Blinds?
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Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
I was reading another topic on the forum today and came across the concept of "blinds" within rituals, and corrections to them. I have never come across this concept before; can anyone help give me a rundown as to the purpose and prevalence of so-called blinds in more common rituals?
From what I understand, a blind is an aspect of the ritual that is inconsistent with the rest and is meant to be corrected. Is this right?
Love is the Law, love under will.
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@Ash said
"I was reading another topic on the forum today and came across the concept of "blinds" within rituals, and corrections to them. I have never come across this concept before; can anyone help give me a rundown as to the purpose and prevalence of so-called blinds in more common rituals?
From what I understand, a blind is an aspect of the ritual that is inconsistent with the rest and is meant to be corrected. Is this right?"
Technically, a "blind" as an intentional obfuscation or misdirection regarding the content of a ritual or other instruction. If it isn't intentional, then it probably shouldn't be called a blind.
A lot of these things are just mistakes, or instructions written too casually, etc. They aren't blinds. A lot of things were only written for people who had additional (usually in-person) instruction, and so they amount to quick-reference notes instead of detailed instructions. A lot of times "insider language" or argot is used, or symbols or shortcuts emplloyed, because that's consistent with the intended target. These aren't blinds, they're just places where the instruction isn't so suitable for a different audience.
But sometimes there is intentional distortion so that, if you aren't entitled to obligated material, you will get it wrong. This doesn't happen very often. When it does, the purpose is almost always to make it likely that an uninitiated reader will walk away with wrong information.
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For a non-magick example, in addition to protecting his content by writing backward, da Vinci put blinds into his diagrams. In his design for a human-powered tank-like machine, if you built it exactly according to plans, then it wouldn't work, because the gears would lock. A person who understood engineering and gear relationships would realize the error, make a small correction, and be able to build a working machine.
Same thing for magick. Blinds were there to make sure that only a person who understood the process well would recognize the deliberate, misleading error.
As far as prevalence, I don't think very many people deliberately include blinds in their rituals these days. But, from what I see, a lot of magick books or online articles are simple regurgitations of someone else's data, and so they tend to pass on any blinds from their source without realizing it.
Which is why, especially early on, that you find a reliable source to point these out. Once you get to the point that you can figure out **WHY ** a ritual includes such elements, orders, words, signs and **HOW **that meshes with the magickal universe you currently ascribe to, you can find any blinds or unintentional mistakes yourself.
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Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Thanks for the replies, guys. Another question - for more basic rituals like the LBRP, can anyone tell me if Crowley is known for using blinds/excessive shorthand with them? I just want to start practicing from the ground up before I seek a teacher or something, but I figure its not going to work very well if I attempt a ritual with lots of things I am supposed to correct or expand in it, seeing as how I don't have the experience to realize this, which is what I'm trying to get by practicing it... see what I mean?
Love is the Law, love under will.