tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889529596531127755.post646038735322539767..comments2024-03-12T12:06:53.187-07:00Comments on Doing Magick: Magicians Accept No BlameRoberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10144040453666802786noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889529596531127755.post-24037878299726313762012-09-30T21:18:36.096-07:002012-09-30T21:18:36.096-07:00It seems to me that like the previous article this...It seems to me that like the previous article this is still drawing an unwarranted distinction between magical and mundane actions in terms of assigning "blame."<br /><br />We take all sorts of mundane actions every day that are completely reasonable in context but which if followed to their logical conclusion could wind up harming someone else. If you dress nicely for a job interview you're more likely to get the job, and if you get it somebody else doesn't. Driving this route versus that route to work will change traffic patterns, and it's not inconceivable that an accident could be caused by that simple choice. I don't see how anybody who really operates from that paradigm could be anything but paralyzed with regard to the world around them. <br /><br />I don't know who you're running into who claims that magick is somehow automatically infallible, but those people simply are wrong. Magick will generally follow the path of least probabilistic resistance that meets the requirements of the spell, which I think is the root of many stories about spirits fulfilling the letter but not the spirit of the magician's charge. If I had cast the spell in your example and it worked as described, you're damn right it would be my fault for not specifying my charge properly. Just about every other magician I know would feel the same way.<br /><br />Personally I find that "lack of harm" is a little too vague, but Jason has the right idea there. Whenever I cast a spell I make sure the charge includes two main sections - injunctions and limitations. The injunctions are what you want the spell to do, and the limitations are what you do not want the spell to do. I will add that I'm pretty emphatic that magicians should use limitations in <i>Mastering the Mystical Heptarchy</i> to prevent exactly the sort of thing you're talking about here.Scott Stenwickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12389664381513219613noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889529596531127755.post-9899563005743398952012-09-30T06:51:25.796-07:002012-09-30T06:51:25.796-07:00"One instance i even wrote about in my first ..."One instance i even wrote about in my first book." Good for you! I don't remember that as it has been a while since it came out. <br /><br />I disagree with you comment on the example. I do not think lobbying would be the cause of any accident. Magick that would motivate to a city counsel to act is likely to cause an accident like that. How many times have you seen people be willing to act only after a tragedy? It is a common human pattern and a path wild magick could *conceivably* take.<br /><br />Yes, we have the ability to divine but I have got lazy and not done that. I have been lucky so far but divinations can be misread especially when about oneself. No one is perfect, accidents happen even with due diligence.<br /><br />Specify lack of harm...yeah we can...it seems to work that but I also think you have to deeply mean what you say. Our egos can override that. Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10144040453666802786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889529596531127755.post-73507551546080269452012-09-30T05:33:16.989-07:002012-09-30T05:33:16.989-07:00Here again I think that uou are making some incorr...Here again I think that uou are making some incorrect assumtions. <br /><br />I for ome have accidentally hurt people with magic. One instance i even wrote about in my first book. <br /><br />That said the intersection example you give above is a bad example. If you hit someone with your car directly, it is on no way comprable to the blame on someone that lobbied to have an intersection made safer whether they used magic or not. <br /><br />Also with magic we do have the ability to divine some outcomes ahead of time And to specify a lack of harm. Jason Miller,https://www.blogger.com/profile/03034226672257024583noreply@blogger.com