Why Do So Many Magicians Lie About Their Success Rates With Magick?… I Believe A Large Portion Of Magicians Are Dishonest In Their Claims… Failure Is Experienced By All Practitioners!!!
Not too long ago I read a very spot on post written by author Jason Miller on the success rates of practicing magicians and how the 100% success rate is false… bear in mind I am heavily paraphrasing. This post got me thinking quite a bit about the honesty or rather dishonesty of modern magicians in our community today. First of all I want to say that this article is written through the inspiration of that same post made by Jason Miller, and I want to provide my own take on this matter I have seen no other talk about. Secondly, I want to state that even in my own work I have failures. Not all my rituals are successful, not all my spells are manifested and the results I get are never as expected; be that better than expected or otherwise.
The past few days I have been catching up on the topical news within our community. Seeing with others are up to, reading their latest work, and in doing so came across some things that reminded me of Jason’s post. I had seen a few people who claimed that they get results every single time, can do anything requested without fail, and that simply their magick always works. Right off the bat I can tell you this is a lie. Let’s look at this through the magnifying glass of logic for a second.
Take a heart surgeon who has done a decade of schooling in the medical field and also has say another ten years of experience doing the job itself. Let’s say in his ten year long career in this specialist job he has done hundreds of heart surgeries for patients. What is the likelihood that in every single one of those surgeries he did the job 100% spot on with no complications what so ever? No deaths on his table, no mistakes at all. The chances of that are pretty slim. Now that is not to say he is not good at his job. What I am getting at here is that the results in each one of those surgeries have the potential to be either slightly different or majorly different. Perhaps the surgery goes tits up and someone dies, perhaps there is a complication during or after the surgery and it needs to be done again, and perhaps it works out. There are a number of possibilities for the outcome of these surgeries, but his results are not going to be the same every single time even in a field and practice that he specialized in.
The fireman is not always going to be able to save the kids in the burning building, the surgeon is not always going to perform the surgery perfect, the justice system isn’t always going to incriminate the right person. The chef isn’t always going to cook the best meal… just like all these other jobs the magician is not always going to get the right results… or results at all depending on the situation.
The Problem With Most Magicians Isn’t Their Arrogance And Ego… But Rather Their Denial Of It… The Need To Be Perfect Is A Mask They Think Is Their Real Face!!!
I am not going to pretend that I am not egotistical or arrogant… I mean shit I have a big ego and my arrogance can get pretty intense. The difference is that I am not in denial of those things, and while they can lead me into making mistakes I am always happy to learn the lesson from that. The problem with most magicians who make these claims is that they have an ego and an arrogance that they deny exists. There is some part of them that truly believes in the bullshit they espouse. None the less it what it is at core is a need to perfect and a need to show other how great and powerful they are as magicians.
One of the common things you will see with these people is their claim that they can do anything without fail. There are hundreds of magickal traditions, sects, and paths that all have their own unique workings that it would be illogical to think you could master all of them without fail. Some spend their lives on a single tradition. Yet putting out the bravado you can do it all shows that they lack substance and real experience and prefer to give out their ego as a selling point for their services. Usually those who claim they can do it all will not outline how long they have practices in every single one of those traditions they claim they can work with.
I know what you’re thinking… Asbjorn just get to the point and stop rambling. What this tells me about these people is that they feel a need to be perfect and have people worship that. They need to be validated in their magickal ability by being able to do it all. They are ashamed to admit there is something they can’t do, or something they have never done. Additionally, the need to state they get 100% result every time is also a need to validate their own experiences when they doubted in their own manifestation. They don’t want to admit being wrong, or making a mistake, or simply not having the success they had planned.
These masks and illusions can be very self-destructive. Magick has enough fantasy in our heads that bleeds into our reality and makes us blind to actual reality and these kinds of masks do the same thing. Ego can ruin you if you deny it and let it run wild. It’s good to let the beast out of its cage but always be aware of it and never be in denial of it. I think so many people feel the need to be this dishonest because they lack true confidence in their own ability to admit they don’t know… but you know what keeps being said. He who knows he does not know, knows. I am not always successful, you are not always successful, and any who thinks they will be all the time, is living under a bigger illusion that only fools themselves.