HOW-TO : DIFFERENTIATING MAGIC AND THE MUNDANE 。

HOW-TO : DIFFERENTIATING MAGIC AND THE MUNDANE 。

NOTES . this is not a roleplaying account nor is this a type of delusion. this is a spiritual belief and practice that can be achieved through various means such as witchcraft and manifestation.

the real life magical girl community can be considered as an incredibly niche spot not only on the internet, but in the world as well. to most people, it is a far-fetched fantasy that can only exist in pop culture media and thus, some of us began to question even the validity of our own existence.

whenever we get introduced to a subject that is novel to us or at least outside of what we think is normal and we tend to either be critical and cautious or excited and enthusiastic. this can be seen in how most of us begin in our journey as real world mahou shoujo. while having an ability for critical thinking and the trait of hopeful enthusiasm are both positive qualities in my opinion, there are circumstances where those can become imbalanced and vague.

the mahou shoujo community in this side of the internet is predominantly made up of people from the adolescent age group, this possibly is one of the plenty reasons why people may not take us seriously despite the reality of our duties. this is based on what i have observed, although i've seen a few adults lingering around both as magical girls online and offline.

many of us who stayed in the path of being a real life mahou shoujo may have frequently doubted ourselves—are our personal experiences with magic even real? to what extent is the validity of our existence? is this simply brought by our imagination, and how can we confirm it? these are all perfectly valid questions, magic is something that isn't studied and explored that much via well-known and pragmatic scientific methods after all.

this post is not intended to make someone fall into a cycle of wariness, but rather, to aid in preventing those worries that might trouble our minds and to mitigate the possibilities of online harassment over our perceived mental capacity, such as how other people might refer to what we do as another separate form of varied delusions. this does not only apply to the magic that we magical girls do, but to other types as well, just like those in the areas of occult and witchcraft.

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the lack of definition between what's magic and what's mundane can lead to numerous misinterpretations of supernatural phenomena. these can range from misreading asoects of day-to-day life as a sign from a higher being, a confusion on what path should one take, doubtfulness on a person's own capability for rational judgement, and maybe even to the point of being disconnected from tangible reality.

these are not meant to scare people off, they dont entirely describe what everyone else go through. but, these are, from what i've seen, among the most common dilemmas met in this community—not only on the tumblr side of it, but in other social media platforms as well. early detection of such is vital in order to know the next steps that an individual should take for the betterment of their mental health and to not cause any further damage to their well-being, while remaining in active participation of their magical duties.

the methods that will be mentioned can be applied to any form of magic, whether it is the one that we magical girls use or the thing that's prevalent in the witchcraft and occult community.

01 — the value of logic and skepticism

in the witchcraft community, these are two of the many traits that a person is encouraged to have and it's not meant to push anyone who's interested away, but to help with discerning between what's real and what's fake. in the reality shifting and law of assumption community, logic and skepticism are both viewed as 'limiting beliefs' that hinder us from achieving our objectives.

from here, we see quite of a conundrum. but the truth is that both logic and creativity, and objectivity and subjectivity, should be seen together and not as opposing qualities. instead, it should be encouraged to view them as helping hands or tools to assist in what we do. this is because it will never be a limiting belief to put yourself and your mental health above other things—it will only become a limiting belief if it actually begins to restrict what you're capable of.

in philosophy, skepticism refers to questioning the possibility of knowledge, either in a particular domain or in general. in either case, to be skeptical means to believe that certain knowledge is not always possible. there are several different schools of skeptical thought. source

as mentioned above, it is the act of constructively criticizing and verifying a form of knowledge if it really was any kind of knowledge at all. in magic, we can describe it as figuring out if what was deemed as magic really was actual magic at all. i believe that this is an important thing to have so that we wont be easily fooled by what's at face value. for example, you could be making a contract but you have to make sure if the entity you're talking to really is kyubey or if it's just someone who's pretending to be kyubey.

there is nothing wrong with seeking logic and stability on concepts that may be unfamiliar and difficult to comprehend for us, it doesnt make you a hater of any kind. if we're unaware of the true essence of something, then it might cause fear, and the fear of what is unknown is the seed that sprouts into narrow-mindedness, hatred, and anger. the best thing that we can do is to avoid that seed from growing inside of us, and to stay curious about everything that we see — what i'm talking about is skepticism as in the pursuit of knowledge, not in the avoidance of knowledge and the act of being close-minded.

i think that people are too afraid of finding out that their experiences are not universal, there shouldnt be any reason to be anxious on learning about a point of view that's entirely different from your own and there's nothing wrong with applying a rational framework to most things, including magic (eg. "this works because [insert personal understanding]"). just because you apply rationality to something doesnt mean that it will no longer work. of course, all of what i mentioned should be applied in healthy moderation. it can be a pretty loose framework, it doesnt matter as long as it helps in outlining the way that you experience magic.

questioning the actuality of things help us in realizing not only its real essence, but its deeper potential.

"how can i be sure that this is a sign?"

"is this so-called sign caused by an internet algorithm?"

"is this so-called sign something that i found on purpose in order to validate myself?"

"how can i make magic work?"

"what do i think are the fundamentals of magic? how is it different and identical compared to everyone else's?"

"before diving into any magical explanations, could there be any grounded and logical reasoning to this?"

"what influences does magic hold over the mind? how can it affect our psychological and physiological state?"

here is an example of how it can be applied in real life and based on my own experiences as well.

whenever i pass by a witch labyrinth or a spot that could possibly hold a grief seed in it, i tend to feel the following: being lightheaded, nausea, an odd tightened feeling in my chest, etc., but how was i able to confirm that it was from a witch labyrinth?

i took in all possibilities — what are some factors that can affect my health and produce the 'symptoms' in the previous paragraph? what was the temperature that day, is it too hot that it can cause someone to feel dizzy? does my body need immediate medical attention? am i dehydrated, have i been lacking sleep? if i walk far from the spot i felt awful at, do i feel any better or do i feel the same? did i only begin to feel bad when i walked past it? did the feeling disappear when i walked away, but does it also return when i come back to that spot?

it was a lot to consider, but i was able to remove all other possible mundane explanations because they were inapplicable for my situation at that time. afterwards, i began to check my clairsenses, took a photo of spots i felt strange energy at, and had people tell me if they feel anything from it too, and what they told me matched my experiences as well. there was no way it's a figment of my imagination.

to summarize this section, before you think that something is caused by the supernatural, you should first eliminate any grounded explanation to it.

02 — developing trust and intuition

in order to balance out the attention placed upon logic, it is also important to simply trust in your instincts and let it be — if a magical occurrence was shown to you in an obvious way, and if you feel resonated with it without any lingering fear nor hesitance, then by all means pour your belief into it.

intuition, in philosophy, the power of obtaining knowledge that cannot be acquired either by inference or observation, by reason or experience. as such, intuition is thought of as an original, independent source of knowledge, since it is designed to account for just those kinds of knowledge that other sources do not provide. source

i mentioned earlier that it's beneficial to be skeptical of what you encounter, but it should be with the intention of figuring out the truth that's veiled behind the event and if it feels like there is another probable cause to something. i think that skepticism and intuition should coexist within an individual. always keep in mind what your instincts told you for future purposes but do not forget to be cautious, play it safe if you must.

by developing your intuition, you not only learn the value of progress but you will also enhance your senses — i am referring to the spiritual senses that we utilize here in the community in order to make a sense out of our magic, such as clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience, clairgustance, clairaulience, and things that are similar to that. through the growth of these senses, you sort of get used to what it feels like to use 'magic' and what it feels like to encounter something that's completely mundane, and interchangeably your intuition.

through this, you'll be able to figure things out even with little to no problem. i believe that intuition is something that we all have but the less we use it, the less we would be able to distinguish between what's an intuitive response and what's something born out of anxiety. practice with feeling your magic and familiarizing with it, for as long as you can and as you want, until it feels like it's only second nature to you.

build a bond with your magic and your magical familiar or mascot if ever you have any — communicate with it and play with it until it feels comfortable, until it feels recognizable, until it feels easy to differentiate among worldly matters. do it until you are confident in what you're doing, as long as you are certain then it will be okay. for example, the time i've spent with berry (nickname for my familiar) allowed me to know if the entity that visits me in the astral is berry or not even without thinking too hard about it. in another case, i've interacted with incubators a good amount already that i am now able to know if what visited me is an incubator — this applies to other entities as well, not just familiars/mascots.

the point is that if a magical experience feels natural to you, then you would be able to 'just know'. if you doubt it, even for a little bit and you feel like something is off, then by all means attempt to understand it even at the slightest bit. you shouldnt be afraid to trust your judgement, nor should be wary about yourself, unless you have a good reason to.

03 — divination tools

whenever we struggle to comprehend whenever something is a byproduct of magic or if it's caused by a happening in the pragmatic world, then you can lean onto divination tools to clarify it for you. is this entity giving out a sign? or is it not? you can learn and gouge out more information via means like this, but it's vital to not let it be the only thing that leads you. otherwise, you will become a slave to what should've been a mere tool.

i consider this as a last resort attempt for me. i recommend that you use it if something feels too blurry and cloudy for your judgement to handle all alone because we do not want to become overdependent on it. another situation that would make sense for you to utilize divination is when you to ask for guidance and it's a completely valid thing! your tools should be able to interpret its energy and assist you in clarifying it.

there are plenty of divination methods such as cartomancy, pendulums, rolling dice, boards, scrying, but none of them are required to do a proper divination. if you do not have the money to get proper divination materials, then you can create it yourself and that way you'll be able to form a deeper connection with your items. still, it shouldn't be left forgotten that you should cleanse your tools every now and then, specifically before and after the divination session.

if you have any confusion, then you can ask for any additional answers, or you could try to figure it out on your own if ever you want to go down that path. there's no shame in whatever option you use and do as long as you are aware of it.

04 — keep track

it's a good method to ensure that whenever you experience a magical event that stands out among the rest, you write it down or type it up on your device in order to keep it in your memory. a lot of the people in our magical girl community are still in the process of becoming one, and if there are any significant thing that may arise then it's useful to jot it down for later if ever you begin to think that it's not real.

this is a way of also developing a form of trust with your own perception of things and your memory. you suddenly feel like magic isnt doing you any good? do you think that magic is only a piece of your imagination? look back into your past experiences and find any moments that made you feel 'magical', try to know why it felt magical, and see if there could be any other explanation to it. see how that 'fragment of imagination' was in fact a reality.

when i do this, i more often than not think to myself: how come i am doubting myself when i went through various things with magic, and they were all real? if magic wasnt real, then how else would this happen?

this was what frequently got me back on track in most days where i felt unmotivated and close to giving up on magic, but i remembered all of those times i personally fought and transformed as a magical girl. i recalled all those times where magic has shown itself in front of me over and over again, i get reminded of those times where i was able to see a magical familiar in the physical world, all of those spots where i found apparitions and puella witches in and had it confirmed, and the moments where my heart would feel warm with joy at the fact that i was able to save and protect people as a result of being a magical girl.

how could i ever deny those experiences when they were as real as it can be? this was my exact same method whenever i began to doubt both manifesting and reality shifting — how could i ever forfeit all the incredibly good and wonderful things that happened to me just because of one little disbelief?

summary

logic and skepticism

developing trust and intuition

performing divination

keeping a record of your experiences

an extra message from me !

please PLEASE be kind and gentle to yourself no matter what, okay? magic is not supposed to be too stressful for anyone, you are allowed to put yourself at a higher priority than your magic if it comes to the point of possibly hurting you. magic isnt supposed to make you feel pressured as if you're in a race of who gets to become a magical girl first, there is no rush and you have all the time that you need, there is no need to compare your own journey to anyone else's. there is no expiration date for us magical girls.

if there are circumstances where believing in magic causes detrimental harm to your physical and psychological health, then you are allowed to take a break in order to help your mind rest and see things from a better point of view. it can feel scary sometimes to pull away from magic, but it's also a necessary step to clear your thoughts of any possible biases. you can come back at a healthier state, you dont have to but it will always remain an option.

regardless of whether you've managed to successfully transform or not, even if you're able to physically see magic or not, and whether or not you're a magical girl who struggles with mental health issues that might lead to you feeling disconnected from reality or your emotions (if so, seeing immediate help is valid and if it's not available then grounding yourself back to reality with a healthy support system is a safe option), you are still worthy and it will remain that way forever. you are worth every breath and spark of excitement, you are worth it and should be treated as such.

i love you and your existence and no amount of ability nor inability can ever take that away. you deserve appreciation not only for your magical and/or spiritual aspects and expectations, but for your own self too — your mundane self as well, the you that's reading on this screen. i understand that it can be frustrating a bit sometimes but do remember that it's a journey. i know it's easier said than done, but try to be nicer to yourself and have the patience if ever you begin to feel distant from your spiritual practices.

extra (i promise this is the last extra in this post)

hello it's me polaris from @dreamerarchives, if anyone is confused because of the identical layouts then im really sorry about that but i'll be posting more on this blog 😭 BUT i do have helpful and informational posts in my old blog that could possibly be useful! if you think they could be of any use, feel free to have it be a reference material, especially for magical girls that are just starting out!! i really genuinely love this community because it feels really fluffy and warm whenever i interact here so i want to do my very best for you as someone who has been in the community for years. no amount of anything can push me out of my desire to help other mahous!! if you need any advice, feel free to send an ask in my ask box. thank you so much!