Month 35 of the Elemental Balancing Ritual Stillness
Magical Experiments Podcast August and September 2017
Magical Experiments Podcast: Traveling to Sacred spaces with Vyvianne Armstrong
Magical Experiments Podcast: The Magic of Melusine with Annwyn Avalon
Magical Experiments Podcast: Home Herbalism with Victoria Pike
Magical Experiments Podcast: Pop Culture Magic systems with Terra Akhert
Magical Experiments Podcast: The Pop Culture Magic of Digimon with Eryk Adash
Magical Experiments Podcast: Pop Culture Magic Systems 2 with Wild Healer and Coleen Chitty
Magical Experiments Podcast: Opening the Doors to Psychic Perception with Ivo Dominguez Jr
Book Review: The Arch of Heaven by R. J. Stewart
In the Arch of Heaven, the author shares a prayer/working that he has used to deal with lingering ghosts. He then explains the origin of the working and offers some insights on spirits, death, and related topics. It's a short, focused book on a specific type of magical working, within the magical tradition that the author is part of. People in that tradition or in the Avalonian current will find this book valuable. For other practitioners it does provide some useful gems on working with inner contacts and some insights into the tradition the author is part of. I found the material useful and accessible and would recommend it to anyone.
Book Review: Daring Greatly by Brene Brown
In Daring Greatly the author explores what it means to be vulnerable and how being vulnerable can help you become a wiser and stronger person. As I read this book and applied it to my life, I found that I had deeper, more intimate conversations and connections and that I was able to create a space for myself that truly helped me embrace who I am. I highly recommend this book for internal work and meditation.
Book Review: Keys to Perception by Ivo Dominguez Jr
In this book the author shares the keys to perception and walks readers through a variety of exercises he's developed that can be used to cultivate psychic abilities. What I think stands out to me about this book is how the author manages to make the book relateable to people regardless of what their spiritual background is. So while Pagans and magicians will get a lot from this book, so will anyone else who has psychic abilities or simply wants to learn more about them. The exercises are well developed and described and its clear the author has done the work, but he also makes a point to describe the mechanics of the workings, which is helpful if people want to experiment with it.
Why a spirit won't solve your problems
Every week I get a message on Facebook or through email where someone asks me if I'll teach them how to summon whatever Goetic demon is the flavor of the week in the occult community (though usually it's Bune).
And there's a common theme in these requests, which boils down to this:
"I want to summon the spirit and get it to solve all my problems for me and remake my life."
In other words, I want something else to do the hard work for me because I don't like my life or situation and I want to cut corners (I mean isn't that what magic's for?)
How is Magic Different from the Law of Attraction?
The other day, a student of mine asked me, "Taylor, what's the difference was between magic and the law of attraction? Why should I practice magic if I can just use the law of attraction in my life?"
It was a good and fair question to ask. Why should someone practice magic, which seems like a lot of work, when they can just adhere to the law of attraction and use that for their life.
Elemental Balancing Ritual Stillness month 34
7-23-17 Sometimes I like to put myself into spaces unconventionally in order to think, but also to meditate. There's something quite mesmerizing about staring at the blades of a fan and letting your mind wander through the fields of probability, while lying on the floor contemplating your upcoming week.
And I feel really vulnerable and open right now. This last month was hard but good because it forced me to hit some hard places and shatter some illusions. Being open as a result has helped me got some help and direction.
Pop Culture Magic Systems is now available
Pop Culture Magic systems
Hello folks,
My newest book pop culture magic systems is now published and available.
You can order it on Amazon:
You can order it at local occult book store.
You can order it directly from the publisher:
http://www.immanion-press.com/info/book.asp?id=506&referer=Hp
July and August Magical Experiments Podcast Episodes
Magical Experiments
Did you miss an episode of the magical experiments podcast in July and August? Listen to them.
Magical Experiments podcast: Performance Art and Magic with Hannah Haddix
Magical Experiments podcast: Victor Anderson: an American Shaman with Cornelia Benavidez
Magical Experiments podcast: The Masks of Lucifer with Asenath Mason and Bill Duvendack
Magical Experiments podcast: The pop culture magic of Star Wars with Leni Hester
Magical Experiments podcast:Practical Sales Magic with Dubious Monk
Magical Experiments podcast: The pop culture magic of Zelda with Cloud Jetters
Book Review: The Hidden Adept and the Inward Vision by R. J. Stewart
This is the fascinating story of A. R. Heaver, a little known practitioner of magic and his work with Stillness as well as the western mystery traditions. It's more of a biography and history book than anything else, but there are some interesting esoteric gems in the book and if you have an interest in the Glastonbury well, then this book will have some pertinent history that's worth learning. I do wish the author the author had included some of his own interactions with A. R. Heaver in the book. He only gives a passing mention to them. That said, I've found reading and meditating on some of the material of the book to be helpful with my own meditations on stillness.
Elemental Balancing Ritual Stillness Month 33
6-26-17 I'm reading Daring Greatly by Brene Brown. She talks about the relationship we have with being vulnerable and what do we associate with vulnerability. Until I started doing my stillness work, I'd say my association with vulnerability was that being vulnerable was being weak. But with stillness, I've opened myself to being vulnerable and found that its actually helped me become a better person. When I am vulnerable I can open up and share. Stillness has taught me to become more comfortable with being vulnerable and to become better at expressing it.
6-30-17 There are moments where I really question the point of anything I'm doing. This is one of those moments.
The Possibility you feed is the reality you create
The other day I was having a conversation with one of my friends. She shared she was feeling anxious about the upcoming weekend where she would be doing a lot of vending and she pessimistically said she didn't think she'd sell a lot of product.
Now I'm no stranger to such pessimism, having some of it myself, so after she vented for a bit, I asked her if she was open to some feedback.
Results vs Consequences and how to plan for both in your magic
Recently I was having a conversation with a friend about results and consequences. Often times in practical magic workings we focus on the results that we want to achieve, but what isn't always considered are the consequences that come with the results. Yet consequences are a natural reality of a result. The problem that happens is that the result is treated as a point of closure. You've created and executed the magical working and then the result has occurred and that's the end of the story. But is it?
Elemental Balancing Ritual Stillness Month 32
5-26-17 I had a dream this morning. In the dream was the dark haired, dark eyed woman that had shown up in a couple previous visions. She showed me an alternate life, where I didn't have a lot of stability. I traveled a lot and did work I didn't like and I had no deep connections. As she told me, it was really about showing me what a life without stability would be like. Afterwards I felt this radiating sense of fear in my chest and I sat with it for a while. It's that fear of being too stable, which may seem off, but when you've lived a life where much of it has been chaotic, it can actually feel strange to have stability. It makes me realize again what the next element needs to be, but also what I can do to use stillness to work on that feeling of fear of stability.
The Devil is in the Details: Why knowing how magic works matters
In my own magical practice I'm a real stickler for details. The reason is because I like to figure out what is working and how it's working (or conversely what isn't working). Not everyone feels this way about magic. Sometimes I'll hear people say that it doesn't matter how magic works, as long as it produces a result. I always find this response (and variants of it) to be fascinating and perplexing. "Why wouldn't you want to know how something works?" is one of the questions that I ask, along with another one, "What do you do if your magical working doesn't work or produce the results you were going after?"
I never really get a satisfactory answer to those questions.
How to stack the deck of reality and possibility in your favor
I find that a lot of people think of magic as something you actively are doing, but sometimes the way magic works has more to do with being in tune with the flow of possibilities into reality and allowing the right possibilities to come through. What does that really mean?
I look at it in this way. Yes, sometimes the magical work involves taking action, but sometimes it involves being in a situation and recognizing how to make that situation work for you, even when it seems to be stacked against you.
May 2017 Magical Experiments podcast
Did you miss an episode of the magical experiments podcast in May? Here are all the episodes.
Magical Experiments podcast: Magical Activism Pt 4 with David Salisbury and Mat Auryn
Magical Experiments podcast: Paganism and consent with Shauna Aura Knight and Katessa Harkey
Magical Experiments podcast: Building and Maintaining Sacred Space with Ivo Dominguez Jr
Magical Experiments podcast: Conflict and Community with Crystal Blanton
Book Review: The Hidden Reality by Brian Greene
This is a fascinating book which explores the various theories about parallel universes and uses modern physics to examine the veracity of those theories. The author does an excellent job of walking readers through the physics and exploring the viability of the various theories. Whether you enjoy physics or are just curious about the universe, this is a good book to read, which will provoke some thoughts and ponderings to be savored.
Elemental Balancing Ritual Stillness month 31
4-24-17 This prior weekend I went to a spiritual retreat lead by R.J. Stewart, where we explored the Further Path...basically a Faery teaching. It was profound work and it seemed like the right time in terms of matching up with some of the changes I'm feeling internally. There's this feeling of movement...and a sense of stillness coming to an end...or maybe just a transition. There will always be stillness work to do, but ho do you come out of stillness? That's really what I'm gravitating toward at the moment. It's like this slow awakening and stretching is happening.
How to grow your spiritual community
Whether you're building a public spiritual community or a private one, there's a couple of factors you want to consider that will help you build your spiritual community and make sure its a healthy one. In this video I share what those factors are and how to strategically approach them so you can build your spiritual community.
Why intention alone won't get you results
The other day I got into a conversation with an acquaintance who said they wanted to be successful with magic. I asked them to define success and they told me that to them success was using intention to create manifestation. It sounded like a lot of new age fluff and the problem is that it basically is new age fluff. Words like intention and manifestation have become ambiguous words that say very little while sounding very buzzy. In the defense of my acquaintance, this was a person just starting out on their magical journey. When I explained that they needed to be more specific in defining success with magic, they had trouble because they didn't know what it looked like.
Are there rules of magic?
Magical Experiments Podcast April 2017
Did you miss an episode of magical experiments in April? Here are all the episodes, for your enjoyment!
Magical Experiments Podcast: The Magic of Poetry with Bethany Moore
Magical Experiments podcast: The Aesthetics of Magic with Rune Emerson
Magical Experiments Podcast: Gnostic Christianity with Lainie Petersen
Magical Experiments Podcast: How to take care of yourself spiritually with Bill Duvendack
If you want to learn more about Gnosticism...
Gnostic Wisdom Network www.gnosticwisdom.net
Aeon Byte Gnostic Radio
Gnosticism: From Nag Hammadi to the Gospel of Judas: The Great Courses (Dr. David Brakke)
Gnostic Society Library: http://gnosis.org
Introduction to "Gnosticism": Ancient Voices, Christian Worlds by Nicola Denzy Lewis
Gnostic Book of Hours: Keys to Inner Wisdom Hardcover – December, 1992 by June Singer
Book Review: The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown
This book came into my life at the right time. The author shares the core skills of whole-hearted people and how any person can learn those skills. This is a book I would recommend to anyone because it teaches you how to to bring joy into you life and change who you are as a result, in a way that truly will make you a happier and more whole hearted person.
Book Review: One small step can change your life by Robert Maurer
Big isn't always better and this book explains why that is. The author makes a persuasive case for why trying to make big changes can cause you fear, anxiety, and stop you in your tracks, while if you make small changes it can actually help you build momentum and make it easier for you to reach your big goals, because you're getting around your Amygdala. I've applied some of the ideas in this book to my clients and my work and it has made a huge difference in both cases.
Elemental Balancing Ritual Stillness Month 30
3-23-17 One of the most pivotal lessons my work with stillness has taught me is to stop looking outside myself for completion. Stop looking toward a job, a lover, friends, etc., because when you do that, it never satisfies you and objectifies the people. With romantic love, we're sold a myth that you can find that one true love, or multiple loves that can somehow complete us and know us. But no one can know you the way you know yourself...and yet many people do not know themselves. This is one of the challenges of internal work: It forces us to really know ourselves and to recognize that any sense of completion must come from our own ability to resolve the internal tensions in our lives, and as a result discover the true liberation of the self from all the conditioning and patterns we've previously lived with.