This is a stupid question but I'm going to ask anyway thread

[AniMajor]

Gho the Girl

Huh. That reminds me of a documentary I saw where a gay man was given a semi-precious stone from his father. He was supposed to let the light shine through it at a certain angle onto him and supposedly it would cure his homosexuality. Apparently, to paraphrase the man, it's potency was very questionable.

Where was this documentary?

According to my book, zircon cures homophobia.

Sometimes the "metaphysical" properties of rocks are a bit ridiculous.  

[Gho the Girl]

AniMajor

Gho the Girl

Huh. That reminds me of a documentary I saw where a gay man was given a semi-precious stone from his father. He was supposed to let the light shine through it at a certain angle onto him and supposedly it would cure his homosexuality. Apparently, to paraphrase the man, it's potency was very questionable.

Where was this documentary?

"Anyone and Everyone" is the title.

Quote:

According to my book, zircon cures homophobia.

Really? How?

Quote:

Sometimes the "metaphysical" properties of rocks are a bit ridiculous.

Hm.  

[AniMajor]

Gho the Girl

AniMajor

According to my book, zircon cures homophobia.

Really? How?

Uh...magic?

Really, though, the reason I have issues with crystal dictionaries and things is because the properties really seem randomly assigned, contradictory, and so generic that they don't make sense.

When looking at properties of rocks beyond physical, chemical, and occasionally electrical, the "how" disappears into a cloud of "chakras", "angel communication" and "Akashic records".

Supposedly, though, zircon has the property to cleanse the astral body, the mind, and past lives of undesirable prejudices and promotes universal, unconditional love. It apparently does this just by existing and being in proximity with a person. Ironically, sometimes zircon has radioactive impurities, so while it's healing you mentally, it's also giving you radiation.  

[Yanueh]

AniMajor

Really, though, the reason I have issues with crystal dictionaries and things is because the properties really seem randomly assigned, contradictory, and so generic that they don't make sense.

I've noticed that, too. It makes me wonder how anyone takes using crystals for anything except decoration seriously.

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When looking at properties of rocks beyond physical, chemical, and occasionally electrical, the "how" disappears into a cloud of "chakras", "angel communication" and "Akashic records".

Not to mention the "vibrational levels." gonk  

[Scathefyre]

Can anyone tell me about visual healing/mental healing? Is there any books or resources on it? What are your feelings about healing through magic/energy/visual-mental thought? I am curious.

Why do some people advise those who have mental illness like depression, bi-polar and and so on to not carry out magical/mental/enegry workings? What if your illness is under control? What are people who are mentally ill to do if they feel they cannot follow the're path because they are unwell?  

[Deoridhe]

EmeraldLadder

Can anyone tell me about visual healing/mental healing?

What is this, exactly?

EmeraldLadder

Why do some people advise those who have mental illness like depression, bi-polar and and so on to not carry out magical/mental/enegry workings? What if your illness is under control? What are people who are mentally ill to do if they feel they cannot follow the're path because they are unwell?

Well firstly, hopefully one's "path" is more than magical and energy workings.

Secondly, it really depends on what you're doing. With severe enough depression, you won't be doing much of anything without medical help. Bi-polar might, depending on the phase you're in, disrupt your ability to do much of anything. Some personality disorders seem to express themselves through claimed magical ability. Etc...

Thirdly, defining mental illness has become increasingly difficult as the standards for what is mentally healthy become narrower and narrower. I don't know what assumptions you have going into defining a mental illness, but those deserve some scrutiny.  

[Brass Bell Doll]

My guess is that people who feel that magic is primarily a mental activity, or relies on a great deal of mental training, mental sensitivity and mental fortitude would consider it challenging and dangerous enough for people who are able to function "normally", let alone someone who would have the hurdles that may come with a disadvantage that a mental illness could provide.  

[Scathefyre]

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Deoridhe

EmeraldLadder

Can anyone tell me about visual healing/mental healing?

What is this, exactly?

Sorry it's hard for me to describe things. I don't often speak to other people, I don't know if I can put it any better then that. I would guess the closest thing I could think of was some folk magic I read about, kind of like healing with crystals but without the crystals part, sounded a lot like a visual form of performing healing. I have tried to look up more along those lines but all I come up with are bunch of new age healers who charge people money and don't talk about how it works so much.

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EmeraldLadder

Why do some people advise those who have mental illness like depression, bi-polar and and so on to not carry out magical/mental/enegry workings? What if your illness is under control? What are people who are mentally ill to do if they feel they cannot follow the're path because they are unwell?

Well firstly, hopefully one's "path" is more than magical and energy workings.

Of course, sometimes I feel weird because I am more interested in reading about and meditating on my beliefs then I am interested in magic, I'm just curious.

Quote:

Secondly, it really depends on what you're doing. With severe enough depression, you won't be doing much of anything without medical help. Bi-polar might, depending on the phase you're in, disrupt your ability to do much of anything. Some personality disorders seem to express themselves through claimed magical ability. Etc...

Thirdly, defining mental illness has become increasingly difficult as the standards for what is mentally healthy become narrower and narrower. I don't know what assumptions you have going into defining a mental illness, but those deserve some scrutiny.

I haven't thought to long on what I personally define as mental illness, I only know that for me "depression" was a struggle for years. I was assuming that the people who made that statement meant anyone who was diagnosed with a mental disorder label by a psychiatrist or anyone who knew without a doubt they had a disorder.

I would maybe define mental illness as anything that isn't just a passing problem that causes major hindrance to your life and personal comfort and is outside of your control, mentally-wise.

 

[Brass Bell Doll]

EmeraldLadder

Sorry it's hard for me to describe things. I don't often speak to other people, I don't know if I can put it any better then that. I would guess the closest thing I could think of was some folk magic I read about, kind of like healing with crystals but without the crystals part, sounded a lot like a visual form of performing healing. I have tried to look up more along those lines but all I come up with are bunch of new age healers who charge people money and don't talk about how it works so much.

If I were to ask for a session, what kind of things would happen from the moment I walked in through the door? Perhaps describing this would help.

I was also wondering if there was a reason you mentioned them charging for their services.  

[aoijea23487]

EmeraldLadder

Can anyone tell me about visual healing/mental healing? Is there any books or resources on it? What are your feelings about healing through magic/energy/visual-mental thought? I am curious.

Why do some people advise those who have mental illness like depression, bi-polar and and so on to not carry out magical/mental/enegry workings? What if your illness is under control? What are people who are mentally ill to do if they feel they cannot follow the're path because they are unwell?

Personally, I think "visual healing" is just a bunch of wishful thinking and does not accomplish much except more or less brainwash yourself to perceive the world a certain way. My Gard coven and I read a book called Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain that was so awful that I considered modifying the contents of my eye sockets with a rusty fork. The only information I found useful was clarifying visualization in relation to the power of your will and directing it somewhere, but that ties into my own particular conception of magic as quite mechanical.

People who have mental illnesses are sometimes considered to have mucked up energy and most of all a skewed perception of the world. Mania and depression can get so bad that the person experiencing them has a very unrealistic worldview. I'd say that paranoia and psychosis (both delusional and hallucinogenic), as well as a variety of other issues, are detrimental to understanding the world clearly enough to create a certain change outside oneself.

As someone who has had clinical/major depression, have been considered for Bipolar II, has mild psychosis (almost all visual hallucinations, rarely audio and no delusions to my knowledge), anxiety, and a few other things, I can tell you from experience that what I sometimes think is happening is not actually happening. I would not perform magic while "under the influence" of mental illness as I would drive a car after drinking.  

[Deoridhe]

EmeraldLadder

Deoridhe

EmeraldLadder

Can anyone tell me about visual healing/mental healing?

What is this, exactly?

I would guess the closest thing I could think of was some folk magic I read about, kind of like healing with crystals but without the crystals part, sounded a lot like a visual form of performing healing. I have tried to look up more along those lines but all I come up with are bunch of new age healers who charge people money and don't talk about how it works so much.

Well, some of the "magic" they do might be Reiki - which is a lineaged form of energy healing. I've been shown a few others - like brushing auras with your palms - at conferences, but where it largely flourishes is in the New Age Community because it's a low effort/high return process in general, with the payment of money standing in lieu of effort.

EmeraldLadder

Of course, sometimes I feel weird because I am more interested in reading about and meditating on my beliefs then I am interested in magic, I'm just curious.

I would suggest that you practice what you are drawn too until you feel it as a solid core, rather than to try to seek out what other people tell you that you should. Listen to their advice, by all means, but in the end the person building your beliefs are you, not anyone else.

EmeraldLadder

I haven't thought to long on what I personally define as mental illness, I only know that for me "depression" was a struggle for years. I was assuming that the people who made that statement meant anyone who was diagnosed with a mental disorder label by a psychiatrist or anyone who knew without a doubt they had a disorder.

Well, depression has been misused to a certain extent to mean "really sad." People become "really sad" due to situations and they need to deal with those situations and integrate the grief into their new self-image so they can move forward emotionally. US culture encourages people to move on before they have integrated the new emotions, which can lead to a depression underpinned by an emotional cause/trauma. Once the emotions are resolved, the depression can lift (I had that sort of clinical/major depression, fwiw).

Other kinds of depression are, near as we can tell, caused by the brain. They are depressions for no reason - a feeling of greyness, a flatness of affect, etc... Both kinds of depression can be treated with medication and ECT - one is more of a lifelong treatment while the other is resolvable with enough effort.

EmeraldLadder

I would maybe define mental illness as anything that isn't just a passing problem that causes major hindrance to your life and personal comfort and is outside of your control, mentally-wise.

That's pretty accurate, by and large. Normal situations can cause those, though, so it's important to remember mental illness is more like the colds and flus everyone gets rather than some sort of thing reserved only for a subset of humanity.  

[Scathefyre]

Quote:

EmeraldLadder

Can anyone tell me about visual healing/mental healing? Is there any books or resources on it? What are your feelings about healing through magic/energy/visual-mental thought? I am curious.

Why do some people advise those who have mental illness like depression, bi-polar and and so on to not carry out magical/mental/enegry workings? What if your illness is under control? What are people who are mentally ill to do if they feel they cannot follow the're path because they are unwell?

Personally, I think "visual healing" is just a bunch of wishful thinking and does not accomplish much except more or less brainwash yourself to perceive the world a certain way. My Gard coven and I read a book called Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain that was so awful that I considered modifying the contents of my eye sockets with a rusty fork. The only information I found useful was clarifying visualization in relation to the power of your will and directing it somewhere, but that ties into my own particular conception of magic as quite mechanical.

What do you mean exactly when you say brainwash?

Quote:

People who have mental illnesses are sometimes considered to have mucked up energy and most of all a skewed perception of the world. Mania and depression can get so bad that the person experiencing them has a very unrealistic worldview. I'd say that paranoia and psychosis (both delusional and hallucinogenic), as well as a variety of other issues, are detrimental to understanding the world clearly enough to create a certain change outside oneself.

As someone who has had clinical/major depression, have been considered for Bipolar II, has mild psychosis (almost all visual hallucinations, rarely audio and no delusions to my knowledge), anxiety, and a few other things, I can tell you from experience that what I sometimes think is happening is not actually happening. I would not perform magic while "under the influence" of mental illness as I would drive a car after drinking.

Yes, when I am depressed I take care of myself as if I have a cold and wait it out. I can see where the skewed perception thing comes from, I know it would be unwise of me to preform magic while I was in a depression.  

[Scathefyre]

Brass Bell Doll

EmeraldLadder

Sorry it's hard for me to describe things. I don't often speak to other people, I don't know if I can put it any better then that. I would guess the closest thing I could think of was some folk magic I read about, kind of like healing with crystals but without the crystals part, sounded a lot like a visual form of performing healing. I have tried to look up more along those lines but all I come up with are bunch of new age healers who charge people money and don't talk about how it works so much.

If I were to ask for a session, what kind of things would happen from the moment I walked in through the door? Perhaps describing this would help.

I would imagine they might make you lie down, and perhaps lay their hands on you, and maybe they would visualize things but I would not personally know what, or use some kind of tools they own, possibly asking their deities to help with the processes – or anything similar in nature. The ways of healing through magic in different cultures would be interesting to read. But I never can find anything like this in books or would know really what to look up.

Like I said I'm curious, I've never been able to find much on the subject.

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I was also wondering if there was a reason you mentioned them charging for their services.

No, it was just all I remember I found for pages on Google when I tried to look it up.  

[Scathefyre]

Deoridhe

EmeraldLadder

Deoridhe

EmeraldLadder

Can anyone tell me about visual healing/mental healing?

What is this, exactly?

I would guess the closest thing I could think of was some folk magic I read about, kind of like healing with crystals but without the crystals part, sounded a lot like a visual form of performing healing. I have tried to look up more along those lines but all I come up with are bunch of new age healers who charge people money and don't talk about how it works so much.

Well, some of the "magic" they do might be Reiki - which is a lineaged form of energy healing. I've been shown a few others - like brushing auras with your palms - at conferences, but where it largely flourishes is in the New Age Community because it's a low effort/high return process in general, with the payment of money standing in lieu of effort.

Thank you I will look up Reiki, I have heard about it before and I have actually forgotten it until you just mentioned it, thanks.

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EmeraldLadder

Of course, sometimes I feel weird because I am more interested in reading about and meditating on my beliefs then I am interested in magic, I'm just curious.

I would suggest that you practice what you are drawn too until you feel it as a solid core, rather than to try to seek out what other people tell you that you should. Listen to their advice, by all means, but in the end the person building your beliefs are you, not anyone else.

I have a hard time doing this, I haven't really found much in the way of something that really calls to me, except "shamanism" (but that's not really the correct term for it) and while it feels right it also feels wrong, like I feel I would make a mockery of it or something, and it feels weird using shamanism as a general term, but even Wikipedia does it, and I can find no other general word for it.

Honestly, I have trouble practicing because I always feel I am wrong, doing something wrong - believing wrong - etc. My fears get in the way of my intuition or going anywhere. So I read a lot, look up a lot and reflect on everything a bit but in the end I just don't utilize anything and I frustrate myself - but I don't want to mess up anything either.

I also like studying the runes and Norse mythology but I don't always agree with everything in it.

Quote:

EmeraldLadder

I haven't thought to long on what I personally define as mental illness, I only know that for me "depression" was a struggle for years. I was assuming that the people who made that statement meant anyone who was diagnosed with a mental disorder label by a psychiatrist or anyone who knew without a doubt they had a disorder.

Well, depression has been misused to a certain extent to mean "really sad." People become "really sad" due to situations and they need to deal with those situations and integrate the grief into their new self-image so they can move forward emotionally. US culture encourages people to move on before they have integrated the new emotions, which can lead to a depression underpinned by an emotional cause/trauma. Once the emotions are resolved, the depression can lift (I had that sort of clinical/major depression, fwiw).

Other kinds of depression are, near as we can tell, caused by the brain. They are depressions for no reason - a feeling of greyness, a flatness of affect, etc... Both kinds of depression can be treated with medication and ECT - one is more of a lifelong treatment while the other is resolvable with enough effort.

I get the feeling of grayness and sometimes I feel like the walking dead, I think I might have what they call S.A.D because for the warmer half of the year I'm good but I can't know for sure, I didn't stick around therapy long after I was diagnosed with depression - they really wanted me to stay on medication but I couldn't deal with pills on any level, so I learned to take care of myself instead.

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EmeraldLadder

I would maybe define mental illness as anything that isn't just a passing problem that causes major hindrance to your life and personal comfort and is outside of your control, mentally-wise.

Quote:

That's pretty accurate, by and large. Normal situations can cause those, though, so it's important to remember mental illness is more like the colds and flus everyone gets rather than some sort of thing reserved only for a subset of humanity.

I realize that, my mom said she went through a period of depression before me and my sister were born but it didn't last forever, and it can happen for certain reasons and so on and then be resolved, mine doesn't seem to go away no matter how deep I look into myself or don't look at all I've tried that way to, and round and round. I have been thinking of moving to a warmer climate someday though.  

[AniMajor]

In Thelema, or other Ceremonial-type magic, how are rituals closed? Is there a special post-ritual ritual?