Welcome to the first of many conferences to be held by the Department of Thaumatology and Occult Artifacts. In our first talk we will focus on talking about what we in the department call "Cultural Perception of Thaumaturgy."
Oh! Excuse my manners. I haven't even introduced myself. I am Dr. Hans, Director of the Department of Thaumatology and Occult Artifacts for the Spanish-speaking region. You may have heard of me from my work in creating the Second Generation Phantom Gas Mask, which works better than its original counterpart, and without any flaws; I also assisted Dr. Zaragoza as a consultant during his assignment as leader of the Humanoid Recruitment Program, which led to Project Corvus.
Now that we have that out of the way, let's begin with a brief explanation of thaumaturgy throughout history.
There have been thaumaturges or "magicians" all over the world for a long time. Contrary to popular belief, not all of them work in a group, but there are some very obvious cases in places like Africa, Europe, Central America and many more. But there are more and more practitioners who distance themselves from everything in order to increase their power and knowledge. They isolate themselves, not only from other practitioners, but from other humans. There is no exact number of thaumaturges scattered around the world, but they can be recognized by certain characteristics. And in the same way that it is not possible to know how many there are in the world, it is not possible to know which ones have good intentions and which ones do not. But in addition to the similarities that exist in the way they practice "magic" there is also the fact that each one can only perform it under certain rules or rather laws.
Thaumaturgy itself is the way through practice and knowledge of getting closer to the inner and outer energy that exists in the world. Since ancient times it has been the way to be able to manipulate and adapt to the energy that exists on Earth and make it part of oneself; this is a difficult and long process, and not everyone can practice magic, it is something that only some are born with. I am one of the few with that gift even though my parents never had contact with magic before. People like me, if they are guided correctly, can manifest this kind of energy towards what is around them, even towards other people, this is because the thaumaturge uses energy in such a way that it can break all existing natural laws, from gravity, space, time and even control the elements. Magic breaks with all existing metaphysical schemes, it can also influence the actions of humans and even those of the Earth itself.
But in order to control all this power, the help of certain “magical” implements is needed, so to speak, to adapt to this type of energy. There are certain processes that have to be passed through in order to execute all these drastic changes. Each culture has found a way and they continue to use them even to this day. The alchemists were the first to give laws to these actions, because they realized that not all of them corresponded to each other. And as time went by, these differences became more frequent. A revitalizing potion made by an English magician was not the same as one made by an Indian sorcerer, a Chiloé fire ritual was not the same as one made by a priest of Isis. The methods were not the same, even when they reached the same result. That is where the laws arose, and although there is nothing formal, a kind of treaty or oath, there are specific rules that each practitioner must follow in order to make good use of this ability.
Look, I will show you an example.
Pay attention to this glass on my table. Oops! Now the glass is broken, it's irreparable, at least on an atomic level. Now watch. Don't let the bright color of my hand scare you, it's all part of the procedure. That's it. Just a little more… And voila! New glass.
Yeah… well… there really wasn't any need for you to applaud…
It's not really a big deal, it was just improvised. Could you see how the crystals returned to their corresponding place, as if they were attracted by some force? It's the energy that through thaumaturgy is used to attract the pieces of crystals and fit them into each space, each molecule put back in its corresponding place. As for the purple glow on my hand, it's due to the aura.
The aura is also called life energy, spiritual energy or Ethereal Energy Fields as the GOC calls it. I usually refer to this type of energy as just the aura. The aura is found in all living things that exist, on earth mainly in plants, animals and human beings, it is a force, a kind of energy that surrounds us and is always around us, every time we go out to our garden, every time we walk, every moment we spend with others the aura is always surrounding us, protecting us, feeding us, providing energy to our body every second that passes. Many of our basic functions exist thanks to the aura from breathing, to running and even having sex.
If someone who could see the aura of people were here, they would tell us that it is like a halo of energy around us, something like a bright glow that would be constantly moving, like the flame of a candle moved by the wind, but more extensive. Every cell in our body generates this type of energy, and from the moment we are born we begin to create it. Not everyone can feel it, but it is there, it is always there. No one yet knows how our cells create this energy, but they do know how it travels and acts in our body. All our senses are active thanks to the aura, as are our motor and methodological abilities. The more we exercise our body, the more we manifest and train our abilities, the more they begin to increase.
Great athletes have a greater aura than the average human because of all the physical training they do, but the interesting thing is that their aura barely increases by one size. The case of the great martial arts masters is completely different, where they are taught to control the power of punches and kicks and to use the enemy's force against him. These are principles that, without being their main intention, employ the natural laws of the aura. Until now, the most specialized group in the control of the aura are the Buddhist monks, their disciplines are so strong and complex that they manage to unite the person with their own aura, which results from the union of the spirit. That is why they can perform more complex and impressive feats: Not feeling pain, attacking their enemy from a distance, breaking stones with their bare fist, separating their spirit from their body, etc.
What they must mainly learn from all this is that there are a great number of practices and teachings, beyond the rules of the International Center for the Study of Unified Thaumatology or the Academy of Magicians. Improvisation and innovation are always up to date with the constant updating of both information and paratechnology, so there will always be more and new ways to use thaumaturgy.
As members of the Insurgency, you will sometimes have to deal with groups and organizations with a unique and exclusive way of handling thaumaturgy, and how you respond to this will depend on how well informed you are about what kind of practice it is.
Well, our time is up. That's all for now. You will be given upon your release all the information compiled by the Department itself to study at your leisure. And if you're wondering, yes, we do have openings, so if you feel you're on par with other experts in thaumaturgy, occultism, alchemy, etc. no one will stop you from applying to join. Oh, and to join you don't have to be a "Blue Type," as the Foundation would say.
I hope to see you at our next talk.
Original: Orientación del Departamento de Taumatologia y Artefactos Ocultos
Date: 22 Jun 2018
Author: Yorick1
Translator: Yorick1