What is “Shadowmancy?” Does it have any ancient precedents?
Thanks in advance.
Shadow: obvious
Mancy comes from Greek “manteia” meaning “divination of/by”.
Therefore, “divination by shadows”. In colloquial usage, adding -mancy has come to denote sorcery in general, not just divination. So it could also be “magic through the means of shadows”. Or, more likely, “magic using the powers of darkness” as shadows are often a metaphor for a much greater darkness.
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Shadowmancy seems to be much more than divination. But which “powers of darkness” are particular to [the energy of] shadows?
I wouldn’t call it “shadowmancy” per se. The current of this I’m most familiar with is the Ahrimanic one.
Second vote for Ahrimanic stuff.
Lacking a definition, I suppose sundials are one form of shadowmancy? Using shadows cast to know things about (for example) the amount of daylight left, also using a sextant (“Common uses of the sextant include sighting the sun at solar noon and sighting Polaris at night (in the Northern Hemisphere), to find one’s latitude.” Wikipedia).
If you wanted to derive a system of divination that uses shadows, maybe using selected rocks, twigs, or other shapes like poppets and archetypal symbols, and then casting/throwing them at a certain hour of the day (dawn or sunset maybe, when shadows are longest - or during a planetary hour on the understanding the hour creates deeper meaning) onto a light flat surface, and then seeing what kind of shapes their shadows produce… kind of like making bunny ear shadows as a child.
The precedent for this would be every system that uses doctrine of signatures/fractal universe concepts, in which a small symbol represents a larger object, system, event, etc. But I just made it up to fit that word, and don’t claim it works.
Sorry, as a word without any further definition, don’t have a lot to go on there. 
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I think shadowmancy is a term coined by Konstantinos in the Nocturnal Magick series.
IMO it’s a waste of time reading through those 3 books when you can figure out the basics of this and then some with The Works of Darkness. Not to mention, WoD covers things like curses and evocation with this kind of magick whereas Konstantinos has a few rituals that can be found in just about any new age wiccan/paganism book at Hastings.
I’m not knocking the guy, it’s just that his approach doesn’t work for me.
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I’m curious, does anyone have any experience with this current? I dove into it during my early twenties and found the current to be great for baneful works and divination.
I’ve worked with this current since WoD’s release. As you mentioned it’s great for divination and baneful magick but it does work well with candle magick, evocation and charging objects as well. I also found that this current works well with The Book of Smokeless Fire by S. Ben Qayin. Having a foundation based off of the WoD, made this book more efficient imo. If you choose to get into it, it’s worth a second look.
Smokeless Fire is a badass book. And you’re right, the currents are extremely similar, if not the same.
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The book is worth it on many levels imo. I really like his style and creativity, especially with the Lunate Script and all. Without going into detail because I can’t reveal this information, I used one of the spirits from this book and I have to say it’s pretty legit. Also The Ignition of the Black Flame meditation/ritual was a pretty intense experience for me.
I take it you own a copy of this work?
Shadow force
The shadow forces are unimaginative and very as you see it, it is or as you see the need or effect to be. Meaning its black and white, and very as you imagine it to be with the effect of a steel clamp for the strength. When attempting you need the attunement to shadow and the merest concentration as to what you want it to do. To do this, feel the darkness and make it yours by filling yourself with darkness from thinking of darkness pouring into you. Then feel the effect or visualize the action of which you want to happen as it is now apart of you. Ae manipulating the dark as if you were using your own force to do as you would want or will with it. If it works, you will feel the darkness move and see the image of the action appear in mind as it happens. This cannot be detected as its using emptiness or the nothing of darkness, Thus what things it can do are manifold as in steal, attack, drain, deceive, disrupt spells, form other spaces or realms, form raw or made materials, hiding by shadows, restraint balls and other things like shadow bombs. This is listed from lesser to greater effect to make an effort of happening. Stealing with the shadows you playact the scene while focused on the object, disappearing into your hands or near you. To attack you envision or act out the part of the attacker and shadow will form as you intend. It takes three hits to knock a person out, Four to erase the person from history as if not ever born. You drain by imaging or using your mouth to suck the energy of a targeted force, like the wound on a person that will disappear immediately albeit slow. For unaging, suck the life force out of shadow to give you back youthfulness, to suck from a person is anathema as it can weaken a person, unless that is your intent. You can suck emotion, energy, wounds and destructive acts to safe effect as its very energetic to do. To drain a spirit or ghost is to kill it as you absorb the energy and ghosts are energy. There is more energy in emotion than there is in calmness. Anything else like draining objects will destroy the object after a while. To deceive with shadow, think on the person or think “project image” and speak. The image you project is yours, the voice you are heard as is the person you think on. To break a spell is to disrupt a spell by draining the spell itself. Use the drain activity above. Forming other spaces or realms is considered forming dimensional spaces, To form this space is to imagine yourself in the scene of another area, Then allow yourself to shift there by saying or thinking “sift” ae english, Or, feel yourself there and pulled to the space. In this manner you create a dimensional area or dimensional pocket. Whence you shift, you will disappear from your reality and find yourself there either asleep or awake. You can form wrought materials by feeling the object or person and feel the form appear as you pull it to you. Whence the yank happens, the person or object will move from nothingness to you or near you with the “move” of darkness. This works though shadow because shadow is darkness is void is substance. Hiding by shadows is the effect of feel yourself not seen and blend into the background. This can be done real easy if you use the Indian scout method ae stand still while hidden in shadows. Move slowly to evade detection with possible camouflage. Then people won’t notice if you master it in practice. Restraint balls are the coalescence of shadow into the form of a multi-tentacled shadow ball that restrains or hinders. The way to achieve it is feel a ball form in the shadows and playact placing a ball in mind or physically. The placing is done when you feel the darkness move and the only thing left, is to cause it to activate by feeling the shadow ball form the tentacles that enwrap or close around the person or place. This will impede the area or person to effectively slow the target down or stop it entire. To break this shrug it off mentally or annul it some other way. Warning: it can effect more than one person. Shadow bombs are the essence of shadows put into a destructive mode, Feel a multi-tentacled form into a ball that you place by playacting into the area of the person or object. Then feel it explode into a burst of which hits the person or object. When you feel it gone and the shadows move then its placed, and you absorb energy from the target for the time of which you allow the bomb to happen or its dispelled. Use a mental hand and “push” it away to get it away from you or have it attack the shadow master. To feel the bomb shift away from you and set off with a thought.
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Dude there is no need to cut and paste stuff this big when you could just post a link to the site and provide some feedback on what you’ve learned. For me it’s hard to read without any spaces between the paragraphs and you should also consider that some of the stuff might be copyrighted.
Is there a source for this excerpt?
I do! S.B.Q. is an extremely original magician, with some of the most interesting magickal ideas and thoughts I’ve read in a very long time.
I do! S.B.Q. is an extremely original magician, with some of the most interesting magickal ideas and thoughts I’ve read in a very long time.[/quote]
Yeah, it’s a breath of fresh air reading a PRACTICAL grimoire that has a new take on things and original material in it. S.B.Q. is pretty legit and given the amount of creativity he uses, IMO he should be seen as an inspiration to all of us magicians who want to write and practice. He definitely sees magick as an art form and that is something I can really respect because he obviously shows love for what he is doing by treating it as such.
I do! S.B.Q. is an extremely original magician, with some of the most interesting magickal ideas and thoughts I’ve read in a very long time.[/quote]
I was afraid that someone would miss use the knowledge from this site to cause mass destruction and pain this knowledge should be respected and not used just to destroy cities for institutions it should be used to help not just yourself but others .
I do! S.B.Q. is an extremely original magician, with some of the most interesting magickal ideas and thoughts I’ve read in a very long time.[/quote]
I was afraid that someone would miss use the knowledge from this site to cause mass destruction and pain this knowledge should be respected and not used just to destroy cities for institutions it should be used to help not just yourself but others .[/quote]
-takes a deep drink of his coffee-
“Do you really want to respond to this, Creed?”
“Yeah, why the Hell not? Its my day off and I haven’t even rolled out of bed yet. What better time to piss someone off? Start the day off right.”
“Are you sure?”
“Quite.”
Take a look around you. With every passing day, the world becomes a worse and worse place in which to live. The people in power preach to the plebes to “do good” and “make the world a better place” and all that, while cutting backroom deals that consume the world so they can place a few dollars in their pockets. The Masses are fed bullshit stories of “morality” and “turning the other cheek” while the Elite run roughshod over them. And they get away with it! Why? Because the Masses are (and here’s the key) trained to not respond with force.
Take a look at the old codes of Chivalry that everyone makes such a big deal about. Most of those rules dealt with “acceptable” combat, and breaking those “rules” was grounds for being summarily slaughtered. Guess who suffered the most under those rules? You guessed it! The serf, who had no access to swords, training, etc., needed to fight back against a knight who wanted to do… well, anything he wanted.
Enter: The firearm. Its widely noted that chivalry died with the use of the firearm, which was capable of being wielded by even the lowliest of peasants with the will to use it, against even armored opponents. I imagine Chivalry probably began its death throes right about 45 seconds after the first knight was shot in the back by some peasant who was sick of his shit.
S. Ben Qayin even says, flat out, “this book is a weapon against order.” Just like the first firearms were turned on those who abused their power over others, so are the djinn in that book to be turned on those who abuse power.
But now here you come along, with your Diehard Pollyanna view of the world where the temperature should always be 70 degrees, and we should all be wearing environmentally friendly togas while singing Hey Jude with the Faeries in the groves. That very same pacifistic attitude is exactly what is required for the world to get worse. Rather than shake shit up, reclaim your own power, and get your hands dirty in the process, you have decided to completely shun a full half of your nature, because you don’t like the idea of having to put your fist on someone’s chin. Go sit back on the sidelines, dude. Don’t worry, we got this.
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I do! S.B.Q. is an extremely original magician, with some of the most interesting magickal ideas and thoughts I’ve read in a very long time.[/quote]
I was afraid that someone would miss use the knowledge from this site to cause mass destruction and pain this knowledge should be respected and not used just to destroy cities for institutions it should be used to help not just yourself but others .[/quote]
-takes a deep drink of his coffee-
"Do you really want to respond to this[/quote]
LOL! I was just doing and thinking the same thing.
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