Hi, some of you may/may not remember me from a few monthes ago when I used to be much more active here on spellsofmagic. I guess I'm not really new but I still posted here because I didn't know where else to post.
First of all, I am first and foremost a martial artist, I am also a christian, and I practice magick. I realize now that I have been practicing magick for a long time and I just never really realized it as such. However, the magick I practice is somewhat different than most witches I know of yet I believe they are one in the same.
I am sorry if not everyone here is christian but in the bible they tell of stories where man wrestle with angels. Even in today when people speak of ghosts they tell of how the ghosts with no physical body still possess the shape of when they died. They also say what you do on Earth will affect your spirit in where you can go after death. This has led me to think that the physical body and the spiritual body are interconnected and cannot be separated. This is why even in death people see spirits taking the shape of a physical body that no longer exists and why physical people can control powers that transcend mere physical limitations.
What I am going at is that in the practice of my martial arts I've always been able to use my powers to eliminate pain and even help cure injuries. It is a power I've always had. I can place my hand to whatever injured area of my body and by visualization and feeling the power surge through me I've always been able eliminate the feeling of pain and even speed up the recovery process of injuries. This is a feat that many Eastern masters have been able to do and it's been documented on television time and time again in popular shows like "Fight Quest" (kung-fu episode).
With this in mind I've come to believe that magick can take many different forms in different cultures. For instance, as a martial artist I would call this "chi", but as a christian I would call this learning to harness the power of my spirit.
I've been practicing this form of "healing magick" for pretty much my whole life in order to recover from injuries, reduce pain, eliminate fear, and even improve my physical feats like speed or strength. I do meditate daily due to my martial arts training but I do not make use of circles nor do I really rely on the moon phases. I realize this isn't really wiccan magick but I believe it's still a form of magick in itself.
I am very curious to hear what you all have to say about this. Please comment to tell me if you think I might be on to something or even if you think I'm crazy :P. I mean no disrespect to any in their magick or religion. This is merely my humble view on magick.
well it's not unheard of.there are various styles and forms of the arts which involve the use of energy and it's manipulation. things like acupuncture,dim mak,some jeet kun do, and a few others have been known to involve special training.i prefer dim mak and kun tao as they can do things like shut the flow off completely,alter it,fix it, and over all just give someone a bad day.my teacher for kun tao was able strong enough that he could break boulders in one smack that somebody with a sledge hammer couldnt even dent.the worst i've seen done and done myself is where u can make someone feel like their burning alive by just rubbing a certain area on the body. as for dim mak that's some of the nastiest but best martial arts out there.u can fix limbs,bones,mortal wounds even cause strokes,seizures, or death.their all tricky to learn but once u've been practicing like i have it's a breeze.
Interesting. It's nice to know that there are other martial artists out there who delve further than just developing their physical skills.
My healing gift has pretty much always been there. I've been using it without thinking about it too much over the years to help me overcome different obstacles. It's not particularly powerful by any means and I've never really spent any time trying to develop it further but it's always been useful for me when I needed it. As a martial artist I probably focus more on my physical training than I do on my internal "chi" training.
I consider myself new to magick since I've only been practicing this kind (spells from this site) for about a year and I've only managed to cast a few simple spells. But I would like to learn to cultivate my "chi" magick even further so if you could give me any tips or pointers I would very much appreciate it.
a good trick i use is to set up an oil lamp about 2 feet away behind a paper screen.then focus on punching and blowing it out without going through the screen.as u get better up the distance.then change the material until you can do it through metal from 8 foot. then try it off to the sides then you more or less have it down pat. though i havent even gotten that far yet.and yea i enjoy the physical aspect of it mainly because it means i'm not sitting on my a** 24/7 but i prefer psychological and mental.because whats scarier?a 300 pound guy who can punch throw a wall? or a 150 pound guy who can knock down the 300lb one without touching him?
Since you mentioned in the PM that you will be starting Taekwondo soon and your Taekwondo school is part of the World Taekwondo Federation I will say that as your learn your Taeguek poomse you can easily use them for generating energy for magick. In TKD for those who do not know we have 8 Taeguek forms and 8 Palgwe forms that are taught at different belt levels. (Not all WTF schools the Palgwe forms as the are not recognized by the Kukkiwan as part of what is nessessary for 1st degree black belt and up testing.
Taeguek/Palgwe
Il Jang represents Heaven
EE Jang represents Joy
Sam Jang represents Fire
Sa Jang representes Thunder
O Jang represents Water
Yuk Jang represents Air
Chil Jang representes Mountain
Pal Jang represents Earth
At the TKD school I train at we use both Taeguek and Palgwe poomse or forms/katas. I mix my TKD poomse as ways of generating elemental energy as well as casting the circle and for "dancing" as used in Dragon Magick by DJ Conway.
A quick story. I went up to my wifes branch for a class and on the way to class it started raining and was indeed setting up for a strong storm. By the time we made it to class we noticed that we were 2 of 7 total people who braved the storm to go to class. The instructor decided that we would have a light informal practice session more then a "offical" class. We started working through our poomse and by the time we got to sa jang I spoke up by saying it may be wise to skip this one since it represented Thunder IE stroms. The instructor did not take my warning and as soon as we finished Taeguek Sa Jang the gym made a annoncement over the speaker system that said everyone in the building had to hit the locker rooms because the storm was picking up and we had tornado warnings. The instructor looked over at me and all I could do was smile and say "I tried to warn you". When we got out of the locker rooms I was told that next time I had a warning make sure I share it as soon as possible.
So in short you can use your poomse to build up energy when you are weak as you learn them, and you can use the energy of the forms for "magick" such as spells, rituals and even healing.
As for as the rest of your post I personally see a controdiction between the christian church and the practice of magick. In the New Testament Jesus, Paul and John all spoke against the practice of magick or witchcraft as it is of evil energy, however that is something you will need to deal with. I personally do not put much stock in christian mythology, but I do not understand how there are group of people who claim to be christian as well as practice magick and again thankfully since I do not follow that line of mythology I do not need to worry about it.
I practice Qi Gong, which isn't really a martial art (no defense moves or butt-kicking); it's more like Tai Chi, a meditative practice. I've always wanted to practice a martial art as I feel that it teaches discipline over not just the body but the mind. These sort of practices help us to control our energies and use them to accomplish tasks, which I believe can be seen as a type of magick.
I don't think you're onto anything new. Many of the cultures from which these martial arts originate are full of mysticism and magick and the use of the body/spirit combined. But it was very nice of you to bring this to our attention, and I hope more people consider learning a martial art. I may join kendo soon, though I'd like to learn a martial art that doesn't involve a weapon. I'll have to see what my school offers.
Thankyou very much TKDDragon for the insight of the Taekwondo Poomse and the story.
"As for as the rest of your post I personally see a controdiction between the christian church and the practice of magick. In the New Testament Jesus, Paul and John all spoke against the practice of magick or witchcraft as it is of evil energy, however that is something you will need to deal with."
Personally I think most Christians practice magick without realizing it. All (or at least most) christians pray because it's a part of their religion. But many times prayer is a method that christians attempt to please their God or seek favors from God. I.e. they might promise something in exchange for getting something they desire (which can also be viewed as a form of magick). I am not really a christian in the sense that I don't believe the same things most christians believe in. My church (which can be viewed as having used magick all the time if you really look at it) is kind of an off-shoot of christianity but I still say I'm christian because it's easier.
Internal martial arts were not intended to just be a form of meditation and exercise like how it is practiced today. The internal training was a method of developing power (through chi development and body mechanics). But not very many people practice Tai Chi like that anymore today. One thing you have to do when practicing forms is look deeper than the initial application. It was once said that in traditional forms/kata/poomse oftentimes a movement would have infinite applications. I don't think this is always true but the idea is that for a movement that may just look like a twirling of the arms and movement of the base could actually be used for a throw, a disarm, or a choke .etc. The imagination is the only limit.
I found the representations of the poomse very fascinating and I'll definetly try to develop myself when I learn them.
Ok let me see if I have this right the chi is that personal energy that is found within oneself and if trained in the proper use of this energy, one should be able to direct this energy to harm or heal. This is the same energy that wiccans bring up for the use of spell casting or christians use to help heal people. If that is the case then calling on the quarters or casting a circle for the preparation of casting a spell is useless.
It would be like a martial artist in a tournament fight getting ready to throw a punch or a kick and using the chi behind it but then all of a sudden he says wait a minute I have to draw a circle and call the quarters before I can use my chi. If he or she did that they would have their butts handed to them. The martial artist needs to access this energy instantly so don't you think the same thing should be-able to be applied when it comes to casting spells and such in the craft without having to cast a circle, call the quarters, lighting candles an such?
From what I've heard you do not necessarily need to cast a circle for every spell. I suppose different people use it for different things but I've heard of people using the circle as a purifying circle when casting powerful spells. The candles and calling on the quarters are supposed to help the spells in strength but you don't need to do it unless it's in the spell instructions. Personally all of the wiccan spells I've cast were pretty low-level and I've never needed to use a circle and I've only had to rely on the moon phase for one of them.
You need to look a bit more into magickal practices and so forth.
In rituals wiccans and other magick sects caste a circle and call the quarters and so forth, however full rituals are normally only done at the sabbats and perhaps moon esbats. On extremely important magick weaving issues and when doing things such as wiccining, hand fasting and so forth this would be optional.
It is also worth knowing that martial artist do not draw up chi as fast as you seen in the mortal kombat games.
Tai chi and Tai Chi Chun are actually funny. Normally these are both used together by common people, however they are certainly not the same. Tai Chi is the energy healing system that takes after Qigong its grand father, but Tai Chi Chun is a martial art system.
As it pertains to "chirtian healing" that is a bit of a controdiction in terms. In Reiki and other energy healing systems healers draw upon energy for healing themselves/others however the christians need to pray to their universal life source but unlike wiccan healing systems they are not as specific which is why their "prayers" are not answered they way they would like. That however is still a longer conversation.
