Re: What kind?
I work heavily with ritual, complex component stimulation, chants and kata-like movement to achieve proper dwemers and cantrips. I do not work with unadulterated core energy because I have never found a need and personal experience dictates that such energy is immature (as in literally underdeveloped) for the needs I have. I draw from totems and foci rather than suck from my own energy reserves. I find working like this allows for a wider range of manipulation and cuts fatigue down to nil. I do not work with circles, candles or with anything crystalline properties. If I do have a need to straight up draw energy from my environment, I draw from my elemental binds. Foci are charged through exposure to certain components and usually set to mature outside to expose them to the forces of nature. I do not believe any 'magic' can be substanciated without sacrifice; either external or internal, the more you put in, the more you get out. So why, yes, it is easier and it takes less time to just draw from one's own energy and perform the arts, you are limited by the fact that your mortal body is in a constant state of decay. If you take from the existing energies, you are bleeding yourself; neither created nor destroyed, just used up. Its traditionally called Za Naturalism, or Zaistic Naturalism; defined as finding and using the abundance of mallatable energy in one's habitat. I do not believe that gods/deities speak to us, perhaps through us, but not directly. I do not summon (other than my stupid guardian) or banish, and have a pretty live and let live mindset when it comes to spirits. Though, I am very unforgiving when it comes to those that wish for help or wish to relay messages; I will not speak to the dead no matter how hard they try to catch my attention. Divination, with whatever tools I am using (tarot, bones, runes, water scrying, etc.) is just a skill I have learned over the years and I place very little stock in the readings I give. Not to say they are not accurate, it is just I don't know where my cold reading skills end and the mysticism takes over. I'm a very tactile practioner, I am not a mentalist, I like getting my hands dirty and to become a component myself. I enjoy the rituals that take months to come to fruition, I enjoy the seaches I have to go on to find the proper components. Its all about the journey for me, not about results.
Tai
"Will minus intellect constitutes vulgarity." -Arthur Schopenhauer
|