Subject: Re: RES: [UA] Old groups and power

[Derek Johnson]

Hello all,

One of the things that confuses me in the debate between Post Modern and
Traditional Magic is that the conflict seems to be largely splitting
hairs. The Post Modern magic presented in UA seems to be
reinterpretations of magical acts that have carried power since humanity
has been experimenting with the concept.

I could go down the list but just a sample are; ritual scarification has
been a magical practice long before epideromancy, the taking of mind
altering/mood altering substances is a tried and true magical path and
not unique to dipsomancy, the babylonians were not the first, but the
most well documented culture to draw magical power from the act of sex
and the list goes on. It seems that the Post Modern magic in UA is just
reinterpretations of magical practices used in earlier eras, made
relevant for a hipper more western mindset. This means that old style
magic works pretty much like old style magic would work, however the
practitioner has to still believe the mindset from which he draws his
power. This means that a scholar of the Kaballah's power would still be
able to do magic even if he spent an hour talking to an entropomancer.
The scholar would just accept that the entropomancer drew power from
something different from himself.

Aside from all that you have to ask yourself what makes a magician
capable of casting magic? Should every scholar of Hebrew magic be able
to build golems? No. Just like not every pitiful example of human
wreckage on Bourbon Str. is a dipsomancer... some are just drunks. One
thing that all magic seems to have in common is a 'talent' for it. One
person could slice and dice their body all day long and still just wind
up under psychiatric care. Someone else might casually cut their finger
while chopping vegetables and inadvertantly put the whammy on their
boyfriend whose an hour late for dinner. Magic is all about uncertainty.
You should be uncertain that what you are doing is right, if its even
working, if it will ever work and if it does will it ever work again. If
it was certain it wouldn't be magic it would be science.

To that end there should be examples of old style magic in your campaign
if you want them. But probably a player character adept wouldn't want to
muck about with it since it wasn't magic he was comfortable with or
could relate to. A postmodern mage might label it "fuddy-duddy" magic,
but would still make sure not to get on the bad side of an old style
magician who had obvious power.

A good example of the intersection of a post modern belief and an
ancient mystical tradition would the the movie Pi. The protagonist is a
post modern numerologist if I've ever seen one. Pity he can't cope with
what the universe shows him.

Well I think I've rambled enough. Thanks for reading,

Derek
"Our shapes are blurry and our miracles are slow."
Shriekback


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