I’ve been suspected to have multiple mental disorders. I was treated for depression and I’m suspected to have a form of autism and/or a behavioral disorder. I started doing magic keeping in mind that it can change a lot of things about you, but it’s also more likely to make you close to insane. I would say that magic shouldn’t be used as a treatment for the disorder itself but it’s good to treat the symptoms by changing your personality or abstaining from harmful habits like drug use.
I don’t know of schizophrenia and magic are a good combination though because schizophrenia is a disorder characterized by illusions. Magic requires a specific form psychological discipline, which is something that schizophrenics have trouble doing because their minds cannot interpret reality from visions (illusionary or not) like most brains. This is not to say a schizophrenic can’t do magic, but it’s more likely that things can go wrong, especially in the Western traditions where you must visualize things with your imagination.
I believe that more often than not (perhaps always) the “illusions” of schizophrenics are just as real as the reality most of us share. They have extra abilities to be able to sense and see other dimensions. Given that reality isn’t as concrete for them as it is for most of us, they are able to manifest and perform magick at a much higher level.
I was taught magick many years ago by a schizophrenic. He was the most powerful magician I have ever met. So powerful, in fact, that he is now dead (his body wasn’t a strong enough conduit at that time).
It really depends on the person. Generally speaking, if you are at least of sound enough mind to understand that magick is not a cure all replacement for medical advice, go ahead. Just go slow and work on yourself. Schizophrenia, though? Maybe not the best idea. The more you explore occultism the more likely you are to run into situations that can strain your mind. If you are already in rough shape (i.e. schizophrenic) you are drastically increasing the chances that you will bring harm to yourself for no reason.
If you hear voices and evoke a spirit then how do you know whether the communication is reliable? This could negatively effect your magick. Now take it a step farther. You imagine the spirit told you to jump off a building because it will catch you, and you do it. The problem is that the spirit did not say it and will not be catching you. This could negatively effect your magick, lol.
Not always. I did not, and can honestly say that magick has been a beneficial factor in terms of my mental health. Individual results may vary.
Meditation would help in all aspects of life.
Watching thoughts without engaging in them, practice that by listening to the breath.
Follow the breath on the inhale until it reaches the top, there will be a definite pause as the breath changes from inhale to exhale. Energetic silence!
Now follow the exhale to the bottom, a definite pause and inhale and so on…
That pause is where you want to be. Try that and I guarantee your mind will be silenced.
This will help to heal whatever ails ya.
I think it really depends on the person and the disorder. I suffered anxiety and depression my whole life and alot of it came from unhealthy conditioning and poor self image. Then add on a few years if Christianity and it only got worse.
Once I was "touched " by Lucifer it all disappeared. Now he’s teaching me to value and hold myself in high regard. He took it away, but is teaching me how to strengthen myself. So personally, it only helped .
Some things can be attributed to health conditions such as migraines and temporal epilepsy and others to mental health conditions, yet others are unattributable to anything.
I think that quite often people end up seeking answers in somewhat more esoteric realms when conventional avenues have totally failed them and sadly they are then seen to be ‘problem children’ for not following the herd. Let’s be honest, conventional medicine would rather you dose yourself up on opiates to deal with pain, anti-seizure drugs to control the migraines caused by the opiates, and disease modifying anti-rheumatics with horrific side effects than have you seeking a solution by evoking a Goetic God.
Hell that would be a mental health issue and you’d be classified as a complete lunatic for doing that and not wanting to be dependent upon their drugs forever now wouldn’t it?
You’d have to be completely mental to choose magick over big Pharma and your local GP and a lifetime of disability… (for those who haven’t quite got the note of sarcasm)
Wow, that sorta describes me, lol.
Every decent book on magick I’ve read, has had a disclaimer that the student is advised to be in regular sessions with a psychologist, preferably transpersonal, Jungian or humanist.
That said, anyone should be in regular sessions IMO.
There is also a bit that (I think) Lon Milo Duquette mentioned, that Goetic entities are parts of our psyche that must be reasoned with or commanded and controlled, in order to be a healthier person mentally.
Same with zodiac angels. Each one of the 72 preside over a natal decan, one day and one night. When both are evoked, there should be a balanced aspect of that decan.
Another person told me way back when on alt.magick, “its either goetia or the mental ward”.
Many psychologists are far screwier than their patients, and have little interest in getting you “better” to a point where you have no discernable mental bugs… that advice might work for some people but I can see it being positively harmful for others, especially in countries where mental health services are provided by the state and can potentially be used to prove you are an unfit parent, or bring stigma in your community.
Psychoanalysis can harm people by crrating egregores of problems that previously didn’t exist.
Going back to the OP, you need a certain amount of mental toughness and personal determination (and a sense of humour) IMO to do magick and not lose the plot, which some people may find harder if they have a pre-existing condition, it;s really down to the person to know if they can handle adding a load of weird shit to their lives.
Magick is innately destabilising because everything people assume as baseline “normality” will start to change, and what’s “real” will start to seem far less certain.
I found magick helped me, and I posted about how in more depth here:
Spot on - I went to a pain clinic assessment and was told by a psychologist (yep they have to assess you as well apparently) that my pain which had been verified as bone damaging inflammatory arthritis through MRI, X-ray, radiation scintillography etc was in fact a psychological condition where I was actually attempting to ‘please’ everyone. My response was to tell her to f*ck off.
Strangely enough I never received a further invitation to attend their clinic after that.
They passed off chronic fatigue this way for ages, but most damningly, stomach ulcers were falsely believed to be due to stress, aka “all in your mind” in the WORST and most damning and limiting meaning of that, and Barry Marshall, the guy who researched and found that they were due to a bacterial infection, actually had to infect himself and then treat himself to get the reality across:
[quote]Can you describe the received medical wisdom about ulcers before your research?
Peptic ulcers became more common in the 20th century, at the same time that these theories of Freud and other psychoanalysts became popular. And somehow those meshed, and this tradition emerged that ulcers were caused by stress or turmoil in one’s life. I don’t know where the data came from, but there was this idea that stress caused high acid levels; maybe there was a small amount of evidence for that, although I haven’t been able to find it when I’ve looked. Anyway, all those things added up to convince people that ulcers were caused by stress. There was no proper data of any kind. It was smoke and mirrors as much as anything else, but terribly convincing for everybody.
Are you saying that there was no basically no empirical evidence to support the stress-and-acid hypothesis?
You can always find stress in someone’s life if you want to. You ask a few questions and eventually it’s, “Yes, I admit, I was worried about something recently.” So they tried to find evidence for stress causing ulcers, and whenever they had an experiment which worked, it would just be blown out of all proportion, and everyone would get so much publicity out of it that you would think, “Ah, at last, it’s proven.” But the data was very bad. And in fact there was plenty of evidence showing that stress didn’t make much difference.[/quote]
Source and full article:
Much the same thing has happened with eating disorders, the behaviours of anorexic people that are commonly attributed to them being crazy were also found in the psychologically healthy young men in the Minnesota starvation study, and therefore at least begin as a reaction to being malnourished… a lot of stuff is psychological in life, but the state of the body affects the mind far more often IMO.
It’s dangerous when someone can assess your pain and dismiss it as “in your head because I think you feel that you need to please people because I read about that in last week’s Psychiatrist’s Today” and then that BS will appear on your medical record. If you disagree, you become uncooperative which again is a ‘clear sign of mental instability’ aka Catch22.
Perhaps L. Ron Hubbard was on to something with psychiatry?
There is a BIG CAVEAT however and that is where you yourself recognise an issue such as bipolar behaviours or a depressive episode due to extreme trauma or work stress and you seek assistance yourself. What I have a problem with is the throw away diagnoses when you don’t conveniently conform and you disagree with their personal opinion on how best to deal with a physiological condition.
I fully understand that we are on a forum that is become a living god, I suspect that many feel that they do not need to do anything other than study medicine in order to assume the godhead. Those of you who are in the medical profession and seek greater guidance from ancient Gods - you are clearly more enlightened, but I think many of us have encountered those for whom their ego was the most brilliant jewel that they simply can’t help displaying even in the most vulgar setting.
I think, for some specific psychological issues like depression or phobias, our spirits can be very helpful to assist us.
Just the other day, I walked into a mall and suddenly felt anxious and started to panicking because of the crowd. My spirits physically manifested and held me tight, wrapping their arms around me and calmed me down.
Some, if not most, spirits are good with human psychology and use appropriate methods to aid us, to give us the strength and the curage to deal with our struggles in life.
That sounds so lovely! I hope to experience that when I go to France for the holidays.
When I lived there it was one of a few darkest times in my life. I never left my house. I lived there for a few years and don’t even remember the time passing. I was cursed and accidentally cursed myself as well… Took me years to open my chakras. And now I agreed to go back for Xmas. I’m trying to remain positive/neutral by not thinking about it but as I type this I feel nauseous. That is just fear talking and I am a GOD. I am strong and in control.
You have inspired me to evoke every day. I know I will be safe. Thanks.
I’ve been dealing with severe panic attacks, PTSD, and bipolar disorder for a while now and magick has helped in some ways and harmed in others. Funny thing is I didn’t know the higher mysteries were anything beyond fiction until I coincidentally came across a youtube video on the same subject. The slippery slope is when you cast a spell and think you cured it when in reality its just a skeleton that has been backfilled over and thats what im going through right now. The spirits I work with have mentioned that i needed professional help (this includes Raphael). You can definately fix the issue with magick although its important to have a rational understanding that it most likely will manifest your healing in the form of comming across a talented doctor and getting treated quickly when they otherwise would be busy.
I find personality disorders far more concerning in regards to magick, even though everyone has their place within the community.
Mental disorders can always be worked out. Some of those “disorders” are great teaching tools, even precursors to actual gifts. I can’t say the same for people with personality defects.
Trying to push it away or fully block it off will bring it right back.
Raphael could help you but you still need to do some work yourself, that’s what i see from his response.
Shadow Work really can help with coping and living through these issues. I don’t know if you can be cured but right now this is a part of you, that you need to bring back into yourself.
I’d talk to doctors too, never leave out their opinions in the search for making your life better.
Thank you for the advice Alita, I’ve got a few appointments for mental and physical health scheduled although Im trying to keep myself strong and stable until the treatment for the chemical imbalances begins. Something snapped hard in me last night, was having a bad moment to say the least and a fit of demonic rage came over me. When I came to i had no memory of the past two hours and all of my tasks at work were done. Not exactly sure if this was progress but i felt better after. Do you have Shadow work exercises you could recommend?
Its different for everyone but i do drawings related to issues im working with, and meditations with Journey work.
This woman has a lot more wonderful ideas that might help you.
Thank you :3 ill definately check her out. Honestly just knowing and speaking with other people with similar issues helps a lot as well. I work night shift by myself and the world can tend to feel very small and isolated at times.