His politics piss me off, but when it comes to magic and the occult, Thomas is interesting.
https://youtu.be/zlvFuFzKF-A
Thomas Sheridan | How to practice magic in the 21st century
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atreestump
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kFoyauextlH
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Re: Thomas Sheridan | How to practice magic in the 21st century
What are his politics?
There appears to me to be no real way to distinguish between magic and religion or even science. The book Arcana Mundi as well as White Magic Black Magic seem to make it clear that academics have not finalized any distinction really between magical activity and religious activity though they have tried and furthermore that magical and ritualistic procedures were the forerunner to modern science.
The best politics are ethical and in favor of healing and helping anything and everything in our environment to make for a better world.
In many cases, magic seemed to be an anticipator of scientific realities which made magical dreams and wishes all the more possible and regular. In this same way, heaven and hell may also be achieved and many other things which have been anticipated or dreamed of.
In the case of magic and magical procedures they appear in ancient times largely indistinguishable from prayers and then again from taboos and superstitions.
Many of the complex seeming material rituals appear to be symbolic operations and convoluted representative events which say things through images and actions obscured by their immediate sense and left for subconcious understanding or not to be understood at all.
In many cases it was believed the divine spoke through mystical happenings and correspondences and so these sorts of measures may have been taken to "talk back" in the symbolic and mystical language of actions and events and objects.
There was some debate between how magic is conducted or even how prayers are answered. The main contenders were God or a Singular Master Power sometimes called the Devil, Spirits or Gods or Daemons all the same meaning a variety of beings generally of the same sort, or The World or Nature of things which was a belief in something akin to a system or Universal physics. These also can be combined or all selected and claimed simultaneously as one or as a combination of shared components such as a little science or nature and a little spirit activity and a little God or Devil control or help or influence.
Hey so far on the older browser no lag while typing this!
There appears to me to be no real way to distinguish between magic and religion or even science. The book Arcana Mundi as well as White Magic Black Magic seem to make it clear that academics have not finalized any distinction really between magical activity and religious activity though they have tried and furthermore that magical and ritualistic procedures were the forerunner to modern science.
The best politics are ethical and in favor of healing and helping anything and everything in our environment to make for a better world.
In many cases, magic seemed to be an anticipator of scientific realities which made magical dreams and wishes all the more possible and regular. In this same way, heaven and hell may also be achieved and many other things which have been anticipated or dreamed of.
In the case of magic and magical procedures they appear in ancient times largely indistinguishable from prayers and then again from taboos and superstitions.
Many of the complex seeming material rituals appear to be symbolic operations and convoluted representative events which say things through images and actions obscured by their immediate sense and left for subconcious understanding or not to be understood at all.
In many cases it was believed the divine spoke through mystical happenings and correspondences and so these sorts of measures may have been taken to "talk back" in the symbolic and mystical language of actions and events and objects.
There was some debate between how magic is conducted or even how prayers are answered. The main contenders were God or a Singular Master Power sometimes called the Devil, Spirits or Gods or Daemons all the same meaning a variety of beings generally of the same sort, or The World or Nature of things which was a belief in something akin to a system or Universal physics. These also can be combined or all selected and claimed simultaneously as one or as a combination of shared components such as a little science or nature and a little spirit activity and a little God or Devil control or help or influence.
Hey so far on the older browser no lag while typing this!
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atreestump
- Posts: 642
- Joined: Sun Jun 15, 2025 3:53 pm
Re: Thomas Sheridan | How to practice magic in the 21st century
What are his politics?
He pretty much spews all of the stuff you expect from alt-right talking points, anti-feminism, pro-anarcho capitalism and without a historical context.
There appears to me to be no real way to distinguish between magic and religion or even science. The book Arcana Mundi as well as White Magic Black Magic seem to make it clear that academics have not finalized any distinction really between magical activity and religious activity though they have tried and furthermore that magical and ritualistic procedures were the forerunner to modern science.
To me, magic has two meanings:
[list=1]
[*]Performance magic
[*]Using symbols to create changes in the physical world
[/list]
Religion is the binding of many different beliefs in God or Gods into a hierarchical organization.
Whereas science, or to be more specific, natural science, is the use of the scientific method which can falsify hypotheses in order to come up with a theory about reality that has the fewest possible assumptions and the highest possible predictability.
That is what most academics would generally agree upon.
There was some debate between how magic is conducted or even how prayers are answered.
I was recently interested in this, there are two different models:
[list=1]
[*]Petition and response
[*]Stillness and Mindfulness (Hesychasm)
[/list]
Hey so far on the older browser no lag while typing this!
I will be honest, I am experiencing a few bugs when quoting.