Well, given that sorcery is made up non-sense it is what anybody says it is.
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NOW you tell me…
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Well, I suppose anybody could say that about anything, but it might be less than meaningful. Since all “soft sciences”/disciplines/arts/etc are largely subjective you could also say that paintings are really music, and nobody can prove otherwise.
Deliberately evading a definition of sorcery or anything else presents a poor argument. Pretty much all of human culture is “made up non-sense”, but you’re still a product of it and contributing to it.
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I grant you that there is historical, culturally specific meaning to various religions in Europe that we can examine in context, but as to “sorcery” in general, not so much.
I think it’s unlikely too, but I’d dearly love to be wrong.
Skeptical as I am about all manifestations of the supernatural, I’ve never been happy to be so skeptical. Life would be so much more interesting with a few wizards, vampires, werewolves, hamadryads, and genies in it.
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Pretty sure if someone dressed as Harry Potter walked in with a million dollars, he’d be willing to part with his entire collection of polished stained sticks.
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I believe that much money shows up in their aura, as indistinguishable from a “True Believer”…
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There’s a wand for that.
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We can’t generalize about sorcery? I thought you just did so when you dismissed it as being made up non-sense.
There are at least several ways I can think of to approach this. If by sorcery we mean to refer to specific traditions, then I agree that being overly general would obscure matters, reducing them to draw parallels for our convenience which may not be present. But if we use the term sorcery to describe an underlying process or methodology I think this can be valid as a semantically culture-neutral container. Not unlike how we might refer to something in a culture as generally ceremony, dance, or cooking and not conflate the actual content with that of other cultures.
In any case, I think that the key to understanding anything is to not rely upon unexamined conceptual and linguistic baggage. But that is more easily said than done. In general semantics the first step is always to define your terms, especially if they seem slippery, nebulous, and contested.
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Grrr…
I mean you can’t get all pedantic about “sorcery” outside of a specific cultural and historical context. Outside of such a context there is no “expertise” that is any better than anybody else’s “expertise” since it is entirely made up. It would be like claiming to know the “proper” number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin.
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I get what you are saying. What you are outlining here is an appeal to authority - “sorcery” means nothing between us unless there is an objective expert. What I am outlining is simple semantics - we conversationally establish a shared meaning to a term so that we know what each other are actually referring to when we use a given term.
If you need an objective expert to be willing to discuss something in depth, might it not be that you are simply pooh-poohing the term yourself with no interest in deeper meaning, an appeal to ridicule? After all, even establishing expertise is largely a matter of reputation, otherwise facts would surely speak for themselves. And you assert that expertise would be impossible because you from the outset assign the concept to an absurd category, which seems kind of circular.
I am not terribly invested in this one way or another. But I always get skeptical when people explain something away with pre-established categories despite no consensus of meaning. It seems to defy reason!
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I don’t know from auras, but I do have friends who used to run a New Age shop, and “muggles” were pretty easy to spot. They didn’t know the right terms. They cheerfully owned up to being noobs, but wanted to do very specifically religious and/or very obviously creepy stuff in a research-free, context-free manner that wouldn’t be a stretch to be called “appropiation”. Like wanting materials to perform Wiccan rites for Hallowe’en funsies. Or wanting to buy a love potion (which would earn them a stern lecture from the proprietor about consent, respecting other people’s feelings, and the importance of not being controlling towards other people).
The store-owner’s stance was the same as any specialty-shop’s when confronted with noobs: try to educate them, and try to steer them towards a purchase they weren’t likely to embarrass/harm themselves or others with. Before anyone snarks about “harm”: you’d be surprised how many adults don’t know how to use candles safely, or how many people think it’s okay to swallow things like perfume oils.
A lot of modern-day sorcery really boils down to self-talk, positive thinking – different in metaphor choices but essentially not much different from what you might get from a motivational speaker. I just don’t see having a talisman or other tool as any nuttier than always wearing your favourite socks when you have to give a big presentation. So long as you understand where the psychological boost is coming from, how isn’t so important.
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… and besides - cold, my ears were!
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So what can he tell us about Chevy Chase?
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If that old coot won’t sell me his Elder Wand, I may be forced to bust an Unforgivable Curse in his ass…
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Eric Hovind paid AronRa’s way into the ark along with like 50 other protesters on opening day.
I have no idea what he thought he could get out of doing that that doesn’t involve fraudulently recutting video in obvious ways.
You mean like a plastic Mary Poppins?
In that they’re both selling snake oil? Agreed.
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Specifically your hands… What is it with Jedi cutting off people’s hands?
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Hey, if only Mormons can buy their magic undergarments, then it stands to reason that a believer in magick would only sell their wares to other believers.
*shrugs
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