I've picked up running over the last few months as a means to get into better physical shape. I've noticed it seems to have a decent amount of possible overlap with occultism. First, there's a lot of willpower required to do it, especially with longer or faster runs. There's also self-knowledge: most runners eventually learn certain foods cause problems if eaten shortly before a run, for example; while the most common way to get an injury from running is running too far, too fast, or too much, so a knowledge of how much you can run is essential.
Then there are the energy centres. Running gets the heart beating, and extended over longer periods of time, it seems to cause sensations similar to the ones I get when I do the Middle Pillar Ritual, or another that works heavily with that centre. It takes far longer, but my sister, who runs marathons, but has zero occult practice, was able to confirm this occurs even in runners who have not done anything to activate the heart centre. The side stitch is also a very interesting phenomena in light of body energy centres: runners who push to hard will often get a pain at the solar plexus; this can be avoided by learning to breath properly, which given the role of the solar plexus and breathing in bringing etheric energy in seems like a fascinating connection. This also means that runners often have to work on breath control, which is another overlap with occultism.
In A Magical Education, you said that there are certain "auxiliary arts" (forgive me if that's the wrong term, I do not have access to the book right now) that mesh well with occultism, and if I remember correctly provided martial arts as an example. Do you know if anyone has explored running as a possible auxiliary art for occultists?
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branchandroot
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Date: 2024-10-28 11:48 am (UTC)Then there are the energy centres. Running gets the heart beating, and extended over longer periods of time, it seems to cause sensations similar to the ones I get when I do the Middle Pillar Ritual, or another that works heavily with that centre. It takes far longer, but my sister, who runs marathons, but has zero occult practice, was able to confirm this occurs even in runners who have not done anything to activate the heart centre. The side stitch is also a very interesting phenomena in light of body energy centres: runners who push to hard will often get a pain at the solar plexus; this can be avoided by learning to breath properly, which given the role of the solar plexus and breathing in bringing etheric energy in seems like a fascinating connection. This also means that runners often have to work on breath control, which is another overlap with occultism.
In A Magical Education, you said that there are certain "auxiliary arts" (forgive me if that's the wrong term, I do not have access to the book right now) that mesh well with occultism, and if I remember correctly provided martial arts as an example. Do you know if anyone has explored running as a possible auxiliary art for occultists?