[UA] old-style magic in UA

[Alexander Lampros]

I think the harder part would be fitting the old
school magic into a UA setting.

Alex

--- Tim Toner <thanatos at interaccess.com> wrote:
> 
> ----- 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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