Contest Question 3

It's all very confusing: Embryo No. 1 and Embryo No. 2. They both made an appearance in the same place. But here's the thing - even though No. 2 is named No. 2, it actually came first. How do we know? Embryo No. 2 was born from music that was performed live on stage nearly ten years before and No. 1 never has been.

Maybe it's all about the names. Maybe it's all Magick in the making.  Maybe one piece leads to the next or maybe the music leads us to a masquerade that hides the answer.

Where do we find both No. 1 and No. 2?
What was No. 2's original name?

You might have to go outside of Mage Music to figure this one out, but the links are all there.

Contest Question 2

Finding meaning in everything

1.  The black avatar of arts - that creator and trickster - is an omen of omens
2.  He reminds us of another rising into a red sky with the burden of humanity
3.  And thereby we hear the Master.

What are the names?

Contest Question 1

Who of the following did Jimmy Page meet with and discuss Magick?

_ Aleister Crowley
_ Jareth, the Goblin King
_ Louis H. Sullivan
_ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
_ Thomas Carlyle
_ William Burroughs

Don't answer here, just do your research and hold on to your answer till the end of the contest when there will be a submission form with all the questions presented at one time.

Or however else I figure out how to do this.

Déjà vu?

Contest info!

Mage Music Contest Description and Rules

1. This is supposed to be a fun contest. Emphasis on fun, okay? Anyone who’s a quibbler, nitpicker or general grump should not bother even starting it.
2. The prize for this contest is a TBL Gift Pack. If Dave Lewis is really sweet about it (and he is a sweet guy) he’ll autograph it. I might decide to add additional prizes, but maybe not.
3. All decisions about who wins the prize/s are up to me. I’ll follow my own rules, but if there’s a problem in some way and I feel like it, I will change the rules. So pay attention here: This contest is just like real life - the rules you start with may not be the rules you end with. Unlike real life, though, I will let you know what the new rules are. 
4. The rules will be also posted on a page of its own on this blog, so you don't have to hunt for them. The posted rules will always be the official rules for the whole contest, regardless of what rules existed before them.
5. I’m going to post one or more new questions or challenges at least once a week starting November 16 until at least the end of the month. This means these questions/challenges might appear any day of the week, not just the usual Saturday posts. If there are too many potential winners at the end of the month, I may call for another round, or maybe I’ll just put finalists’ names in a hat and pick one. My rules, remember?
6. To have a chance to win, you must answer all questions/challenges correctly and you must follow all the rules.
7. This contest will use all pages on this site, not just the blog posts themselves. 
8. All answers will either be found on this site or can be deduced by information provided on this site.
9. I will provide an email address at some point for you to send your answers. Or maybe a website. I haven’t figured that out yet. But at that point, responses to all questions or challenges must be submitted, along with contact info. Incomplete submissions will just be tossed out – it’s an easy way for me to figure out who the winner will be.
10. You must be at least 18 years of age and have been born on planet Earth to win a prize.  If you are the winner, you will have to certify to the truth of those two items.
11. If you are Jimmy Page, you can’t win the prize. Sorry, but that would just be unfair to everyone else.

Let the Games Begin.

News, Contest & Blather

I'm taking a Mage Music hiatus while I work on another writing project, just for the month of November. That would mean four weeks, including this one, of no Mage Music, and I feel kinda bad about that.

So I decided to offer you a contest.  I haven't figured out all the details, but the grand prize (and maybe only prize) will be a TBL Gift Pack - thank you Dave Lewis for working this out with me!  I am considering - only thinking about it, mind you - of a second prize, but we'll see. It's going to be a Mage Music Trivia contest - all answers will be found here on this blog.  That's all I'm going to tell you right now.

So check Mage Music occasionally during the month for contest rules - yes, there will be rules!  Meanwhile, I'll keep posting on (Mostly) Daily Mage for those of you who've got to have their Magick talk fix.

Blather

Oh yeah, I wanted to remind those of you who are of pagan, Wiccan and the like persuasion (or those who would like to be, or the curious) that we are in that time of year when the Winter God is prime. This is a time of year for withdrawal and inwardness, of darkness and meeting with the bare bones of death and rebirth. This is a time for contemplation and renewal of power.

It's not all Santa and shopping.

Seek out the commonality of all Yule celebrations, rather than dismissing the festivities as fluff, and you will find the way.

♫

I like this version of Immigrant Song because of the long drone introduction.  It's the Universe holding its breath before the Winter God appears.  It's the pulling in of power.

Magick.  You gotta love it.

Magick 102

"...the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.”
~Roald Dahl

Mage Music 76

Scientists and other logically-based thinkers like to put down Magick as nonsense because Magick can't be readily perceived. The reasoning is that if something can't be perceived (with the physical senses on their own or enhanced with technology), it can't be measured, quantified, and duplicated in a laboratory.  If it can't be identified by science then it isn't real.

Science, of course, would be that area of human knowledge that changes all the time. New technology enables things to be perceived that couldn't be perceived before, and surprise! Science changes its tune about the nature of reality and we all pretend scientists aren't contradicting what they just said.

No scientist should say that anything is impossible or can't exist. In an infinite universe, by definition all things are possible and do exist. That's why even "laws" of nature are still referred to as theories. In spite of what some would have us believe, in fact humans don't know everything that can be known about reality.

Working with the impossible

Mages and artists, however, know that just because something doesn't yet exists doesn't mean it isn't possible. In fact, that very point may be the most significant difference between Magick and the rest of everyday human reality.

That is, just because you can't perceive something doesn't mean it doesn't exist.  It just might be hidden from human perception.

Creation is the act of changing reality, that is, manifesting something new in the world. It isn't duplication of something that has existed before. Creation is an act shared with the gods, and it is something that every human could do but few will. That means that for all intents and purposes, to the non-creative world the new thing that has been made manifest came from a secret place, and how it came to be manifest in the real world is a secret as well.

For truly, if the Work of a Mage or artist (a Mage musician for example!) was perceived and examined minutely, was measured, quantified, and duplicated over and over - where it came from and how it came to be manifest in this reality would still remain a complete mystery.

That's because Magick and art are hidden in the most hidden place of all - the duality of the infinite Universe manifest in the human soul ("as above, so below"), and of course that means Magick will never be found unless the seeker suspends the need for outside verification of the inner truth.

"Who’s to say what’s right and what’s wrong? In another 50 years, it’ll all be topsy-turvy anyway. It’s just the way people view a collective consciousness at any given time.”
- Jimmy Page, Guitar World 2006 

♫

Message to my readers:  Mage Music posts for the month of November will be briefer than usual and probably have no images. That's because I'm focusing on fiction writing for the month. I won't forsake you, but I am going to neglect you.