[UA] Old groups and power

[Tim Toner]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Dinowitz" <mdinowit at i-2000.com>
To: <ua at lists.uchicago.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2002 4:07 PM
Subject: Re: [UA] Old groups and power


> I just wouldn't apply that to everyone and everywhere. If the collective
> unconscious is universal and applys itself to everyone then we'd all be
> using Chinese or Indian magic rather than 'modern' variants. I just think
> the logic of the canon needs to be re-examined and clarified. The
collective
> unconscious is not collective. There are levels to it. The primative,
> universal level where universal archetypes live and the segmented,
> group based one that is where the 'modern magic' is existing. Post
> Modern magic would work perfectly in places that are post modern
> in thought but when put into places where the cultural unconscious
> says something different, its in trouble. A bibliomancer in the middle
> of somewhere where there are no books and NO CONCEPT of books
> should be in deep trouble.

But that's not supported by the concept that archetypes that no one follows
still have resonance in the world, allowing for a post-apocalyptic UA game
where people are embracing forgotten concepts that nevertheless remain
ingrained in our character.  It's a long way to 333, and while it might be
hard to spot that many different kinds of human beings, there's a wealth of
human experience to draw from.

I think the reason why the old dudes no longer have power has to do with a
different take on the 'what's the paradox' question.  To me, all mystical
mojo in UA is driven by a price--if not, then everyone can do it, and that's
not very sporting, is it?  The old ways _do_ work, but the price is so
hellaciously high as to be ludicrous.  Every magickal act in these systems
would be govered by immutable laws of power and repercussions, and most sane
people aren't willing to go that far for a taste of power, when the PTA's
running elections next week.  The breakthrough in power, IMO, occurs not
when the person performs all the mojo correctly, but when it seems to fail,
and the practitioner continues to try in spite of the failure.  The universe
serves up shit sandwiches on a regular basis.  If you can learn to stomach
the taste, you'll never go hungry.

I also don't like the idea that someone 'flipped a switch', and now only
POMO magick works.  It think it was a gradual thing, based on three levels
of control:

1)  The sleepers, ostensibly a modern group, but undoubtably replacing
someone who walked liked them and talked like them.  They're in charge of
keeping us stupid, more or less, and punishing those who would tell all to
the unwashed masses.

2)  The Claws of the Tiger, which has a nasty habit of burning critical
books and lynching important thinkers in magickal traditions.  Given that
the Sleepers and proto-Sleepers keep magickal practices on the QT, a handful
of purges here and there can cripple a school.  So the end result of a
pogrom could have incidentally been the death of True Kabballah.

3)  The IC, the fly in the ointment.  They're the ones, more than anyone,
who are flipping switches and setting up barricades.  Their actions are
anything but subtle, and the first two levels mentioned above exist to make
their intervention unnecessary.  While their actions are incomprehensible at
times, a survival instinct compels them to set fire to whatever metaphysical
ladders they used to obtain ascension.  Old school magick doesn't work
because it's TOO powerful.  Simple as that.  The IC like to see us jump
through hoops, so they leave the occasional carrot dangling for someone
crazy enough to snap at.

As for rituals--I'd say that they were either the hollow remants of failed
schools and fallen avatars, or else human actions that are as enduring as
the archetypes that represent us all.  Most of the time they make sense, but
in the worst possible way.




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