| Bardism |
Telling stories through music, poetry, song and dance. Ie, being a bard. |
All the World's a Stage (others as justified) |
Art, Expression, Performance |
{Dances, Gestures, Postures, and Other Movement Practices}, Eye Contact, Fashion, Languages, Music, {Voice and Vocalizations}
C
Chaos Magick
| Name |
Summary |
Associated
Paradigms |
Associated
Abilities |
Common
Instruments
|
| Chaos Magick |
It’s not what you think it is. Although the term “chaos magic” tends to be associated with demons and evil, occultists understand chaos magick as a postmodern and often improvisational Art. Like other mystic practices, it emphasizes knowledge, reflection, and other forms of self-improvement. This revolutionary inversion of traditional mystic disciplines, however, depends upon personal intuition and interpretation; individual freedom; a deliberately iconoclastic approach; and an often subversive use of pop-culture symbols, social behaviors, and improvised designs. Chaos magick spits in the face of established dogma. Often regarded by outsiders as a Left-Hand Path, it’s a sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll sort of practice, raising and directing personal energy (that is, Quintessence) through extreme experiences.
Playful yet serious, each chaos-magick practice draws from the individual practitioner’s experiences and desires. Depending upon the individual practitioner, it can integrate formalized ritual or involve spontaneous improvisation… or both, or neither. Flexibility and personal investment are innate elements of the practice as a whole, often connected to psychic thought forms called egregores: concepts given reality through extensive investment of psychic energy. |
A Mechanistic Cosmos; A World of Gods and Monsters; Creation’s Divine and Alive; Divine Order and Earthly Chaos; Everything is Chaos; Everything’s an Illusion, Prison, or Mistake; Might is Right; One-Way Trip to Oblivion |
Art, Awareness, Carousing, Computer, Esoterica, Expression, Lucid Dreaming, Meditation, Pharmacopeia, Streetwise, Technology |
Whatever works, so long as none of it becomes too stable or confining.
|
Craftwork
| Name |
Summary |
Associated
Paradigms |
Associated
Abilities |
Common
Instruments
|
| Craftwork |
There are reasons that Hephaestus is a metalsmith, Jesus is a carpenter, and Ogun is said to be the iron “who always eats first.” It’s no accident that Freemasons remain one of the most respected yet feared societies around – a society responsible, in ways, for the foundation of the United States. Many myths peg humanity’s origins to deities who fashioned us out of clay and then breathed life into their creations. That’s because craftwork – the Art of making miracles out of raw materials – is among the first metaphysical practices.
As a practice, craftsmanship combines the physical and mental skills involved in various crafts (carpentry, metalsmithing, glasswork, plastics, leatherworking, and so forth), then combines them with Pattern Arts in order to make those materials better than they’d been before. Matter presents the obvious Sphere for such disciplines, but Forces (to command fire, air, electricity, gravity, and the like), Prime (to energize and strengthen those creations), and often Life (to work living or organic tissue) and Entropy (to spot, add, or banish flaws) are more-or-less essential too. Old-school crafters employ Spirit to Awaken or placate the spirits within the materials – an important process in ancient craftwork, which depended upon the goodwill of gods and spirits in order to succeed.
A typical crafter-mage seems rough around the edges compared to her more academic peers. Often physically strong and personally abrupt, she can be perceived as boorish and dull. That’s a common but mistaken view. In her chosen craft, this mage is every bit as sharp and knowledgeable as her book-bound contemporaries… most of whom would be lost without her expertise. And although common prejudices view such mages as members of the Technocracy (not without some truth), a crafter is just as likely to be a stonesmith Verbena, an ironworking Ngoma, an artisan Hermetic, or a VA computer tech. The Taftâni weavers earned that name from their physical skills as well as their mystical ones, and the Ngoma preserve the practical skills as well as the magical rites from their Egyptian/ Nubian origins. Even Akashayana employ craft Arts in their martial practices – see the film The Man With the Iron Fists for several examples. Though often forgotten in the catalogs of magic, craftwork is as old as humanity yet as fresh as the laptop at your fingertips. |
A Mechanistic Cosmos; A World of Gods and Monsters; Bring Back the Golden Age; Creation’s Divine and Alive; Divine Order and Earthly Chaos; Everything’s an Illusion, Prison, or Mistake; It’s All Good – Have Faith; Might is Right; Tech Holds All Answers |
Academics, Arts, Computers, Crafts, Energy Weapons, Esoterica (sacred geometry, quantum mathematics, elemental pacts, stone and metal lore), Hypertech, Research, Science, Technology |
Artwork, blood, books, computers and IT gear, devices and machines, elements, gadgets, household and crafting tools, laboratories and workshops, symbols, weapons (hammers, blades, sickles, guns, etc.)
|
Crazy Wisdom
| Name |
Summary |
Associated
Paradigms |
Associated
Abilities |
Common
Instruments
|
| Crazy Wisdom |
A mage who gets a little bit out of her head when performing magick might use what’s often called the crazy wisdom practice: deliberately irrational activities that supposedly grant wisdom by shattering established concepts of what is and is not possible and real.
Another sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll approach to magick, crazy wisdom often involves psychoactive entheogens, tranceinducing music, vision quests, risky ordeals, sexual excess, gender inversions, social misrule, mass ecstatic rituals, and solitary isolation in which the practitioner turns her own personal reality inside out and then ponders what that means. Although it’s technically undisciplined by the standards of more rigid forms of magick, such behavior provides a potent tool for enlightenment… assuming it doesn’t kill you first!
Although its obvious adherents come from the Cult of Ecstasy, crazy wisdom has a long and respected history as part of shamanism, voodoo, witchcraft, and even certain High Ritual practices. The Order of Hermes has its own variation – the Antinomian Praxis – in which a mage smashes taboos, violates her own standards, and breaks through constraints to find what lies beyond them. Drawing strength from its obvious contradictions, crazy wisdom is dangerous, disruptive, often scary, and potentially lethal. That’s kind of the point, though danger isn’t always involved. Mystic contraries and genderqueers, who deliberately invert social expectations about identity and gender, practice a form of crazy wisdom on a social scale, fucking with people’s preconceptions in order to show greater possibilities.This is the Trickster’s Path, breaking on through like Jim Morrison in a mosh pit with Patti Smith, Br’er Rabbit, the Cat in the Hat, and several buckets of paint. |
A World of Gods and Monsters; Creation’s Divine and Alive; Divine Order and Earthly Chaos; Everything is Chaos; Everything’s an Illusion, Prison, or Mistake; It’s All Good – Have Faith; One-Way Trip to Oblivion |
Art, Athletics, Carousing, Esoterica, Lucid Dreaming, Meditation, Pharmacopeia, Survival |
Blood and body fluids, bones and remains, brain/ computer interface, dance, drugs, music, ordeals, sex and sensuality, social domination, thought forms, toys, tricks and illusions, voice
|
Cybernetics
| Name |
Summary |
Associated
Paradigms |
Associated
Abilities |
Common
Instruments
|
| Cybernetics |
Essentially, the cybernetic practice views Creation as a vast machine whose systems can be understood and manipulated with sufficient dedication. For many adherents – like the members of Iteration X – that dedication includes merging their bodies with mechanical components. Other practitioners, though, use cybernetics as a theoretical construct – a model through which calculations, psychology, symbols, and external devices and machines (as opposed to implanted ones) can bend probability (through Entropy), change minds (the Mind Sphere), transform materials (Life and Matter), channel energies (Forces and Prime), and redefine temporal physics… or, in plain English, reroute Time.
Despite the dated overuse of “cyber” as an adjective, cybernetics remains a bleeding-edge discipline. |
A Mechanistic Cosmos; Everything is Data; Everything’s an Illusion, Prison, or Mistake; Might is Right; One-Way Trip to Oblivion; Tech Holds All Answers |
Academics, Biotech, Computer, Crafts, Energy Weapons, Hypertech, Media, Politics, Science, Technology |
Books, brain/ computer interface, computers and IT gear, devices and machines, gadgets, inventions, laboratories, languages, mass media, nanotech, numbers and numerology, weapons, writing and inscriptions
|
D
Dominion
| Name |
Summary |
Associated
Paradigms |
Associated
Abilities |
Common
Instruments
|
| Dominion |
Social domination might just be the oldest form of magick. At its most basic levels, this practice directs animal instincts and human interactions toward the will (and Will) of the dominant party. Although other practices – notably Ars Cupiditae, shamanism, and High Ritual Magick – draw upon these techniques of domination, a raw assertion of command is the foundation of capital-A Authority… most notably among the New World Order.
...At its lowest form, it’s the art of the abuser, con-man, and pick-up artist. Its techniques come into play through office and sexual politics and often form part of any strong parent’s arsenal. On a metaphysical level, dominion taps into the primal need for leadership and parenting, then directs that need with a conscious eye toward overwhelming control. Through that control, in turn, you command Reality because you believe you do, and you make other folks believe you do as well.
A serious practitioner of dominion (that is, a mage) goes beyond crude intimidation, studying the deeper applications of social domination and self-perfection. Like a devotee of desire, he learns how to maximize his personal strengths and minimize his social flaws while taking full advantage of another party’s weaknesses and appealing to their need to be protected and led. Like Ars Cupiditae concentrates upon desire, the discipline of dominion concentrates upon command. The techniques can seem rather arcane, especially when they’re combined with religious and/ or philosophical beliefs; it’s through technology, however, that dominion finds its greatest influence. Queen Victoria was a master of this Art… and though she used technological instruments to get her point across, she exerted such a charismatic mystique that we still use her name to define the age she ruled.
Skilled dominion practitioners employ eye contact, body language, vocal tactics, peer pressure, social appeal, and resonant symbols (uniforms, weapons, parental behavior, religious iconography) in order to cow their herd. From there, these alphas enact their Will in both a mundane and Awakened sense. Lots of mages use social techniques, but a dominion master takes them to a metaphysical extent, wresting control of Reality itself through mass domination – an Art of Kings that has shaped past history and continues to do so today. |
A Mechanistic Cosmos; A World of Gods and Monsters; Bring Back the Golden Age; Divine Order and Earthly Chaos; Everything is Chaos; Might is Right; One-Way Trip to Oblivion; Tech Holds All Answers |
Academics (history, psychology), Art, Belief Systems, Empathy, Expression, Intimidation, Leadership, Media, Politics, Seduction, Technology |
Art, brain/computer interface, eye contact, fashion, group rites, languages, mass media, music, social domination, symbols, thought forms, tricks and illusions, voice
|
E
F
Faith
| Name |
Summary |
Associated
Paradigms |
Associated
Abilities |
Common
Instruments
|
| Faith |
Through faith, all things are possible. This saying underscores the essence of what might be the most common mystic practice in the world: devotion to a higher source. Drawn from the Latin wordfides– “loyalty, trust, belief” – faith provides the foundation for many other practices, yet it stands as a practice in its own right. For although witches, shamans, Voudoun practitioners, and even scientists might be faithful to their higher power, faith itself provides comfort and power for those who believe.
Often regarded as the core of overtly religious sects like the Celestial Chorus and Ahl-i-Batin, faith can inspire and energize any mage. Even the demonic Nephandi maintain faith in their horrific Absolute or the Infernal entities they adore. Faith, you see, provides the believer with stability and purpose. And although magick is often seen as an egotistical practice, faith ideally removes the ego in favor of that greater Source. The faithful mage says “THY Will be done,” then acts as an instrument for that Divine Will.
A faithful magus follows the tenets of her creed, maintains contact with her source through prayer, and acts – as often as possible – as an emissary of her creed’s ideals. “Keeping the faith” means pursuing virtues that supposedly please the higher power, and although the particulars depend upon the specific creed (a Franciscan Catholic, a Shi’a devotee, and an Odinist spá-kona all have very different ideas about virtue!), the mage’s adherence to that creed is essential. “Faith” does, after all, mean loyalty. |
A World of Gods and Monsters; Bring Back the Golden Age; Creation’s Divine and Alive; Divine Order and Earthly Chaos; Everything’s an Illusion, Prison, or Mistake; It’s All Good – Have Faith! |
Academics (tenets of faith), Awareness, Belief Systems, Cosmology, Empathy, Enigmas, Esoterica, Expression, Medicine |
Blessings and curses,
books (scriptures),
cups and vessels, energy, food and drink,
group rites, music,
offerings and sacrifice,
ordeals and exertions,
prayers and invocations,
sacred iconography,
symbols, thought forms, voice, writings and inscriptions
|
G
Gutter Magick
| Name |
Summary |
Associated
Paradigms |
Associated
Abilities |
Common
Instruments
|
| Gutter Magick |
The most practical magick practice is the one that uses whatever you’ve got to work with. Sure, wizards and cyborgs and Enlightened tycoons can afford all the best ritual gear around. What happens, though, when you’re more or less broke? Homeless, maybe? Living in a squat or stuck on the street or getting by as part of the working poor? Well then, you use gutter magick, the craft of making do.
Composed of odds and ends with symbolic connotations, gutter magick features coins, cards, toys, scraps, bottles, cans, nails, junk, graffiti, and things crafted out of the cast-offs of consumer society. Dead TVs, old magazines, cardboard boxes, gnawed chicken bones, sacrificed rats and alley cats, old clothes repurposed and restyled with feral urban flair… such instruments direct the Will of the truly destitute. On the next rung up the socioeconomic ladder, lower-class mages use cheap tricks, cheesy clothes, New Age books, action figures, and other tokens of postmodern mall-magic. When invested with Awakened intentions, these otherwise useless trinkets provide focus for orphans, Hollowers, and other mystics with more ambition than resources.
As with many other mystic practices, art forms a potent force in gutter magick. Hip-hop culture, Gothic rock, the various flavors of heavy metal, the blues, neotribal, technoindustrial, and even country/ western music styles provide soundtracks for the mystic side of the urban scene. Inside the clubs, dancing and drugs create hypnotic atmospheres in which it often seems likeanythingcould happen. A paranormal survival tactic, gutter magick skulks in the shadows of the alley between respectability and forbidden Arts. Gutter magick proves that you don’t need high wizardry and ancient tomes in order to get attention (if not necessarily respect) from the spirit world. In its darker elements, such magick employs guns, blades, cheap sex and cheaper booze, crimes and punishments, madness and desperation. Though not exactly new in form, it’s a common practice in the new millennium. |
A World of Gods and Monsters; Creation’s Divine and Alive; Divine Order and Earthly Chaos; Everything is Chaos; Everything’s an Illusion, Prison, or Mistake; It’s All Good – Have Faith; Might is Right; One-Way Trip to Oblivion |
Animal Kinship (rats, cats, crows,etc.), Area Knowledge, Art, Crafts, Expression, Firearms, Intimidation, Pharmacopeia, Streetwise, Survival (urban), Technology |
Artwork, blood and fluids, bones and remains, cards and dice, dance, drugs and poisons, eye contact, fashion, herbs and plants, household tools, music, offerings and sacrifice, sex, social domination, symbols, thought forms, toys, tricks and illusions, weapons, vehicles
|
H
High Ritual Magick
| Name |
Summary |
Associated
Paradigms |
Associated
Abilities |
Common
Instruments
|
| High Ritual Magick |
To achieve excellence, one must have perfection. To work one’s Will, one must have the discipline to master that Will and then direct it with utmost confidence. In an outsider’s perspective, the rigorous devotees of High Ritual Magick (all capitalized) are a pretentious pack of OCD pricks. For those devotees, however, the truth is plain: you must be strong, courageous, disciplined, and wise to unlock Creation’s power. High Ritual Magick demands those qualities.
In High Ritual Magick, everything has significance: the alignment of planets, the tone of words, the calculations necessary to discover the correct number of times to repeat certain phrases, the formalities of address, and the measure or angle of materials aligned just so for maximum effect. That precision has a dual purpose: in one regard, the relationship of those many elements is crucial for success. In the other regard, the precision tests and xhallenges the magician, forcing him to overcome his flaws and become the superior person whom such intricacies demand. This practice is both an Art and a Science whose expertise has withstood the tests of time. You cannot be weak or sloppy or stupid, goes the reasoning, if you wish to work your Will upon Creation.
In all forms, High Ritual Magick demands preparation, discipline, and the finest materials a magician can acquire. Such practices connect the mage with greater powers – gods, angels, demons, elementals, and the faceless forces of the universe – and those powers demand respect. The wizard, too, must earn respect; such powers do not answer to fools. In practical terms, High Ritual Magick is slow and precise. |
A Mechanistic Cosmos; A World of Gods and Monsters; Bring Back the Golden Age; Divine Order and Earthly Chaos; Everything is Data; Everything’s an Illusion, Prison, or Mistake; Might is Right; Tech Holds All Answers |
Academics, Belief Systems, Cosmology, Crafts, Expression, Esoterica, Investigation, Leadership, Meditation, Occult, Research |
Books,
celestial alignments,
circles and designs,
computers (for modern wizards),
cups and vessels,
elements, eye contact,
fashion, gems, gestures,
languages (Latin, Sanskrit, Mandarin, Greek, etc.), meditation,
numbers and numerology,
offerings and sacrifices,
prayer and invocations,
social domination,
symbols, thought forms,
True Names,
wands and staves,
weapons (swords and knives),
writing and inscriptions
|
Hypertech
| Name |
Summary |
Associated
Paradigms |
Associated
Abilities |
Common
Instruments
|
| Hypertech |
A catch-all term for the hundreds of methods used to unite advanced technology with visionary ideas, hypertech represents a dynamic approach to science. Despite the rumblings of disgruntled old-school mystics, this approach has transformed the world we live in. Computers, obviously, reflect the most obvious aspects of this Art and Science, but the brute force of metallurgy, the explosive powers of internal combustion, the harnessed lightning of electronic technologies, and the heady physics behind it all drive hypertech and humanity to new and exciting frontiers. At the core of this practice – in its many applications, from cloning and biotech to astrophysics, mechanical engineering, chemistry, theoretical physics, and far more – hypertech is about potential… finding it, recognizing it, expanding upon it to create something even better than what we had before. Although the scientist might believe in some Creator, she’s not shackled to blind faith. Instead, she employs rigorous tests, complicated data, consistent verification, and an Art founded not on chance or outside whims but upon tested principles and concrete achievements. She’s the Progenitor, the Adept, the technomancer whose tools reflect the precision of her Arts |
A Mechanistic Cosmos; A World of Gods and Monsters; Divine Order and Earthly Chaos; Everything is Chaos; Everything is Data; Might is Right; Tech Holds All Answers |
Academics, Computer, Crafts,Hypertech, Investigation, Medicine, Research, Science, Technology |
Books, brain/ computer interface, computers, devices and machines, household tools, inventions, laboratories, nanotech, writing, and the many tools of technological achievement
|
I - L
M
Maleficia
| Name |
Summary |
Associated
Paradigms |
Associated
Abilities |
Common
Instruments
|
| Maleficia |
Certain magicks are deliberately cruel. Cast with malicious intentions, they’re intended to cause harm and distress. Medieval law called such Arts maleficia – “evil-doing” – and that’s appropriate. For though most conceptions of witchcraft are mistaken, there are people who use bad magick for bad ends. When folks think of black magic, they’re referring to this deliberately obscene practice… although any form of magick can be hurtful, maleficia is intentionally crafted toward malignant aims. Curses; possessions; damnations; invocations to malevolent powers; infernal pacts, inhuman abilities; violations of body, mind, and spirit… such is the realm of maleficia. Other forms of corruption, too, can be invoked through this form of magick: wealth spells, sexual enchantments, techniques of social dominance, and all manner of metaphysical abuses can be conjured with help from sinister powers. These practices have no set form but range from the petty desecrations of teenage devilheads to the arcane ceremonies of ancient Infernal cults. Although the Nephandi seem to be the obvious offenders in this regard, anyone with a sufficiently bent motivation can employ a form of maleficia. The evangelist who calls upon his congregation to pray for the death of some hated figure is invoking maleficia; the forbidden Hermetic rites for summoning demons employ it too. The Black Masses present pretty obvious examples; what’s less obvious, though, is that the Catholic Church itself has a history of Requiem Masses, performed to kill living people, and Amatory Masses, intended to compel affections upon unwilling people. The Grimoire of Honorius – attributed to a Pope – features Masses to be performed for evil purposes. Just as any mystic practice can inflict harm, so too can any mystic practice become twisted into maleficia.
For obvious reasons, maleficia tends to leave nasty Resonance behind. That combination of sick deeds and ugly intentions poisons everything it touches. Rooms, tools, and people feel tainted after a malefic rite; even Sleepers can sense that something’s not right about such things. The mage can clean up every physical trace of the crime, but a metaphysical essence lingers… often attracting corrupt entities that pick up where the malefactor left off… |
A World of Gods and Monsters; Bring Back the Golden Age; Divine Order and Earthly Chaos; Everything is Chaos; Everything’s an Illusion, Prison, or Mistake; Might is Right; One-Way Trip to Oblivion |
Cosmology, Enigmas, Esoterica, Expression, Intimidation, Melee, Occult, Pharmacopeia, Seduction, Torture |
Artwork, blood and fluids, bodywork, bones and remains (often fresh), circles and designs, cups and vessels, curses, elements, eye contact, drugs and poisons, gems and valuables, group rites, music,
offerings and sacrifice, prayers and invocations, sex (typically nonconsensual), voice, weapons
|
Martial Arts
| Name |
Summary |
Associated
Paradigms |
Associated
Abilities |
Common
Instruments
|
| Martial Arts |
The human machine is a miracle whose vast potential is hampered by undisciplined habits and acquired behaviors. Martial arts expand upon that potential, unlocking the deeper physical and metaphysical abilities of body, mind, and spirit. Although such arts, at the basic levels, simply help a person strike or move more effectively in a fight, the higher reaches of martial-arts discipline go far beyond physical combat, into the realm of mental focus and spiritual refinement. ...
Beyond their mystic elements, martial arts are also technologies: refinements of knowledge that can be studied, repeated, and employed with practical effect. Thus, Technocrats and other technomancers can employ martial arts as a focus too. |
A World of Gods and Monsters; Bring Back the Golden Age; Creation’s Divine and Alive; Divine Order and Earthly Chaos; Everything is Chaos; Everything’s an Illusion, Prison, or Mistake; Might is Right; Tech Holds All Answers |
Acrobatics, Alertness, Athletics, Awareness, Esoterica, Etiquette, Intimidation, Martial Arts, Medicine, Meditation, Melee |
Bodywork, dance and movement, energy, herbs, meditation, ordeals and exertions, symbols, wands and staves, weapons, voice
|
Medicine Work
| Name |
Summary |
Associated
Paradigms |
Associated
Abilities |
Common
Instruments
|
| Medicine Work |
Next to parenting, healing might be the highest human vocation. Many mages – mystics and technomancers alike – view their Enlightenment as an obligation to heal. To heal the planet, heal the people, heal the spirits, heal the Earth… perhaps all of them at once, if that’s at all possible. And so one of the oldest and most sacred Paths an Awakened person can pursue involves the practice of medicine work.
Thanks to magick (especially the Life, Entropy, Mind, and Prime Spheres),anyform of medicine can work for an Awakened healer who employs that medicine as a focus, so long as that mage BELIEVES in that form of medicine. An Iroquois member of the Society of Faces would feel as lost in a Progenitor biotech facility as a Progenitor would feel when hefting a medicine mask. Both techniques work in the hands of a mage who understands and trusts those techniques, but few healers trust both of those techniques with equal faith.
It’s worth mentioning that traditional Native American and African mages often abhor the idea of using magic. In many cultures, “magick” is either trickery or the influence of malignant spirits. Medicine is a more accurate and respectful term for what such people do than magick is… hence, the phrase medicine man. Many “shamans” actually consider themselves to be medicine people, using their Arts to nurture and restore the world, not to make it dance to their whims. |
A Mechanistic Cosmos; A World of Gods and Monsters; Bring Back the Golden Age; Creation’s Divine and Alive; Divine Order and Earthly Chaos; Everything is Chaos; Everything’s an Illusion, Prison, or Mistake; It’s All Good – Have Faith; Tech Holds All Answers |
Academics (healing practices), Art (masks, dance, music, etc.), Awareness, Empathy, Esoterica (herbalism, energy work, bodywork, healing and meditative practices), Medicine, Meditation, Pharmacopeia, Science, Technology |
Artwork, blessings and curses, blood and fluids, bodywork, bones and remains, books, brews and concoctions, computers, cups and vessels, dance and movement, devices and machines, drugs and poisons, group rites (operations), herbs, laboratories, languages (Latin, jargon, and that weird script doctors use when writing prescriptions), meditation, music, offerings and sacrifices, prayers and invocations, social domination, voice, weapons
(surgical instruments)
|
N - Q
Qì Manipulation -Akashic Only
| Name |
Summary |
Associated
Paradigms |
Associated
Abilities |
Common
Instruments
|
| Qì Manipulation |
Qì — formerly spelled “chi” and pronounced ki in Japanese — is a broad term for different energy types, chiefly yin and yang. Though often misunderstood by those outside the Practice, qì is simply a form of energy that flows through most things in the universe. The nature and speed of this flow varies depending on the object and its surroundings, its geographical position, its orientation to other objects (both near and celestial), and other factors too numerous to list here. Understanding the fundamentals of qì’s movement is a common route to Draladharma. After all, someone who knows how qì ought to flow in an area can simply follow the qì’s path, no need to consult the Akashic Record.
When qì moves freely and properly, the life of an area is naturally enriched. The breezes within forests and winds whipping down mountains create harmony within nature, allowing things to grow and flourish. When the flow of qì is blocked, it becomes turbulent and vicious, potentially poisoning the unwary. When the types of qì are imbalanced, things can be even worse; particularly high levels of yang qì can cause dead bodies to rise as jiāngshī, vampire-like monsters who kill and drain Quintessence. (Gods & Monsters, p. 113) Naturally, sensing and manipulating qì is vitally important for the natural order of things, as it allows mages (and many talented Sleepers) to repair disturbances in the flow of qì (or even create them). Fēng shuǐ masters design houses and urban landscapes to maintain healthy qì movement, for wellness in city dwellers. Acupuncturists selectively block the flow of qì within patients to correct imbalances.
Of course, practitioners don’t always aim to repair things using qì. They can deliberately create imbalances or blockages to hinder foes. Such problems can even serve as a training tool, allowing new practitioners to learn to feel qì instead of simply relying on rote memorization of principles. All this barely scratches the surface of qì and only reflects one perspective; many others exist. |
Guide to Draladharma,
Do: The Way to Draladharma |
8 Limbs of Do
2-dots of any for each dot of Do after the first, not counting Alertness, Athletics, Do
Awareness, Enigmas,
or Meditation,
Art (all), Crafts(all), Etiquette
Academics (Philosophy), Belief Systems or Cosmology
Academics (Strategy), Crafts (Weaponsmithing), Melee
Meditation, Stealth or Subterfuge
Acrobatics, Athletics, Esoterica (Body Control, Yoga) |
Bodywork, Mantras, Meditation, Memories
Books, scrolls, and periodicals,
Brews, potions, powders, and other concoctions,
Celestial alignments,
Dances, Gestures, Postures,
and Other Movement,
Energy, Fashion,
Herbs, roots, seeds, flowers, and plants,
Mass media, Music,Ordeals and exertion,
Prayers and invocations
|
R
Reality Hacking
| Name |
Summary |
Associated
Paradigms |
Associated
Abilities |
Common
Instruments
|
| Reality Hacking |
Imaginative people can do imaginative things with supposedly static structures. Hacking them apart to reconfigure those structures, these people use various tools – technology, philosophy, art, politics, and, occasionally, magick – to remake what was into what can be. With the correct gear and the right ideas, you don’t even need to be a mage in order to hack the dominant paradigm… just ask Osama bin Laden’s ghost. When you are a mage, however, you can employ those tools to remake Reality on a grand scale.
Typically associated with the Virtual Adepts (and, to a lesser extent, the Cult of Ecstasy), the reality-hacking practice can be used by any mage with the proper mindset and expertise. The core idea – reality is flexible – seems familiar enough these days. As a practice, reality hacking uses an array of technologies to rework the systems that govern our world: its commerce, politics, media, memes, connections, faiths, physics, and so forth. By concentrating on specific systems and ideas, the mage can start remixing expectations into some new and interesting shape.
|
A Mechanistic Cosmos; A World of Gods and Monsters; Bring Back the Golden Age; Creation’s Divine and Alive; Divine Order and Earthly Chaos; Everything is Chaos; Everything is Data; Everything’s an Illusion, Prison, or Mistake; Might is Right; One-Way Trip to Oblivion; Tech Holds All Answers |
Academics (history, philosophy, social sciences), Art, Belief Systems, Computer, Expression, Government, Media, Politics, Science (psychology as well as physical sciences), Subterfuge, Technology |
Artwork, books, brain/ computer interface, computers and IT gear, devices and machines, drugs, eye contact, group rites, language, mass media, money and wealth, music, nanotech, sex, social domination, symbols, thought forms, tricks and illusions, voice, weapons
|
S
Shamanism
| Name |
Summary |
Associated
Paradigms |
Associated
Abilities |
Common
Instruments
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| Shamanism |
Because the shaman traditionally lives between the worlds of flesh and spirit, human and animal, matter and essence, sanity and dementia, conventionality and chaos, he embodies a living crossroads in which those qualities intersect. In many cases, he suffers from physical and/ or psychological ailments, a wounded healer whose infirmities render him more sympathetic to other wounded souls. A shaman often depends upon other people and spiritual allies whose aid and guidance help him survive his strange existence. In return, he grants his allies healing, insight, action in realms they might not be able to reach unaided, and a powerful intercessor with parties they may not address alone. A soul guide, a prophet, a medicine bringer and spirit warrior, our shaman walks a sacred… if often unpleasant… Path.
Note: very long write-up. Worth reading on your own. M20 BoS, pg 582-583 |
A World of Gods and Monsters; Bring Back the Golden Age; Creation’s Divine and Alive; Divine Order and Earthly Chaos; Everything’s an Illusion, Prison, or Mistake; It’s All Good – Have Faith! |
Alertness, Art, Cosmology, Enigmas, Esoterica, Expression, Lucid Dreaming, Medicine, Pharmacopeia, Streetwise, Survival |
Blood and fluids, bones and remains, computers, dance, drugs and concoctions, elements, herbs, household tools, offerings and sacrifice, ordeals, sex and sensuality, thought forms, toys, True Names, voice, weapons
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T - U
V
Voudoun
| Name |
Summary |
Associated
Paradigms |
Associated
Abilities |
Common
Instruments
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| Voudoun |
Essentially, a Voudoun mage’s practice revolves around finding and revering allies in a treacherous world. Arriving in chains for lives of forced labor after a hellish passage in seaborne underworlds, the Africans who were transported to the Americas had little to draw upon except faith, courage, and rage. Ripped away from their families, many of them lacked even a common language. From the bits and pieces of their new lives, these people crafted creeds that reflected the hopes and horrors of that world, peopled with new families to replace the ones they had lost. In that world, the worst thing that could happen was slavery beyond death… so the curses and creatures of Voudoun lore focused on imprisonment, servitude, crossings, hunger, defiance, and escape. Old gods, new spirits, and tales of elevated mortals attained the identities of Loa: the god-spirit kin of Voudoun practitioners. And so, even though slavery has been “officially” banished from the Americas (many folks, of course, know better…), that synergistic survivor creed remains a vital methodology throughout these lands.
Characterized by prayers, offerings, shrines, designs, blessings and maledictions, physical prowess, psychic awareness, bright colors, and sudden violence, Voudoun practices reflect their eclectic origins. Whereas elaborate Arts like High Ritual Magick favor wealth and perfection, Voudoun remains eminently practical. Sure, certain devotees are rich, especially these days; the practice itself, however, employs whatever resources a person has to work with. Faith and trust outweigh arcane rituals and ostentatious displays. Loyalty means more than titles or gold. Rewards and punishments come swiftly… often with quirks of sardonic humor attached… and newcomers get tested with fierce irony and ominous threats. In many regards, the intentionally eerie nature of Voudoun presents a giant KEEP OUT sign to outsiders… most especially white ones. For obvious reasons, a practitioner wears many masks and keeps many secrets.
Despite its shared roots with faith, shamanism and witchcraft, Voudoun has a distinct culture whose methods and doctrines don’t always play well with others.
Ref: M20 Ann. pg 583 |
A World of Gods and Monsters;
Bring Back the Golden Age; Creation’s Divine and Alive;
Divine Order and Earthly Chaos; Everything’s an Illusion,
Prison, or Mistake; Might is Right; One-Way Trip to Oblivion |
Art, Athletics, Awareness, Belief Systems, Carousing, Crafts, Empathy, Intimidation, Lucid Dreaming, Medicine, Meditation, Streetwise |
Artwork (vévés), blessings and curses, blood, bones and remains, cards and dice, cups and
vessels, crossroads, dance and movement, drugs and poisons, elements, eye contact, fashion, group rites, herbs, household tools, knots and rope, languages, meditation, music, offerings and sacrifices, prayers and invocations, sex and sensuality, symbols, True Names, voice, wands and staves, weapons, writing
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W
Weird Science
| Name |
Summary |
Associated
Paradigms |
Associated
Abilities |
Common
Instruments
|
| Weird Science |
Weird science, by definition, defies the bounds of possibility. Its crazy ideas fuel crazy creativity. Theories that no rational scientist would entertain guide the creation of devices and creatures whose very existence violates the Consensus: jetpacks, death rays, quirky robots, outlandish vehicles, Atlantean sonic technologies, spacecraft, mechanical appendages, psychic enhancement gear, lab-grown allies, devastating war machines, and whatever other strange gadgetry a mad scientist can imagine. And yet, this isn’t some sort of “magic” – heavens, no! Every piece of odd technology depends upon theories so unconventional yet sublime that they MUST be true, if only for the sake of an imaginative universe.
As with other tech-based practices, weird science requires serious work in the lab before working results appear. An Enlightened Scientist might spend months or years honing his creation before revealing it to the world. Yet once that innovation has been achieved, he can often replicate it quickly, often with the help of skilled (if dispirited) minions. Weird science also allows the Scientist to alter tech with sudden bursts of inspiration, MacGyvering rickety inventions that last just long enough to accomplish a single task. And so – because he’s no sort of wizard, you imbecile! – the mad scientist needs tools and materials close at hand in order to work his wonders. True Science is indeed miraculous, but it’s not some kind of magic. No, not at all… |
A Mechanistic Cosmos; Bring Back the Golden Age; Divine Order and Earthly Chaos; Everything is Data; It’s All Good – Have Faith; Might is Right; Tech Holds All Answers |
Academics, Crafts, Esoterica (various so-called disproven scientific theories), Energy Weapons, Hypertech, Research, Science, Technology |
Armor, books, bones and remains, brain/ computer interface, celestial alignments, computers and IT gear, devices and machines, elements, gadgets, inventions, laboratories, languages, numbers and numerology, toys, vehicles, weapons, writing and inscriptions
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Witchcraft
| Name |
Summary |
Associated
Paradigms |
Associated
Abilities |
Common
Instruments
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| Witchcraft |
As a Mage practice,this term refers to a nature-oriented, practical craft, as opposed to the scholastic abstractions of High Ritual Magick, alchemy, and so on. Traditional witchcraft is a folk-oriented low magick practiced by common people who need discernible results: healing, fertility, divination, luck or misfortune, prosperity, clarity, physical prowess, and intercessions between the people and their gods that are far more intimate than what can be found at the local temple. The disputed origin of the term witch is “wisdom,” although other possibilities include words meaning “twist,” “knot,” or “knowledge.” And so, witches throughout time have been said to know things… often things that proper people could not or should not know.
Today’s witchcraft features a postmodernist brew of traditional European wise-craft; 19th-century literary occultism and 20-century mystic fusions; pre-Christian elements from Greek, Norse, Celtic, Hindu, Slavic, Roman, Egyptian, and Mesopotamian cultures (with prodigious cultural appropriations from Native American, African, Romani, and occasionally Asian cultures); repurposed Christian and Jewish practices (especially Catholicism and the Kabbalah); postmodernist philosophy, and New Age takes on quantum physics; mass-media iconography; and tons of pure invention wrapped up in a bright bow of fantasy media, political activism, and technological polyculture. This high-eclectic synergy often incorporates computers, the Internet, pop psychology, chaos theory, and other elements that would be entirely unrecognizable to old-school wise-crafters. Nevertheless, it speaks to people on an elemental level… and yes, as a mystic practice, it’s as effective as any other tool on a mage’s workbench.
In all its forms, witchcraft has an outlaw mystique – due both to constant persecution and a defiantly sinister stance. Today’s witch might practice holistic medicine and nonviolent politics, but she still exists outside of mainstream respectability… often with a Fuck You attitude. Whatever style of witchcraft she prefers, that Art/ Craft incorporates potent symbols – Old Gods, nature spirits, blades, circles, wands, robes, very dark or bright colors, occult iconography, seasons, shadows, chalices, ashes, the four Classical elements, and so on – that reach into the subconscious territory beyond a mainstream comfort zone.
Our 21st-century witch might favor dark clothes, body art, and a swaggering subculture image, or cloak her Arts in a middle-class façade that conceals her elemental devotions. She could follow a strict Witch’s Rule or proclaim herself a mystic anarchist. In more or less all cases, she reveres Nature and diversity, channeling her Will through harmony with light and shadow, death and life. Though epitomized by the Verbena Tradition, she isn’t necessarily Pagan and doesn’t always wear her Art on her sleeve, so to speak. Regardless of her tools or devotions, though, her witchcraft remains eminently practical, focused on everyday miracles and visionary craft. |
A World of Gods and Monsters; Bring Back the Golden Age; Creation’s Divine and Alive; Divine Order and Earthly Chaos; Everything is Chaos; Everything’s an Illusion, Prison, or Mistake; It’s All Good – Have Faith; Might is Right; One-Way Trip to Oblivion |
Academics, Animal Kinship, Art, Awareness, Crafts, Medicine, Meditation, Occult, Pharmacopeia |
Artwork, blessings and curses, blood and fluids, bodywork, bones and remains, books, brews, cards, celestial alignments, circles, crossroads, cups and vessels, dance, drugs and poisons, elements, eye contact, group rites, household tools, knots and ropes, music, offerings, sex and sensuality, social domination, symbols, True Names, wands and staves, weapons, writing and inscriptions
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X - Z
Yoga
| Name |
Summary |
Associated
Paradigms |
Associated
Abilities |
Common
Instruments
|
| Yoga |
Beneath the popular exercise trend rests a potent metaphysical practice. Named from a Sanskrit word that means union, balance, joining, and (by extension) yoke, yoga employs mental, physical, and spiritual disciplines to refine a higher state of being. Through advanced levels of yoga, a practitioner unlocks the greatest human abilities, eventually transcending his human limits and achieving enlightenment… first temporary, and then perpetual. Dedication to yoga strips away the illusions of physical existence. In communion with Absolute Reality, the True Self – the center of consciousness (Atman or Purusha) – comes to comprehend the Unity of All.
...Details about yoga could fill their own book. In a practical sense, though, a yoga practitioner pursues intense physical, mental, and spiritual study; combines learned wisdom with personal epiphanies; supersedes old limitations; and transforms herself into an instrument of transcendence. Through such refinement, she can attain superhuman abilities, project her consciousness outside of her body, and reveal the illusions of material reality as tricks of the mind… and, by extension, master earthly forces like gravity, time, matter, and the elements – in game terms, all of the Nine Spheres.
(A related tradition of practices that often incorporate yogic disciplines is known collectively as Tantra: “weaving,” “loom,” “activity,” or “essence.” Although many devotees of one still practice the other, however, yoga and Tantra are not the same things. Both share a heritage, a dedication to transcendence of physical and mental limitations, and a view of the Whole beyond the illusions of separation. Generally, though, yoga unifies apparently separate elements into a conscious, transcendent whole, whereas Tantra accesses transcendent energies through sublimating physical reality. For obvious reasons, various mages incorporate elements of both traditions into their practices.
Despite the utility of books, scriptures, designs, and various medical and sometimes psychoactive concoctions, yoga is a largely self-contained practice. The physical body becomes a vessel for the transcendent Self. A devotee tends toward extraordinary good health and vitality, incisive perceptions, and a big-picture perspective on things. She might be capable of apparently impossible physical feats of endurance and flexibility, and she can – at advanced levels – sidestep little things like physics. The foundation of her practice, however, involves correct breathing, centered consciousness, and reaching past apparent limitations. As the guru Bikram advised his students: This is going to hurt. Don’t be afraid. |
A Mechanistic Cosmos; A World of Gods and Monsters; Bring Back the Golden Age; Creation’s Divine and Alive; Divine Order and Earthly Chaos; Everything’s an Illusion, Prison, or Mistake; It’s All Good – Have Faith; Might is Right; Tech Holds All Answers |
Athletics, Awareness, Enigmas, Esoterica, Expression, Medicine, Meditation, Survival |
Bodywork, circles and designs, dances and movement, energy, languages (Sanskrit), meditation, music, ordeals, prayers, sex and sensuality, symbols, thought forms, voice (mantras, the Om), writings and inscriptions
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