spirits

Most magicians avoid alcoholic inebriation during workings. Alcohol is a strange drug in that while technically a depressant, it generally causes people to be more confrontational and boisterous. Alcohol though a depressant is also a channeling medium. Alcohol has long been called 'spirits' because of the seemingly possessed actions of inebriates. The truth (or veil of truth) regarding this drug that i'd like to address is that alcohol (like any drug) allows us to contend with ideas or beings in higher planes of reality. Unlike most other drugs which can catalyze such encounters, alcohol does so without the awareness of the inebriated. This can be of surprisingly little use to the magician. Nonetheless outside of a 'working' context such intoxication can be fun.