Axioms

An axiom is a foundational assumption that is expected to be reliable but may not be objectively true. The study of magic is filled with things that can never be fully known or proven. What matters is that we can use axioms to build a paradigm and philosophy that produce desirable results in our practice. A principle is a graduated axiom that is often more specific to technical work and predictable experience.

The magical subculture needs with increasing urgency a framework of consistent internal terminology for both discourse amongst ourselves and presentation to newcomers or outsiders. Alas, nobody gives a shit. A dozen authors or bloggers will use a dozen variant terms or use the same term a dozen different ways, thoroughly confounding genuine inspection by interested parties and keeping us all in the perceived New Age fringe bracket of intellectual conversation and social commentary. Despite my good efforts to properly catalog and diagram our vernacular into a meaningful and cohesive dialect of “shop talk” others who write and teach on magic continue to use their own crude, flippant lingos to present the same materials.

Neither the collective axioms, their individual titles, nor their explanations found on this site are universally accepted. Should you find different terms or explanations elsewhere don’t panic; simply accept people’s rights to be wrong in public and return here to review the correct terms and definitions.