Magic 101: Force
Reminder: you cannot learn magic alone. Trying to learn magic alone is a fantastic way to end up in a dumpster fire, metaphorically speaking. You need a teacher to help you avoid the worst of the pitfalls and to fish you out of the dumpster when you inevitably make a mistake.
This far in the series, I’ve been using the word ‘force’ without giving it definition, though it’s easy enough to define by reading between the lines in the rest of the posts. Force is something you are born with, with an amount which may be almost nothing, or may be enough to do magic, or may be enough to make you truly powerful. The divine dictates how much, and it usually reflects whatever lessons you may need to be engaged in, in that life.
A metaphor my godfather likes to use is ‘light’—the idea is that if your light is dim, you attract little attention. If your light is bright, you will attract more attention. That attention can be incredibly broad spectrum, with a bright enough light. Spiritual entities which are beneficially inclined might be attracted, but by far the most common entities attracted to a bright light are going to be anything from neutral to malicious. A beneficially inclined entity has no particular reason to contact someone unless they have work to do with that person, and unlike a neutral to malicious entity, does not need anything from the magician. Neutral to malicious entities, by contrast, tend to either have something they need or be interested in manipulating a magician. They will, by far, be the most vocal and inclined to contact a magician.
There are any number of symptoms of that light, so it is better to simply say that weird shit will tend to happen to the magically gifted. This is for a variety of reasons, including that the entities attracted to that light tend to get the attention of people through manipulating their environment. People can also sometimes sense that light, and while they may not have the ability to notice or articulate what they feel, they will occasionally react to it in ways that make no sense.
My godfather also likes to say, and I’ve found this relevant in my life, that the greater the light, the more profoundly and inexplicably alienated that person will be. It will not be a choice they’ve made, and it will not be something people can specifically point out, there will just be a strange gulf between them and the world around them. It will not be a personality disorder nor any specific problem. They will simply be different.
The real test of it, in vodou, is a combination of the attention of the lwa and the ability to alter the world with a handful of dollar store ingredients. It’s less that a magician will not find themselves trying to change the world with a candle and more the ability to hear and forge relationships with spirits that will give the correct advice, the correct guidance, the right combination of ingredients, and the right help.
A teacher is here to make sure that you don’t hurt yourself in the process and help you contact spirits that are less likely to harm you.
