From: the_jason@fatefullightning.fen
To: allcall@nation.fan
CC: bob.schroeck@ourtown.fen
Subj: Re: Re: Theories
>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.
Bob, I would love to compare notes with you and your folks sometime about this. Does your coven subscribe to any particular pantheon or style, for instance? We
can talk about this later off the list?
>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, I agree. It's a wonderful focusing tool. The possibility that there might be a magical component in the stuff is simply my own viewpoint, given the
utter complexity of results it can produce. It so closely straddles the line between Clarke's and Niven's statements that viewing it as technomagic is
a very useful paradigm, especially for someone who is both a scientist and an eclectic pagan. You know the motto of eclectic pagans - if it works for you, use
it! (And if it's not our motto, it should be.) We ought to look into how many others use ritual magic with the stuff, and compare notes with everybody.
Might get some interesting data.
To: allcall@nation.fan
CC: bob.schroeck@ourtown.fen
Subj: Re: Re: Theories
>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.
Bob, I would love to compare notes with you and your folks sometime about this. Does your coven subscribe to any particular pantheon or style, for instance? We
can talk about this later off the list?
>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, I agree. It's a wonderful focusing tool. The possibility that there might be a magical component in the stuff is simply my own viewpoint, given the
utter complexity of results it can produce. It so closely straddles the line between Clarke's and Niven's statements that viewing it as technomagic is
a very useful paradigm, especially for someone who is both a scientist and an eclectic pagan. You know the motto of eclectic pagans - if it works for you, use
it! (And if it's not our motto, it should be.) We ought to look into how many others use ritual magic with the stuff, and compare notes with everybody.
Might get some interesting data.