Practical Witchery! by John Stormm (ebooks children's books free TXT) 📕

Let’s examine a very traditional ninja style night suit. It has a great deal in common with the traditional black-on-black of an Old Craft witch. We’re also known for our abilities to disappear or vanish out of sight, when we do not want to be seen. The working ninja has plain dark colors in their working night suit. There are no bright emblems or shiny jewelry to catch the light, and by such: draw the eyes in any way garnering the attention of an alert watcher at night. We are trained to move in such ways, as to blend in with the normal shadows of the landscape. We stay very low in our moving stances, as not to create, tall, man-shaped shadows against any lighter back ground. We study where people’s natural eye movements are prone to go, and we stay out of those patterns. When circumstance dictate that we must pass through their field of vision, we may use smoke, fog, mist, shadows and scenery to further render any man-shaped imagery as indefinable as such to their eyes. If they cannot determine that a man or a ninja is in their presence, than we are effectively “invisible” to them.

In hallways, the average cop or guard will travel with their attentions mainly at midlevel in the hallways, scanning from side to side, looking for a man-shaped presence, that they can bring a ready weapon to bear upon. A ninja will travel that hallway, one of several ways, and few of them are immediately recognizable to the patterns watched for by an alert guard. It will be something that takes a second glance to recognize as a threat, and that split second we gained, will give us the option of the first strike. We will move as flat against the wall as we can get. We’ll avoid a central silhouette, by hugging the ground, or even the ceiling and huddled into the corners. The guards are already aiming through the sites of their weapons, for something at chest level. This means that they need an additional second or so, to change the weapon level, and aim to hit a smaller, hidden target that already has a bead on them. The traditional night suit has only a slit in the full, black mask and cowl, and black or camo gauntlets that cover the backs of the hands. Since our skins are lighter than the dark backgrounds, and show up easily in the light: It is important to disguise them as not to appear to anyone as recognizable as “eyes”, human facial features, fingers or hands. In such a suit, merely by dropping into a low squat, and angling your face downwards, and curling your fingers inward to your gauntlets: You have changed your silhouette from man-shaped with long, easily discernable legs, into two short stumps, that might easily be mistaken for posts, stems or supports. The hunched squat disguises you into the wholly black, misshapen shadow of any bush, bench or inanimate object in the night time blackness. Their eyes pass easily over and past it, continually looking for a man shaped intruder. You are not seen as a threat, but simply a part of the background. Closeness to trees, walls and other items causes your blackness to blend in with the shadows of normal objects, and the additional silence, and a lack of a distinct smell, renders you unnoticeable via the five senses as an intruder. Your manipulation of shadows has made what people don’t know about their immediate environment, as potentially *very* deadly.

One Shot, One Kill.

We do NOT just grab weapons and fire them indiscriminately. Any weapon that we can recognize, we work to acquire a fine level of proficiency with it. We can only carry so much, before we become too cumbersome to be effective. If you cannot fight or shoot, then you cannot be any help, except as an expendable diversion. This is not a brilliant career move. We take nothing on sheer chance, like firing in a general direction and hoping that the bullets will hit something significant. That’s Hollywood, as nobody else has a prop department keeping them loaded with ammunition. Your trusty six shooter, will fire only six bullets before it becomes a useless weight, or needs you to pause to reload it. We keep our knives sharpened and our gear clean; as well as we keep our skills sharp and functional, for any instances that they might be needed. We hone ourselves and our skills, until we are as proficient as we can be, with as many disciplines as we need to make a difference. If you use a gun, you learn how to make every shot count. One bullet in your cartridge equals one dead enemy soldier. And you had better understand the concepts of kevlar vests and flack jackets, and know where to place a kill shot. Many professionals will aim for the head and neck. As it is a smaller target than "central mass", it will require a greater degree of skill, to pull such a shot off, on a regular basis. The more proficient that you are, the more you matter in that conflict. It’s true anywhere.

Beyond O.S.O.K.

You will need understand the concept of “priority or preferred targets of opportunity“. You have only so many bullets, and way too many enemies. Been there. Done that. When they are escalating an action against you; your best defense is a strong offense. As I tell my beginning students: “Expect the unexpected.“ I tell my advanced students: “Be the unexpected.” Utilize the shock of surprise, by effectively doing what they least expect to get from you. You take every means to continue your momentum into them, working from their weakest links. You learn to flank them, coming at them from indirect or oblique angles, and feel them out for “soft spots”, where just the little bit of effort that you can supply, will have the greatest effect against them. In unarmed martial arts, there is the “intercepting fist” that deflects the oncoming blow and simultaneously strikes the opponent as they are in mid-strike, and is indefensible. We do not simply gather a good weapon to fight: We ARE the weapon, at war, and move forward, always gaining and taking more ground.

The Serpent’s Head

I may note THREE enemy targets, and have only one or two bullets (maybe more, I’m just saying). I *know* that I might hit one or two of them before my location is compromised. I note that some kind of communication is passing between these THREE. I do not have to understand what they are saying. All I have to understand is that the guys on either side, are looking to the man in the center for direction. Or, it could be seen that the two in the left or right hand side, are looking at the far one for direction. The whole point of this observation, is to determine who it is, who is giving the orders. I do not care what his rank may or may not be. Time and effort is critical to all of our efforts, and the best way to kill a serpent is to cut off his head. My first shot kills the man, that the others are looking to for guidance.. Now I have created a circumstance, where valuable time has to be taken by the other soldiers, to decide who’s now in charge, and what’s the new strategy. While they are forced to sort that out, I haven’t stopped moving in, to get a better kill shot on them. As with the “intercepting fist” technique, we take their attack away from them, and strike them while they are at their greatest vulnerability.

In an unarmed, or a lesser armed scenario, playing out in a dark alley somewhere, the rationale is quite similar: For myself, as an Ultra: I know that I can break FOUR hardened targets, with my fists and fingers in the space of ONE full second. That is: if they are all within striking distance in that time frame. It will also only take this grouping of enemy combatants, but a split second to react defensively, once they become aware that I have taken the initiative to attack them. I can assure myself, only one quick kill, and *possibly* TWO, within the space of that split second of free movement; before all hell breaks loose. Before I initiate such actions; I make sure that my musculature is well oxygenated, and my heart rate and breathing is calm and deep, and lulls the observant combatants into relaxing just a bit. This is accomplished through loosening of my frame and stance, and breathing slowly and deeply from my diaphragm. I’ll cover the science of this technique a little later in this chapter. This state, also allows me to move faster, stronger and with more precision, for my first strike. If the leader of this group is pointing a weapon at me, I must use both hands for this. One hand pushes the weapon aside, at another combatant, while my other hand is simultaneously moving in to pierce an eye: A stiffened digit, pencil, pen or s sharp stick, can be driven into the eye socket at about a 45 degree angle, inwards towards the nose, to take advantage of using the same skull opening that allows the optic nerve, access to the brain, to give us easier access to that same crucial organ, and being every bit as deadly as a "bullet to the brain". We also have the lethal options to destroy their windpipe, crushing off their air supply, or to fracture their skull, to the point of driving fragments of it into their brain. We do NOT want this target getting back up to attack, while we are taking out his accomplices.

You need also to understand the precept of "focus", and by that, we are not merely telling you to concentrate your attention on the target alone. You need to be diligently aware of your surrounding. What we mean is the same kind of focus, that concentrates light into a tiny point that can burn a hole through something. More specifically: P.S.I., or Pounds per Square Inch. For many fighters, it is a sloppy, ham handed fist, swung as hard as they can possibly manage and spreading their blow over 10-12 square inches of striking surface. A trained martial artist will strike with such a focus, that the entire force of their blow will transmit through a straightened wrist, into one or two knuckles, giving them a PSI reading of from 900-1600 psi. Such a well focused blow, into the center of a skull, spine, long bone or ribs will shatter that bone in one punch. But a flat fisted blow will decrease that power by a factor of 10 to 12 TIMES. That punch will only serve to knock your opponent backwards a little, depending upon their size and strength.

In many cases, when you are dealing with a small group of thugs: The toughest and most respected Alpha-male is the leader of the group. This is usually the man that everybody else thinks is unbeatable. It has a very, very disconcerting effect upon the morale of the rest of this herd mentality, when you have taken out their best and brightest in the first split second of the altercation. This may cause the bulk of their numbers to immediately flee from you. That could be