OK, I got an urge to make stuff, so I made images for all the Trigrams used in the I Ching, with a color scheme of my own design.

Since things have been slow here, I figured I'd toss something out to get people's attention and I ask a cultural question - how often do your icons relate to your occult practices?

( Here they areCollapse )

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Magickal Systems as Adaptive Tools
In reading Pema Chodron's book "No Exit", Pema, a Buddist, spoke of one of her teachers who proposed a simple outlook:
1)View yourself always in a sacred space
2)Everything that enters that space is going to teach you something. Even if it's awful.
2a) You might as well take the attitude in #2 because whatever shows up probably isn't going away anyway.

It struck me that this mindset actually reminded me of a lot of the mentality created by the assertive use of a magical symbol/organizational system, such as the eight trigrams or the Tree of Life. A constent sense of context, of things-in-their-place, provides the ability to classify and learn from events and occurances, even horrible ones.

In Chodron's case, she noted the stress-releiving qualities of her "teacher" mindset. This made me wonder if any of the magical mindsets appeared to reduce stress.

I myself am experimenting with using the Chinese concepts of yin/yang and the eight trigrams, "stepping inside" them for about six months. I have found that this mindset, a sense of organization, really does help me understand things and reduce stress. It gives context and interpretation.

Any thoughts?

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Sigils as forms of Psychological Alteration
We all know about sigils (and to an extent, probably have heard WAY too much of them by now). I myself use them, but mainly for personal uses - I find they're psychological alterers par excellance. Stop smoking. Loose weight. Remembering something.

The basic idea, of course, is that one is able to compress a desire into a symbol and fire it off, driving it into the unconcious. When I began thinking over the concept, I figured that the most effective target would be the using mind itself.

I've found it quite effective, and have even noticed a pattern: in 1-3 days I suddenly recall the sigil. At that point the desired psychological change kicks in. The only sad part is they don't always last.

Any thoughts.

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How often do you get "off the magical groove"
Just a question - that could be worth deeper discussion - how often do you get off your "groove" - off your practice, meditation, spells, regular schedule, etc?

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Kicking an idea around
Based on previous conversations, I wanted to pose this question:
What non-magical models could one use for Tarot spreads or similar works. I figure we can do a whip-round here for ideas.

My ideas so far:
The Freudian idea of the Mind (one card for ID, one for Ego, one for Superego).

The Four Ego Functions of Jung (which'd be pretty easy to relate to the four elements, as we've seen).

The Jungian MBTI test, which I've also seen related (poorly) to the Minor Arcana.

Gardner's Multiple Intelligences. There's eight, and I've related them to the trigrams.

The major bodily systems - Neurological, Muscular, Skeletal, Epidermal, Digestive, Circulatory, Respiratory. (perhaps toss in Immune and/or lymphatic).

Any other thoughts? I'm compiling a list I figure I can pass around to others later - I assume that's acceptable in the rules of the community to take derived information?

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An interesting Tarot Deck
I wanted to share this with people
A friend's art project - he created the Major Arcana using fonts only. Based things on some of the GD/Crowley color concepts. A fascinating and interesting idea.

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Non-Magical Books you'd still reccomend
Just as a general conversation-starter, I wanted to propose this thread: books of a non-magic/mystic nature that are still useful to a practictioner of such techniques - history, science, psychology, medicine, for instance.

Ones that come to mind for me:
Maps of the Mind - Charles Hampden Turner - This compendium of psychology theories and their potential relations and similarities, really opened my eyes to different ways to concieve of the human mind, and finding relations among systems. Very influental in the way I think these days. Worth buying.

Biological Exhuberance - Bruce Bagemihl - A look at animal homosexuality and animal diversity. An odd title in this vein, but it was fascinating to read about sheer differences - and functions - of behavior. Made me re-examine how I think about sex and evolution.

Strange Relations - by Donna Kossy - A look at alternate theories of human origins. Fascinating on multiple levels, from how people think, to where ideas we see today come from.

"The Relaxation Response" - by Herbert Benson - A medical look at meditation and medical benefits. An odd, thin, kind of simplistic book, but it's a groundbreaker from 1975 and has had some influence on later thought. It's also quite simple and clear and sane. Unless you're really curious, get it from the library, it's a quick read.

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