Do You Believe In Magic?

[DJ Droood]

Both the FDA and the EMA are working on accepting herbal drugs, will be interesting to see what will come through.

Hermmmm...I wonder if the FDA will use their usual methodology for the acceptance of non-pharmaceuticals by kicking in dispensary doors, arresting patients, burning crops and shooting farmers?

[Willowen]

[/quote]The mind-body is scientific fact, that the wide range of chemistry in the body will "shut down" when one is depressed. And many get depression when any illness sets in.
We need the mind-body healing most when we are disabled or ill. I agree that a doctor needs to be a part of the cure, and shamanism perhaps, has a large role in working with a patient, suggesting that the inter-human connection is critical in recovery.

The two sides of the fence: doctors vs Reiki, shamans and so on, runs large and mostly due to money. Gerrymandered science for the sake of expensive prescriptions is an injustice to the practice of healing.

Is the knowledge of the mind-body, knowing that a person's attitude will greatly influence the physical condition really just magic?
I don't think science can ignore it, though I will agree that many do.

Merlyn[/quote]
In my personal opinion, one simply can't afford to ignore the healing/magical qualities of the human mind. My Mother often told me that "the mind has the power to open any door".
What I have learned through OBOD the last two years, is to use my mind to open the door to healing energies, and then the true magic occured when I learned to give this healing energy back to others. I still see my doctor occasionally because parts and pieces don't work right sometimes , but I don't take pain pills all day long anymore, and now I can actually remember what I read in the Gwerse.
Anyway, after reading the rest of the thread, I guess my point is that I don't think it matters what religion you belong to now. It matters how you use the energy that is given to you. To me that energy is the gateway to true magic.
It would be truly magical if the doctors would learn to work more with a holistic approach to healing; however, I do believe some doctors are trying to learn more about holistic methods. I pray that someday this will be accepted by the medical community. But for right, now my prescription is a frosted glass of Irish stout that I will enjoy on the porch. Cheers! Apparently, I don't know how to use the html right. oops

[Shaun Hayes]

I don't think anyone has ever experienced the truth of AWEN. What they have experienced is something of its effects and therefore their true knowledge of it is limited in that regard. I think people who, from a very young age, instinctively ''get'' reincarnation as a broad principle probably, at some level, have experienced it. Those emphatically unable to connect with the idea, well maybe they are here for the first time and therefore have no grounds (deep and unconscious as they may be) to get the idea.

In the same way I don't think anyone really knows magic. It exists, if it does exist, outside of normal conscious reality. Some people have felt the energy of it, have experienced something of its effects, or have a memory, again perhaps unconscious, and this informs their instinct and perhaps develops an interest. I am not talking of conjuring, stage magic, illusion or trickery here. In fact I am skeptical when it comes to demonstrable magic; spoon bending or anything requiring props etc. I think these are all at best base corruptions of a much purer stream of energy that is not centred in this level of reality.

Thoughts to ponder: Imagination is the gateway to magic; When we find we can do something magical it immediately becomes and is called something else; Magic is not a place we go to, the place we go to is simply a device to enable us to experience magic, magic is actually all around us all the time; Magic is a state of being not doing;

I could go on as I have notebooks full of my meanderings on this fascinating subject, but there is enough ammunition for now so I will put on my tin hat and duck behind the parapet for now. hehe.

Shaun.

[Bart]

This being the platform for questioning the status quo (which is in this case, discuss the stuff which can only be known by feeling and believing) I find it interesting you stress distrust in the things which can be shown and not the stuff which is more fluffy. So if we can only trust the unseen/unproven/ touchy-feely stuff it will allways be a matter of faith, and in that case a topic for another part of the forum.

Do we put to rest the fact that we can believe in magic, the sceptical way? Thus it is only a case of believing?

[Abfalter]

On the topic of herbal extracts: do we include herbal schnapps in our queste for magic? I propose we do.

Oh yes, we definitely should. Eat one of Austria's typical festival food, say lard on dark bread with fresh onion and some paprika powder. Schnaps then works magic when you can literaly feel that your spleen isn't cutting through the grease any more...

[cypresseyes]

Magic is the science of the soul. I don't believe in it any more or less than I believe in a sunrise. It is there to experience. It is its own validation. It does not require belief nor does it invalidate it. It is intrinsic to the pattern of all that is.

[Bart]

I gather, this is a yes.

[thebadpoet]

My only answer is that I believe that I do not know. The human mind is a complicated thing and it is easy to feel our perspective should not be constrained by our five senses as much as it is easy to place all of our judgement upon those senses. A logical path can be followed in order to evidence a particular belief, yet logic itself appears often subjective and dependent upon certain truths being accepted as proven.

I no longer feel that I can be assured one way or another by universal facts - science itself seems to uncover new facts at a fantastic rate and theories of physics become yet more elaborate and wonderful as we try to untangle the mysteries of existence. There may be many dimensions, space might fold, we might all be on a predetermined path where decision and action are mere illusions as the universe gives birth, collapses and gives birth again in a never ending and identical repetition. Humanity might find its answers one day, but I have to live in the present not the future so can only work with what I think I know, which in truth is not a lot.

I have spent much of my life as an atheist before coming to realise that I could not evidence that there was nothing as much as those who were religious could not evidence that there was something. I'm more agnostic as a result but then again by following the Druid path (and I emphasise this is my experience) I have learned to sense something else. I look at the trees, the land, the elements and much more in a new way. Do I feel that I can influence them through ritual? I'm not as assured as I used to be about that, but even then my belief is one of I have no want to try (again I emphasis this is just my belief, I do not judge others who feel differently). If there are powers greater than you or I then I can only acknowledge and thank them for the world around me and the life that is a part of it. My rituals are confined to acknowledgement and thanks, seeking to live with those powers and taking enjoyment from feeling them within me and being a part of them in turn.

I hope we all find what we seek and live our lives as fully and contentedly as our wants and desires allow

Bright blessings to you
Tim (thebadpoet)