> it was psychological hacks: that people are mostly holding themselves back from what they want, one just needs to align their unconscious desires with their will, and it will happen.
This is the correct understanding of magick, at least as formulated by Crowley and other western esotericists such as the Hermeticists. "As above, so below" and the principle of correspondence refer to the way in which our inner psychological worlds correspond to the external world without. To the degree that we are able to transform our inner psychological world and the ways in which we perceive reality [0], we are able to at least modify our own subjective take on the world, which influences our behaviour and the actions we (are willing to) take or don't take in the objective, outer sphere, and thus, as a downstream consequence, modifies the external world without.
Crucially, this modification of one's internal state can be done through sheer application of will alone, and so in a similar fashion as one can invent entire software systems, logical structures, and psychotechnologies [1] through nothing other than the operation of one's mind, one can rewire aspects of their own subjective, psychological reality, and thus minutely affect the real world without.
The conjuring of firebolts and magic missiles are to be regarded as "stage magic" or prestidigitation, not the psychological/spiritual practice that produces inner transformation and mastery of the self (magick). Religion, spirituality, and mysticism are studies of the mind/soul (synonyms for the exact same thing, that which beholds the unconscious, intellectual, emotional, and other aspects of reality not having to do with meatspace), not cheap conjuring tricks or metaphysical assertions about bearded men in the sky or "energies" pervading the universe.
> modification of one's internal state can be done through
there is an old theology question.. can enlightenment/grace/salvation come through individual will and effort? purifications? a certain diet? the right books?
extend that to all manner of transformations .. is it really the sole power of an individual human that can effect such changes? How does a human live, eat, exist each day.. not alone really.. similarly in the unseen realms..
Those who have strong will tend to see the case for individual efforts.
This is the correct understanding of magick, at least as formulated by Crowley and other western esotericists such as the Hermeticists. "As above, so below" and the principle of correspondence refer to the way in which our inner psychological worlds correspond to the external world without. To the degree that we are able to transform our inner psychological world and the ways in which we perceive reality [0], we are able to at least modify our own subjective take on the world, which influences our behaviour and the actions we (are willing to) take or don't take in the objective, outer sphere, and thus, as a downstream consequence, modifies the external world without.
Crucially, this modification of one's internal state can be done through sheer application of will alone, and so in a similar fashion as one can invent entire software systems, logical structures, and psychotechnologies [1] through nothing other than the operation of one's mind, one can rewire aspects of their own subjective, psychological reality, and thus minutely affect the real world without.
The conjuring of firebolts and magic missiles are to be regarded as "stage magic" or prestidigitation, not the psychological/spiritual practice that produces inner transformation and mastery of the self (magick). Religion, spirituality, and mysticism are studies of the mind/soul (synonyms for the exact same thing, that which beholds the unconscious, intellectual, emotional, and other aspects of reality not having to do with meatspace), not cheap conjuring tricks or metaphysical assertions about bearded men in the sky or "energies" pervading the universe.
[0] As a modern, practical, worked example see the "Practices" in Igor Kusakov's Psychonetics which can be tried right now, in your browser: https://web.archive.org/web/20160520233250/http://deconcentr...
[1] https://www.meaningcrisis.co/episode-1-introduction/