Greetings,
You raise an interesting question mogg. Are the astral and the virtual
the same? Some say the astral is the space of our imaginations, which
might tend to suggest that these two could be the same. However others
say that the astral is another plane that we can access, which might
suggest the opposite. I'd be very interested to hear what people think
the astral is and how it compares to the virtual...

Regards,

Morgan Leigh
PhD Candidate
School of Social Sciences
University of Tasmania




On 10/12/2013 8:48 PM, mandrake wrote:
> On 10/12/2013 02:53, Morgan Leigh wrote:
> 
> Interesting discussion on FB about whether "astral" initiations work:
> 
> 
> http://nick-farrell.blogspot.com/2013/12/golden-dawn-astral-initiation-rituals.html
> 
> 
> and
> 
> 
> http://magicoftheordinary.wordpress.com/2011/01/04/astral-initiation/
> 
> perhaps your work relevant to this debate too?
> 
> 
> mogg morgan
>> Greetings,
>> When I started my PhD research about magical practice in virtual worlds
>> I got a lot of criticism from the academy that it wasn't a real
>> endeavour, but rather some kind of cute, pretend thing that the younger
>> generation was mucking around with that wasn't worthy of our attention.
>> Essentially that it was 'just a game'. Having spent five years doing
>> rituals in virtual worlds I am now in a position to say that rituals can
>> be excellently effectual in virtual worlds and though, for some, these
>> worlds are 'just a game', for others they are the foundation of strong
>> community and real religious activity. This understanding would have
>> been impossible without doing the thing.
>>
>> The way rituals are done in virtual worlds is quite particularly
>> different to meatspace rituals and it is only by performing those
>> rituals in a virtual space that one learns how the virtual mechanics
>> work and how to increase their efficacy. Building interactive props, not
>> dissimilar  to the technohoodie, is on of those ways. You can't
>> stimulate all the senses in virtual space, there is no sense of smell
>> for example, so you have to work out ways to increase sensory
>> stimulation to compensate for that loss.
>>
>> The main thing virtual rituals teach one though is to consider more
>> widely the nature of the real and not get hung up on things being 'not
>> real'. The ancient Egyptian conception of effectiveness is useful in
>> this case. A good thing is an effective thing. Don't worry about real or
>> not real, but rather see what works and go with it.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Morgan Leigh
>> PhD Candidate
>> School of Social Sciences
>> University of Tasmania
>>
>>
>>
>> On 10/12/2013 3:40 AM, Pitch313 wrote:
>>> Aloha,
>>>
>>> On Sun, 08 Dec 2013 21:48:21 -0800, Morgan Leigh <[log in to unmask]>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Greetings,
>>>> I was made - see http://hyperritual.com/blog/technomancer-hoodie/ I
>>>> like
>>>> the idea but its a bit ugly imho.
>>> Honestly, I think that this example of clothing that casts magic spells
>>> shows
>>> us a different vector of occultural learning/practice that I, for one,
>>> do not
>>> quite know what to make of. The technomage hoodie provides feedback on
>>> the practitioner's posture/gesture/performance--so that the spell is
>>> accomplished when the practitioner behaves according to the clothing's
>>> parameters.
>>>
>>> Conceivably, a Lodge or Trad or School could encoded the postures/
>>> gestures/performances that characterize its magical outlook into the
>>> clothing,
>>> and use that encoded clothing to pass along its style and outlook.
>>>
>>> Or the clothing might accomplish something else magical that I haven't
>>> imagined.
>>>
>>> I shared the technomage hoodie holding it to be a sort of stagey
>>> accessory.
>>> But I can envision it (and similar such clothing) as having
>>> possibilities for
>>> innovation and the formation of postmodern magical outlooks and
>>> organizations.
>>>
>>> (OK! An example. Here in the USA we hold Pagan Pride Days with parades
>>> and festivities. A groups of practitioners wearing technomage hoodies
>>> marches
>>> in the parade, performing choreographed spells that they have learned
>>> from
>>> wearing their encoded clothing.)
>>>
>>> Musing I Suppose That We Ought To Wear Techno-Magical Clothing
>>> That Does Effective Magic With Us! Rose,
>>>
>>> Pitch
>>>
>>>
>>