How important is it to be emotionally and physically healthy when doing magick (or whatever you call it in your tradition. I.e. positive thinking, occult workings, etc)?

Does it have an impact on the outcome?

Well as a Necromancer I have to think evil and bad thoughts for my dark magic to work.

I think a positive attitude is vital, as negative thoughts can influence your subconsciousness and turn your spells or whatever you are doing in a directions you don't want.

I think it is of the utmost importance. If I am physically exhausted or ill I don't do magick as it drains me of the little energy I do have. The results generally fall flat.

And, if I am upset or angry in anyway I find the results of my magick are usually off. Like shooting an arrow - you are aiming at one thing and the arrow goes off, but I won't always hit my target and I get too many unintended consequences.

I believe that it's paramount.

Although, in truth, after last night I'm having a difficult time believing in anything positive.

What happened last night?

I hope it isn't too bad?

I watched the A&E Ancient Mysterious: Witches.

The burning times were far more horrid than even the Nazi Holocaust.

Far more horrid.

To think of all those innocent well-meaning midwives who were tortured without mercy by superstitious idiots is the most heartwenching thought.

It just tears away any faith in anything.

They published a horrid book that was basically on "How to accuse someone of being a witch". That book was second only to the Bible in popularity and it was totally believed in by the blind ignornant Christians of the day.

In that book they described how to relentlessly torture a woman into confessing that she was a witch. Many women were killed in the torturing process.

The book demanded that the torturers not look into the witch's eyes because they would be cursed. That just removed any chance of human compassion for the poor innocent victims who most likely didn't even know what witchcraft was much less practice it.

The fact that so many thousands of women were brutally tortured and mudered in this way in the name of "God" is just incomprehensible.

To think that any form of divine power would allow such atrocities to be carried out is just inconcievable.

Clearly the Christian God is a total farce!

If that God, which is supposed to have the power to intervene just stood by and allowed that to happen in his name then he would be worse than Satan himself.

Clearly the Christain God does not exist.

The burning times has proven that beyond any shadow of a doubt.

However, even the very though of any divine being standing by and allowing that to happen is hard to accept.

Even if we allow for a divine "Higher Self". How could even a divine higher self allow the perpatrators to carry out such horrific acts.

That wouldn't say much for the higher self even.

I mean, cleary even the higher self would be a totally powerless and meaningless concept in terms of any "Higher Power". If it has not POWER to prevent such astrocities, then it has no power at all.

Having watched that doctumentary truly causes me to lose faith in anything spiritual.

It makes me look at atheism in a whole new light.

Maybe all we truly are is scum growing on a rock.

How so many 'organized' and seemingly 'civilized' people could have carried out such horrid deeds in the name of a divine being is just incomprehensible to me.

That video has truly shattered my faith in humanity and in any inkling of anything existing that might even be remotely divine.

It also makes my own wants, needs, and desires seem totally trivial.

Why should any divine power help me do anything constructive or positive when it couldn't be there for those innocent midwives who were accused of being witches?

If the gods couldn't or wouldn't help them, then why should they help me with my petty problems?

The history of humanity just about invalidates any possibility of the existence of any divine power. Even in a form of a 'higher self'.

There is no justification for such heartless behavior.

I probably should have never watched that video. But then all I would be doing in that case is living in a make-believe bubble.

Hiding from truth would be a farce in itself.

It's truly hard to believe in any divine power after having watched that video.

James, I am so sorry that I suggested that video to you. Really. I should have given a warning with it. Please forgive me.

I know how horrific it is, but you know darn well that not everyone is not like this. Even if you dismiss the idea of a divine entity at all, you have to know that there are compassionate people out there who would die in someone else's place.

I am absolutely positive that there were many who worked to save these women just like there were many who worked, and in some cases sacrificed their lives, to save Jews during the Holocaust. Their stories are undoubtedly lost, probably never recorded. Please do not lose faith in all humanity because of the actions of some.

Thank you Ruth.

I haven't lost faith in all humanity. I know there are good people. There's no doubt in my mind of that.

I too, think that maybe I should have never watched that video. Ignorance can be bliss.

When I watched it I wasn't even thinking in terms of witches. Those women who were brutally tortured and burned to death most likely weren't even witches at all. Those poor women were midwives who merely wanted to help others.

I mean that's what makes it so hearless. Some of the most loving women in the world were brutally tortured and burned to death for having done nothing but try to help other people.

It's heart-wrenching.

The idea that humans could be so heartless is just hard to take.

The idea that they actually did this in the name of a God because of a stupid supersition that these women had soul their souls to the devil is even more difficult to believe.

I may not be here much longer. After watching that video I pretty much denounced Christianity on the GR forums cart blanch.

If I had any repsect at all left for the follows of that religion it has gone up in smoke.

It's just totally unjustifiable.

Superstition is all it is.

A belief in a Devil that's at war with God.

That was the PREMISE that drove the Burning Times.

That was the superstition that drove people to do horrific unspeakable things.

To realize that it's still alive and being proselytized today is unthinkable.

How can people not see the fallacy of such a godforsaken religion?

These people most likely have nothing else to cling to, it gives them a sense of self worth they would otherwise not have.
Without it they would be given to depression, alcoholism, and perhaps even worse. We should pity them, and perhaps even have compassion for them, they are lost souls in the true sense of the word.

Don't forget that people commit atrocities in the name of many things and many gods. The Aztecs killed thousands of people per day to keep the Sun God happy. It's not just Christians.

And, just in case you get booted off of here I'm emailing you my home email address. I'd hate to lose contact with you.

I understand that Ruth.

And I am calming down already. Thanks to the invisible witches who email me behind the scenes with kind words of encouragment.

Just the same though, the superstition that truly drove the witch burnings was the belief that there is a devil who is the enemy of God.

The witches were believed to have soul their soul to the devil.

Well, that's basically the same superstition that Christianity is keeping alive to this very day.

People believe that gays are possessed by the devil, and that scientists are doing the devil's work because they are finding things that contradict with "God's Word".

When doctors do stem cell research to find cures for disease they are doing the "devil's work".


Christianity is keeping this utterly insane superstition that a Demon exists who is at war with God and that anyone who isn't aligned with Christianity must then be aligned with the evil Demon!



That's the stupid superstition that was the cause of all those atrocities.

To think that it's still alive and well today just makes my skin crawl.

I'll get over it.

Actually, James, I agree with everything you wrote. Christianity does breed a strong intolerance that can easily turn violent and it is very scary.

I know this too Andrea.

I just wich Jesus could have been made into a God in his own right.

Having him nailed to the Old Testament is truly sad.

It's just a sad situation all the way around.

Even what happened to Jesus is sad. He denounced the violence and superstition of the Old Testament, and what happened?

He was nailed to a pole, and then used to prop up the Old Testament.

That's a sad story in and of itself.

You say: You wish Jesus was made into a God in his own right?

Why don't you try to do this.

Forget what the Bible says as it clearly contradicts itself.

Rewrite what Jesus was truly trying to do and create a new Bible that will shed a new light for those who are confused with the teachings of the Bible.

Call the religion "Jesuism" or something.

I must add if I had 30 years experience in the Bible and find mistakes in its teachings, I would take advantage to write about the human named Jesus - a brave rebel - who had a strong and scholarly mind into a book that will clarify the true meanings of what God meant.

It is just a suggestion and I probably already know your answer, which is "No". lol

For I know you have found a new love and rightfully so. May you enjoy witchcraft for it is a history worth learning about.

* Take out the good from the bad and make the great in the end - John

That was actually already done long before Jesus was ever born.

It's called "Buddhism".





Thanks John,

I may actually write some stuff on Tarot, Witchcraft, and Shamanism.

It will all be very practical and not presented as a religion. Possibly not even as spiritual at all.

All three of these concept have non-spiritual pragmatic value. There's no need to believe in anything supernatural to actually benefit from all three of these human concepts.

Clearly they can be extended to the supernatural. But just the same, all three of them could be practiced by the most pure atheist and they would still benefit from the practice of these ideas.

Any modern doctor will tell you that your emotions affect your health. That's no joke. And witchcraft is ulimately based on the energy of emotion. How far you want to take that before you consider it to be 'supernatural' is a matter of your own choosing.

So if I write a book on witchcraft that's where I would be coming from. I would begin with the obvious down-to-earth truths. And then urge the reader to push their boundaries to see where they believe the 'supernatural' to actually exist.

Same thing with shamanism.

Shamanism is truly nothing more than the art of learning how to dream methodically. It's a very practical thing. We all know that we can dream. It shouldn't be hard to believe that we can also affect what we dream about by consciously focusing and meditating on specific visions.

So again, how far can we take that before our dreams enter the realm of the supernatural?

Where's the boundary? Does there need to be a boundary? If we feel like we've met someone in our dreams and conversed with them and woke up with knowledge that we didn't have before. Was it just an epiphany of our own? Or was a supernatural communication involved?

Does even matter which is true?

Same with tarot. There are many practical uses for tarot. In fact there have be psychologists who have written books on how to use tarot in very practical ways.

They claim that by dealing out the cards and building up stories from this this can actually help you to organize your thoughts, your life and even your goals.

I've used it myself to get knew ideas when I've had writer's block or artist's block. It works to provide new ideas. Was that supernatural or just a very practical way to generate new thoughts?

You decide.

Push the limits of what you consider to be the supernatural.

If you can find a hard boundary then, hey, you've found something concrete!

If you can't,...


well, well, well,...


What then?


I should call the book, "Pragmatic Supernatural Boundaries for Hardcore Skeptics".

Look for it at your local bookstore.

Well make sure the first two chapters of that book you mention you would write will appeal to the reader okay (said sarcastically but joking)

That's why I never finish a book John.

I can never write the first two chapters in a way that I'm happy with.

I never got past the first chapter of "Hoofed Angels" for that very reason!

I am positive that you will find the niche of writing a good book one day. It requires some work though, but in the end the reward is big. The feeling to have completed something outstretches the feeling of "what if I did" instead.

You have great ideas for books and you should persue them.

John Updike wrote a great many novels. He is like Charles Dic'kens having wrote over a 100 novels. How they do it, I don't know. I guess they just type 24/7 and have a secretary to feed them while typing

yet I learned that John Updike now at a tender age cannot type anymore and has trouble seeing. He now tells his stories on a recorder and then lets someone else type it for him.

I think it is a good idea for even a younger man like me to do. It saves me from having to figure out how to type my book. I just talk on the recorder and give it to a professional typist who has knowledge in making books sound good.

In all honesty my lazyiness is talking at the moment

In the end isn't that how many of the superstars do it today. I am sure O.J. Simpson didn't write his books - I could be wrong. He simply told it and had someone else write it. A ghostwriter so to say

Just ideas fumbling through my mind. I am sure writing it yourself can also be rewarding.

Sorry Ruth for being off topic. I mean you no disrespect on the question you ask for this thread