Magician Or Priest, HOW TO APPROACH THE NEC ENTITIES Options

I've been reading the "how to begin..." posts on the Nec's section, and there was a mention about approaching the Entities as a Magician or as a Priest, now for me a Magician is someone that(among other things) evokes an Entity for a determined purpose and that's it, can call this one again or not, can send Him/Her on a determined task, etc. While, for me at least, a Priest is someone who dedicates himself to the adoration?(perhaps) of a deity or group of deities within a specific system or a specific pantheon(so to speak), but -again from my point of view- this is done is an exclusivity basis, this Priest doesn't approaches , or more exactly can not..., nor contacts any other entities without his system and doesn't practices anything else that is beyond or outside the realm of his current practice of Priest of a system.

Then, is the above statement basically true in regard of the Nec practice? I think -and really hope- this topic can help completely beginners as me to have a better understanding of the Nec system, which of course would be an outsider understanding until the moment the actual practice begins, but anyway a guide to know how to approach the system at least at the bginning.

Thanks in advance for your comments.

Markus

This post has been edited by markus: Sep 11 2007, 01:55 PM

Personally I consider myself both a priestess and a magi (by your definition) and I'm not sure why you would have to be only one or the other.

Sure in christianity-judaism-islam, you're talking about a monotheism where any interaction or magical power or entities other than the 'one supreme being' is forbidden... but outside of semitic monotheism, why would there be any conflict at all?

I have a 'deity' with whom I am very VERY close. And I interact with a lot of entities. I consider rubbing shoulders with a lot of entities to be an almost unavoidable part of my path with her. I'm not sure I see why there should have to be any conflict in that.

Now if you are asking whether it is my reflex to go to her or to another entity when seeking an agent to perform magick for me?
I'd answer "neither". My reflex is to do the magic myself.
If I do seek help of a 'manpower' sort, then I would seek out an entity for assistance.
If I seek help of a 'insight' sort, then I would seek out 'Her' assistance.
usually anyway. I'm not above learning from other entities. For example, I learned most of what I know about fear energy from a nightmare-being, not my patron. It's not like having a conversation or exploring the multiverse around you is a form of adultery against a deity. my deity openly encourages it. I would tend to think that any deity who didn't, is a bit of a possessive egomaniac.

But then I'm thinking of what I call "True deities" which I differentiate from the 'super-egregore' beings which you find at the top of most religions. Super-egregores are ultimately dependent on their followers, and so might understandably behave much more possessively.