Finding a teacher and nature of magick

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scalzik
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Finding a teacher and nature of magick

Post by scalzik »

So as I was coming up with this question I realized that it diverged into to. So the original and most important question is how do I find a teacher or group for magick (teacher would be preferred, but I'll take what I can get)? I'm an American currently studying in Leipzig, Germany. My German isn't that great, so English would be preferred, but I'll google translate every sentence if I have to.

The second question arose because I always see "when the student is ready, the teacher will appear". So that makes me think since I don't have one now I must not be ready. But then if you think about magick according to most people if you do a ritual to lose ten pounds then don't spend even a minute working out and eat the same foods you'll remain fat, so then would this quote mean that searching for a teacher is part of the process, and one probably isn't just gunna bump into me in a park one day? So the second question is basically how much of magick is trusting fate and higher powers and stuff and how much is actually going out and getting it done?

TL;DR any tips on finding people to learn magick from? Everything I've ever read says getting a good teacher will speed things up and and help with avoiding dangers.

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Desecrated
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Re: Finding a teacher and nature of magick

Post by Desecrated »

Do you want a private teacher or do you want to join a group. (The two aren't exclusive to each other).

In both cases approaching the larger groups like Amorc and oto might be a good start. Fraternitas Saturni is a rather silly group but they have a strong base in germany.

But honestly these days, facebook seems to be a really good place to search for information. find 1 german group, stalk all of their members, see what they like and what groups they belong to, find some german forums, talk around and sooner or later you'll stumble upon somebody locally.

Mr.Arch-Vile
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Re: Finding a teacher and nature of magick

Post by Mr.Arch-Vile »

You have the teacher already, think of the forum as a mind and the posts thoughts of that mind.

However you maybe asking for something more personal to you.

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Rin
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Re: Finding a teacher and nature of magick

Post by Rin »

Do some networking. "When the student is ready etc" is all very well, but the teacher isn't going to fall out of the sky and knock on your front door. You need to seek them out, or at least know people who can make introductions or suggestions.

I understand that there are some groupss of Bardon students in the German speaking countries, you might want to look into that if it's up your ally.

The previous suggestion of joining social media groups is a good one.

More generally speaking, you'll benefit enormously from seeking out teachers in related fields even if they don't necessarily teach what we think of as "magic" - meditation, yoga, eastern medicine and the internal martial arts are all good fields to start with, since there's a huge crossover between practitioners in those areas and people interested in magic.

This can help tremendously with the networking, and also with developing the fundamentals needed to establish a strong magical practice (emotional balance, a clean, healthy, limber body, the ability to focus the mind and tune into other states of consciousness, proper breathing, etc).

Generally speaking, in a traditional sense practical "magic" as we think of it was mostly an intermediate-advanced practice, one which was taught after several years of mind/body/energy training designed to achieve the goals mentioned above. So don't think you're missing out if you don't find someone who immediately takes you under their wing and teaches you to evoke spirits or project out of your body. Start at the beginning, study, train hard, network, and things will fall into place as they're meant to in the fullness of time.

Good luck!
So the second question is basically how much of magick is trusting fate and higher powers and stuff and how much is actually going out and getting it done?
I'm not huge on practical, results-oriented magic of the type you're talking about, but generally speaking I'd say it's a fairly equal combination of external results (changes in the outer world created through your working), internal results (changes created within your own being as a result of your working) and then creating a path for these to manifest through the "actually going out and getting it done."
"The path of the Sage is called
'The Path of Illumination'
he who gives himself to this path
is like a block of wood
that gives itself to the chisel-
cut by cut it is honed to perfection"

- DDJ, Verse 27

"It's still magic even if you know how it's done." - Terry Pratchett

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