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Author Topic: The Magical Mind | Altair  (Read 226 times)

* Tigran Razi

    (12/21/2024 at 16:25)
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He nodded in agreement.  Not only were people complicated, the magical mind made wizards much more complicated than muggles in his observations.  Observations that would go unstated as they’d mean revealing how much of his time he’d spent in the muggle world in his past.

Two years ago he would have jumped at the opportunity to explore quelling the magical mind.  In fact, he’d tried to read every book Professor Kara, and the Hogwarts library he could find that was half close to that due to a desire then to quell his own mind in order to control it.

He said “ Not anymore.  Though I did read a theory a year or so back that compared some of the divination abilities of the magical mind to senses like sight and hearing.  It theorized that silencing them might result in other areas of magic becoming stronger.  Regrettably, I believe the author who wrote it was biased by their lack of abilities in the area of divination. “

He saw Marcus get up and noticed some activity of his ghosts at one of the bookshelves, but dismissed it. 

He said “ My interest now is more in understanding the magical mind.  Though I imagine that perspective research wise if you have recommendations would be interesting still to read about. “

* Altair

    (12/25/2024 at 14:12)
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"My interest now is more in understanding the magical mind.  Though I imagine that perspective research wise if you have recommendations would be interesting still to read about."

"Hmm," he said, releasing the noise both as one of confirmation that he'd registered what was said, and that he might not be completely satisfied. It occurred to him that they were jumping back and forth.

And he - he'd long since stepped into the role of the Professor. He was trying to get his way out of steering the conversation and into some sort of ground, to grasp at the essence of what was Tigran, beyond that of necessity.

Altair had had the luxury of never struggling much with the economic aspects of things, if only because he'd somehow managed to ally himself with the most powerful of forces. This conversation was a good reminder.

His attention was still on the spirits - he'd have to get over there to prevent things from escalating - but he wasn't done yet.

"If you could choose anything, what would you have liked to do?"

For all this talk of the magical mind, he wasn't convinced that it wasn't just a dead end. Then again, it could also be that Tigran was keeping him on the surface level, something that he could understand.
« Last Edit: 12/27/2024 at 13:05 by Altair »
and now, for a moment of time
limitless worlds and boundless space
and planets –

T H E Y  A R E  A L L  M I N E.

* Tigran Razi

    (12/26/2024 at 21:49)
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His eyes went right back to the book he was reading not concerned that the ghosts would likely pull Marcus away from this conversation as he had zero clue how to explain his interest in the magical mind without revealing too much.  Revelations that would mean admitting things that would potentially give Marcus the sort of leverage he wasn’t willing to hand out to someone he hardly knew.

Then he heard the next question which put him even more at alert as no one asked him  what he’d like to do without an ulterior motive.  Yes, there was a chance Marcus was different but that wasn’t an assumption he was going to make of anyone - especially someone working in Knockturn Alley.

He said “ I’ve got enough classmates that ramble through the options of anything only to get themselves nowhere, so I can’t say I’ve ever really thought about it.  As much as I like reading books and researching topics that interest me choosing from anything isn’t an option outside hobbies.” 

Hobbies which he counted researching the magical mind like he was doing now, and brewing potions to help his friend Jasper with his prank shop.

* Altair

    (12/27/2024 at 13:48)
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There was a wall.

And he stood now, looking down on the reading figure, considering his position.

He had once made himself too reliant on Legilimency, as made clear in his failing relationships, by his sudden helplessness as the power had been ripped from his hands. And he had realised how some of his isolation, his loneliness, could, on one hand, be traced to the constant suspicion placed on him for knowing too much, on the other to not actually having to converse with anyone to get a rough understanding of what they were about.

As someone as private in his affairs as Altair, it provided a paradox, and he took his moment to feel at it, to allow for the ambigousness to pass through him without pushing away the taste of phantom bitterness that it left on his tongue.

To be powerful was not a place of cheating, but it was one of priviledge. He had to leave room to contemplate the complexity of co-existence in a world such as theirs.

Looking at the reading boy, he also understood something else.

That what Tigran wanted right now, was to read.

Seeing this simply required a basis of social intelligence and a general respect for other people's time and space. Then again, learning to See had provided him with a new set of tools to understanding his own and other people's existence, slipping into his subconscience as easily as his Legilimency had done, many years prior.

"Some day, you'll become a good Occlumens," he commented, giving the boy the hint of a smile.

And he turned the corner, and disappeared.



Mid July 1973


"I struggle with the concept of quenching my mind," he said, his voice saturated with an absent-minded thoughtfulness. "My mode has been to open all the channels and try to learn how to handle it."

He placed the cup on Tigran's desk. It was the same cup that he'd been offered last time, though it had been cleaned and refilled with a fresh brew of coffee.

"But at times it has left me completely overwhelmed and unable to deal with the world at all."

The cup was accompanied by his own. Under his other arm was a small pile of books, which he turned to placing inside one of the bookshelves. His black shirt was folded back, revealing the black ink of an Ouroborous tattoo at his underarm.

"But I always thought there was a real link between psychology and divination - it's one of the reasons why I turned to alchemy, which provided a spiritual dimension for what can come accross as an almost scientific framework."
« Last Edit: 12/27/2024 at 16:13 by Altair »
show me that which I cannot see
even if it hurts me
even if I can't sleep


   S H O W  M E  T H E  W A Y    

* Tigran Razi

    (12/28/2024 at 14:56)
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"Some day, you'll become a good Occlumens,”

His eyes widened though his head didn’t shift from looking at the book he was reading when he heard those words.  Though, admittedly of the things he was working on at this point becoming an occlumens wasn’t even something he tried to hide from Marcus.  Mostly, as even if he achieved his goals there it wouldn’t be something his extended family could leverage.

A few blinks later his reaction on his face disappeared leaving a smile behind as it was rare someone said he’d be good at something he found to be worthwhile being good at. 

Then he turned the page of the book as Marcus went away continuing to study the words within.



The usage of the word quenching was interesting. 

Saying nothing he blinked unsure.

The pluralization of times in Marcus’ wording showing a recklessness he couldn’t imagine combined with the implications of purposefulness. 

The stopped looking at his book and turned towards Marcus trying to determine if this was an actual intellectual discussion or some sort of trap.  As considering his own incident two summers prior where he’d been overwhelmed by his sensitivity to ghosts and ended up in St. Mungos due to the headaches it could easily be a trap.  That incident  obvious in his medical records and due to it being why he ended up in Ministry custody when they discovered his parents had dipped likely was in all sorts of records.

He noticed the tattoo, then was distracted by the switch in subject and slightly regretted not speaking faster. 

Though with a blink he spoke “ I’ll admit I’m unfamiliar with alchemy. “  A subject that he’d come across but due to the fact that any success in it would make him more interesting to his extended family than he wanted to be - and he certainly wouldn’t want to play any part in making any member of the Razi family immortal.

If this were a trap he accepted he was going to fall.  Thoughtfully he said with a slow carefulness in his words that wasn’t typical of his normally quicker speaking patterns “ I don’t recommend the potions from St. Mungos if your mind gets truly overwhelmed as I feel as if they linger reducing ones inner control. “ 

Then he paused and continued curiously “ Did you just open your mind in a free environment?  Or did you use tools or assistance to ensure control of what could potentially come in when you attempted to quench your mind? “

* Altair

    (12/28/2024 at 15:20)
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His strategy this time was simply to share. He forgot, sometimes, how uncomfortable it was to have someone prodding at you, especially when you were more of the private type yourself.

(It used to be so easy for him to pick people's minds without saying anything at all.)

"I don’t recommend the potions from St. Mungos if your mind gets truly overwhelmed as I feel as if they linger reducing ones inner control."

He gave a slight smile. So they had part of that experience in common, then.

He noticed the shift in Tigran's speaking pattern. Wondered at the sudden openness and whether what he was trying to do was finally succeeding.

(It was a trap, but he did not have any bad intentions - merely curiosity. Genuine interest.)

"Did you just open your mind in a free environment? Or did you use tools or assistance to ensure control of what could potentially come in when you attempted to quench your mind?"

"I meant, I don't understand precisely what you meant when you talked about it last time - quenching the mind - what do you mean by quench?"

He attempted to clarify. Not intending to say that there were a wrong way to doing this. As far as he was concerned, the only limitation was creativity and, to a certain point, magical skill.

"When I go into the Otherworld, I use aids," he admitted. "I cannot protect myself in a sleeping state, so I use lingering magic. Or spirits." He gestured into the air, as to make a point of their presence. The task of some of them was merely to protect him from the others.
« Last Edit: 12/28/2024 at 15:32 by Altair »
show me that which I cannot see
even if it hurts me
even if I can't sleep


   S H O W  M E  T H E  W A Y    

* Tigran Razi

    (12/28/2024 at 16:53)
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To his recollection he admittedly had never thought of the concept of quenching the mind until Marcus mentioned it moments ago which made Marcus’ question confuse him.  A confusion that caused him to pause letting Marcus continue on about traveling into the otherworld which was something he normally didn’t consider. 

Carefully he said “ I must admit I haven’t considered quenching the mind till you mentioned it moments ago. “ 

Part of him did wonder at what he said when the spoke previously but he couldn’t remember anything close to the idea of where his mind was taking the term quenching.

Then he continued “ I’ll also admit a lack of practical familiarity with the Otherworld.  Though I’d imagine quenching much like it can be used in metallurgy could potentially be a training technique meant to overwhelm the mind with the objective of strengthening it as ones mind has a natural sense to resist invasion.  I've read of many meditation based divination exercises and even used themselves to increase my understanding of interpreting auras, and there was an exercise in the same book I didn't try about attempting to read auras in an active crowd that had an emotional focal point on something then focusing away from that common emotion. “

Then he paused as he considered the spirits around them as he said questioningly “ Spirits.  How?” 

As while he could sense and interact with the spirits and tried to come off as confident he was well aware they had nothing to lose unlike him.  The idea of trusting spirits to guard his body while he drifted into the Otherword was even more reckless in his mind of trusting anyone living.  At least living people ultimately had there life to still lose.

* Altair

    (12/30/2024 at 20:37)
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Memory, he supposed, was a thing.

Then again, it was odd for Tigran to forget. It seemed important to his ideas around the Magical Mind.

But metallurgy was actually a really good analogy for helping him to understand. Quenching in that context was about freezing the molecules by sudden exposure to cold, forcing them to remain in a position they would not if cooled down more slowly. Oftentimes this was done to harden the edge of a blade. The downside to making the metal harder was, however, that it also became more brittle.

(Courtesy of his studies into Alchemy).

He understood that Tigran was probably thinking about the practice of emptying one's mind. But he was still struggling to follow.

Which was interesting in itself, given there were so many ways of applying magic.

"I don't think I do any the things that you're trying to describe," he said. "Then again, I still don't quite understand." He smiled apologetically. The two could very well be connected - it was hard to understand something you had not experienced or studied.

"Spirits. How?"

He gave a shrug and a wry smile.

"I have my ways."
and now, for a moment of time
limitless worlds and boundless space
and planets –

T H E Y  A R E  A L L  M I N E.

* Tigran Razi

    (12/31/2024 at 18:59)
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The fact that Marcus didn’t understand him surprised him as besides divination professors at Hogwarts he waged Marcus had the highest odds of such.  Though admittedly he was used to it.  As it was rare he spoke with anyone interested in having conversations on magic related to the mind due to most peoples interest in divination not straying far from the predictive applications. 

Yet, unlike most he wanted to at least try to help Marcus understand as perhaps someday it might get him an opportunity to read books on similar.  As it was he was collecting data from books that barely touched upon his true interest.

Naturally he was interested in Marcus’ way with the ghosts, but his mind was more focused on how he might make Marcus understand his words better.

He said “ I’d suspect you do some of the things I’m describing, however much like most books I’ve read if similar concepts are mentioned they are usually training steps with the objective achieving something like entering the Otherworld with the focus quickly passing towards that goal. “  Which while regrettable also meant he’d read books on a lot of types of divination searching for such references.

He continued “ While I find the applications interesting, I must admit I’m more interested in the control and impacts to the mind of extending it into such realms.  When one is studying other forms of magic like transfiguration one starts with building blocks gaining control with very few ultimately achieving the skill to transform themselves into an animagus.  The catch is the field of divination mostly treats the advanced levels of stretching the mind as individuals having an inherent gift of talent not as a focused upon skill.  Which leads to a high number of practitioners of it experiencing being overwhelmed as part of there journeys.  An overwhelmed that when it reaches St. Mungos often is responded to with potions that quell the mind without helping the person gain control in a cyclical pattern of dependency. “

The fact that he had some inherent magical talent in the field of predictive divination went unsaid, and that talent with it’s lack of control was the motivation of his interest.

* Altair

    (01/04/2025 at 12:24)
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It was dawning on him now. What Altair saw in Tigran reminded him of the discussions he'd once had with Icarus. Of his own way of thinking in the past, in particular before he'd actually gained the Sight.

It was an intricate exercise, trying to make sense of surroundings that did not seem to want to make sense. And he recognised the intellectual toll that it took on anyone trying to make such an assessment.

It was always interesting, too, when poked into the area of divination, the one magical approach that, more than anything, relied on intuition. Then again, even science was built on theories, as constantly revised and renewed, and most of the time the world just did what the world wanted to do, as strictly defined by contextual matters.

"I probably do," he told to the other Ravenclaw, giving a little shrug.

"Do I understand right then, that you apply the term mind the way many of us apply spirit?" Which was not strictly different, conceptually, but which - at least to him - was an important way of distinguishing between being in the body and being outside of the body.

(Some people called it soul when it came to the humans of this world, so Altair was also picking a term here that might not be immediately understandable.)

When he applied those terms, everything else that Tigran had said appeared to fall more or less into place.

"I have to admit that I've mostly gone and retrieved people's lost spirits on my own. Then again, I am also a dreadful potioneer."

To that, he cheered with an empty cup, and realised that he had forgotten to offer anything to Tigran.
« Last Edit: 01/20/2025 at 16:23 by Altair »
and now, for a moment of time
limitless worlds and boundless space
and planets –

T H E Y  A R E  A L L  M I N E.

* Tigran Razi

    (01/04/2025 at 23:48)
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He blinked.  It would be easy to agree and attempt to get Marcus to continue gathering his perspective which had high odds of being more researched than his own.  The catch was he didn’t think of the terms that way even though most of the books he read did.

Perhaps he was wrong.  His doubt making him pause as he heard Marcus describe fetching peoples spirits who’d been lost something he’d read about but never truly considered mostly out of fear of lack of control one had in the otherworld.

He said “ I think of the mind as more of a conduit.  A conduit that can either serve to hold or tether one’s spirit to a person.  As even if a person is mostly a vegetable without there spirit there body still survives. “ 

Then he said “ If you need something brewed and get the supplies I’d be happy to brew it for you when I have off from work. “

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