Everything Under the Moon

I've been interested in this type of magick for a long time being the chaos witch that I am, but I don't know too much about it except that it's about taking elements of pop culture and using it in real magick like in spells and rituals. I've also heard stories of people using video game spells like stuff from WOW in real life. Is it really possible to summon say a being that originated from a video game in real life? Has anyone here experimented with pop culture magick before? Can you share your experiences please?

I haven't yet, but I'm also interested in it. I suppose, in the end, the only way to know for sure is to try it out!

I don't have much experience with this yet myself. You might want to read this thread to get some opinions on it. http://everythingunderthemoon.net/forum ... 24182.html Good luck.

I asked this same thing on another site and one of the members replied saying he had invoked Hell Rider from Persona 3 so I have some faith that it could work for me....

I fall more along the skeptic side of things, so I don't believe I can really and literally recreate spells from games like WoW (although I wish ... would kill to be able to cast water walking or chain healing! Can you tell I've been leveling a shammy?). I think of incorporating pop culture into my magic by drawing on really powerful stories that can help me strengthen my intent and associations.

For instance, I've recently crafted a number of protection charms for my friends based on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with little beads that represent holy water, cross, stake, and blood, in the hopes that I can invoke the idea of Buffy as a protectress against demons and evil, and to remind my friends of the values of truth, love, and justice.

Some time ago, I also came up with a spell (that I never performed, for other reasons) that uses bells to silence the negative, nagging voices in one's head, based on a similar idea from Garth Nix's Old Kingdom Trilogy.

Finally, I've also been toying with the idea of using Expecto Patronum from Harry Potter. I mean, I know there's this stereotype about us Pagans waving wands pretending to play Harry Potter, but I think this one makes a lot of sense. J.K. Rowling invented the idea of dementors as a metaphor for depression (drains your joy, makes you feel like there is no hope in life, etc.), and her characters ward off depression/dementors by summoning all their happiest memories of their love and friends in the form of an animal guardian. Why not borrow the metaphor, when it comes so ready-made? (I don't mean for this to be a substitute for treatment for clinical depression, but a short-termed when you are overwhelmed with despair)

Okay, I'm quite new to witchcraft and paganism so maybe my opinion isn't as knowledgeable as other people's but here goes;

First and foremost use common sense. There is no spell in the world that can make you freeze someone in solid ice or raise the dead or shoot fireballs out of your hands or anything along those lines. If you see this stuff on TV, it's not magic- it's special effects. If you are going to use a pop culture spell or ritual, please be aware of what is and isn't possible just as you would be with any other spell or ritual. I believe that it's the intent behind the spell or ritual that will determine its effectiveness so in that sense I don't see a difference between using a spell or ritual form a game, from a website, from your coven's Book of Shadows or writing one yourself.

Characters such as Captain America, Buffy, the Charmed sisters, Lady Silvanas Windrunner etc are made up characters. I would advise you to keep this in mind and please not think of them as living, breathing entities. There's personal faith and then there's deluding yourself. If however, you want to believe in them as concepts or archetypes, I would say that this is consistent with the way some people envision 'traditional' deities. If a pop culture character resonates with you, and invoking them helps you focus or makes you feel secure and/or powerful, who am I to tell you that what you're doing is wrong? I think that as long as you work with them as concepts rather than real physical entities it should be fine.

I read the thread that Echo_of_shadows linked to and someone asked if this would be offensive to traditional Gods. I guess this would depend on whether or not you believe that Aphrodite, Venus and Hathor are thee totally separate deities, or only three different interpretations of the same energy. If you believe the latter, then it would not be offensive or a contradiction to believe in a pop culture character as a newer interpretation of an existing concept.

Making a spell is personal and about focus. If making a spell based on Pop Culture helps you go for it. Some of the spells I have seen on tumblr are awesome.

Obsidian, this is pretty much Chaos, which basically states that tech is tech and if it's been thought up and energy put into it, it exists on an energetic level and can therefore be used. The same goes for gods. Did they exist before humans put tons of energy into them? Who knows. I haven't met many "Chaotes" but I do know that most understand that Buffy, Superman, et al aren't physically running around and that they're not going to walk on water any time soon.

Agree with Obsidian, Holdasown, and Dread. I think it's much more reasonable to pop culture ideas as ideas and metaphors, not as a something to literally recreate.

Interesting concept.

But I also side on the skeptical side as far as recreating things from a show or video game.

But if you feel inclined to do it, go for it. Give it a try. Who knows, maybe you'll have some success.

Regarding walking on water...

I've been doing a lot of that lately. It's just been in it's frozen state, rather than liquid. And I have managed to avoid falling.

Frosty

:wink2:

dreadedpsychopomp wrote:Obsidian, this is pretty much Chaos, which basically states that tech is tech and if it's been thought up and energy put into it, it exists on an energetic level and can therefore be used. The same goes for gods. Did they exist before humans put tons of energy into them? Who knows. I haven't met many "Chaotes" but I do know that most understand that Buffy, Superman, et al aren't physically running around and that they're not going to walk on water any time soon.

I agree. This sort of goes along with the concept of mental creation. Basically the idea is that when we read a book we see the characters that were created by the author. The more people that read those books the more energy that being has. These characters are thought forms essentially. So if you understand thought form creation and working with thought forms you can work magic and spells working with those beings.

I used to create thought forms based on fictional characters and make them my own servitors. They are energetic entity in human form, but don't have soul. This is similar to the process, so to speak, that the Jewish God Himself used to create the world through his mind and world, as it is written: "And God said, 'Let there be light." [Genesis 1:3]

I believe the universe and the Deities put us in a realm of thoughts, and They want us to make the effort. Not because They need it, but because we need it. Our thoughts create a change within.