Finding your Path

[chowderpope]

As I'm sure many of you can relate, I have been researching various paths in religion/magick for years but I haven't cemented my commitment to any particular paths at this point. I've studied everything from Martinism to Hoodoo to Chinese internal alchemy, and I appreciate them all individually, but I read someone said that in order to be initiated, you should follow one path, otherwise you will not make serious progress. By that they meant you should follow that one path as far as you can, rather than just taking baby steps down multiple paths.

I have some books on western esotericism and ceremonial magick, and I think this may be the most comprehensive system I've come across for the performance of magick and spiritual growth. It also seems to be a good system for self-initiation. So I'm going to commit to studying that for a while, and see how it goes.

I guess the reason I made this thread is to share my confusion and see what others have to say about that.

How did you find your path? Why does your path work well for you? Do you have any advice for people like me who aren't sure which paradigm to adopt?

[Desecrated]

1. How did you find your path?
2. Why does your path work well for you?
3. Do you have any advice for people like me who aren't sure which paradigm to adopt?

1. I kinda stumbled upon it. I think most of us get interest in the "occult" and try to study everything and try out things from different tradition, but after a while some thing just felt more natural to me than others.

2. It connects with me on several different layers. Some stuff that I might find very interesting like Japanese Shintoism also feels very distant to me. It's about gods in another land in another language from another time and I have no ancestors, no ties, no history or really no future with that paradigm.
I will still continue to study about it, and it's good to compare with my own path. But it isn't my path.
My path, is my land, with my gods, with my ancestors, with my history. Being able to go out and actually touch stuff instead of just reading about it in a book makes it a lot more personal for me.

3. Try it all until something sticks.

I studied Kabbalah for a long time and I still need to learn more about it, but it's not something I use in my daily practice. There is some magic I study because I need to know it, and there is some magic I study because I want to know it. It is possible to have magic both as a work, and as a hobby.

And if you can't find any system that speaks out to you, just create your own. Your brain, your magick.

[Gate]

I got schooled on another forum on this very topic lol.

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Link removed due to said forum requiring registration to read the topic responses.

We don't mind linking to publically viewable content elsewhere, but as this forum is not viewable unless signed up for, please don't link it here again.

[chowderpope]

That's a cool forum to check out, [thumbup] [thumbup] [thumbup]

I like this forum cause it's really small. I like feeling communal and familial.

So I thought this is the age of the internet. We have access to more information than ever. Why any need to commit strictly to one lineage of learning?

I think it's probably important to focus on specific things and make progress with techniques and knowledge without spreading yourself too thin, but it doesn't hurt to draw from many traditions. This is the magick of the future we are creating today. That's something to think about, there.

In many ways, ordinary people practice magick every day. People read all kinds of self-help books. They want things to be very simply presented and easily executed. Nobody has time to commit their life to solitary study in the mountains in the modern, connected world. I think it's important to draw from tradition, but it's okay to deviate from tradition with value placed on efficiency and effectiveness. Can I get an amen?

[Nahemah]

That's a cool forum to check out, [thumbup] [thumbup] [thumbup]

It has been and was still last time I could read posts there, lol.( For anyone who does not know, we are discussing Studio Arcanis, previously Evocation Magic Forum.)

See, cos I like you I have mentioned the forum, this way anyone curious can hit it up, but we haven't 'forced their hand', so to speak.

I like this forum cause it's really small. I like feeling communal and familial. e I could read posts there.

So I thought this is the age of the internet. We have access to more information than ever. Why any need to commit strictly to one lineage of learning?

Not at all, Chowder, I'm not anti other forum and we like cross pollination here. I have friends who are regulars on other sites and I'm not averse to posting on other forums, I've been doing it for eh, a long time, myself, yeh? (I'm the storyteller and my story must be told, some of them are new ones, some of them are old. I have many names, many faces...)

We may get busier when the upgrades go through, so hope that doesn't impact on your enjoyment here.

I think it's probably important to focus on specific things and make progress with techniques and knowledge without spreading yourself too thin, but it doesn't hurt to draw from many traditions. This is the magick of the future we are creating today. That's something to think about, there.

Yes, it is, indeed. [greensmile] [geek2]

In many ways, ordinary people practice magick every day. People read all kinds of self-help books. They want things to be very simply presented and easily executed. Nobody has time to commit their life to solitary study in the mountains in the modern, connected world. I think it's important to draw from tradition, but it's okay to deviate from tradition with value placed on efficiency and effectiveness. Can I get an amen?

Ye can get a Saor!

and mibbe a Slainte Mhath!

If you think it's time to pick, then go for it.

You, after all, are the best knower of you that you can know. Aside from yer HGA, of course. [wink]

[chowderpope]

No worries, I see people from this forum all over the other occult forums. Cross-pollination is indeed good. I grew up talking with people on a small forum, so to me it's a very cozy feeling. However, if this place were to suddenly get a huge influx of posts, that would be great.