I love the new show Once Upon a Time. It’s an intriguing mix of Faerie Tale with Modern world. Hopefully it’ll last more than one or two seasons. Perhaps what I love most about is the intersection of symbolism, character archetypes, and reality. In one sense, the show is depicting two alternate lives for each character, and yet in another sense its depicting how people in a small town end up trying to embody and act out faerie tale roles they’ve been assigned by a child trying to find meaning in his life. You can interpret it a variety of ways I suppose, and that’s where I see the show as a kind of magical act/metaphor of reality.

What makes it so evocative is the ability to portray two different realities and while it can be argued that the faerie tale reality is the “past life” of the characters, it’s also their future and present, because they are stories constantly retold and relived in the imagination of the people telling them.

At the same time, this show also explores the modern “real” world as a faerie tale world in its own right, something not real, but just as made up and surreal as the faerie tale world…and why not. It makes perfect sense to treat the modern world as just another faerie tale, but what I find so fascinating is how in one degree or another the characters are playing out the themes of their lives, becoming the archetypes or at least trying to as some part of themselves rebels against the curse.

I have no doubt I’ll have further analysis of this really fascinating show. I’m admittedly geeking out a bit, but this kind of analysis and research is part of how I create effective pop culture magic workings. The more enthusiasm you invest the more real it becomes, and that’s part of what makes pop culture magic viable…Plus in this case it also is combined with my interest in how pop culture reinvent and retells older mythology in modern contexts!

I’ve been reading a lot of spider-man comics lately and one theme I’ve noticed in some of them is an exploration of the spider as a totemic being that spider-man is aligned with. It’s interesting to me because at the same time the question is raised as to why Spider-man hasn’t explored this connection in a more meaningful way. He’s accepted the spider on the surface level, but not necessarily gone deeper. I think that commentary speaks as much to people in general as it does to him, but I’m not referring so much even to an exploration of the spider in more depth, but really a more in-depth exploration of any being or spirit a person would work with.

In the comic book, the character of spider-man never really does explore the connection he has with the spider to any greater depth than he had before. There’s a brief move in that direction, but then other writers took over, and spider-man moved on to other things.

How I apply this to magic is just this: it seems like in some cases, working with an entity is really a casual experience. You get an idea or two or something and then you move on. But I think that kind of approach is really the wrong way to go about it. When I started working with elephant, I did some research by reading about elephants and did some meditation work as well to just get to know him. Even now I’ve continued to learn about Elephants, because its a relationship I want to maintain and explore. I recognize that there’s a lot I can learn about Elephants and to just work with the spirit of elephant on a casual level doesn’t really do justice to the relationship I could have.

The same has applied to working with Goetic spirits, angels, and other spiritual entities. Really working with these spirits means forming some kind of relationship that goes beyond just calling them up when you need something from them. But there’s this tendency to do exactly that. What I’ve found to be most meaningful is developing a relationship with a given entity in such a way that it knows there is reciprocity involved. And there’s good reasons to do it, not the least being, that you can learn the full extent of how you and the entity work together if you take the time to really develop that relationship.

Spider-man never really gets curious. Maybe part of him is even afraid of what he’ll discover.  But it seems to me that curiosity is a good thing with entities. We ought to really know more about what or who it is we choose to work with. And when we don’t take that time to really explore this relationship we’ve created, at some point you’ve got to wonder when the piper will come for his due. By taking the time to get to know different entities, to form relationships that involve treating the entity as a separate being instead of a psychological construct, and understanding that for what is given there is always a price, I’ve learned a lot about the entities I work with. I feel like we’ve got the measure of each other, and that’s definitely a good thing.

Connecting with land isn’t as simple as deciding it feels right to you. The land needs to tell you if you feel right to it, if you belong there. And if you don’t belong, it will tell you. The land doesn’t belong to you. You belong to the land. It’s something where the land basically says, “You fit with this land, so I call you as one of mine.” I’ve felt that feeling in a few places in my life, where I’ve known there was this acceptance from the land and an equal acceptance from myself.

I think of the land as alive, and myself as just one microorganism among many that effect the land, either for good or ill. While a land can accept you, there’s still something to be said for making an offering to it. An offering of your sweat, tears, and blood, of your effort, of going into a place, and blending with it, letting it speak to you and through you.

Anytime I feel such a connection I am reminded of how small I really am, how important it is to respect the connection and respect, and how much it matters to me, to feel this intangible connection that speaks so loudly to me and reminds me that I am not over or on top, but really just a part of something much more powerful, much more beautiful, much more significant than myself.

I gaze with crystalline eyes
into the silver light
seeing a web that hums and strums with power
spatial nodes representing place, person, or thing,
while temporal strands of activity move the spaces
with their songs of power and promise.

I am in the zero space/time continuum where nothing matters
and everything is revealed
where identity becomes one from zero
and emptiness gives way to realizations
of empowerment through peace
identity changing from dysfunction to function
to awareness that no one is a victim of themselves
unless they choose to wallow in their victimhood
and excuse themselves from taking responsibility
for their end of matters

Magic reveals the greatest truth
that life is an endless play
of possibility on reality
of the conjoining sexual acts
of space and time joining each other
shuddering in lustful, blissful abandon
to create this present moment
a baby of circumstance, fate, destiny
and the shattering sighs of universal harmony
dissonant in our ears, for we cannot hear
fully that song of time and space
joining into one,
The present is a present,
with the past full of hidden secrets
and the future blazing ahead to provide
this final greatest moment
of life passing to death passing to life
the cycle has no end or beginning
just endless possibility, endless illusion
til you strip away the scales
from your eyes and see
all along it was a joke you played on yourself
to bring meaning into your every moment
a cruel explanation of why
when we look into each other’s eyes
we realize we know each other
for you are in me, and I in you
and soon we discover
we are all in each other
everything we ever needed

Now join me for this one last act
this blissful orgasmic
death love lust act
of sex, the little death
the beginning-end of our song
and drama
I let you go, let go of myself
and find in the release
the expression of space/time that exquisitely
presents this god breath whispering into me writing.
We’re all joined in this moment.
Hello to me, hello to XAH
my highest self telling me the secrets of the universe
penning them down, laughing all the while.
We’ll meet again you and I,
when we see ourselves in each other
and realize it’s all an illusion
this joke of you and I.

This is a painting I did a while back for my work with Elephant. It’s obviously not a literal painting of an elephant, but it is an expression of my connection to elephant and at the same time functions as a portal to connect with the primal energy that represents elephant.

This is a picture that represents the spider queen of time. It’s fairly abstract, because it’s actually focused on representing the web she weaves, but it works to convey that web as well as provide a gateway to it.

This is a painting I did for Bune to thank him for his aid in my wealth magical workings. It’s his goetic seal, but it’s personalized because of the painting. Any work I do involves using this painting.

As you can see paintings are an important tool in my work. I find that the creative expression puts me into the right frame of mind to do magical work, and that the space I create via my paintings is useful for shaping the magic I need to do.  Do you use any art in your magical workings, and if so how?

I’ll admit I had my own knee jerk reaction, but I got over it fairly quick and then I really paid attention to what he was discussing, because I realized I could take what he was discussing and apply it with a magical focus. Instead of working with a god (though one could be useful), I could work with a wealth or business entity who’s sole purpose was to focus on growing the business. I could even work with the business itself as an entity, consulting with it about major decisions and using its advice. Maybe it sounds a little farfetched, but is it really?

The keynote speaker’s business is doing really well and what’s most fascinating is how many times they’ve gotten really good business deals because they brought it to God and let him does his work. As a magician, it’s clear to me that this person has gotten a direct tap to the field of probabilities and gotten some useful results. And you don’t need to be a Christian to make that happen, because it’s not so much about the religion as it’s about the process.

This business owner prays to God each time a decision comes up and is specific in his prayers. Then he lets go and lets it happen. Sounds similar to sigil and spell work.

The magician can take a similar approach. I’ve actually done that in corporate world, by creating an entity out of the project I was working on and having the entity guide me in my work and interactions with co-workers. Applying it to your own business works in a similar manner, with the added benefit of already having a logo and name for the business, which can house the entity. Before you make any major decisions, do a consult with your entity, explaining what you want to accomplish and directing it’s focus toward helping to manifest the desired result. Then let it work and do your part and watch what happens: Manifested reality.

As simple as that.

The other day I took my old wedding ring and the handfasting cord off the wall and decided to make an offering to the elemental spirits. I no longer felt a sentimental attachment to either object and I realized I needed to let go of them, to let go of whatever lingering emotions there were that were attached to the objects in question. I took a walk with both objects and found a place where I could make my offering to the elements…and I made it.

The release was palpable, as was the response, a surge of energy that shot up my body after the offering was made. A sure sign of approval as any, and also a release for me. They accepted the two objects, accepted the meaning associated with them, and accepted the value of the release of those objects for me.

What I’m also noticing is fresh inspiration when it comes to my marketing, services I offer and other business related ideas, both in terms of my business and social media coaching and in terms of what I’m doing with Magical Experiments as a brand. Some of that creativity is inspired by Bune and some of it is inspired by being in a non-toxic environment. More than anything, I’m inspired to continue on this journey of self-employment which fits me better than anything else I’ve ever done. It’s not an easy journey, a lot of the time and it has its share of frustration, but it is a journey where I am responsible for all of it and what I choose to do about it. Bune has emphasized this in his own way. He’s not closing potential sales for me. He’s just making me aware of opportunities and opening doors for me. I have to decide if I’ll go through those doors and be responsible for the consequences of doing or not doing so.

And there’s definitely a relationship here, much as there is with any other entity I work with. I mention that because I think its so important to recognize the full extent of what it really means to actually work with any entity. It’s not simply a matter of evoking an entity and sending it off on some task. There’s a relationship involved, ideally one of mutual respect, and to really work with an entity means mapping out what it will mean to create and sustain that relationship on both ends. Working with Bune, or any other entity has never been a casual affair for me, but rather a commitment to how we can truly help each other and in a sense know each other as well.