Just saying hi!

[Wandering Wolf]

Hi.

I'm a retired lecturer of physics and philosophy. I love fantansy and in particular love the way some people have an amazing creative gift of being able to produce some beautiful maps of the realms of my favourite stories. One of my heros is Karen Wynn Fonstad who produced such beautiful works based on Tolkein and Donaldson.

I have a strong belief in magick, not just in stories but also in 'real' life. I could go on about the relationship between creative vision and reality but this i only an introduction - and I don't want to bore people.

Apart from fantasy maps I love all forms of cartography and when I saw this site I thought I really needed to join to find out what's going and maybe chat to one or two of you.

So, hello everyone!

[Schwarzkreuz]

Hi Wolf, welcome on CG and have a look at the various subforums here. I am sure here are plenty of maps interesting for you and also a lot of discussions where you could participate. I myself have a strong belief in a conection of creational mythos and the craft of mapmaking regarding the idea of a Demiurge, a substitute creator or craftman which build the world through... well, mapmaking.

have fun.

[arsheesh]

Welcome to the Guild Wandering Wolf! I myself am a Philosopher (in training). I'd actually be curious to here more about your thoughts on "creative vision". There are not too many Physicist-Philosophers that I know of who would admit to being believers in Magic (what with wide spread acceptance of physicalism and causal closure and all that). But as a Theist myself you might say I too believe in a mode of existence that eludes physical categories and in that sense, might be considered magical (or at least "miraculous").

@Schwarzkreuz, hm, interesting notion. Question, is the world we inhabit identical to or distinct from the maps of the Demiurge? If identical, in what sense is the created order a map? If distinct, what is the relation between the Demiurge, the map, and our world? (e.g. are the maps merely forms in the mind of God? And if so, are the maps in some sense, more real than the real world?).

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Schwarzkreuz]

@arsheesh:
I opened another General talk tread about this: the Paradox of teh complete Map, so we do not hijack this thread.