Color flip

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Color flip
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Post # 1

Magick does not have a color, it is neither black nor white, the common way to put it ive heard is to say that magick just is. but any of you who know that probably didnt come here to just reaffirm what you already knew.

As an alternative i GUESS to make it sound cooler or whatever, people say its black or white based on intention. This in an of itself is flawed. In asia and japan, The colors are flipped. White is a color of mourning and is often associated with death, where as black is noted to be the color of heaven and earth. So if you said you practiced "black" magick in older china or even a modern city, it can easily be confused.

Colors in the name are simply for esthetics. If theres one thing i think everyone can agree on, people who actually know what their doing arent obsessed with how something looks or sounds and instead works on improving their skills. Looks are trumped by efficiency and performance

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Re: Color flip
By: / Novice
Post # 2

Some people have to categorize things. Humans like to give things names and categories to keep things organized. Most people in the magic community know what someone means when they say "I practice black magic." It most likely means that they work with spirits, curses, or other such things. While someone who says "I practice black magic." is probably poracticing healing and protention. Someone says they practice grey magic; they do both.

While it is true that magic has no colour, and the idea of 'black' and 'white' is flawed, it is going to be used due to it's inherent simplicity. I don't get bent out of shape when someone says 'White Magic,' but I have ceased to use it due to personal ideas. In my opinion there isn't a pure white or black, there is only different shades of grey. The lines are blurred.

Colours are just for looks or sound, that is kinda the reason people use them though. For some people, the way something looks helps them get into the right mindset to do magic. That's why a lot of people use colour correspondances in magic. It feels right to them and helps them.

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Re: Color flip
By:
Post # 3

I use the terms white, black, etc as a means of preference. I understand magick has no color but that doesn't mean we're not allowed to use them to make it easier if we would like. Sometimes color and sound can greatly impact the performance one does.

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Re: Color flip
By: / Knowledgeable
Post # 4

While I get what you two are saying, I can't completely agree with it. Yes, colors can be used as labels, but I hate it when people say "Magic has no color" because colors and their associations are very magical because they are energy (as everything is energy). To treat labels as universal is the biggest flaw I see with it, really. One also has to keep context in mind; Western Occultism is more likely to use Black and White magic as labels whereas you wouldn't typically find a person in China speaking of those labels, even if they were using English.

Magic has two meanings to me and those are A) manifestation of will, and B) a catch all term to relate to anything spiritually inclined. The second meaning is more of an observation than a personal attachment because people typically don't have a catch all term for all matters spiritual. Personally, I use Occult/ism for that umbrella term, though Occultism can generally imply modern American, European, and some Asian and African practices (as a lot of them have been studied by people from Europe who brought those traditions and techniques with them (ala what we know today as Neopaganism, New Age practices, and the like).

It is natural for religious, spiritual, and magical traditions and techniques to blend is people will move and blend with each other, but sometimes that "blend" is disrespectful as some cultures do not like that. This is why there is a lot of disdain for more modern practices. However, I feel that modern practices, and our understanding of their labels, shouldn't be scoffed at just because it isn't traditional. Some New Age practices can be very legitimate and we can sometimes miss that because we are here in the now. If we were all mixing together in the past, we would have come across these same problems that people in the future would realize is probably very petty.

Some day, these New Age practices will become ancient traditions and we can no longer call them "New Age" and we'll be forced to look at each practice, belief, and perspective as they are. Why not eschew that mix up and clear it up while we're in the now? Let people use the labels as they see fit and instead of scoffing at them, learn what their perspectives are; because in the long run, no two perspectives are alike.

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Re: Color flip
By:
Post # 5

you bring up an interesting point, but is this really a new age practice, if it must be called in color terms, then isnt white magic like healing spells and Black is used for such things as spells to cause harms, some even file necromancy under it, etc. Seperations and opinions aside,t he terms of colors themselves are not a practice of their own. Color associations or corrospondances are different from what im saying. if its easier to call healing magick white magic, and bad intentions with magick black magick, then i have no problem with it. what im saying in this post is that the REASONS for calling it white or black are either misconceptions or purely material

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Re: Color flip
By: / Knowledgeable
Post # 6

My entire point was that one cannot generalize what things mean to other people, which includes why people feel a certain way about labels and why or how things are viewed as flawed. I'm not talking about "most people do this", I am talking about deconstructing common thought patterns; which I believe was the point of your post.

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Re: Color flip
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Post # 7

indeed

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