XPost: alt.religion.wicca, alt.arts.poetry.comments, alt.magick   
   From: dmh7@skypoint.com   
      
   Aunty Kreist wrote:   
      
   >   
   >   
   > I think many people unfamiliar with "magic" have a sort of idea of wizened   
   > wizards, and Harry Potter type spells. Real magic is more subtle than that.   
      
   Yes, subtle to the vanishing point.   
      
   >   
   > A good example that most non-magicals can identify with....take Reiki, for   
   > instance. Reiki is a practice of manipulating the body's energies, either   
   > internally, or sending those energies out. This is actually a form of magic.   
   > There are also many types of martial arts that manipulate and control either   
   > the body's energies, or the energies around them.   
      
   First off, the idea that certain practices (no matter how physically   
   beneficial) are somehow manipulating the bodies' "energies" (whatever   
   the hell that means) is total blarney. One needn't be "magickal" to   
   figure out that exercise is a benefit to the body. What you are saying   
   is simply an extension of the sub-par mythology which creates the idea   
   of magick in the first place, and simply doesn't make the grade as evidence.   
      
   >   
   > I do agree with that anyone who claims they can make trees talk, or turn   
   > someone into a mouse belongs in the nuthatch. ;)   
   >   
   > Magic is simply energy, to make it easy to comprehend to folks.   
      
   Too simple by a long shot. Maguic isn't supposed to "simply" be energy:   
   if it were, why become a magician? The energies is there despite your   
   presence. Magic is supposed to be a learned manipulation of energies,   
   some real and most invented. The fact is, no magician can ever point to   
   an actual result of their efforts except in the most diffuse manner: "I   
   waved a red hankie over Gramma's head and she didn't go blind!" and such   
   are common attempts to make the practice seem actual when it is merely a   
   bundle of wishful thinking, flim-flam, and self-delusion.   
      
   dmh   
      
   dmh   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)