More magic and witch wisdom from Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett’s comic fantasy novels about the Discworld are a gold mine when it comes to definitions of and ideas about magic and witches.

The points he makes and the warnings he gives have a much wider application than just to his imaginary world and characters. 

What he says is not always what some people expect or want to hear, but it is all worth considering and putting to the test. 

Material from his books has appeared in several articles, and I have found a few more wise words to quote. 

Using magic
Miss Tick gives more lessons to the young witch Tiffany Aching:

“’But can’t you use a keeping-warm spell?’ said Tiffany.

‘I could. But a witch doesn’t do that sort of thing. Once you use magic to keep yourself warm, then you’ll start using it for other things.’

‘But isn’t that what a witch is supposed to--‘ Tiffany began.

‘Once you learn about magic, I mean really learn about magic, learn everything you can learn about magic, then you’ve got the most important lesson still to learn,’ said Miss Tick.

‘What’s that?’

‘Not to use it. Witches don’t use magic unless they really have to. It’s hard work and difficult to control. We do other things.’”

This is not an easy lesson to learn. It may not at first make sense; it may not be acceptable. Despite that, a wise person will take it to heart. The senior witches in Terry Pratchett’s books know what they are talking about.

More about Rudyard Kipling’s Daemon

There is a little more Daemon-related material of interest in Rudyard Kipling’s autobiographical work Something of Myself.

His anecdotes provide some recommendations and guidance that other writers might find useful.

Give the Daemon the tools it wants
When it comes to writing, the best approach is to use tools and materials that attract and encourage the Daemon and avoid anything that the inner companion says it dislikes.

Kipling’s Daemon had a strong preference for deep black ink:

“For my ink I demanded the blackest, and had I been in my Father's house, as once I was, would have kept an ink-boy to grind me Indian-ink. All 'blue-blacks' were an abomination to my Daemon...”

It is strange what a big difference these little things make. It is definitely good practice to humour whatever it is that makes the ideas flow. It is merely a matter of doing what feels right; it is easy to sense when the Daemon is comfortable and when not.

Do your share of the work
One thing the writer can do that the Daemon can not is to research and check some basic information. Not only does this improve the quality of the work and the authority of the writer, getting started may attract the attention of the Daemon and encourage it to make its own contribution.

In Rudyard Kipling’s own words:

“In respect to verifying one's references, which is a matter in which one can help one's Daemon. Take nothing for granted if you can check it. Even though that seem waste-work, and has nothing to do with the essentials of things, it encourages the Daemon. There are always men who by trade or calling know the fact or the inference that you put forth. If you are wrong by a hair in this, they argue 'False in one thing, false in all.' Having sinned, I know. Likewise, never play down to your public--not because some of them do not deserve it, but because it is bad for your hand.”

Rudyard Kipling and his Daemon

This article was inspired by a short anecdote in Rudyard Kipling’s autobiographical work Something of Myself (1937).

This is where he tells us about his Daemon, a kind of personal muse who he says inspired his writing. He tells us some very interesting and significant things about this supernatural being.

The inspirational anecdote in summary is that a man told Kipling a horror story that he said was a personal experience. Kipling wrote it up but something stopped him from sending it to a publisher. He was really glad about this when, ‘by chance’, he found the story, identical in every way, in an old magazine. He gives credit to his Daemon for preventing a charge of plagiarism, which would not be good for such a famous writer’s reputation and would have been very stressful for him.

This may sound far-fetched, but other people have had similar experiences although they may not attribute helpful inner promptings and warnings to a daemon but, for example, to Providence, the Universe or their subconscious minds. I have given examples of such positive inner guidance in various articles.

Ten years of blogging and still going strong

The first article in the archives of this blog is dated September 9th 2009, the ninth day of the ninth month of the ninth year of the century.

Nine is an important number in Norse mythology; it is associated with magic and Odin, or Woden, the seeker after knowledge and wisdom who is associated with magic and mystery.

By coincidence, September 9th 2009 was a Wednesday! 

This date was not a deliberate choice at the time. I spent a few days setting up the infrastructure and creating some content, and the day I was ready to launch the blog and publish the first article just happened to be a significant date. 

Although it was accidental, the Odin connection is actually very appropriate.

I started the Unseen Influences blog mainly for my own benefit. I wanted to log unusual experiences and strange coincidences and make a record of my ideas about a variety of topics. I wanted to produce the sort of interesting, inspiring, illuminating and useful material that I like to read. 

Researching, making connections and getting things down in writing all have a beneficial effect so, just like L. M. Montgomery’s Emily, I would still do them even if no one ever saw the results.

I knew that a huge majority of people would not find anything of interest to them in my articles and wouldn’t much care for the style of writing either, but I did hope however that a few people, proactive researchers with a mindset, interests and outlook similar to mine and people who have had similar experiences with unseen influences, might find the ideas, insights, information, and suggestions on here helpful. 

I also thought that the articles might introduce a few people to books, authors and ideas that they might otherwise have overlooked.

I started the proceedings by producing an explanation of the background to and purpose of the Unseen Influences blog; this entry appears on every page.

The first article is an introduction to the way that Unseen forces can affect our lives.

Ten years have passed and the blog is still going strong. 

I have had many more readers than I ever expected. 

People from all over the world are finding their way here, and I don’t think that they are all bots! For some reason, there are more readers from the US and Germany than there are from the UK.

I have even had some visits from a plagiarism scanner, so perhaps someone is copying my content!

There are gaps in the earlier years for times when I was very busy elsewhere, but output has increased in recent years and there is still no end in sight. 

I would certainly stop, for the duration at least, if I had no inclination to write or no inspiration or ideas for articles, but there is no sign of that yet. The opposite is true - at least for now - in that the more articles I produce the more ideas I get for new ones.

So, there may be more to come about energy vampires, witches, writers, books that I like, cults, psychological black magic, amazing coincidences and anything else that inspires commentary. 

There are still many connections to be made and independent confirmation of my ideas to be discovered and described.

In addition, there are the forum posts. They provide yet another outlet for the inclination to write and are a good way to keep research and composition skills honed.

Although the Conservative Conspiracy Forum no longer exists, I frequently post, usually on topics not relevant to this blog, as UnseenI on the Alternaticity Forum.

Cults: an overview of the main articles to date

As my articles about cults are attracting a respectable number of readers, I thought that, while this blog does have Labels and a Search facility, a summary of the main cult-related articles to date together with some links might be useful.

I intend to keep this article updated with links to any new cult articles of significance.

I noticed retrospectively that many of the articles can be grouped according to their main cult-related theme; this is how they are referenced here.

Attributes of cult members

Most important are the basic informational articles. These give general warnings about what to expect when dealing with cult members. For example:

They will lie to you and may leave you stranded.

Their ‘friendship’ will be conditional and could end at any time.

They will sooner or later behave as if you are theirs to command.

They will expect more and more from people and give less and less in return. 

Their values may be inverted.

Independent and analytical thinking is discouraged, so discussions with cult members can be frustrating as they just mindlessly repeat robotic slogans and the official party line. Their access to reading material may be restricted, so discussions may also be difficult and unrewarding because of their ignorance. 

The cutting of connections by cult members is a topic that has generated a four-part article. 

In addition to all that, be prepared to deal with the sole supplier syndrome, the unpleasant and unjustified superiority syndrome and, worst of all, the dreaded attack-dog syndrome!

Never forget that, as Alexander Herzen said, they will commit all kinds of crimes in the name of their cause.

And never forget either that they are all in on it!