Magic and Merchandising?

[Calzaer]

Am I the only person who tends to think that all the emphasis modern magical practices place on the use of props, like candles and wands and ritual knives and altars, etc, is more geared towards selling the props than actually aiding the practitioner?

For all the talk about how "magic comes from within" and "you should make your own tools whenever possible", I've never seen a pagan/occult store in my area lacking for on-hand funds.

One of the things that bothers me is that even though I have an extensive occult library, I've never come across a book dedicated to (or that even talks about for more than a sentence or two) doing magic and ritual without and tools whatsoever. I know it CAN be done... but it seems like nobody particularly wants to encourage that practice AFAIK. So it makes me wonder.

Am I just being cynical? Or have a lot of authors and vendors really zeroed in on the pagan community as being gullible flakes ripe for the fleecing?

[Aidron]

Am I the only person who tends to think that all the emphasis modern magical practices place on the use of props, like candles and wands and ritual knives and altars, etc, is more geared towards selling the props than actually aiding the practitioner?

For all the talk about how "magic comes from within" and "you should make your own tools whenever possible", I've never seen a pagan/occult store in my area lacking for on-hand funds.

One of the things that bothers me is that even though I have an extensive occult library, I've never come across a book dedicated to (or that even talks about for more than a sentence or two) doing magic and ritual without and tools whatsoever. I know it CAN be done... but it seems like nobody particularly wants to encourage that practice AFAIK. So it makes me wonder.

Am I just being cynical? Or have a lot of authors and vendors really zeroed in on the pagan community as being gullible flakes ripe for the fleecing?


I feel its a relatively equal balance. It must be encouraged to support merchants, which in turn helps the pagan community as a whole thrive, but on the other hand many do state throughout their books that you are the tool, you are the magic. Some have even dedicated whole chapters to it.

However, at large people like their 'purdy' things. We enjoy creating our own items, buying them and owning them. That is because we are present within the material plane (for most of the time anyway), and matter... matters to us. Make sense?

I do, whenever possible, prefer to make all my own tools. Some things I will probably never be able to make without extensive study, such as an athame which requires skill in the forge a lot of the times, in which case I am more than content to purchase those items. However, I enjoy crafting my own necklaces, wands, offering or blessing dishes/bowls, candle holders, incense holders, bath salts, incense, and well, I could go on. I always seem to be learning how to create something myself, and my next priority is to learn how to create oils myself using the herbs my flora-fanatic mother grows. As a rule, I never purchase anything I myself can create out of preference.

I, however, have considered writing books on many paganistic topics, mostly dealing with psychic development and the like, with few religious or spiritual influence (as I feel that sort of stuff is best learned on your own, not out of a book). I had thought of writing two books, a pair, the first dealing with the magic within and the second dealing with the magic around you. Still, that may never come into fruition. For the most part, I have had to teach myself how to do things only using myself as a tool.

Let's use a procedure I developed that uses nothing more than your own psychic will power to bring rain as an example. By some standards this may be considered advanced, but by my standards I would consider it beginner's work.

Get comfortable in any position you feel. I often lie down with the covers over me as I am most comfortable this way.

Use whatever manner you normally do to alter your concious to the alpha state. I prefer to use Laurie Cabot's Crystal Countdown method as I am very fond of rainbows (obviously).

Once there, open your third eye. Visualize an actual eye being present where your pineal gland is. Mine has a purple iris and cool purple eyelashes, as purple is the color I associate with psychism in general.

Once opened, perform the eastern and western quarter calls. However, I have done this without these before, sometimes because I forgot, other times merely due to the fact that I wanted nothing else involved.

Visualize a blue beam of energy blasting out of your third eye and up into the clouds, the beam itself containing rain drops ascending upward. Essentially, inverted rain drops. As the beam hits the clouds (or simply the sky if there are none present) see it erupting out into a vast radius. If there are clouds, see them transforming into rain clouds, if there are no clouds present, see rain clouds forming. As you will them to form in your mind also visualize rain descending down to the ground.

That's all there is to it. Now, this work may be considered advanced as you are visualizing numerous things at once, something that has never been a problem for me as I am very imaginative and a total multi-tasker. I've taken aspects for this technique from numerous places, such as Laurie Cabot's Crystal Countdown method. I had to first learn how to control entering the alpha state, then learn how to open my third eye (which causes me to this day to feel pressure upon my brow, sometimes even heat). Next I had to learn how to focus on creating it rain, which before this technique I devised spells for. It's a conglomeration of many practices all formed into one without the use of any props. I performed this recently and it rained off and on for one week.

As with all practices, it may not work for everyone, and for the record, I have purposefully altered tidbits of information here and there with incorrect information, as I did not post this to teach my techniques anyone, only to make a point-that you sometimes just have to teach yourself.

[Xander67]

Hmmmm and I was just talking about this on a different angle....

[Desdemona]

Scott Cunningham talks extensively about doing rituals without tools. He even outlines a ritual with no words, all gestures.

[Flar's Freyja]

You might be interested in this thread:

Selling Spells - Good, Bad or Ugly (http://www.mysticwicks.com/showthread.php?t=15056&highlight=selling+spells)

There are a lot of beautiful things on the market and some people prefer to go all out with tools and props, so that's where the merchandisers get their market. That's fine for them - it's an individual preference and I see nothing wrong with it. I've always preferred to make my own, and I have a ton of stuff that I rarely use. I like having them around even if they rarely come out of the magical closet. My first tools were obtained in thrift shops or made from things I had around the house. I find this to be far more personal and powerful.

About the only tool I use regularly is my chalice. It was made by a very magical person and when I have time to actually do a ritual, I usually incorporate some sort of drink offering.

[Jeleia]

I’ve noticed this as well. When I first started out in Magic, a lot of the pagan websites / books that I read, put emphasis on tools. As a newbie, I thought that these things were an necessity. Although now, I rarely use tools. I don’t own a wand, athame or anything like that.

[banondraig]

yes, i've noticed that there are a lot of places to but things. i think part of this grows out of people making their own tools, and liking the process so much they keep making more. eventually you have to get rid of the stuff or it will take over your house. i don't know if this is common, but i'm sure it happens at least sometimes. i make soap myself. would i sell some "cleansing vibrations" or whatever kind of soap? sure, why not? i wouldn't tell people i had charged it, for a number of reasons.

1) i'm too dang lazy to go around charging soap all day.
2) my energy may not be compatible with the energy of the person using the soap.
3) with anything other than "cleansing", i have no way of knowing that the people i may sell soap to will use my products to honest ends. i really don't need the bad karma from helping someone i don't even know work mean, nasty hexes. for that matter, they might even be doing a cleansing before the mean, nasty hex.

i've rambled a bit here. i don't think the Pagan community is a bunch of gullible flakes ripe for the fleecing any more than those Christians who like angels, cross-stitch pictures of Jesus, etc. people will take advantage of any opportunity they see.