when we tell stories about magic but coat those stories with a layer of "btw magic is impossible" we are saying that having power and helping people is impossible
1/ In the mid-2010s my metaphysics nearly broke. A Bay Area VC friend introduced me & other nerds to an “energy healer.” Reaction: yeah, ok. “Energy” did not have a place in our scientific ontologies.
Alchemy’s metaphorical language and concrete practices offer a way to re-imagine inner life and the process of psychological growth. Its arcane symbols, various stages and operations, and mysterious hermetic philosophies invite us to stand between the worlds of spirit and matter, to bridge conscious and unconscious.
I’m not saying material life isn’t a thing. I drink H20 and shit entropy like the rest of the species. I’m saying it’s a lot weirder than we’ve dreamt of in any of these peer-reviewed philosophies. Physics is great. I love satellites and semiconductor chips. But we are, um, aware it’s incomplete, and we can’t begin to describe more if we don’t even... See more
this idea that divination is real, but that it has little to do with what system you use. Some people will prefer tarot, others astrology, others the I Ching, or cracked tortoise shells, or bird signs or dice or just about anything else. All of it works, not because there’s anything inherent to the images of the tarot, or the position of the stars... See more