173 lines
8.1 KiB
Plaintext
173 lines
8.1 KiB
Plaintext
SYSOP'S NOTE: I would be remiss in my duties if I failed to tell
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you that this is from PANEGYRIA volume 2, number 6, and was
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downloaded from Earthrite BBS (415-651-9496). PANEGYRIA costs $8
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per year, and their address is Box 85507, Seattle, WA 98145.
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Enjoy! - Talespinner, Sysop WeirdBase
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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NLP: APPLIED MAGIC
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by Brandy Williams
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One: Matching Representations
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In studying magic I've been exposed to a lot of related
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fields--history, mythology, music--which enrich my understanding
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of my vocation. One of the most helpful series of books I've
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encountered is a set of five volumes starting with The Structure
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of Magic I. and II. which focus on... psychology.
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John Grinder and Richard Bandler developed the field they
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called Neuro Linguistic Programming, or NLP. One reason I
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suggest everyone I know become familiar with it is that they've
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taught this stuff to salespeople, managers, Pentagon employees...
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I see their techniques on television commercials and read about
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them in seminar descriptions. NLP is a people manipulator par
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excellance, and I think it's important others are made aware of
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this.
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Another reason is that it's so incredibly useful.
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Consider this: "The meaning of a communication is the
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response you get." In their terms, an elegant phrase. It's
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changed my entire relationship with others. If I don't make
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myself clear, I don't blame the listener. I restate my case,
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maybe trying a different body language, a different representa-
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tional system, a little pacing...
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Representational system? Well, what senses do we use to
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explore the world? Sight--hearing--touch, and taste and smell to
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a much lesser extent. So how do we think? In images, sounds and
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feelings--or, in NLP terms, in visual, auditory and kinesthetic
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representational systems.
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What's interesting is that we all make images and sounds and
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feelings to store experience, but we're usually only conscious of
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using ONE system. The words we choose to describe our experi
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ences reflect that: "I'm not very fo cused and I can't see what
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you're saying." Or, "I've got a handle on the feeling that's
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been bugging me." Or, "I hear that, it sounds like it will
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work."
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Spend one hour listening to people and you can verify this.
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Now, if I say, "I just can't feel good about that," and the
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person I'm talking to says "I don't see what's wrong with it," my
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communication hasn't received the response I want. If I switch
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to my partner's most favored representational system and say,
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"Let me make that clear to you. It looks like a really bad
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situation," that's one way to match, or pace my partner.
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See what I mean? Or maybe that gives you a feel for the
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power of this particular "psychology".
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What does any of this have to do with paganism or magic?
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For starters, I wonder how many circle conflicts could be solved
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by something as simple as accomodating each other's most favored
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rep. system.
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In a working circle, is someone having trouble visualizing a
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goal? Is someone else very good at constructing mental temples,
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but totally unable to feel when to release the energy? Put them
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together, get them to trade notes and teach each other; both
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skills are part of the same experience.
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When you direct rituals, do you always include something to
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see or imagine, hear or sing, feel--in the body or tactually? Do
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your rituals work for some people and not others? You might
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check to be sure you're satisfying everyone's most favored rep.
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system.
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The function of magic is the response you get.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Works by John Grindler and Richard Bandler:
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The Structure of Magic I.
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The Structure of Magic II.
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Frogs into Princes
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Reframing
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Trance-formations
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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NLP: APPLIED MAGIC
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by Brandy Williams
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TWO- Inside/Outside
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Remember representational systems? The idea that humans
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think in images, sounds, and feelings?
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While we're calling up images (a process called accessing),
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we're not able to look at what's going on in front of us. While
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we're listening to music, we're not able to remember our favorite
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song. While we're feeling our shoulders for tension, we're not
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aware of the touch of cloth against our skin. Seeing with the
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mind's eye and the physical eye are mutually exclusive processes.
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In Neuro Linguistic Programming, accessing -- thinking -- is
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called downtime, and obersving with the senses is labelled
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uptime.
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I run uptime as a meditation. Try this: for three minutes,
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look at the colors in front of you, the textures of surfaces,
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shapes... listen to the volume and pitch of all sounds in your
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vicinity... feel the surface you're sitting on, your hand
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touching something in front of you...
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The next time you generate an internal image, talk to
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yourself, feel your stomach tightening -- notice the difference.
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It's the difference between accessing and observing, downtime and
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uptime, external and internal reality.
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One thing that I notice about uptime is that it links to the
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concept 'sacred'. When I take a walk by the river, I watch the
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water rippling over rocks, listen to the white noise of the
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current, feel the moist air touching my skin. I bring myself out
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of my own internal creations and allow myself to live in the
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world.
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Another thing I notice about uptime is that some people
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don't do it very much. Most of us drop into internal reality
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when our environment is unpleasant, and that's a very useful
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thing to be able to do. But then a lot of people forget to come
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back out-- come to their senses, literally -- and experience the
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world again.
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Such people are very difficult to talk to. When I have a
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conversation, I like my partner to be listening to what I say,
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and watching my body language. More often, my partner is acces
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sing some internal meaning for, or response to, what I'm saying.
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That internal meaning may or may not have anything to do with
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what I'm communicating.
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It isn't possible to observe someone (with all senses) when
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we're accessing. It isn't possible to achieve rapport with a
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person we're not observing. One of the bases of magical group
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workings is rapport between the participants.
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Try this: the next time you have a conversation about magic,
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observe your partner. Watch for: body position and gestures.
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Often people I talk to demonstrate what they feel when they do
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magic. [A woman describing her circle method moved her hand from
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her forehead down toward her feet, from shoulder to shoulder, and
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from her heart straight in front of her -- gesturing the three
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energy poles a circle creates.]
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Listen for: sensory descriptions --"I saw, I heard, I felt."
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Learning to go into uptime at will, and differentiate our
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representations of reality from our observations, is perhaps the
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most useful magical skill we can posess. It provides the basis
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for a reality check; it helps us communicate our experiences more
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effectively to others, and to help them duplicate what we do; and
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it is one of the most profound alterations of conasciousness.
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- Brandy Williams
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~~~~~~~~~~
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Works by Richard Bandler & John Grinder:
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The Structure of Magic I.
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The Structure of Magic II.
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Frogs to Princes
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Reframing
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Trance-formations
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