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may have dumbed down the idea and left out a few points, but basically what I'm saying is that the law of contagion is outdated.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?

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