alt.magick Quiz (Q1-6*)
tyaginator
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I. ONTOLOGY, GENERAL
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Question #1: WHAT IS MAGIC?
A) Magic is any intentional act whatsoever. Doing something
is doing magic.
B) Magic is a special energy reservoir used to change reality
through secret means.
C) Magic is the use of symbolism to achieve changes in
reality at a distance within rituals or spells.
D) Magic is a supernatural power. You think or try to make
something happen mentally and it does, physically.
E) Magic is really just legerdemain, prestidigitation, or
sleight of hand. Arcane arts are all just a show of
entertainment, without any real meaning or symbolism.
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Question #2: WHEN AND WHERE DID MAGIC ORIGINATE?
A) It is pronounced "may-g'k", and was one of the languages
of the Old Ones.
B) The Three Kings of Orientar invented magic just after
visiting with a newborn god presaged by a star. The science
was later named 'Soofism', and its adherents were well-known
by their adoption of woolen robes.
C) Marie Laveau created magic in New Orleans when she began
sticking pins in dolls.
D) Magic was created by Henry Cornelius Agrippa, and was the
basis of his text "The Three Books of Occult Philosophy".
E) Magic had no beginning separable from any other common
human behaviour.
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Question #3: WHEN DID THE WORD 'MAGIC' ORIGINATE?
A) Eliphas Levi originated and first defined it in his text
"Transcendental Magic".
B) Aleister Crowley wrote the first definition for it in his
manual Magic in Theory and Practice".
C) Greeks slandered Persian priests ('magi'), saying that
they were practicing spooky and suspicious 'magic',
a rogue and malevolent religious activity.
D) Ancient man understood the role of the iMAGInation in Creating
reality and so instituted this in the English language by making
an abbreviation of it in the term 'MAGI C' / 'magic'.
E) John Dee, the well-known mathematician and astrologer, wrote
the treatise 'Principia Magimatica', which set the world on
its ear. This was just after his immense translation of
The Necronomicon, which is now so difficult to find.
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PRACTICAL, GENERAL
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Question #4: WHAT ARE COMMON MAGICAL TOOLS AND HOW ARE THEY USED?
A) There are black and white contractable wands that make things appear
and disappear, hats from which to draw rabbits, boxes in which people
who are cut up and reconnected are placed, and various hankerchiefs
and balls that are manifested and unmanifested.
B) Common magical tools include rods for direction like wands, daggers and
staves; vessels for containment like bags, cups and bottles; offerings
or fuel for sacrifice such as candles, incenses and food; mediums of
employment such as oil, clay, and wood shavings; natural objects with
special properties such as salt, herbs and minerals; means of
inspiration like intoxications, invocations and scourging tools;
and symbols for association such as crosses, triangles and pentagrams.
C) Tools are never used in serious magical operations. They are only like
'training wheels' for the advanced practitioner, who employs these
until the psychic powers are developed within the spirit of the magician.
D) Magical tools are the items which are provided to the initiate who goes
through a period of intense training in order to learn the ins and
outs of the Art of the Mage -- a secret and secluded order of
stupendously powerful adepts. They are employed to rule the
universe. All other acts of magic are fake.
E) No magical tools are common; they are sheltered in vaults secreted
beneath the earth, untouchable by those without access. They include
such things as the Blarney Stone which makes kings, the Spear of
Destiny which is wielded by rulers, the Holy Grail that rejuvenates
the drinker, the Philosopher's Stone which grants immortality and
makes the wielder rich, and the various relics which are left-over
bits and pieces of exalted individuals.
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Question #5: WHAT ARE SIGILS AND HOW ARE THEY USED?
A) Sigils are statues made of iron, placed at the gates of Athenian temples.
B) The symbol of death, sigils are especially well-known in association
with the Grim Reaper, who employs them to end lives with impunity.
The necromancer can use sigils to contact the dead, and to apply
the sacrifices of animals to effect the healing of his clients.
C) In the Arabic cosmology, sigils are a special kind of spirit
supposedly created out of smoke, and they may be good and
pious or evil and transgressive.
D) Symbols, often inscribed as seals and signets, supposed to have
magical import and purpose, and sometimes set as wards or to
contain identifying information in spell use. They are said to
be the sign for an occult entity, and sometimes become the
focus of meditation.
E) Sigils inhabit fire. They are also known as 'salamanders', and
they can be summoned by magicians in order to guard what are
called 'the Quarters' during special ceremonials performed at
midnight on the autumnal solstice (Lammas).
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Question #6: WHAT ARE MAGIC SQUARES?
A) Magic squares were used conventionally for astrology for centuries.
Their quadratic form yielded the natal chart perfectly, and their
character perfectly integrated the Aristotlean quaternal Elements,
with their intervening conditions.
B) Grids composed of 21 squares, 3 rows of 7 in vertical columns, with
a single, long square below them. It is used to display sigils of
demons, as from the notorious Liber Arcanorum sub figura 231 by
Aleister Crowley.
C) A 'Cube of Power', these powerful constructions by quadratic mages
are astounding in their perfect massive potential and their
conformity to urban dwellings, where many modern rituals take
place. Magic squares are inscribed at the perimeters of the
ceremonial chamber and may be used to contain the most caustic
and cthonic demons.
D) '(The Ten) Magic Squares' are part of a very old tradition of
magic by Channa Buddhists. Strings of 10 wood oblongs are
blessed by Buddhist monks and offered to demons to convince
them to depart. They feature (1) a baby in the wild tended
by a woman, (2) a boy pushing a boat through river reeds,
(3) young men at swordplay, (4) two men in a temple bowing
to one another, (5) a man walking through an ornamented
gate from a Buddhist monastery with a stick and the pack
of a traveller, (6) a travelling man meeting a blind old
master at the crossroads, (7) a travelling man drinking
in a tavern with a beautiful young smiling woman, (8)
two men in a scuffle -- one pinning the other to the
ground, (9) a man in the wilderness leading an ox, (10)
the last square is always blank, called the Keystone.
E) Grids composed of numbers from 1 to the square of their order,
adding to the same sum in rows and columns *and* diagonals.
They are inscribed with sigils of the Planets composed of
their names mapped to the numbers in the grids, and provided
planetary assignments (Saturn (3) to the Moon (9)), ascribed
to gods, mapped to celestial bodies, and used in magic
throughout the world.
This is one of numerous postings of the alt.magick
Quiz Questions as they are developed, posted, and reposted
in the newsgroup. Their answers are to be found at:
* http://www.arcane-archive.org/faqs/alt-magick-quiz-answers/
which see. comments after this posting are of course welcomed.
tyaginator
(c) 2007 nagasiva yronwode -- all rights reserved.
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Pisano
wrote:
Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!!!!
ren
> Question #1: WHAT IS MAGIC?
sleight of hand
> Question #2: WHEN AND WHERE DID MAGIC ORIGINATE?
> Question #3: WHEN DID THE WORD 'MAGIC' ORIGINATE?
The word originates with the Kurds and Iranians and refers to the art
of the Magi, a priestly class of Zoroastrians. The influence of the
Magi extended to Greece and India.
> Question #4: WHAT ARE COMMON MAGICAL TOOLS AND HOW ARE THEY USED?
As depicted in the Magician Tarot Card which holds the value of 1, the
traditional tools of the magician are the Pentacle, Cup, Dagger, and
Wand. The fifth being the magician his or herself.
> Question #5: WHAT ARE SIGILS AND HOW ARE THEY USED?
A sigil is any symbol that depicts a word or phrase. Sigils are used
to contain magickal power.
> Question #6: WHAT ARE MAGIC SQUARES?
Magic Squares are mathematical tables, the sum of all sides,
horizontally, vertically, and diagonally, all equal the same number.