CRASSH | Magic & Ecology: Environmental Magic & Geomancy Q&A | Alexander Cummins, Josephine McCarthy

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The views, thoughts and opinions expressed on this recording of a CRASSH event belong solely to the presenters and do not necessarily represent the views of CRASSH or the University of Cambridge.

[@Di5functi0n3l_playp3n]

i think honestly, as someone who was diagnosed with schizophrenia and bi-polar type 2 disorder, that, the problem is western christian culture. hearing Josephine talk has giving me so much perspective on what i am, and my life experience that, i am wondering how many natural magicians are locked in mental hospitals because of this misunderstanding of nature. for the past year i have been off medication and using magical practices to learn about myself. i am doing better than i ever have in my life, and I realize that the terms schizophrenia and bi polar dont apply to me. they never have, im just a natural magician, one who has done this before in other lives and is a very a very old soul with a very deep connection to the land, nature and the essence of humanity. i wish i would have been magically educated much earlier in my life. im 41 now, so its not to late for me to get myself back into shape and actually get to the work i should have been doing this whole time, but i also feel my experience with the mental health system and psychiatric medication, doctors, being in an institution has given me a unique perspective on these so called diseases and their root causes and perhaps even ways of helping people who suffer from them as well. but i must do a lot of work on myself 1st. Josephine McCarthy is helping a lot of people by speaking and putting this info out there with such grace and wisdom.. thank you... :)

[@JB-og8gn]

I had a Kundalini awakening and this was exactly my experience when my heart expanded (exploded?) for the first time in the middle of meditation, an instantaneous/simultaneous review of the last many hundreds/thousands of years of history: witches hunted, women locked in psychiatric institutions, indigenous cultures systematically destroyed, in Europe first and later, lands Europe colonized. The strong message/epiphany/remembrance that came through was, “because magic is real, that power is real.” I started studying magic the next day. I wish you the best on your journey.

[@doradestroy]

♥

[@vauoia6064]

Hey, I have been diagnosed with schizoaffective bipolar disorder and it is a joy to see your comment under this section. I don’t know anyone with this diagnosis, let alone having a same interest in the magickal as well as clinical, psychiatric fields. A very interesting combination to pursue for individuals like us!

[@kirstenwelcome4520]

As an addict that’s been in recovery for 5 years now, and who’s been to rehab over ten times, dealt with doctors/psychiatrists, and who’s also had quite a lot of experience dealing with the medical industry, I could not agree with you more. My court ordered rehab had me on 13 different medications which I could risk going to jail if I was to “refuse” taking them. I felt like garbage all the time, gained 60+ pounds, and couldn’t focus on a thing. It wasn’t until I graduated treatment court and finally had some say over my mental health that I finally came off most of the meds and slowly started feeling like a normal person again. I finally found a doctor with integrity and who agreed there was no reason I should of been on most of the medications as the only diagnoses that I was given, besides GAD, was during the first month of sobriety (doctors aren’t supposed to diagnose patients with anything until at least 6 months - a year sober due to the chemical balance the drugs cause) I’ve never been diagnosed with anything but General Anxiety and Panic disorder before and after treatment so they basically the pumped me full of meds to get “kick backs” and fill their pockets. I’m down to four meds, one for opiate “cravings” that I’m tapering off of, and the rest are non narcotics for pain from a car accident. I’ve seen gotten into magic and meditation and it has changed my life drastically for the better within only a year and a half. I think many people who are labeled “crazy” and locked in mental institutions, in ancient times, would have been what we refer to now as shamans. A lot of these people are not crazy they are just having a deep spiritual experience that cannot be explained by modern medicine.

[@amaryllisequistra]

@@kirstenwelcome4520I am so sorry for the trauma the medical industrial complex has put it through. Polypharmacy at that level (for GAD) is the very definition of insanity; it is criminal medical coercion. Mad in America has so much to say about this. I wish you well ✨

[@julianahebenstreit9722]

"Oh shit, there's a bird being damaged." - I love Josephine 🙏 thank you for doing this!

[@florescentness]

"...but it's so much f***ng easier - sorry - it's so much easier..." :'D I am delighted by Josephine's easy-going and open style, even when she talks about serious things.

[@GramaSagefeather]

Thank you Josaphine and AL for telling of your own challenges and fears. I've had to admit that to myself in my own practice lately. It's nice to not feel so alone in those misgivings.

[@lomigreen]

Yes! I’m old-fashion and cranky! Magic happens and doesn’t need to be Googled. Those in the Know, know. Just put down your bloody phone, Love ❤️ And you’ll be just fine. What emerges will be actual magic for you. Presto Magico!

[@jeannelee7311]

Very enlightening conversation, always a pleasure to listen to Dr Al. he never talks down to his audience, his perspective always expands the conversation.

[@TheMagicofJava]

Wow Josephine and Dr Al on the same bill, albeit the chemistry wasn't as I anticipated. The current crisis has left me very reflective on the end of the enlightenment, how the atomisation of science and reification of the scientific method have destroyed our ability to think holistically. But as always Josephine addresses this with a beautiful simplicity, which once Dr Al caught up with he added some uniquely wonderful observations of his own.

[@Freddy-Zamora-MX]

I could not better agree with you. I love the simplicity and strenght of Josephine McCarthy, she is always right because she talks things as they are, she's full hands on experience.

[@amaryllisequistra]

I’ve never heard of Dr Al, but my obvservation is that he is very academic, which for some of us (me) means hard to understand (ok, i mean boring. Not that he’s boring, only that my practical magic brain finds him so). I think we need different communication styles to account for where we’re coming at this from, but i can see why Josephine and Al seemed like they were from different planets.

[@DaraDione]

A marvelous conversation and because of that I forced myself to get past the extraordinarily poor audio. Found it similar to struggling through a tangled forest to being gifted with a clear natural spring or lovely Pink Lady’s slippers. Thank you!

[@dayofthejackyl]

if y'all ever do this again, please get your audio sorted, it was very difficult to hear a lot of what was said

[@juliachapple77]

My two most favourite minds, thanxxx a big bunch ❤️✨❣️💜✨💫

[@lomigreen]

Yes 👍🏽I’m old and cranky too! Prophecy and past lives have made me a little jaded. (Sigh).

[@tomhorseman9832]

Why can't anyone accept that reality is magical.

[@DNBon.an808]

1:17:20 - Does anyone know whom Josephine is referncing when she speaks of practitioners working with the consciousness of computers? that dropped my jaw and gave me pause, would love to know more

[@YBardd]

I think she is talking about a guy called Tres Henry: www.youtube.com/@TresHenry

[@CaitofFate]

I talk to my computer from 98 when I'm playing old games on it or if it seems to be not running well(after I do things like clean it, physically and digitally, or check the connections between the parts.) I also try to get my Xbox and phone to understand how I care and will take care of them and whatnot. I have no Idea why my PC from the 90s is more conscious than the most prominent chat bots and "AI" from the current time.

[@Mkxvandal]

Queen Josephine

[@London-Lad]

Omg my two favourite people together.

[@JB-og8gn]

Beings without bodies definitely have desires…(Maybe the problem is the definition of desire. There would be no creation if someone did not desire to create it. That being certainly had no need to create it, but it did have desire.)

[@ailrova8388]

Wow i did not know Josephine wore glasses

[@olalolalola]

Fix the sound.

[@ravenravella1000]

Interviewer needs better mic....great discussion.

[@scarletostick5425]

Look homeward, Angel

[@CaitofFate]

What she says about AI I can understand the fear. But its just algorithmic input/output and the only fear people should have about these algorithms is mundane. Political polarization, plagiarism, the replacement of people who need jobs, the destruction of creation as people use it to make art and entertainment that only works off of what already exists, search engine "optimization" where you can never find what you want but are given results for the most relevant more popular searches. I said this in another reply but, I dont know or how my computer from the 90s is more conscious than the most prestigious/prominent chat bots or "AI". To further elaborate, when josephine talks about communication and its relationship with consciousness, I think it has to come unprompted, perhaps to what AL said the communication has to come from its own desire to do so. These "ai" and chat bots dont communicate because they want to, they communicate because they are coded to. Its not like talking to water, its using the dips and valleys of a mountains side to make logic gates out of them, and think the water chooses to flow from the force of gravity, if that makes any sense. Steve Mould has a beautiful video explaining in laymens terms how computations are like water flowing down a hill.

[@olalolalola]

you clearly dont understand how Ai is working,

[@CaitofFate]

@@olalolalola as a programmer, I write "ai"