Magic and Object ––The Object of Magic–– ––Objecting to Magic––
I begin again.
I wonder about the magical character of objects. Is it imminent, in the object or is it projected onto the object? We can say, with little argument, that there are molecules and atoms "in" the object because some people have organized other objects in such a way as to 'see' it as made up of tiny separate bits clinging together. Most of us take this as a matter of faith.
Let's pretend that
Kinds of objects
'Natural'
Tools, implements
Ritual
Art
Found (objects trouvé)
Made
Technological
Categorizing
The boxes are arbitrary and ad hoc. The object slides from one to another. A stick is detritus but on its journey it may get picked up by an animal and it becomes a tool. A well-crafted tool finds its way into a museum and becomes an art object. The last clock to survive the clock-eating ogre is not no longer a clock but is a museum piece. A urinal gets found, named and signed it becomes art. A god inhabits an object and it becomes a person; this person gets kidnapped by a collector and gets renamed art. Objects are constantly in transition and decay is always a part of it.
An ordinary jug, originally invented for a purpose of storing, becomes decorated, embellished. Is it merely an aesthetic urge or was there magical intention? Did the jug have importeant ceremonial role? It has 'shine' enough to land in a case in a museum, carefully protected. Were some of the decorations calling for protection? If so they are still working. Is magic a techology?
The sacred dances with the profane, quotidian utilitarian blends ritual, sacred. The handle of a knife is a hand. The hand of the knife grasps the hand grasping it and together they cut. When did this hand last grasp a woman's hand and they cut together? Below the knife is a ladle. Was it for serving soup or potions? It is beyond my scope here to explore the relation of soup to potion.
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The vision is for Ongoingness; Life continuing on . . . .
Flaneur (Out for a Stroll)
Contact
Richard Valasek 1308 Ala Kapuna St. Apt 103
Honolulu HI 9681
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I am I and my circumstance;
and, if I do not save it, I do not save myself. —JOSÉ ORTEGA Y GASSET
Changing the Conversation
I was born. I am always a vessel for something other than myself. The self is only a
vehicle for Foreign matter which comes from elsewhere and is destined to go on
elsewhere without me, whether it's words, smells, vision ––EMANUELE COCCIA Metamorphoses
The Story Teller
Now, more than ever . . . our place in the universe and the place of the universe in us, is proving to be one of active relationship. That is more than a scientist's credo. The separateness of our lives is a sham. Physics, mathematics, music, painting, my love for you, my work, the star-dust of my body, the spirit that impels it, my politics, clocks diurnal, time perpetual, the roll, rough, tender, swamping, liberating, breathing, moving, thinking nature, human nature and the cosmos are patterned together.
—JEANETTE WINTERSON Gut Symmetries
What you do, what you become, is not my concern. –ROBERT MCCALL
Yes, there is beauty
There is love
There is joy.
All you who suffer from
the world's miseries
Defend them.
––EEVA KILPI
"Don't immanentize the eschaton."
––ERIC VOEGELIN
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