On the Subject of Magic

[omimouse]

Okay. I am Pagan. I believe in magic.

Simple statements, right? Explaining those statements gets very complex, very quick.

See, I believe in magic. I do not believe that I can throw a fireball at you and have you physically notice it. Sure, I can call an axe of energy into my hands, all bright and beautiful, with flames and light flowing along its blade. It won't get the firewood chopped. Most folks will more than likely never be able to see or feel it.

It will, however, do interesting things on a non-physical level. And, if I manage to land a blow on someone who is sensitive with it, they'll probably notice it.

Magic is real. It is also a subtle thing. Give someone who has an affinity for the weather a few months, and they can probably gently convince storm systems to build just so, and get lightning to strike in a generalized area. Throw a lightning bolt across a mall. Sure, but it won't affect anything on a physical level, let alone be visible.

Magic is an art form and a science, all in one. The boundaries of this world and those that border on it are thinner than most people realize, but it is the thinness of adamantine: As thick as a single tissue, yet impossibly strong. Magic is the art of coaxing portals in the walls that separate our world from others.

Magic is pulling energy from that which is around you. Walk into a field, and pull strength from the ground under you. Feel the resonance and power in the audience when you are listening to the Philharmonic Orchestra give its all. Channel the power of your own anger when you are enraged.

Yet none of this is physical. I feel the spirits and fey that inhabit my land, but I cannot see them. A dragon sleeps under my ridgetop, but you will never find him, no matter how deep you dig. I have wings, great feathered spans of colour, but my body cannot fly under its own power.

And yet some of this is physical. Things go missing in our house, and we will search for days, only to find whatever it was in a spot that we searched a dozen times over. My back muscles twinge and pull if I catch a wing in a door. Ebon literally radiates cold when he is enraged. Every day, I hear or read stories about true miracles, things that have happened that cannot be explained in any way, shape, or fashion.

How does one draw the line? I am an empath. Do I truly feel the emotions of those around me? Or am I so very skilled at reading body language that I can imagine how those around me feel with incredible accuracy? What is 'real', and what is 'magic'?

Open invitation to discussion. This is something that I've been wanting to get a chance to just talk with folks about for a while.

Comments

Contact Lens

[cristovau.livejournal.com]

During my visit I lost a contact lens. I had tried to take it out and put it in the case, but I wasn't sure I grabbed it or managed to put it away properly. The next day it wasn't in my eye or the case and I was extremely frustrated. I looked all over for it then wrote it up as lost.

However, before we left I rubbed my eyes and swish, the contact lens slipped back in place. I had searched in my eye for it without success, really I had. While I've had things go missing in echoes of laughter before, I never had someone take something from my eyes. You've got some playful fey down in your neck of the woods. Just one more reason your household is so wonderful.

[terriblelynne.livejournal.com]

I have wondered that a lot about empaths. I have had a few people around me who claimed to be strong empaths who were very wrong about their impressions of my feelings and intentions. I'm not at all a skeptic, I also believe very much in magick and am pagan, but I often wonder how often people merely see what they want to see...

[omimouse.livejournal.com]

It's very easy to blind yourself, as I have learned the hard way.

I've been told that my moods are particularly infectious, both good and bad. For me, it's more an added sense. Emotions have shades and flavours, and pinning them down is not always easy. The longer I've known someone, the more familiar I am with how their different moods 'taste.' The problem for me is figuring out which emotions are mine and which aren't.

[terriblelynne.livejournal.com]

Now THAT is something I've heard many an empath say, especially those who dislike crowds/large cities, that they can't tell which emotions are actually theirs and which are, well, atmospheric. I often wonder if the fact that I'm not as sensitive, or at least, not as negatively sensitive, to such things makes me some sort of psychic idiot.

[ebonunicorn.livejournal.com]

No one is a psychic idiot. Some are merely less informed by their surroundings.

Chaos Mages "R" Us

[terriblelynne.livejournal.com]

*snort* Thanks.

[omimouse.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think it makes you really lucky. My empathy has helped me too much in some pretty difficult situations for me to wish it gone, but I would like to be able to walk through a mall without haveing to shield quite so blasted heavily. Then again, my ties to the land have always been stronger than my ties to people in general, so cities and crowds don't bother me too much.

Driving past a strip-mined area though, quite literally had me in hysterical tears for ten minutes. When they poison the plants off of the phone and power lines around here, I hide inside the house for about a week or so if I have a choice in the matter. Even then, I feel down and have headaches.

There are nice things to being an empath, sure. It also means that I try really hard to have those around me feeling content so that my moods don't flip-flop all over the place.

[terriblelynne.livejournal.com]

I do like definitely knowing that my emotions are mine, and being aware that the other person I'm in the room with is in some kind of funk, not me. I don't get anything that deep off strangers/innocent bystanders.
I don't think I'm thorougly without psychic gifts, really, but people seem to put so much stock into empathy. I think that I just question anything I perceive very heavily because I'm pretty sure I have NLD (nonverbal learning disorder) and therefore I don't have an easy time picking up body language or indirect communication, let alone things ever more subtle than that.

I _do_ get good vibes/bad vibes from people almost instantaneously. I do tend to notice small children (and actually think my empathic sense is stronger around them than anyone else) and folks who I don't think are on this plane more than most of the folks I'm around.

I'm a very urban pagan, but I like to think I'm a responsible urban pagan. I recycle dutifully, eat as many whole foods as possible (so I;m not eating processed stuff and, more importantly, not eating stuff with packaging that's going to need throwing out), and am generally not wasteful or destructive. Mother Nature is just not very handicapped accessible...I have issues with heat, rough terrain, and ease of transportation/independence (since I can't drive), and I've therefore simply been unable to commune with nature the way other pagans do so much. I identify with hearth and home deities and kitchen witchery the most. :-)

[sidhebird.livejournal.com]

Hmm.. NLD. I wonder if you are "sensitive" and you just block *really* hard. The thought occured when you said you feel more empathic around kids (less threatening?).

I tend to use the word sensitive over empathic because there are so many definitions for empathic.

..who claimed to be strong empaths who were very wrong about their impressions of my feelings and intentions..

And just because someone feels something strongly, doesn't mean they identify it right. ;) Empathy is feeling emotions, telepathy is knowing the reasons behind them (and thus the details). Well, not exactly, but you get the idea..

[sidhebird.livejournal.com]

Ebon literally radiates cold when he is enraged

Hmm.. Steve's skin buzzes when he is.. far off center. (His anxiety is strong then, and he is prone to.. defensiveness.)

I think my skin used to vibrate when reality felt particularly surreal and scary-out-of-control. (I know the buzzing was really loud in my head at those times -- to the point where I literally could almost not hear someone shouting.)

[elialshadowpine]

Magic is pulling energy from that which is around you. Walk into a field, and pull strength from the ground under you. Feel the resonance and power in the audience when you are listening to the Philharmonic Orchestra give its all. Channel the power of your own anger when you are enraged.

Or dance in the rain during a thunderstorm, or touch a candle's flame ... I'm a fire and lightning critter, and I find it difficult to ground in the earth. I find more energy, strength, and stability when I ground to flames, which probably says something about me. :P

When I'm angry, unless there is magical work that needs to be done (for example, my ex-fiance left scattered sentient accretions in the walls of the house. They were mostly inactive and dormant, but every so often they'd flare active. I was their main focus and they tried to attack me on occasion), I usually pour the anger into something productive, like my writing.


Yet none of this is physical. I feel the spirits and fey that inhabit my land, but I cannot see them. A dragon sleeps under my ridgetop, but you will never find him, no matter how deep you dig. I have wings, great feathered spans of colour, but my body cannot fly under its own power.

A dragon god has taken interest in me and hangs out over the house. I have a small dragon, a turtle, and a lizard for familiars, along with an insanely mouthy goddess-sent cat. My girlfriend and housemate are dragons and the wings come out on occasion.

So, yeah, I'm quite familiar with the phenomenon you're describing. :)


And yet some of this is physical. Things go missing in our house, and we will search for days, only to find whatever it was in a spot that we searched a dozen times over. My back muscles twinge and pull if I catch a wing in a door. Ebon literally radiates cold when he is enraged. Every day, I hear or read stories about true miracles, things that have happened that cannot be explained in any way, shape, or fashion.

Okay, so it's not just me who has things disappear. Growing up, things would constantly disappear. Once, my father was making coffee, and had the bag out on the breadboard which slid out of the counters. He turned around to talk to me, turned back, it was gone.

We looked everywhere. The cupboards, the counters, the floor, the freezer, the fridge, the garage, the pantry ... he and I were the only ones in the room ... we finally gave up, came back in the kitchen, and there was the coffee ... right on the breadboard.

Here, we've had things disappear like crazy. We still haven't found the two 25lb bags of sugar, bank card, and dildo that the household gremlins took off with ...

Yes. You read that right.


How does one draw the line? I am an empath. Do I truly feel the emotions of those around me? Or am I so very skilled at reading body language that I can imagine how those around me feel with incredible accuracy? What is 'real', and what is 'magic'?

I'm an empath. I used to be where I would feel the emotions of people around me, and it was very difficult for me to go outside the house. Crowds were near impossible. I couldn't handle them. I'd get literal headaches.

I worked on shielding and it's a lot easier now. While I'm still very good at telling what people are feeling, it no longer controls me. It did at one point.