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To: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.pagan.magick,alt.magick,alt.paranormal.spells.hexes.magic
From: nagasiva 
Subject: Elemental Magic (was Comparisons of Magic Types ....)
Date: Mon, 03 Sep 2001 07:55:17 GMT

50010902 VI! om Hail Satan! Happy LUNATIX!!!!

sri catyananda :
>Yin-and-yang is a metaphor based on human and animal sexual
>differentiation whereby all things are divided into two piles.  Yin and
>Yang do not appear to be capable of clean metaophorical mapping onto
>classes of organisms that reproduce by asexual budding or -- except
>insofar as sexually dimorphous humans BELIEVE it does -- to non-sexual
>objects like stars, rocks, bodies of water, and balls of gas.

really? I'd got the sense that it wasn't so much piles but principles,
and that these principles are not separatable, but constitutionally-
fundamental "elements" (don't map them to elemental tables) on the
order of Aristotle's 'Four Elements' or other Chinese 'Five Elements'.
one may find differing compositions of these elements in each 
separable subset of the cosmos. at least that's one theory of
elemental magic.

>The terms yin and yang themselves are not directly sexual, but only
>sexually dimorphic beings would have throught them up, in my opinion. 

>...the physical equipment of the observer (in this
>case sexually dimorphic and bilaterally symmetrical bodies with a
>bventral and dorsal surface) have led to the development of the metaphor
>of Yin and Yang at a pre-historic, subconscious level. 

interesting theory. I don't think I've heard it before. why couldn't
nonsexually dimorphic beings with ideas about 'life and death' or
'inside and outside' or even 'high and low' make up Yin and Yang?
why does sexual reproduction or bodily dimorphism constitute the
determining factor?

>I have been told the terms Yin and Yang derive from the Chinese words
>for the shady side of a mountain and the sunny side of a mountain -- but

right, etymology, not a good composite explanation, though.

>right there you can see how bad the metaphor is at mapping Reality" for
>mountains are not perfect cones or pyramids lit by a fixed light-source,
>hence they have no shady side or sunny side. In the first place, they
>are dapplled by shade and sun all over becase there are little folds and
>outcroppings all over their surfaces. In the second place, in the
>Norhtern hemisphere, the north face of a mountain (and in the Southern
>hemisphere the southern face) may be perpetually dark if its angle of
>elevation exceeds its latitude, but it will NOT be perpetually dark if
>the angle is less than the angle of latitude. All this talk about dark
>and light sides of mountains is an attempt to impose a bilaterally
>symmetrical, sexually dimorphic animal's point of view on irregular
>three-dimensional masses. 

maybe I'm missing something, but I thought there were more associations
than this. Blofeld goes into the Valley Spirit (Yin) somewhat and,
presumably, the Mountain Spirit (Yang) would be Her complement. She is
wet, dark, cool, etc.  Aristotle described this of his elements too.
 
>Yin and Yang function better as metaphors for sexual differentiation
>than they do for landscapes and other non-living forms, but even there
>they fail, because the majority of the creatures now alive on Earth
>reproduce asexually and are not bilaterally symmetrical, so the metaphor
>is limited to use by those animals who created it and it does not
>describe Reality. 

what metaphor isn't limited? are you sure these are only metaphors?
can 'elements' be actual rather than mere metaphors?

>This doesn't stop me (a member of a sexually dimporphous species) from
>using the metaphor of Yin and Yang often. But i am observant enough to
>know that it IS a metaphor, 

do you dislike elements (4: Air, Earth, Fire, Water; 5: Water, Metal,
Fire, Earth, Wood) of the kind of which I am here speaking? if so, why?

> and i am respectful enough of Reality to be
>able to let the metaphor drop when i find it is not useful  

makes sense.

> -- as, for
> instance, when describing interstellar space, the contents of my sock
> drawer, how a [ham?]burger tastes, or why there are so many shades 
> of pink in the rose family. 

you may wish to drop the metaphor, but this does not prevent those who
enjoy perceiving the world in terms of elements to attempt to discover
which elements are most evident in any of the objects you've mentioned
above. this may be quite important if you are attempting, for example,
to affect the shape or structure of interstellar space, the contents
of your sock drawer (you have one? I haven't looked lately :>), the
taste of a hamburger, or the reproductive result of your roses. :*

blessed beast!

nagasiva
-- 
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