XPost: alt.magick   
   From: purestdeformity@hotmail.com   
      
   On 28/09/10 20:41, Robert Scott Martin wrote:   
   > These things may be old or new. Usually they are a weird mix because   
   > my life is a weird mix of things and that's just the kind of stuff I   
   > have available to me. I am also trying to seed the newsgroup with   
   > things that would have intrigued or stimulated me as a boy. I am   
   > also thinking of children of the future, in the unlikely event that   
   > they one day decide to comb through the usenet archive for bizarre   
   > retro thrills. In a sense this is a time-travel experiment.   
      
   I've noticed that some have worked long and hard for these children of   
   the future. After 2000 years (if that) language will have evolved such   
   that the archives will probably only be decipherable to long-studied   
   experts in archaic languages. And then the chances of them stumbling   
   upon our posts, given the gazillions of posts that have been made, make   
   it seem like a foolish endeavour to me. That said...   
      
      
   Dear Child Of The Future,   
      
   Stop reading Usenet archives. The history of occult culture is a waste   
   of your time.   
      
   Your Humble Friend And Advisor,   
   Absorbed   
      
   > You might find the stuff impenetrable, indigestible or just   
   > pretentious. That's fine. While I usually understand most of what   
   > I'm throwing into the newsgroup, I rarely get all the meaning out of   
   > it on the first reading -- or even in the first few years. Alt.magick   
   > is in many ways the cooking vessel in which these observations need   
   > to simmer before they reveal their real value (if any). To repeat   
   > for clarity, it is the "melting pot."   
   >   
   > Naturally, this is not "debate," what I am doing. I will not belabor   
   > this point with a long discussion of magical weapons, but I am not   
   > about the sword. I am about the burin. This means I just etch this   
   > stuff into the newsgroup and it's up to the reader to cut (or chew)   
   > it back into manageable bites. Everyone can bite off whatever they   
   > can chew, or else leave it in the pot to tenderize, as it were.   
      
   I'm inclined to think that most posts don't "simmer" or "tenderize" at   
   all. I'm of the opinion that most are posted, read, and then effectively   
   gone, never to be read ever again. A few will be read again by the   
   occasional random archive searcher. And a few more will be read by   
   historians, but that's about it.   
      
   With so many posts, and so little utility to be had, I sincerely doubt   
   that anyone will consider posts like yours (or mine, for that matter)   
   deeply enough to extract some hard-earned utility.   
      
   I suspect the people from the future who search the alt.magick archive   
   will be searching to clarify particular issues rather than randomly   
   browsing. Who invented so-and-so ritual, who used such-and-such word   
   first, but was Crowley linked to Hubbard though do you think, and loads   
   of other trivial, bullshit questions.   
      
   > Occasionally the newsgroup does unearth an "advanced practitioner,"   
   > by which I mean someone truly weird and exciting. (Who cares what   
   > kind of rank or grade they claim? That's not the alt.magick way.)   
   > Many of these people have gone on to other vistas -- online, offline   
   > and "way offline" -- over the years, but maybe the lost ones will   
   > check in from time to time. And maybe the newsgroup has the   
   > potential to generate more down the road. This is not a teaching   
   > order, but arguably it has a society of alumni to weigh in, reminisce   
   > and occasionally help out.   
   >   
   > Am I deluded? Quite possibly! I have to admit I've been too busy   
   > over the last decade to fantasize too much about anyone's motives,   
   > especially mine!   
      
   I'm sure you could make time to explore your beliefs and motives, if you   
   wanted to.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)