If magic works at all, how does it work?
I'm thinking, how did anybody find out which words, rituals, thoughts etc. had a magical effect in the first place?
Did some poor sap sit in a darkened room pronouncing made-up shit out loud for years and years until something happened? If words have a magical effect on the world, do they work in some way like commands used to program a computer? And...if that's how it works...maybe that does mean we live in The Matrix?
Sorry, I know this an old post, but I've just found it and I've been thinking about this all day.
I don't have any real theories about how it works, besides my belief that 1. it takes the path of least resistance or the shortest link it can find to manifest, and 2. magic comes from the environment around us and how we act upon it.
I'm not much for ritual magic, and a lot of literature about witchcraft (spell work and such) is based on European or British lore and doesn't have much practical use here. Same with much of the American stuff - my environment is an unusual one and frankly there aren't exactly a lot of resources for Texas hill country witchcraft. Any lore the local native people might have had was lost or never recorded. This being the case, I have to do what my ancestors did - Carefully observe and listen to the world around me. This is the key - it's a matter of intuition.
If you can quiet your thoughts for a long enough period of time, you might be surprised how much you will begin to
know and
feel about your environment. Those words are in italics because they aren't knowledge or feelings in the intellectual or emotional sense. It's something else, but difficult to describe.
That's why I like to use the analogy of the fishing line - cast an invisible line into the ether and feel if something tugs back. Perhaps some people have a natural affinity for this, because while many people know exactly what this is like, others find the idea strange or confusing.
Another component for me is neither believing nor disbelieving . While it's often said that you have to believe in order for these things to work, I find this not to be the case. Let me put it this way - I accept that magic is possible. But when actually casting a spell? Walking the line between belief and non-belief is of utmost importance. Come down too heavily on one side or the other and you cut out a whole realm of possibilities. Don't want it too badly, don't look at it too closely. Know what you want and then
stop thinking as you carry out your ritual or spell.
Much like the way animals (and some people) can sense being stared at, don't focus too hard or the thing you're after will run. By the same token, don't fear anything too much or eventually it will roll right up to your doorstep. I can't be sure, but I suspect this has to do with a build up of energy behind the thoughts, as well as any unconscious blocks a person might have. Whatever the case, working in that in-between state of belief/non-belief is vital. (For me at least.)
If you've listened to your intuition carefully, and figured out the paths of least resistance well, your magic will work fine, you don't need any books or charts or fancy equipment.
There are a few effects you have to watch out for in the modern world...just recently, I managed to flatten a perfectly good car battery by doing a bit of witchcraft too close to the car. (that's the second time that's happened actually.
) Which is marginally better than the first time I attempted sigil magic and the battery exploded (which is mentioned in the one of the first posts I ever made on this board.) Well, you live and you learn!
Sorry for the long post, but these things are hard to describe in words. This doesn't explain how magic works, but it might offer a few clues to the mechanism behind it.