From: bob.schroeck@ourtown.fen
To: allcall@nation.fan
CC: the_jason@fatefullightning.fen
Subj: Re: Re: Theories
> That, and the fact that ritual magic works EXTREMELY well as a method for getting
> good results from handwavium. Some of my best creations were created using
> rituals: the memory boxes that I created for my girls and the Mnemosyne's Honey
> strain of handwavium created during the same ritual being two examples. Even my
> everyday creations are half-ritual; while I use scientific methods in a lot of my
> work, the LEGO genetics that I use could also be viewed as following the laws of
> magic.
It's interesting that you mention this, TJ... I don't know if any of us have ever mentioned this in the open channel before, but the Corners was grown
over two years using ritual magic to guide and shape it into what we wanted. About half the folks here in Our Town are Wiccans, and there's a little ritual
stuff used on *everything* we make with 'wavium. In general, we get something in the close vicinity of what we want, and sometimes -- usually with the
whole coven working at it -- we get spectacularly specific results.
Now if you ask me, the polytheistic agnostic, this doesn't necessarily mean that handwavium has any kind of "magic" component to it (although the
ten-year-old boy in me would be delighted to find out it did) -- it can simply mean that we're very good at focussing on visualizing precisely what we want
using those rituals, which in turn makes it easier for the 'wavium to pick up on it and work from our specifications.
Oh, and Ms. Li? My idea is no sillier than some of the stuff the Senshi have come up with to explain handwavium... and considerably saner than some of the
Pulpers' ideas. And you of all people ought to know that we have some empirical evidence for at least one or two of the premises from which it depends.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
To: allcall@nation.fan
CC: the_jason@fatefullightning.fen
Subj: Re: Re: Theories
> That, and the fact that ritual magic works EXTREMELY well as a method for getting
> good results from handwavium. Some of my best creations were created using
> rituals: the memory boxes that I created for my girls and the Mnemosyne's Honey
> strain of handwavium created during the same ritual being two examples. Even my
> everyday creations are half-ritual; while I use scientific methods in a lot of my
> work, the LEGO genetics that I use could also be viewed as following the laws of
> magic.
It's interesting that you mention this, TJ... I don't know if any of us have ever mentioned this in the open channel before, but the Corners was grown
over two years using ritual magic to guide and shape it into what we wanted. About half the folks here in Our Town are Wiccans, and there's a little ritual
stuff used on *everything* we make with 'wavium. In general, we get something in the close vicinity of what we want, and sometimes -- usually with the
whole coven working at it -- we get spectacularly specific results.
Now if you ask me, the polytheistic agnostic, this doesn't necessarily mean that handwavium has any kind of "magic" component to it (although the
ten-year-old boy in me would be delighted to find out it did) -- it can simply mean that we're very good at focussing on visualizing precisely what we want
using those rituals, which in turn makes it easier for the 'wavium to pick up on it and work from our specifications.
Oh, and Ms. Li? My idea is no sillier than some of the stuff the Senshi have come up with to explain handwavium... and considerably saner than some of the
Pulpers' ideas. And you of all people ought to know that we have some empirical evidence for at least one or two of the premises from which it depends.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.