The Law Of Contagion?, Here are my thoughts, and I would appreciate yours. Options

The law of contagion is basically the idea that things continue to act upon each other after contact. As above, so below, right? So then if your spirit comes into contact with something, it should work the same. Since the spiritual body leaves the physical body during astral travel, and wind touches you and then other things, you should basically be connected to everything in existence. I may have dumbed down the idea and left out a few points, but basically what I'm saying is that the law of contagion is outdated. It should be replaced by something more along the lines of the law of infinite assimilation. Or something along those lines. Thoughts?

The law of contagion doesn't need to be replaced. As you said, in a way you are contagiously connected to everything else - because you are connected this very moment to the earth, whatever happens to the earth will affect you in some way, energetically and otherwise. So on for family, friends, possessions, etc.

THere are, however, degrees of connection. Some connections are weaker than others either because of a weak psychic investment on your part, a weak temporal link, and so on. The energy in the air does affect you, and it affects you because of you conenction to the air - breathing, being encompassed by it - and that is energetic as well but for someone to work magic on you, for instance, because you are breathing the same atmosphere is so negligible a link that it hardly counts - it's the same as say, doing magic without any contagion link at all, like a base line link that all things inherently share.

The law of contagion is intended to be interpreted along the lines of something that goes above and beyond the base line psychic link inherent in our existence, something that specifies that particular thing/person - hair, finger nails, blood, personal possessions, blood of the mother (very powerful link that one but blood magic is icky on many levels) - articles which are specifically attuned to the individual above and beyond other things.

As a good rule of thumb, if these mechanics appear to be far to broad and encompassing, probably they're being intepreted to widely - this is the difference between laws and principles. That we are all connected by a subtle force, a psychic medium that ties all material/spiritual things together, this is a principle, not a law - a basic element of our existence rather than a specific functional and applicable law of magic.

peace

This post has been edited by Vagrant Dreamer: Nov 15 2009, 11:43 PM

well i suppose you did poke a bit of a logic hole in my little theory there, but i still think this shows a good point. maybe the law of contagion doesn't need to be replaced, but it should at least have a sub-law added to it. i just feel like the law of contagion by itself isn't sufficient, at least not by the standard definition. i say either change the definition or add to it.

well i suppose you did poke a bit of a logic hole in my little theory there, but i still think this shows a good point. maybe the law of contagion doesn't need to be replaced, but it should at least have a sub-law added to it. i just feel like the law of contagion by itself isn't sufficient, at least not by the standard definition. i say either change the definition or add to it.

That may be, but I think that the primary flaw is to be found in the discussion of this, and many other, basic mechanical principles of magic. There just isn't much written that fully expresses what these laws are and how they are to be employed. The law of contagion is one that is relatively straightforward amongst most of them, but for instance, the Law of Rhythm is not given near enough discussion regarding its practical application either in ritual magic or internal magical practice.

Maybe we'll begin to remedy this here soon...

peace

i read into the law of rhythm and i suppose i can see why you would say that, but for the sake of getting a better glimpse into your perspective, could you elaborate? as far as application in rituals and spells, the ideas that come to mind when you say that are a bit limited for me.

i read into the law of rhythm and i suppose i can see why you would say that, but for the sake of getting a better glimpse into your perspective, could you elaborate? as far as application in rituals and spells, the ideas that come to mind when you say that are a bit limited for me.

The way that the law of rhythm makes the most sense to me is to consider it a mystical expression of the Wave - in everything there is an apex, a trough; an up and a down, a back and forth. If we experience happiness, we will by necessity experience sadness, and visa versa. Likewise if we experience a period of abundance or power, we will experience a period of lack and powerlesness.

The same thing goes for the currents of energy that compose the unmanifest, or the subtle/astral world. Certain currents are stronger at times than others, there is a procession, a rhythm, in many dimensions and in various combinations. So for instance in the planets, there is a rhythm for each individual celestial body - then there is the rhythm between any two bodies in relation to one another, and any three bodies, and so on. The law of rhythm you could call the 'clockwork' of creation. Or, the law which makes the gears turn as they do.

In magic, we apply this on the initiatory level by recognizing our own rhythms. There are days when we feel powerful, and there are days when we do not. These are not random, they occur in a procession that may be different for each individual, but will be regular for that individual. Then, we begin to recognize the relationships between our own rhythm and that of other currents. So you might observe - the mean rhythm between the earth and venus, as an example, creates a pentagram around the sun. a sort of wobbly pentagram. That is the rhythm of the relationship between the earth and venus manifest. Everything has it's own rhythm, and a rhythm in relationship to everything else. It's very difficult to grasp this aspect. But, we apply it in one way when we take astrology or astronomy into account with out magic - we look for the configuration of bodies which will offer the strongest and most beneficial current for our endeavor. A step further would be to sync those beneficial times with our own rhythm and find the relational mean between them. That's part astrology, and part intuition.

Beyond this, once we are aware of our rhythm we then learn to alter our own rhythm, and thereby alter our relationship with that of everything else. Then, we are able to fit ourselves to the beneficial currents more easily. I'm not going to try and explain that, but it comes naturally when this concept is explored through contemplation and practice, so it doesn't really need an explanation per se.

After this, we transcend rhythm all together, but it has to be approached in stages. To transcend rhythm means to be essentially a master of one's thoughts, emotions, and energetic states. It is an element of magical practice that is applied in many different traditions but not really expressed or described as such, which is what I meant by the law of Rhythm not being really discussed at length much in traditional literature/teaching.

If you want to apply the law of rhythm in ritual and spell work, then the first step is to become aware of your individual rhythm. Until you know your own rhythm you can't define a relationship with the rhythm of another current.

Like the application of any other combination of magical mechanics, it is not critically necessary to utilize the law of rhythm in magical work, but it's another element that will help make magic more efficacious. It is like saying that there are many aspects to the laws of aerodynamics and the physics of flight - but there are many different kinds of flying craft which to not all utilize all of those laws in the same way; as a result there are flight machines which fly in different ways, with different strengths and weaknesses.

With some consideration and practice, however, the utility of this law becomes fairly obvious. It's application is found largely in the use of astrology in magic, but it is found in other ways as well.

peace

Bio rhythms, intresting subject well applied to practice although I'm personally sceptical of its accuracy... if someone is down emotionally it would surely see them down physically and hence intellectually to a degree. Goes well when attached to moon cycles through the zodiac all the same.

Isn't the law of contagion itself a law of rhythm?

Bio rhythms, intresting subject well applied to practice although I'm personally sceptical of its accuracy... if someone is down emotionally it would surely see them down physically and hence intellectually to a degree. Goes well when attached to moon cycles through the zodiac all the same.

Isn't the law of contagion itself a law of rhythm?

I think the universe is a more complicated thing than to be able to say that either the chicken or the egg came first, as it were, but I believe that bio rhythms are an expression of a wider rhythm. You could say that although we see the waves crashing against the shore in a sort of regular rhythm, the waves themselves do not cause that rhythm. The example of experiencing sadness in necessary conjunction with happiness was a very small facet of the individual rhythm that we experience - to lable it the Bio Rhythm is to simplify it too much for it to be of practical use.

When I mention a day that one feels powerful, I don't mean emotionally. You can be melancholy and feel the presence of power one day, and be in a lively and cheerful mood another day while not feeling that presence. So they are not necessarily connected. When we align ourselves with other higher rhythms and transcend that personal rhythm, we still experience emotional highs and lows, but those are just expressions of rhythm on one level - on another level we experience a different rythm, one which we can use to alter that lesser 'biological' rhythm.

And although others possibly disagree, I do not see the procession of heavenly bodies as having a literal, physical effect on the world. What we observe physically is an expression, in my opinion, of what is happening on a subtler level. In consciousness it is the difference between the thoughts that we can observe and experience in our waking mind, and the subconscious network of constructs, notions and imprints which manifest those thoughts which we then take to be the activity of the mind - when in reality those thought processes are only the interpretation of subconscious activity.

In the observation and application of the law of rhythm, we recieve the greatest benefit to our magic when we strive to align with higher and subtler rhythms, as these rhythms govern the lower and grosser ones.

If we follow the universal laws succesively up into subtler and subtler tiers, we will find a single source at the root of everything, which has no division or mechanical nature, as these things arise from the activity of that One. So in a sense, one law is another, is another. However, we cannot derive anything useful from that ultimate unity as we are. There is no purpose served or any application derived from combining the laws - it only serves as sophistry which will ultimately confuse and detract from the efficacy of one's magic.

We can use the law of contagion in order to access and apply the law of rhythm, however. In itself this shows us that these are separate mechanics. That is because they can function independantly of one another. When we take, for instance, a lock of hair from a person we wish to work magic upon, and we wrap this material in a small silk bag along with a talisman consecrated to jupiter, having before hand associated the two through ritual, we are effectively superceding the lower rhythms governing that individual's life with a higher celestial rhythm. This is a very general and non-specific application. Ideally we are only drawing upon the 'apex' of the jovian rhythm to push the individual's rhythm into a more favorable place for a time. Without some particular additional element in the overall construct, that person's rhythm will either reassert itself by equalizing in the opposite direction, or they will be more permanently tied to the Jovian rhythm and subject to whatever changes and influences are present in that rhythm, because of their contagious connection to it through the talisman.

It's a single example without expanding into safeguards against that equalizing pressure, or establishing particulars within the construct of the talisman itself to create a more permanent solution - this is simply how the law of contagion and rhythm can work together, and the distinction between them.

peace

yet again i find myself thinking i may need to improve my reading level. good posts vagrant.

I think that there isn't a great deal of reading that can be done outside of the classical subject matter which will grant much more insight on magical laws or mechanics. The Kybalion is an excellent read on the subject, but you have to really read it carefully as it is sort of a mish mash of theosophical agenda with threads of ancient wisdom tying it all together as it were. Bardon likewise had some to say on the subject but didn't say it explicitly, so you have to look at it in context with the barest framework of understanding, and it becomes a matter of him almost explaining some of the laws directly but just leaving out the 'labels' as it were.

I find that many elements can be found in classical grimoires if you were to make a sort of organizing chart, you'll find that there are basic elements universal to almost every classical grimoire - sometimes exactly the same and sometimes very different in appearance but exactly the same in principle. Magical traditions, rituals, and lore can be organized the same way, and over time you begin to realize that there are universal elements that are the same in every tradition. Then the differences between them, as stated boldly by their practitioners, becomes almost a kind of cosmic punchline. No matter how unique an individual believes their magic to be, it's really only the mask that may be unique - the mechanics are always the same. Much like people in a way.

The problem is that no matter how much reading or studying you do, there really is only one way to learn about the real nature of these mechanics, and that is to observe them in yourself first, then in the world, and then in the space between - that relationship between you and the world, in how you affect it and it affects you. Then in application we are at first only able to apply them in a very basic way when we observe ourselves, then in a more advanced way in observing the world, and then finally in a transcendent way when we observe the activity between the two. I do think that we can apply them without realizing it - in the case of following a grimoire, for instance, perhaps - but I find this to be limiting on the individual, and maybe even in a long term sort of way a hinderance. And, not all grimoires work - due in part I believe to the occasional lack of completeness. Either they were poorly translated, there are intentional omissions, or the original authors were not actually adepts at all and wrote the grimoires without a working knowledge of the mechanics necessary to enact the claims therein.

I will try to collect everything that I have read and discovered or contemplated on the matter at some point in the near future. Unfortunately my notes are chunky from week to week rather than day to day most of the time. There's also always a question of how much should be said on the subject because as we learn and grow we often realize that we have made our observations without the proper context that comes to us later, and risk finding then that we have misspoken on the subject when at last that illumination dawns. Hence the importance of keeping tight journals, or having an impeccable memory for experience.

peace