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Druids, Sorcerors, Mages, Wizards(some differences explained)~heather |
Druids:
Primary Tenets
• Druids approach magic using nature as a basis for context and power.
• Druids consider themselves and their magic to be a part of nature, not above it, below it, or outside of its influence.
• People are also a part of nature.
• All nature is sacred, and trees particularly so.
• Druids ask instead of command when performing ritual and casting spells. This is in direct contrast to several traditions of sorcery or ceremonial magick. Again, this is a matter of respect for nature and an acknowledgment of the druid’s place within it.
• Druids get to know the forces they work with through meditation, study, ritual, and spending time in nature. This relationship can be as professional or personal as the Druid desires, although most relationships with natural forces take on very personal and direct meanings very early on. This takes time. There is absolutely no way around it… of course, your mileage may vary, but you must walk the walk.
• The primary natural forces that the Druid works with are Air, Fire, Earth, Water, and Spirit.
• A Druid is free to work with whatever god forms he deems appropriate or partial to his working.
• The Druidic path is primarily solar.
• Druidic magic taps into energy and bends or directs it.
• As much as possible, include nature in your workings. Work and meditate outside as often as circumstances permit.
• Druids do not consider their spiritual path above or better than any other. (of course, we Druids are human and do take pride in our path!). In fact, it is a Druid’s responsibility to allow each individual to grow according to the pattern nature has dictated. Helping where help is needed is one thing, forcing another sentient being to accept your view of reality is something else entirely.
The Three Keys to Mastery
• To know
• To dare
• To be silent
Sorcerors
Raw Power and Dark Energies
The world of the Sorcerer is one which is wreathed in the mystic fires of the future. Having the same cunning and foresight as a Wizard, Sorcerers attempt to change their world through a slightly different means. While the Wizard tends towards "good" magics, and a defensive position, the Sorcerer tends to have an affinity for the "evil" magics and an aggressive mannerism. This does not imply that they are evil, per se, but it does show that they have a different approach tactic.
Sorcerers use the aggressive magics because they desire to take a pro-active role in the shaping of their future, or the future of their target. They use things that, by the definition of "White" and "Black" magic which is used in The Library of Knowledge, classify as black magics to shape things around them. The idea is similar to the famous analogy used in the magical community concerning psychic warfare: To participate in psychic warfare, one may either attack all of their enemies, or they may shield themselves. Both approaches accomplish the same goal -- the safety of the magician's target (even if it is themself). These approaches bear the same differences as Wizardry and Sorcery.
The Wizard would adamantly defend themself, never becoming too concerned with whoever might be wasting their time attacking. The Sorcerer, conversely, would be the one counter-attacking their enemies, making no effort to adapt themselves to the enviroment, but rather adapting their environment to themselves. To this end, it is often useful for the Sorcerer to utilize an array of skills. These skills include scrying, enchanting, conjuring, and heavy reliance on the art of Magecraft.
This unique art known as Sorcery is one which knows no bounds and has no limits, except those which are allowed by the user.
Magecraft:
Mind Over Matter The art of subtle domination of the environment and one's surroundings is summed most perfectly in the art of Magecraft. The Mage is a highly intelligent, peaceful, mentally focussed individual who seeks the purest forms of control over themself, their surroundings, the people they meet, and the beings they come into contact with(A Mage must be peaceful, as an angry, vengeful, confused or otherwise highly emotional person cannot properly concentrate). Everything aspect of life that concerns a Mage from day to day is domineered so that the Mage is always in total control. Magecraft, as a whole art, consists essentially of three hubs: Psychism, Natural Magic, and Temporal Magic.
Mages draw their energy from somewhere. Truly, anywhere. The Mage appears to be a slightly different breed when one examines their method of energy storage/usage. Energy flows through a Mage. Unlike many casters who store energy and use it at a later time, the Mage uses their stored energy only to initiate a link. The Magecraft system runs on the principle of the four elements: Fire, Air, Earth and Water. A Mage views the entire world as ethereally composed of one or more of these elements. Each of these elements also governs different properties. If a Mage were to attempt a psychic link, their stored energy of Air (intellect) and Water (spiritualism) would be used to open a channel between themself, their target, and to turn themself into ethereal "lightning rods". The environment then, with each spell casting, continuously feeds a Mage so that energy is not spent on the casting of the spell itself, but rather only in the spells initiation. A link between the Mage and the environment is opened with stored energy. The environment then starts flowing through the Mage. The Mage filters the energy into what is wanted and what is not.
The Mage uses the required energy type/s (Air & Water, to keep with the example), and lets the energy then flow into its purpose. In this fashion, energy is conserved and the spell can continue (as long as the required concentration level is maintained). Warning: Be sure to learn your limits! When you are getting tired, stop the spell! Because the energy will never stop flowing through a Mage until it is willed to do so, many Mages injure themselves by continuing a spell until they can no longer maintain precise concentration and collapse to the floor with exhaustion and suffer from an ethereal backlash. You have been warned. Be careful. The last thing a Mage does is Temporal Magic.
Magecraft is a powerful art but, above all other caster types, requires a great deal of mental control and concentration.
Wizardry:
The Challenge of Mind "Wizardry is the type of magic that is intellectually based, drawing on elements not identifiable by modern science, to perform various magical effects." --“Cerberus” Master Wizard of the Hall of Legions
So, you have an interest in Wizardry, eh? Before we get into the real essence of Wizardry, let me make sure that you understand what it is all about. Wizardry is more focused on magic as science as opposed to magic as religion. Wizardry is based around logic more than faith. To have this explained further, please read on.
Wizardry basically has three rules that can quantify how to make spells and magic work for you. I shall tell the rule, and then explain it.
1. One cannot learn and focus on the parts of magic, but forget the whole. Easy to understand, right? If you have a car and you wash the car everyday but ignore the rest of it, do you think it will last forever, or have the same performance as the day you bought it? Don’t think so. So to paraphrase, do not learn the basics of magic, forget them, and then jump off and cast spells all the time. Meditate, do spell research, and collect spell components yourself. Work on all the parts of magic and see them as a collective. The basics of magic are what helps you to fully understand why magic works.
The second rule of magic is somewhat an extension of the first.
2. The magic comes from knowledge of the principles of its use, and in the user’s knowing of how magic affects the environment. This one is a little confusing. Magic works because the spellcaster knows how magic works. It is not as simple as flipping a light switch and not expecting a light to come on. Ignorance of magic combined with the performing of magic will get you nothing. In knowing how magic affects the environment you come to understand the why of how spells function. Magic rarely cooperates with physical laws. Magic bends a lot of physical laws, and occasionally breaks them.
The final law of magic is probably the simplest.
3. Magic comes from the combined effort of your heart and mind. Simple. To make a spell work you must have the spell completely in your mind, casting it in your head as you are casting it in the physical world. You must KNOW the spell in your mind. Inside out, backwards, forwards, etc. The other half comes from the heart. The magic has to flow from your heart into every part of your body, and then into your mind for any spell to work. To paraphrase, you must know in your heart that the spell will work. Not believe, KNOW. Only when you are fully in control of both your thoughts and your heart will the magic work for you.
These three rules constitute the core of Wizardry.
Another thing that is significant to Wizardry is knowledge. Knowledge is what makes a wizard do what he does. He operates outside of the accepted norm of society. For knowledge, he ventures into places that even the bravest men would run from. Always remember that knowledge and wisdom is power. Knowledge holds the universe together. Knowledge gives the wizard purpose in an uncertain world. When you are depressed and the uncertainty of the world brings you down, remember that the magic and knowledge are what gives your life purpose. |
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| Alias | Date | Reply |
| Dark Phoenix |
9/8/2004 8:59:00 AM |
didnt druids perform human sacrifices? |
| wishin for more gray |
9/8/2004 10:14:00 AM |
dark phoenix i don't believe they did. they revere spirit and nature. however i'm sure they did know how much power is in the blood. if you want to be assured of something happening, shed a little of your own blood over it. I'm not a druid, my pagan path is unique and i've never run across one just like it - however, the druids are the closest. |
| wishin for more gray |
9/8/2004 10:19:00 AM |
there are no references to druidic sacrifice, though there were some in ancient writings to celtic sacrifice, some ASSume that this must mean druids. those were writings of romans and greeks - and they are ones to talk. the only evidence they list archaeologically i put here "The best archaeological data supporting Celtic human sacrifice is the body of the man placed in Lindow bog in the first or second century C.E. We actually have the body (well, most of it) so well preserved that scientists were able to analyze his stomach contents to discover his last meal (a partially scorched grain cake). Lindow man was almost certainly a ritual sacrifice; he was strangled, hit on the head, and had his throat cut, in quick order, then surrendered to the bog. This pattern fits the "three-fold" death referred to in medieval Irish tales. What's more, the man seems to have been of high social rank, and a willing victim. There are also other bog burials (the Tollund Man bog body in Denmark is very similar) in various places in Europe, as well as in grain storage pits and shafts in Britain, that, once they were no longer used for storage, had human bodies thrown in them, for instance at the Danebury hillfort. While Anne Ross in Pagan Celtic Britain is positive that the Danebury bodies were ritual sacrifices, most scholars are less certain." i don't believe these bog people were human sacrifices, more apt would be to say they were probably druids, thought of as witches, that were murdered by their fellow celts. so, there really is no evidence to support druidic sacrifices - and as i stated, their beliefs would almost make certain they did not sacrifice living beings, human or otherwise. but i stand by what i said, there is MUCH power in your own blood, when used for asking god to grant wishes. (bending nature to one's will, as it was put somewhere in these posts.)
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| 32Degree |
9/8/2004 12:46:00 PM |
Yep, they did perform human sacrifices.Rarely, but it was done. |
| wishin for more gray |
9/8/2004 1:16:00 PM |
one does what one must 8-) |
| Dark Phoenix |
9/8/2004 1:56:00 PM |
There is no evidence to believe Druids did not sacrifice humans, as the druids had no written history. The roman and greek accounts mention human sacrifice, with Druids presiding over it. And while these accounts are most likely biased, that does not mean they are not acurate to a certain degree. "Much attention has been drawn to the Druid human sacrificial ceremonies that usually conducted on the festive days. "Pliny recorded that the slaying of a human being was considered a highly religious acts among the Britons, and the eating of the flesh regarded as a 'wholesome remedy.'" Also "the Roman historian Diodorus Siculus states the Irish ate their enemies, and the Greek historian and traveler Pausaniaus tells how the Gallatin Celts ate the flesh and drank the blood of children." The Irish Celts also are said to have washed their faces in the blood of the slain, and imbibed in it. They drank the blood of dead relatives, a custom that existed until the 16th century. In the Western Isles the blood brotherhood survived until recent times. All of these cultural traditions seem to indicate a Druidic influence." Boy my ancestors sure were a fun bunch eh? I suppose i am just naturally skeptical when i see people expressing their affinity with druidism, when really only the most basic of their philosophical and spiritual ideals have survived the ravages of time. Blame Ogma :)
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| Wise |
9/8/2004 2:53:00 PM |
Interesting read..........thanks for the info..... |
| wishin for more gray |
9/8/2004 3:42:00 PM |
all of my personal enlightenment comes from within..what i see in druidry is that they were closest my own views. i have read so much on so many religions- none come closer my own beliefs. I differ in ways - else i would say i was a druid. and so little comes down about druidry because it is a personal path to enlightenment, directly from god - it should not be taught,it should be discovered. I would love to taste a bite of human flesh, and have often said to ones that know me i hope i do before i die...just a curiosity, so that certainly wouldn't turn me off on a particular lot of folks or religion. as to putting blood on ones face, i can imagine if i killed someone in battle, i might do the same. it is a matter of knowing what power is in the blood, and reveling in it.it also says, i am the victor, i now wear your blood, i would assume. I'm mostly celtic too, and i love my ancestory. I don't believe we should take one societies writings of another as truth - as one often looks down on the other (as with the romans towards the celts). As i also said before, some of the most advanced ancient civilizations we know of practised cannibalism, sacrifice (willing or unwilling), and murder of one's enemies. It might not be the best path to gain ones desires, but it is most certainly one of the quickest. |
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