As for the use of drugs bit, some people do indeed use drugs to achieve the above states, however if looked at statistically the use of drugs is far less common than what you are thinking (even among remote villages). In these days and times it is easy to point to the old ways and blame loads of things on the past usage of drugs. That being said, it is surprising that no one takes a look at the magickal feats that occurred during said "dark times".
Jesus was a magick practitioner. And maybe he used drugs to put forth the right state. I really don't know as I wasn't there. That being said, my opinion is that drugs can produce the right mental state in an individual, however that doesn't make them legal or safe to use.
While being on that subject, caffeine is a drug so everyone stop drinking their coffees, sodas, energy drinks, etc, because drugs are bad for you. >.O
And stop popping those pain killers and tums while you're at it. >.O
And all that modern medicine too. >.O
My point with that was is that while there are alot of drugs out there, they all can be used to a harmful or helpful purpose...or even a purpose which is neutral or both. Its not the drugs that matter, its what you do with them.
Oh sorry, forgot you were all discussing Werewolves.Ok, I think Lon Chaney was by far the best Werewolf. My favorite flick was "Frankenstein meets the Wolfman." I also thought the 1971 movie, " Werewolves on Wheels" captured the whole Werewolf phenomena in a exciting way. Werewolves also made a big splash in the 1973 flick, " Wearwolf of Washington" And... you can't beat the 1935 classic " Werewolf of London "
Ok i'm sure there are no werewolfs or sth like that! and alot of things i found it here are totally lies like (fire blast, movin the clouds......)
When i started to learn magic i thought that all of these are real, but i realized much of them are illusions. or i'm weak or don't have much powers i don't know.
I've never seen a real mage can do all this so simply i don't belive it.
rilke, I thought Teen Wolf, and a Werewolf In London (and America) all were rather interesting movies with werewolf phenomena in them, as well as the three part movie series Ginger Snaps. Let's also not forget the Classic of all time for werewolf flicks Wolfman :D
I agreed with Rilke to prove a point that the media is flooded with the misconceptions, and ideology of basic mythological creatures and the stereotypes that are used.
In the case of the werewolf:
They HAVE to howl at the moon
They Have to bite their victim to transfer dna
They actually change physically on a full moon (I will pay to see this if this actually happens and I'm talking, PHSYSICAL CHANGE, Hair, Nails to claws, Eyes from color to Golden Brown, double in size, the whole nine yards)
They "Have" to eat meat
they have superhuman strength
etc etc etc
Oh wait, guess what, ALL of the above are based on MOVIES and PAST LITERATURE! You know when it was said the first sightings of werewolves were? During the middle ages, especially from 15th to 17th century, Europe was under the dark shadow of ignorance and superstitions.
Do I believe in astral werewolves? sure do. Anything is possible on the astral, but the actual physical change of an individual, is highly improbable.
On the level of shamanism, that's a different case all together, as most shamans are aware that it is the soul that changes, not the physical body. There is also an art form called "Sharing" or "Borrowing" that shamans and witches use to "ride along" with the animals that they have bonds with.
Here's from a more....scientific point of view
Modern Werewolf Cases from Scientific View Point
There are many individuals today who believe they are werewolves, and some of the lycanthropes have been studied and treated by psychologists and psychiatrists. The November 1975 issues of The Canadian Psychiatric Association Journal reported in details on several recent cases of lycanthropy.
In the first case, the twenty-year-old patient, referred to as Mr. H, was convinced that he was a werewolf. A drug user, he told his doctor that while serving in the United States Army in Europe, he had hiked into a forest near his post and had ingested LSD and strychnine, the latter a deadly poison that acts as a stimulant when taken in tiny quantities. Both substances are pharmacologically similar to some of the ingredient used by shape shifters in the past. They had an instant and potent effect on the young man, who claimed to have seen fur growing on his hands and felt it sprouting on his face. Soon he was overcome by a compulsion to chase after, catch, and devour live rabbits. He wandered in this delusional state for several days before returning to the post.
Placed on the tranquilizer chlorpromazine, Mr. H was weaned away from drugs and received adjunct therapy for some nine months, during which time he continued to hear disembodied voices and to experience satanic visions. Claiming to be possessed by the devil, he insisted he had unusual powers. Tests indicated his delusions were “compatible with acute schizophrenic or toxic psychosis” He was treated with an antipsychotic drug, and when he improved sufficiently, he was referred to an outpatient clinic. After only two visits, however, he had stopped taking the medication and left treatment. Subsequent efforts to contact him failed.
Another werewolf patient, thirty-seven-year-old Mr. W was admitted to the hospital after repeated pubic displays of bizarre activity, including howling at the moon, sleeping in cemeteries, allowing his hair and beard to grow out, and lying in the center of busy highways. Unlike Mr. H, Mr. W had no history of drug or alcohol abuse. He had once been a farmer and considered of average intelligence, which was found in an IQ test administered when he served in the United States Navy. Now, he was seen not only as psychotic but also as intellectually deficient, with a mental age of an eight-to ten year-old child.
Because of the patient’s increasing dementia, the doctors performed a brain biopsy. Their findings revealed an abnormal physiological deterioration of cerebral tissue, known as walnut brain. Mr. W was diagnosed as having a chronic brain syndrome of unknown origin. When placed on antipsychotic drugs, he showed no further symptoms of lycanthropy. Seen later on an outpatient basis, he exhibited quiet, childlike behavior.
The October 1977 issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry details the particularly bizarre story of a forty-nine year-old woman who believed herself a wolf and, with increasing frequency, had begun acting like one. She revealed that just below the surface of a seemingly normal twenty-year marriage she had harbored a consuming desire to indulge in secret, bestial appetites. Her erotic daydreams often involved other women in polymorphous perverse orgies. The wolf was a constant and central figure in her fantasies; she felt its mesmerizing stare fastened onto her by day, its hot breath on her bare neck at night. Soon she began “feeling like an animal with claws.” For her, the message was clear-she was a wolf.
After a time, she began to act out her compulsions. At a family gathering, for instance, she was suddenly overwhelmed by the wolf passion. Stripping naked and dropping to all fours she excitedly approached her own mother, and assuming the sexual posture of a female wolf, she offered herself. The woman’s state continued to deteriorate; the next evening, after making love to her husband, she lapsed into a frenetic two-hour episode of grunting and of clawing and gnawing at the bed. She explained afterwards that the devil “come into her body and she became an animal.”
Enrolled in an inpatient program, she received daily psychotherapy and was placed on medication. In the first three weeks she suffered relapses, during which she would rave: “I am a wolf of the night, I am wolf woman of the day……. I have claws, teeth, fangs, hair………and anguish is my prey at night………powerless is my cause. I am what I am and will always roam the earth after death……….I will continue to search for perfection and salvation.” Concurrently she experienced the urge to kill accompanied by a consuming sexual excitement.
She now saw the head of a wolf, rather that her own face, when she gazed in the mirror. The medical staff commented on “the unintelligible, animal-like noises she made.” There was some improvement, but the patient then relapsed during the full moon. Writing about her experience, she stated: “I don’t intend to give up the search for (what) I lack……….in my present marriage……..my search for such a hairy creature. I will haunt the graveyards for a tall, dark man that that I intend to find.” After nine weeks of treatment, she was released from the hospital on a regimen of drugs designed to free her of her delusion.
On the basis of the woman’s symptoms, her doctors were able to formulate a psychological profile of the lycanthrope, which is not so different, in spite of its modern medical language, from the conclusion of some of the more enlightened physicians and thinkers of earlier times.
Side note on the "howling at the moon thing". Wolves howl so that they can alert others of their presence and their location, especially during hunting parties when they send out scouts. So the wolves aren't actually howling at the moon, they are howling to let their pack know where they are and what they are doing.
Why Wolves Howl
Forget the malarkey about wolves howling at the moon. These animals care as much about the Earth's nightlight as metalheads think about "High School Musical." Canine experts have found no connection between the phases of the moon and wolf howling [source: Busch] . Wolves pipe up more often during the night because they're nocturnal. But why do they point their faces toward the moon and stars when they howl? It's all about acoustics since projecting their calls upward allows the sound to carry farther.
Today, wolf howling is one of the most distinct and well-studied animal vocalizations. The ancestors of domesticated dogs, wolves howl as a form of long-distance communication, conveying a range of information. Because of the high pitch and the suspension of notes, the sounds of wolf howls can carry as far as 6 miles (9.6 kilometers) in the forest and even 10 miles (16 kilometers) across the treeless tundra [source: Musgrave] .
Wolf howls serve as GPS systems, sing-alongs and fire alarms -- all rolled into one. In fact, the purpose of wolf howls isn't terribly different from the reasons humans raise their voices to the wind. In general, the primary reasons why wolves howl include:
A rally cry for the pack to meet up
A signal to let the pack know of a wolf's location
A warning for outside wolves to stay out of a pack's territory
The frequency of howling increases during the evening and early dawn when wolves hunt [source: Lopez and Bauguess] . Howls punctuate the air more often during the wintertime breeding season, when wolves seek out mates [source: Lopez and Bauguess] . Since howls bear coding for a wolf's body size and health (with the larger animals exhibiting deeper tones), males can exercise their pipes to attract females [source: Feldhamer et al] .
Although we think of wolves howling alone, they frequently do so as a group. These chorus howls involve members of a pack singing in unison at multiple pitches. Together, the chorus may include up to 12 related harmonies [source: Lopez and Bauguess] . Group howling can protect packs since the combination of harmonies tricks listeners into thinking there are more wolves present [source: Harrington] . Or sometimes, they'll howl just for the fun of it.
Alpha wolves, leaders of the pack, usually display a lower-pitched howl and will sound off more frequently than those with a more subservient social standing [source: Feldhamer et al] . Pups also practice howling as they mature, mimicking those of adult wolves [source: Harrington] . Lone wolves, however, may not howl as much to keep their whereabouts hidden from potential predators, since they don't have the added protection of a pack [source: Feldhamer et al] .
