When considering your involvement in occultism, it is perhaps the most noteworthy thing you will ever do to make sure that you finish what you start. Aside from trying and failing, which will certainly happen periodically throughout your practice, the most frustrating thing one can do is to pick a discipline to follow, be it from the direct magic system or from another strain of occultism, and end up giving up on it at some later date. Finding a path to follow that you are entirely comfortable with as soon as possible can save you an enormous amount of grief, time, and effort. Like the Christian who turns Evolutionist, one of the worst experiences in working with a magical discipline is to find that, after some time, you did not correctly evaluate yourself in the beginning and have to start over again with a new focus (and sometimes an opposite focus), thus negating the value of many of your previous efforts and effectively returning to square one. To correct this problem, a proper understanding of what the caste system really is, why it is in place, why you may want to choose a specific discipline, and when you should choose it should be attained before striking out into occult studies.
The caste system of direct magic is a way to put a name to the different skills within the world of magic. In terms of labelling effects, there is no occult ability that has not been accounted for within the caste system. The unique types of energy that exist in the practice of occultism have been championed, throughout history, by each of the respective castes. This intense dedication to unravelling the mysteries of a single type of magic has uncovered a wide variety of abilities and has allowed occultists to learn the properties of an energy, including both its limits and its advantages, and has proven to be an effective way to harness the world around us.
The caste system was created, over time, by various unrelated groups who yearned for a more potent system with which to manipulate reality. Many of the early magics that did not dedicate to a single energy were haphazard, riddled with religion, and clumsy for situations where magic would have been useful. Observing this, certain types of casters have taken a name for themselves (now known as the caste names) and have worked exclusively towards refining the ability to use this energy in a meaningful way at any given moment.
A person may want to choose a caste for a number of reasons. Among the top reasons are that many occultists are seeing through the old trickeries of systems that are choking in the snare of religion or cultural influences. Another is that they are interested in actually gaining real power that they can use and be proud of rather than having to resort to impotent jingles and rhymes or having to use imagination to fill in for the failures of a system. The number one reason that a person wants to use a caste, though, is usually because they know they can step above the twisted "anything goes" systems, or, conversely, the dogmatic tunnel-vision systems that exist, and can work with a selected power unfettered if only they had direction. The caste system gives this direction by identifying the energies and giving them discipline names.
One of the criticisms of the caste system is that it is one of the tunnel-vision systems previously mentioned, though that comes from a lack of understanding. It is a lesser known fact that, despite using different energies and different methods, many of the same effects can be achieved by different castes in different ways. It is true that each caste has a few unique abilities that will never be replicated by any other caste, but the majority of abilities do have an equivalent to be found in another art. The Necromancer and Healer, though quite opposite branches of magic, do share powers over life and death which overlap to a certain point. The Summoner and Wizard, though different arts entirely and using totally different methods, likewise have some overlap if a particular effect is desired. The difference is in how the effect is achieved, not if it can be achieved at all. What, then, is the point of picking one art if the abilities can be replicated? The answer lies strictly in two factors: The caster's preferred method (based on their nature), and the few elite abilities that can not be replicated.
How, then, does one determine their nature and which of the abilities offered by the castes would suit them? When do you choose a caste? The only answer to this question is to give it time and begin your practices as an eclectic caster. Sadly, "eclectic" seems to be a defensive clichee phrase in occultism equating to "I don't know and I don't care", quite often, but to begin one's practice without rushing a decision is usually beneficial if you remember that the time is being used as an self-evaluation period. It allows some leeway to understand your nature, how you like doing things, what energies and methods you most frequently use to get results, and to understand where your true needs lie. Using an observant and self-conscious evaluation method is always more fruitful than picking a caste based on which is most popular or which sounds like the most fun. To sum it all up, however, I spent one night in a bit of a tizzy figuring out how to best explain the phenominal misconceptions regarding the caste system and came up with the following (harsh) explanation:
Originally from http://www.powertrip.net/~viza/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=35I can already see, given the undertone of certain responses, that it is seen as an Honourable thing to say "I don't fit [into a caste]", as though people thought they were breaking some superstitious codex and exceeding legalistic boundaries in a bold move of individuality, freedom, and higher mystic enlightenment and clear thought, blah blah blah...
It's disgusting.
I will once again clarify exactly what the caste names are about, why they're there, and their proper and improper uses.
First, considering what the caste names are not to be used for:
Definition of a caster's abilities (!)
Restrictions on spell types
Classification of occult/spiritual/life philosophy
These are the most common misconceptions ever -- and specifically the first one -- which cause people to think they're doing themselves an intellectual favour by shunning the castes in theory yet adhering to the direct magic system. The castes are not there to cram a person into a specific regimen. The castes are not there to tell you what is not possible. The castes are not there to conform you in any way, be it spiritually, morally, intellectually, or otherwise. Castes are NOT a top-down cookie-cutter way to force a person into working with just one energy type or to set their goals for them. Can people handle that?!
What the castes are for:
A way to identify trends in magic.
(i.e. A book of shadows over the last... year, for example... containing a sparse 150 spells: 10 are nature magic, 40 are death magic, 5 are summoning, 5 are enchanting, 70 are psychic, and 20 celestial) The OVERALL result is that this person is a Psi Mage. It helps to give yourself a focus. Perhaps, if you use it so much, does it not follow common sense that you may want to hone your most common skills a bit more? Of course. If you know you will ride a bike to and from work most days of the year and will drive a car only a half dozen times, what are you going to do? Learn to drive or learn to ride a bike?The castes are also a quick way to find other like-minded casters and be able to talk things over with them. The use of a title infers that you spend the majority of your efforts using one strand of magic and sheds the guessing games involved in trying to find someone who will understand what you are doing.
The castes are nothing more than what is stated here. Ever so many ideas that they inherently restrict what you do or how you think have been heaped on by the so-called intellects who like bucking at anything that, god forbid, says that their method is not as unique as they thought and that it can be broken down into component parts. With that in mind, the caste system can continue to be used for the purpose of clarification and identification of one's own mystic needs as a service and utility, not the shackle it is rattled up to be by sheer misconstruance.
So what are the castes then? They are a structure system devised to attempt to encompass all possible spells within the realm of what we call "the occult" constructed as identified habits that long-term practitioners will eventally find themselves using. Humans are biologically and psychologically creatures of habit -- this is a foundational princple of every form of psychology. We will find ourselves using methods we find successful and will continue to use those methods, which gives rise to castes which have been named so that practitioners can more readily identify their fellow casters by using broad title references rather than explaining the intrinsics of each individual variation of practice every single time. With this understanding of the true purpose and meaning of the caste system of direct magic, learning how to manipulate energy can be used to help determine where a person fits (or doesn't fit) in the realms of the occult.
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