ooc: rambles and research

[do_what_thou_wilt]

	{| magic. |} one cannot shape the world without being reshaped in the process." -phil hine powers: general spellwork; transfiguration/form-shifting, particularly elemental and molecular, through tapping directly into the magic in things familiars: none, though can call to wolves and other canids deities: he favors warriors and hunters and those associated with change and the underworld: arawn, wodan/odin, persephone, the morrigan (with badb and macha), artemis, athena and hecate; however he views deities mostly as aspects and uses them to focus as needed or not.

	{| inheritance |} Elizabeth "Ellie" Morell: Ellie Morell is fully human, but spiritually practices polytheism and witchcraft. She identifies as pagan drawing mainly on Ancient Greek with some Celtic influence, and practicing with a strong connection to nature in a common neo-pagan style, very similar to what you'd expect from Gardnerian Wicca (though she doesn't identify as Wiccan). She began belief in these concepts as she learned about ancient religions as a child, and formalized it as she grew older and learned more. She met Jay in high school and the two became close very quickly. During Auryn's childhood, Ellie maintained an altar with tools representing the elements in the Connor's home, and practiced herbalism and "kitchen" magic, as well as creating more complex rituals for holidays and major events. James "Jay" Connor: Jay was brought up by two witch parents. James and Margaret Connor kept to themselves mostly, and their abilities quiet from the rural Georgian community they lived in, but raised Jay to know his heritage and be proud of it, and his family. His father, Auryn's grandfather, was very close to animals, and worked as a small farmer -- staying prosperous for much longer than his counterparts were able to. Margaret had a talent for healing spells and protective spells. Jay has a particular adeptness for charms, potions and spellwork, but his innate magic is very physical and often strongly affected by his emotion. Even when he was younger Jay was prone to strong outbursts of emotion and mood swings. He does best with ritual and his dedication to serving his family and the Marines eased these tendencies, but coming home from deployment in Desert Storm left him deeply depressed. Auryn spent quite a bit of time as a small child after Jay returned sitting with him and learning while he crafted things like wards, which he would re-craft compulsively every few weeks for their home.

	{| philosophy |} Chaos Magic: Chaos Magic(k) is mostly a belief system, and it's obviously derived from neopagan influence, but it's the closest to what Auryn believes. "Although there are a few techniques unique to chaos magick (such as some forms of sigil magic), chaos magic is often highly individualistic and borrows liberally from other belief systems, due to chaos magick having a central belief that belief is a tool. (...) (I)t is common for chaotes to believe in whatever god suits their current paradigm and discard it when necessary. Chaotes can be agnostic or atheist and regard magical practice as merely psychological, not paranormal. (...)Chaos magickians are often seen by other occultists as dangerous or worrisome revolutionaries. (...) Chaos magick theory says that belief can be an active magickal force. It emphasizes flexibility of belief and the ability to consciously choose one's beliefs, hoping to apply belief as a tool rather than seeing it as a relatively unchanging part of one's personality. (...) A concept introduced by Peter Carroll is the gnostic state, also referred to as gnosis. This is defined as an altered state of consciousness that in his theory is necessary for working most forms of magick. This is a departure from older concepts which described energies, spirits or symbolic acts as the source of magickal powers. The gnostic state is achieved when a person's mind is focused on only one point, thought, or goal and all other thoughts are thrust out. Practitioners of chaos magick each develop their own ways of reaching this state. [Methods include meditation or 'mind emptying' or hypnosis; excitation or arousal/pain/sensory overload techniques, and vacuity] According to this belief, specific rituals, meditations and other elements of more traditional forms of magic are not to be understood as valuable by themselves, but only as gnosis-inducing techniques.

	{| powers and beliefs. |} Auryn's powers are mostly selflearned. He was taught and involved in very simple spells and rituals by both parents and they practiced magic around him unhesitatingly (though with a little emphasis that it was just for around family). However, he wasn't old enough to access his own magic or to have had good practice when he was removed from the home, and was actively discouraged from anything of the sort by both his foster parents and his aunt. He began to start understanding his powers around age 11. At first they manifested during times of strong emotion and he didn't have control, and he was taught to hate and hide them. Every so often, on his own in secret, he'd practice, a little afraid and a little intrigued by his ability to sometimes change things completely. At age 13 he began to communicate with his parents again through letters every so often. This both solved and created problems, but it did pave the way for him to want to take a closer look on his own at his powers. His magic has to do with the form of things and understanding it. Auryn would describe it as "asking a question" to the universe. Most of his more useful magic involves transformation: getting to know something and asking it to change, at a base level. The better he knows or can envision something, the more easily he can persuade it to change or manifest, and it's led to a serious interest in the workings of all things. It's physical -- kinetic movement speeding or slowing, creating heat or cold etc -- but it's also a matter of accessing the power of magic in the universe and its presence in everything and channelling his own energy into changing what it's doing. [As I describe this I feel like I could have just said that Auryn uses The Force. He kind of does, though. Compared to fantasy he's somewhere between Star Wars and the Young Wizards books in the WAY he accesses power.] Auryn sees ritual as a means of gathering energy. He believes in deities as agents of a larger power and primarily created (legitimately) by collective belief, rather than individual pre-existing beings: belief is a powerful and creative tool. We also deify real people and Auryn acknowledges that those we call gods and goddess may have been power-users that were elevated by belief/legend, but he's not super religious in a theological sense. He sees using them as a way to get outside yourself, to acknowledge power and ask respectfully for it. In one ritual he might call upon four different moon goddesses for emphasis as he doesn't believe in the separate entities as needing to be chosen. Or, he might summon power using no deities at all and focusing using controlled meditation or sex or anything else that allows him to detach from little distractions. Small works of magic don't require a formal ritual, just focus. Because of his lifestyle and his dedication to free use of magic, Auryn uses magic regularly for every-day neccessities and conveniences. However, his main interest in magic has become greater ability to apply magic on a grand/theoretical use and to tap into that overall power to learn and for personal growth. He also sees himself as usable, that he as a channel for power is himself a tool and a malleable one, that could be used like any other tool.

layout by:
rpglayouts

key:
bold - applicable to auryn /subheadings
italics - my own annotations/ pullquotes

This is SUPER long and gets a little out of control with the rambling but I found it really interesting to do.