thinking about intent & magic. some magic is focused on intent—for example, summoning a patronus in harry potter, where calling forth a happy thought is critical; other magic disregards intent, like jutsu in naruto that requires mastery of signs and control than active intent

I feel like all magic has a degree of mindfulness to it that makes it powerful as a system—but some magic requires active effort to change thought, while other magic requires meditative reflection on thought, often rendered as control over one's will

now the question for me now that I've made an arbitrary binary is what the edge cases are. I suppose jean grey in dark phoenix is an example where intent is everything—she doesn't have to master any signs to control her powers; her mood and desires intensely power her magic

meanwhile candyman is on the intent is irrelevant, the sign is all side of magic. it doesn't matter if you're scared shitless or if you want to make a pact with him, so long as you say candyman's name five times, he comes. no skill, only knowledge & reproduction needed

now the COOL thing about binaries is when you go "FUCK THE BINARY," put a new twist on it, and turn it into a fuckin möbius strip. one sec while I try to think what that would look like...

I feel like möbius strip approaches to this understanding of magic create things like:

- intent powers magic, until the Word is said—funnily enough, the first example that comes to mind is videogame combos?

you're doing all this magic with intent to win; once your bar is charged and you hit the hotkey, magic is unleashed with little regard for your skill or control. I'm thinking ultimates in overwatch, even if it doesn't have a narrative around it

- the Sign rules, but is intensified by intent—back to a harry potter example, with spells. usually, you have to speak the spell and gesture with the wand, both signs; the patronus requires intent but wingardium leviosa less so.

but when you can do magic without saying the Word, you're considered an extremely powerful wizard or witch. in those instances, the intent is so powerful that the sign is no longer necessary

- the Sign AND the Intent together are the magic. my first thought here is divination; the first example that came to mind is the ouija board. the planchette and symbols don't mean much by themselves, and just the intent to have a séance is nothing without use of the signs

- only the ABSENCE of sign and intent create magic—my impression is that this is the magical equivalent of achieving nirvana in buddhism. complete detachment and being in the flow and moment. this is, quite frankly, The Avatar State

there are a bajillion permutations you can probably create from this, especially if you decide to turn the möbius strip into a klein bottle. but anyway. that's my TED talk, thanks for listening