"Steal This Book of Shadows"

"Steal This Book of Shadows" ver 2.0
(What's Really Happening in the Mind of a Wizard)
An Occult Tutorial
by Azzerac
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Page 38
Spellcasting #5
Symbols #1

(Brought To You By,...)

Symbols are probably the most visceral form of communication, falling second to hitting someone over the head with a club. We use them in ever aspect of life, and have since we first started drawing shapes. The earliest form of writings were pictographs that represented the ideas we wanted to relate. Though phonetics have replaced the depth of communication, pictures & symbols still strike to the soul.

Draw a five pointed star pointing one way, and you can bet on getting a negative reaction from some, Draw it pointed the other, and the number of people sneering at you will more than double. Tell the nay-sayers of the first that it's a christian ritual, and a few will scoff. Tell the pagans the the down-pointed star isn't christian, and THEY will laugh. We all have differing ways of looking at the various symbols, and how we relate to, and communicate with them all.

Don't believe me?
Let me Name One:

Swastika!

Most of you know simply from the spelling what this symbol looks like. (I'll add a pic tomorrow, as tonight I'm pressed for time).

I'm sure almost all of you are responding with revulsion, as images of Nazi Tyranny & Jewish Concentration Camps fill your head. Here's The Rub: 100 short years ago, it was simply a Hindi Symbol that meant "New Beginnings", or "A Bright, New Day". 70 years ago, it all changed.

There are many symbols that produce many differing reactions in almost everyone. In magic, there are two view points. The first is to find the symbols that the majority respond to the same. The second is to find the symbols that your target/subject responds to the strongest. This becomes the surest way to incorporate the most powerful symbols, For The Task, to your castings. It's all about increasing the effectiveness of your spells.

It separates the Witches & Wizards for The Dabblers & Wanna-be's.

This isn't a topic for crash-&-burn, "jump right in", "Ready or Not" addressing. You have to do research, here. Every class of magic, from shamanism to "High Magick" (as they like to call themselves) has it's own rules of engagement, for symbols. As you can see, a century or two can change a meaning. What we have to look to is three-fold.

Who are You, and what do they mean to you?

Who is the "Mass-Mind"/Akasha, and how do they judge them?

Who is your target/Subject, and how do they perceive them?

There is another layer: Intelligencia!

Intelligencia is the word I use to represent every form of non-corporal, never-had-a-body, mystical spiritual creature that we've learned to fear & respect. They are as minor as thought-forms, to as major as Vengeful Gods. They have their own symbols. From summonings & banishings, to sacrifices & dedications, the symbols have to be in keeping with them.

This is a short page, but it's been an exhausting day, and you need to look at the library you've been accumulating, and all the symbols THEY contain, with a perspective from this vantage point.

We'll work on breaking them down, page by page, and exploring each of them.

With my current migraine, it would be worse than a waste of time to try to do this topic justice for you, I, or Them, tonight.