Questions for those who use a Psychological paradigm of magic

[StoatCatcher]

I have a few questions that I've always wondered about this model of magic. Curious to see how people answer them.

• How do gods, divine/demonic agents, elementals, spirits of place and other spiritual beings fit into your worldview?
  
  
• If you use/create them, how do you view artificial beings such as servitors and egregores?
  
  
• What is your take on the "Astral Plane" and immaterial planes of existence in general?
  
  
• What is the mechanism enables divination and oracles to work in your view?
  
  
• Do you generally care about the specific cosmology and origin of the universe?
  
  
• Where do you draw the line, if there is one, when trying to explain or translate spiritual concepts to aspects of the mind?
  
  
• Do certain systems and rituals that are considered "dangerous" or taxing in some way (Goetia, Abramelin, dealing with so-called "underworld" or "dark" entities) lose some of the edge and fear factor when you engage with them? If not, why?
  
  
• Do you believe in psionics or any of the classic psychic powers like telepathy or telekinesis? Do you believe magic to be, in some way, the realization of or explanation for these powers?
  
  
• Do you believe that consciousness is a core part of the universe or in some framework that takes this for granted such as panpsychism?
  
  
• How do you conceptualize "the self"? Do you think it actually exists in some way or is it illusory?

If anyone else also has questions feel free to ask them as well for others to answer.

 

[HoldAll]

If I tried to answer all these questions in one post, I'd be sitting here all day. Is there any issue you'd like to prioritise here?

 

[StoatCatcher]

You don't have to answer all of them if you don't want to. They're already ordered from most interest to least interest.

 

[Robert Ramsay]

You don't have to answer all of them if you don't want to. They're already ordered from most interest to least interest.

I believe that all spirits etc. are egregores and that all magic is Chaos Magic. I do not fully subscribe to the psychology model.

Post automatically merged: Today at 6:39 PM

I have a few questions that I've always wondered about this model of magic. Curious to see how people answer them.

• What is the mechanism enables divination and oracles to work in your view?

It's complicated, but more like weather forecasting than you might think.

• Do you generally care about the specific cosmology and origin of the universe?

Yes The structure of the universe is vital to how we exist and get to experience anything at all. IMO the structure of the universe is tied up in the way magic works.

• Do you believe in psionics or any of the classic psychic powers like telepathy or telekinesis? Do you believe magic to be, in some way, the realization of or explanation for these powers?

Yes, but telekinesis only involves information, not moving physical objects. If I ever come up with an explanation for poltergeists, I will revisit this opinion. Magic is a superset of "psychic powers".

• Do you believe that consciousness is a core part of the universe or in some framework that takes this for granted such as panpsychism?

No. My take on panpsychism goes like this:

Man goes to the doctor. Says "Doctor, you've got to help me, I feel pain all over my body."
Doctor says "Show me where it hurts."
Man points to various areas and says "Here... and here... and here... and here..."
Doctor interrupts him. "You've broken your finger."

The point being that if consciousness is what you are using to investigate the universe, you shouldn't be surprised if you see it everywhere. In the words of Buckaroo Banzai, "No matter where you go, there you are."