

What happened:

I made that decision rather quickly, when I saw this. The idiot hackerspace member left a pentagram on the table in blue painters tape. I recognized the junk latin words as from (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesser_Key_of_Solomon). The presence in my mind was that it was howling and screaming at everything and everyone. Anger was present everywhere. Murderous anger. Usually, to dissolve these bonds is to do so by fire and salt, if it's a demonic presence. Didn't have salt, but fire was readily available. I verbally said it was free (but also said esoterically - look up vibrating names with the practice of LBRP, similar idea).

After I set it free, I could hear it ask me what I wanted. Frankly, no. Not worth it. So instead of reserving this for later, I absolved any and all debts owed to me for freeing it. I said so verbally and 'vibrated'. I felt it mostly left. It was still angry at the one who trapped it.. I ended up having to protect this place for a time against it, for retribution reasons. But I'm more than happy to be past that whole situation.

thanks for your thoughtful answer
Best analogy I can come up with is a garage door opener. You push a little button on a box, and a door magically lifts open.

Magic, to the uninitiated (ignorant), is the coincidental linking of two unrelated events. Mix eye of newt and bat dung with newborn blood and chant the magic words under the new moon and all of a sudden, the castle's well becomes fouled.

A person who wishes to practice magic must have a clear intention of the result they want, and then they must formulate a spell that will connect and 'cause'.

That seems to be reinventing the wheel. Why not experiment with a magical system thousands of years old?

See, a spell is a formula. An analogy is like its a road to a destination. Would you rather whack your way through the underbrush, or ride down a path that others have already proven to work?

This is the difference between subjectivity and objectivity. If a spell or a divination practice works for you but not for someone else, its entirely subjective. If it works for anyone, it is objective, and therefore valuable knowledge to have.

Additionally, there is more energy expended in 'casting' a newly formulated spell than there is expended in 'casting' a proven spell that others have used before.

And, I disagree that a spell requires a deity.

> As for me, Is like to increase N to a reproducible large number. So I guess I do share quite a bit with Chaos Mages.

Could you elaborate on this? It sounds interesting. I've been slowly acquiring a fascination with occultism since I got drawn in by 3301.

Read through my rather short message history. Feel free to contact me.

Tl;Dr. Looking for a way to reproduce esoteric phenomena in a reproducible way, using scientific instruments.

I'm actually building a device for this as a side project- I'd like to talk shop with you more privately- could you list an email or some way to get in contact?
yep. clow_reed@protonmail.com

Im also on Tox as well.

hi there, i read your comments and i'm intrigued – though I don’t have much experience in this area. could you please point to some reading material that’d properly introduce me to this subject? it’s difficult to tell what’s worth my time as a newcomer.
What was foolish about the purchase? Just the fact that repairs had to be done? It looks like a nice, quaint house.
Listed buildings are money pits. It's not just that you've bought a house that's older than most countries, and is therefore wearing out in so many ways, it's that you have to do the repairs using original techniques and materials whereever possible, and they will check up --- you need to get consent for modifications, in advance, backed up by big penalties, including massive fines and imprisonment.

You're limited on modifications, too. So even something as simple as installing double glazing can be fraught.

Owning a listed building is really reserved for people with huge amounts of money whose idea of a good time is filling out government forms.

http://www.lewes.gov.uk/Files/plan_listed_buildings_owners_g...

Thanks for this post. Being American, I didn't even realize that "listed building" meant "historical building." I thought it referred to the building being listed for sale.
We'd likely call it a "registered building"--referring to a registry of historical buildings--as "listing" a building is putting it up for sale and advertising on the MLS, the Multiple Listing Service.
Here's the long wikipedia entry on listed buildings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Listed_building
Under the floorboards in my house I found a clog.
Lemons in India are considered to ward off evil.

http://madh-mama.blogspot.com/2013/10/common-superstitions-i...

The real question is why you would move to Suffolk!
I moved here over a decade ago, and it's fantastic. So much cheaper than Cambridge yet perfectly commutable, and great countryside to boot.

But yes, we tell everyone that it's really bad so we keep it to ourselves.

Now I'm imagining the children of the 16th century living in fear of... the Puckle!