Subtitled: Martial Magick? Naaaaaaah…
My kiddos are watching the new version of Voltron on their days off from school, and I happen to get a little engrossed in it sometimes during the day. Kieth has a sword hand. I’m a little jealous. I cannot tell you how handy it would be to use it when I get angry.
But the thing is, I have the anger of a bull. It’s slow to set off, but once unleashed, hard to set aside, and destructive to the delicate things I’d rather enjoy in life. It’s probably pretty good that I don’t have a sword hand.
Doesn’t mean I don’t want one, though.
When I first started getting into Mars and the sphere it represents, I got super into cursing the F’ out of people when they pissed me off. I thought it was mostly harmless, a way to work off my rage in the moment without going to jail, and that the righteousness of archangels I was working with would keep them from doing anything inappropriate if I was just being petty.
Eventually, I realized that I was just screwing with people using tools they couldn’t deal with. It’s not like engaging in an internet debate where people can use rhetoric and logic to demonstrate the value of our opinions. I was causing harm. One guy had a nervous breakdown after I didn’t like what he had to say about abortion on social media. I think he deserved it, but at the same time, I don’t think it was right.
These days, I still get angry and vengeful, but I’m a lot slower to resort to magick to deal with it. I think what we’re supposed to be doing with Magick is the salvation of the world, healing the sick, bringing peace.
Harmony.
Happiness.
I had a great conversation the other day with a brother in the Order who is, in many ways, my adversary. He was respectful, kind, and honest, even though we’ve engaged in online fisticuffs almost as often as we haven’t when we talk to each other in various forums. We have a shared higher goal in life. Making things better. Making ourselves better. The things we disagree about are the means, not the end.
My means are WAY better, but whatevs.
I dunno, maybe I’m getting old, but Martial Magick isn’t really worth it for most tiffs these days. Defense, sure, but offense isn’t really worth the effort. Most of the people I’ve had disagreements with over the years were right, wrong due to lack of experience/effort, or bat-guano crazy. If I’m to take this whole “Do Magick to Make the World and my Experience Thereof” thing seriously, then there’s no room for cursing the F’ out of people and making their lives worse. That’s just not why I feel like I’m here.
Still, a sword hand would be friggin’ amazing.
