3/6/2016 7:00 - 8:00 pm

Continuing our exploration of the research done at the library, gobbling up facts and info that's useful to know regarding both covert operations and the occult, well, "occult" has the exact same meaning that "covert" means-- secret, hidden. I'n't that far out? So continuing that conversation, let's talk a bit about the magics.


first more stuff about demons from last week
The Devil has been defined, using the parlance laid down during last week's post, into seven demons, each representing one of the seven deadly sins: lust is Asmodeus, pride is Lucifer, anger is Satan, gluttony is Beelzebub, envy is Leviathan, avarice is Mammon, sloth Belphegor. Are God's archangels defined into seven heavenly virtues similarly, I don't know. There's also some kind of different tradition-- I should have written down the source of these demonologies, well shoot-- that says, what about Belial? what about Mastema?, and defines Mastema as (an anthropomorphic personification?) of Emnity, Belial as Perversion, Darkness, and Destruction, and Satan as the Antagonist.

Also there's the whole thing from that time Sandman visited Hell to retrieve his awesome mask thing, where Hell's hierarchy is a triumvirate after some failed attempt at storming heaven, but I'm 99% sure that that's 100% Gaiman.

okay so hows 'bouts the dark arts
Magic isn't inherently bad, what matters is the morality of the end of the magic. The means don't matter, what matters is the end. Magic is dangerous, though, since it's powerful and you can't always tell the end that's going to result from your meddling... and of course, black means always have black ends...

There's high magic, and low magic, whether the magic is folksy or sciency, and black magic and white magic, whether it's good or evil. I suppose you could arrange that in a sort of a chart, high black, high white, low black and low white, a 2x2 grid not unlike the hot/cold substantial/insubstantial chart that separates the four classical elements, earth hot-substantial water cold-substantial air cold-insubstantial fire hot-insubstantial. As for the high/low, black/white grid, I'm not sure if there are words for, each square, but, let's call high black "goffik" magic and high white "preppy" magic, and low black "stanic" magic with low white... "poser," magic, I guess? Not to anyone's face, of course; it's going to be a solid decade before Evanescence even form, much less get Harry Potter fanfic named after any of their songs. But, in real life, I rather like this new schema to this old taxonomy.

(Preps also being evil is, one goff authoress's opinion; I have to call the white magic something...)

stuff about divination now?

Sociologists make a distinction between two different forms of divination: intuitive divination, where the divination augurs some definite answer, symbol equals this or that, and inductive divination, which is an entirely personal form of saying sooths, as in trance states and possession. Intermediary 'twixt the twain stands interpretive divination, where the given signs are, as is implied by the name, subject to interpretation. Intuitive divination includes augury, haruspicy, extispicy, and scapulimancy; interpretive is pretty rad, including pyromancy, hydromancy, geomancy... and, presumably aeromancy as well, though the Encyclopaedia was mum on that point, We've got our four classical elements, oll raigth!, but also! but also, non-trance-state divinations related to the body, such as phrenology, oneiromancy, and somatomancy. 

Is the body just some form of expression of aether? Why not? It's cool enough...