#energetics

Mitsutoshi Hanaga - Ariadone

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Schwartz: Often we treat certain aspects of ourselves as junk, having no value. We try to throw parts of ourselves in the garbage. But a human being is an ecosystem, and everything in that system is of value to the whole.

The community in which a person lives — the sphere of friends and family — is another kind of ecosystem. It is necessary as a social service to be respectful and open to the qualities within ourselves that we can bring to the whole. Disparaging and attacking certain aspects of ourselves is not a service to those who are involved with us in the greater ecosphere.

If we look at ourselves from a slightly different angle, a little more compassionately, perhaps, we can see that there are no negative emotions and there are no positive ones either. At the heart of every emotion is an innocent wave of energy which is inherently free from psychological and moral dichotomies.

Feelings are energy and by their very nature ascending or expansive. They are trying to create, expand, grow, and move in various ways. Thoughts about feelings exert a downward pressure, creating a stranglehold on that ascending force. The purpose of the self-care process is to touch the ascending force and transcend the downward force.

It is vital that we look at the human being as an exotic life form, rather than as some familiar thing that we’ve grown so accustomed to, something we are bored with. We are a mobile life form, moving about on a planet, in a universe that we know almost nothing about, but we carry a bizarre unconscious assumption that we know almost everything about it.

The Prayer Of The Body III An Interview With Stephen R. Schwartz

BY SY SAFRANSKY • OCTOBER 1992

This is INSANE LMFAO I CANNOT BELIEVE I FUCKING DEFEATED THEM no wonder why they felt so gahdamn real I ain't ever fought an energy that was that FUCKING TERRIFYINGLY TANGIBLE I could still feel their prints on my entire body for hours after waking up after intentionally entering a portal through the dreamworld. They felt fucking realer than fucking humans. They wouldn't let me wake the fuck up in my own room until I energetically beat their ass.

I wanted to know what the fuck happened to me in the portal and what the fuck was that I just encountered and then I fucking see this lmfao baby I'm a terrifyingly undefeated ancient spiritual warrior my soul's ancient you can't defeat me and I know you're mad about that😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈 I wasn't playing when I said EVIL FEAR ME

Note: I'm drawing here from my knowledge of herbal energetics as they are recognized in multiple herbalism systems, my knowledge of astrology, and the concepts of sympathetic magic - if this isn't your thing, please just move along.

The four elements and the concepts of Energetics run consistently through the framework of much of the Western magic systems but it's something that is often overlooked. Suppose rather than relegating the elements to something that we call upon ritualistically to join us in our magic works (or, that must be represented on an altar), we instead stop and consider what they are, and what they do. In that case, we can gain a deeper understanding of how magic works on a human being.

The idea of the four elements and their associated qualities (dry, warm, cool, and moist - now known as herbal energetics) comes from the Athenian philosopher Aristotle. The fire element is warm, the earth element is cool, the air element is dry, and the water element is wet. This shows a remarkable difference from the modern astrological association of earth being opposed to water, and air to fire as it is shown on the astrological wheel; here, hot is opposed to cold (fire to earth) and dry to wet (air to water). It is worth noting that this can be somewhat proven through action - earth puts out fire, for instance. Today, we understand that there is more to healthfulness than balancing energetics (thank you antibiotics, vaccines, and insert your favorite modern medical miracle here) but there are still a number of views on wellness that encourage considering them. Maybe someday I will write more of this and how it relates to synastry, but let's focus on how this can be used in magic.

From here, we need to take a dive into modern herbalism. Why are we doing this? Because most people use all sorts of herbal components as ingredients in our spells and many of our correspondences have their roots in how that plant matter interacts with the human body. One of the major considerations when choosing an herb is what its Action is on the human body. These actions include Heating (Warm/Fire), Cooling (Cool/Water), Drying (Dry/Air), and Wetting (Moist/Water).

We use these actions all of the time without even knowing that we are doing them. Most cocktail people know that you want to drink a Mint Julip in the summer to cool you down (mint is a Cooling herb). On the other hand, if you need a pick me up, Chai tea which is full of warming herbs - even noncaffeinated versions like Bengal Spice - does the trick. The marshmallow (a Moist herb) does the coating of the throat in "Throat Coat" tea. The conditions of warm/cool/dry/moist are so normal to use as human beings that we tend to overlook them and adjust for them automatically.

With this in mind, I want to bring up a few ways in which this can be applied in witchcraft.

Warm is nice and pleasant. A lot of the warming herbs are used in money and sex magic - they make us feel good. But, like any good thing, they might need to be consumed in moderation. Candles carry the innate action of warmth and just think about how important fire safety is. Some herbs that warm cannot always be handled with bare hands (spicy peppers cause capsaicin burns) and these have long-documented uses in baneful magics of all kinds.

Cool magic can be used to calm and control. It can be used to put a particular situation on ice so that you don't have to deal with it. It can bring down fevers. It can soothe bad tempers and hot-headedness. It can preserve. It can also protect and insulate.

Dry magic can also be used to preserve. It can dry up emotions and stifle passion. It can draw out something or draw something away from a situation. It can create space.

Moist magic can be overflowing and generous. It can also be stagnant and suffocating. Moisture can revive life. It can also drown it.

It is worth noting that all aspects of these factors are always present in our lives. And they don't exist in a vacuum - everything is a combination of the two Aristotlean categories: you have Warm Moist or Warm Dry, and Cool Moist or Cool Dry.

We use these principles in magic all of the time. Anytime that you are using a liquid in a jar spell, you are applying the concept of Moist. If you are applying salt or rice to drain an object, you are using the concept of Dry. A freezer spell is an obvious example of Cool and any time that you are burning something you are using the concept of Warm.

But let's go a step further. If you are trying to do a warming spell, wouldn't it make sense to use specifically only warming herbs - or, at least - herbs that don't counteract Warmth (aka abstain from using cooling herbs?). Remember, these herbs have a natural and calculable effect on the human body so one would assume that, when used as part of a spell directed at a human body, they will have a similar effect. Even if you're a total candle head (I get it - I LOVE candle magic), consider not adding a candle to a spell meant to freeze somebody out.

When casting a hex, it is worth considering whether you want to burn them out with fire or take the slower more calculated path of ice. (Stop me from quoting Robert Frost here...) If you need to separate a couple who thrives on relationship conflict, drying them out could be a good option - more specifically, I'd probably use cool/dry.

Really we are getting into the basics of all sympathetic magic: using a thing that has an obvious effect to transfer that effect, through our spell, to the spell's intended target. This is why I have been very specific in saying that this applies to magic cast on a human being - here we are using the principles of Energetics and how they affect humans. For a spell on an animal or your house, entirely different sympathetic principles would apply.

The next time that you are choosing between two herbs that are said to have the same associations, consider whether one might be better than the other based on the Energetic nature of that plant. You might find a whole new level of casting open up to you.

Water>Air>Earth>Fire

Energetics was so much more difficult, I kept switching the order constantly but I ended up with this for now. I’m still not satisfied anyway, I’m probably gonna end up changing it again in a few minutes.

Gravity>Sonal>Electro>Magneto