Context and its place in magical activities

In a conversation I had the other night with one of my students, we discussed the value of establishing the context in which a magical act will occur, as well as how to establish that context. I find that without proper context, magic ends up being meaningless or reactionary, and consequently isn't as effective as it would be if the person took time to establish context properly. Proper context establishes why a person needs to utilize magic, as well as how it'll be utilized. One of the activities I have my students when they first start learning magic involves putting together a diagram or flowchart for something they want to do magic for. I have them map out what they are already doing on the mundane level to achieve their goal and then we look at where magic fits into that process, and how they will use magic to help them enhance what they are already doing. The value of having a person diagram their process is that it shows the person that magic never occurs in a vacuum, but instead always has a context it occurs in, and part of that context is framed in the activities the person is already doing to realize the possibility they are trying to bring into reality.

Of course context isn't just your mundane activities, but also your goals, the other people affected by the working and other environmental factors which need to be thought about, if we are to use magic strategically. Strategic use of magic allows for the different factors and environmental conditions and enables you to successfully enchant because you've accounted for them and prepped the conditions accordingly.

So, as an exercise map out what you want to accomplish and include what you are already doing, and then add magic as a supplementary activity that enhances what you are already doing. Your success rate will more than likely go up because you'll have considered all the factors involved.

Quality and magic

If we consider that quality is a tool of measurement and apply that to magical work, then the question arises as to how the quality of life is improved by magic. This video discusses that question:

Why I like to learn different subjects

I'm reading The Survival Guide: Home Remodeling by Diane Plesset (Amazon affiliate link). It has nothing remotely to do with magic, in terms of spells and rituals or correspondence charts. But it is an interesting book about home remodeling and how to work with interior designers. And most importantly its teaching me to be keep an open perspective and learn about the world from other angles other than what I'm comfortable with. That's one reason I like to learn different subjects outside of my fields of expertise. The chance to learn something new, consider a different perspective, and even adapt some of that to one's magical practice can be very useful...and in this case reading this book reinforces how important it is to pay attention to the details, ask the right questions and do the necessary groundwork in order to turn your imagination into reality.

So often with magic books the discussion focuses on the metaphysical, but doesn't necessarily emphasize awareness of the mundane details and how much they can make or break the success of a magical work. To me, paying attention to the details involves paying attention to the mundane details as well as the magical details. So you learn about those mundane details and apply them as well as doing the magic. This process makes it easier for magical work to manifest into measurable results, and at the same time teaches the value of doing the work on all levels. The benefit of doing the work on all levels is that not only do you improve as a person, but you also improve as a magician, because you can see all levels as opposed to just focusing on one and trying to put all your effort into that one level. Success of any sort is best achieved by working all the angles instead of just one.

The balance between tradition and experimentation

I've always been a big believer in experimentation when it comes to magic, but I've also always believed that you need to have a solid foundation in order to experiment. The person who experiments without a firm understanding of magical principles won't get very far, and I don't know even know if you could call the magical work experimental, if there isn't a firm foundation in work. The magician is someone who has made the effort to learn how other people have practiced magic, and incorporated those practices into his/her life, but has also decided that just relying on tradition alone isn't enough. S/he recognizes the value of experimentation and innovation as a way of advancing one's understanding of the world, and also one's spiritual practice and how it applies to the world.

In my own spiritual practices, I've always tried to find a balance between experimentation and tradition. While I definitely think experimentation is important, experimentation without foundation won't get you very far. This is why it's important to do the research, to learn the skills, and then look at how you can improve on them, or what new directions you can take them in.

I don't believe in mindlessly adhering to tradition for the sake of tradition. Such dogmatism leads to fanaticism, and also ends up causing a spiritual tradition to stagnate. This doesn't mean practices should be disregarded or tossed aside, but if a person never tries to innovate or experiment at some point s/he will stagnate. I see this occur a lot with people who try to emulate the life of someone else or only do magic the way the book tells you to.

The magician is someone who tests the magical practices s/he performs and looks for ways to improve on his/her practice. It's not about cutting corners, but about being methodical and revising your process in favor of improving on it.

Learn from tradition and what others did. Build a firm foundation, and then...challenge it, experiment and evolve. This is my approach to magic. It's not the stumbling of the fool, but rather the measured pace of the magician who recognizes that magic isn't about repeating what others have done, but learning what others have done and improving on it. But remember the fool has intuition and sometimes will find something the magician wouldn't...so take a risk sometimes and try something different...the experience will definitely teach you.

Dream Technique part 2

I'd mentioned a little while back that I'd begun experimenting with using physical sensations as a means to create a dream reality where I could do internal work. I've found since that original post that what seems to work best for me, if I want to do a night of internal work is a kinisthetic sensation. I've tried visualization, but visualization seems to work better as a secondary sensory tool used to create an environment around the kinisthetic sensation. I'm not sure that this "rule" would apply to everyone. It may only apply to me because I'm a kinisthetic learner first, and a visual learner second, and an audio learner last. For a visual learner, using some kind of visual stimuli may work better for creating an initial dream environment in which the internal work will be done. Likewise an audio learner may find that an audio signal is best.

I've found that using kinisthetic sensations has helped me create dream environments I can work with so that I'm doing some form of internal work while sleeping. It seems to be most helpful if I use a sensation I felt during the day before I do the dream work. Trying to draw on older memories of sensations is less helpful, especially as those memories get replaced by newer experiences. It does help if the sensation is unusual. I've found that focusing on sensations that my feet feel is particularly useful, partially because of how sensitive feet are and partially because I don't normally go out of my way to pay attention to what my feet feel. I now have that incentive, in order to create a dream environment I can work in, but it can also work with any other sensitive area of your body.

Dimethyltryptamine

This neurotransmitter has always appeared to me as a Young boy with a crystalline spear. The point of the spear goes into many different dimensions. When I worked with this neurotransmitter this time, it focused on showing me how it could be applied as a diagnostic tool by providing different perceptions of how the body felt or appeared to a person. It also did something else for me however, making me aware of certain feelings I had about my creative career and hadn't recognized, so it seems that it's a diagnostic tool that works not just with the body, but also with other dimensions of a person's life.

Why Mundane skills in magic matter

In thinking about what I read in Strategic Sorcery, something I really agree with Jason on is the importance of learning mundane skills that complement the magical practices you want to do. Doing magic to bring you money won't do much good if you don't have practical money skills to handle that money. The same is true with other situations that have require knowing mundane skills.

Dream technique

Yesterday I was at the Oregon coast and I walked barefoot in the sand. I retained a strong kinisthetic body memory of the sensation of walking in the sand, and on a whim, decided that when I went to sleep, I would use the sensation of walking on the beach to create a dream environment where I could do internal work. As I drifted to sleep, I allowed my body to recall in intimate detail the experience of walking on the sand. Using that sensation, I allowed myself to put together a dream environment of the beach I'd been walking on, with myself being the only person walking on it. Then as I walked in the dream, I began meditating on the particular issues I wanted to work through. Because I was using the physical sensation of walking in the sand as my baseline, it made it easier to build other physical sensations into the dream, such as touching my tongue to the palate of mouth, while doing Taoist breathing.

I remembered my dream in the morning and a fair amount of the details of the inner work I did. Doing this work helped me to feel more at peace about a couple issues I'm working through. It will certainly be useful to draw on this technique in further depth.

Experiment restart

About five or so years ago I invented a technique where a person could contact their neurotransmitters as entities and then work with them to make changes to the chemistry of the body. For a time I worked with a group of people and we tested out the technique and concept. We got some interesting results, took it some places, and then went our separate ways. Since that time I never really got back to those experiments. There were a variety of reasons for that, but five years later and I'm finally ready to dive back in and I've got some people I can work with on further developments. I'm starting out with the basic technique again, reacquainting myself with each neurotransmitter, so you may see some notes on the neurotransmitter work on here, as a result.

I'm also restarting some work I've done with my modified version of the Tibetan Tumo technique. I've decided to utilize the modified version to do some daily work with the elements of space and time.

So I'm going back to some of my roots, experimentally speaking and it should make for some interesting work and developments in those respective areas. What helps is I have a magical partner that will help keep me on track and focused. I've missed having someone to work with who gets my ideas and wants to explore them, but now I have such a person in my life and that helps immensely.

Identity

Last October, I switched the element I was working with from Emptiness to Time, or so I thought. And I have done some work with time and space and in fact would say the work I've done has been very integral to my life growth, but I realized recently that if I've really been working with an element this year, it's actually identity. Last October I felt like everything got cleared away, and it did...if not then, then in January with the divorce. And the last half year or so has involved rediscovering my identity, my space, and my time. And even though I have gotten involved with someone new and am happily exploring a relationship with her now, I still feel very focused on the discovery of my agreement with the universe, and what I really want my identity to embody in this life.

I'm also discovering what I don't want in my agreement with the universe, and so as a result I'm looking carefully at my life and who and what I include in that life, as well what behaviors I'll accept or won't accept (both from myself and others). So I've realized that in a lot of ways identity has been my element this year, at least on a subtle level, because this year has been more about planting seeds of who I will become and also embracing the new circumstances than anything else.

And I think its magical, because magic isn't something that happens at a prescribed time or in a prescribed way. Magic is about the mundane details as well as the spiritual, really about the integration of both...

What is practical magic?

I've been thinking about what practical magic since I've started reading a book about strategic sorcery. When I think about practical magic and what it is, I don't just think of magic used to solve a problem or crisis in the mundane world, but also as the magician taking a step further and examining what his/her participation was in the problem, and then making changes in his/her life past managing the problem that the magic solved. The video says the rest.

A definition of embodiment magic

Understanding the relationship of the body with the communication with the subconscious is important to realizing how the body can be worked with successfully. Learning how to embody an emotion or concept can be a useful way to understand the effect the emotion or concept has on your life.

The need for innovation in magic

When we adhere to other people's rules and definitions of magic without questioning them or testing them, we become dogmatic and lose out on innovation. For magic to be an effective practice, we need to question all definitions and practices, with an eye toward improving our magical practice and also toward improving magic as a whole.

A memoriam to Isaac Bonewits

I only met Isaac Bonewits a few times in my life, but each time I met him I was struck by his humor and intelligence, and a willingness to question his own beliefs and theories as well as others. What I count as one of my favorite moments was meeting him at Gathering of the Tribes and getting the opportunity to speak with him at some length. In fact, he even invited me back to his trailer and we chatted for a couple hours about magical theory and practice. Given that he was busy writing a book and preferred at least some alone time, I am and was very grateful. The discussion we had was one that allowed me to clarify a lot of my thoughts about my approach to magic. I also felt very honored when he wrote at some length about one of my experiments in one of his books. I have a lot of respect for Isaac. But what I also appreciated was the humor and humanity of him. While I can't say I knew him well, my interactions with him were ones that moved back and froth from seriousness to humor. I wish I'd had more opportunities to speak with and even work with him, but I'm grateful for those moments I did have, as I imagine many other people are. Isaac gave a lot to the community and now he's moving on. I wish him the safest journey and bow to him in respect for his works and ideas. I also wish condolences to his family.

Pan's Labyrinth and Rules of Magic

I recently saw Pan's Labyrinth and one scene in particular that stood out to me was where the girl was looking for a key and there were specific rules she had to follow and if she didn't follow those rules, she could die. She did, in fact, break the rules, and the monster almost got her, but she had chalk and she was able to use it to open another door and escape. The reason was because even though she broke a rule, she understood all the rules and so she could use another rule to get her out of the situation she'd put herself in. To truly be able to experiment in magic, you need to understand the rules so you know which ones you can break and which ones you can bend, and which ones should just be followed. And make no mistake, magic does have its own rules. In fact, you can find some common rules in studying even seemingly disparate practices. But the beauty of magic is that's it something you can also change, if you know the rules.

In fact, rules themselves get changed as people's understanding of what they are doing becomes more nuanced. It's fair to say that rules are ultimately interpretations of how actions should be done, and as such are always subject to revision. What makes a rule effective is the willingness of a person to subscribe to what the rule says. Watch the video below to learn more:

Clothing, magic, and identity

The other night I got into a conversation with a friend about how clothing can be used to help a person fit into a community. The way I see it is clothing is another tool in your magical arsenal that you can use. We use clothing everyday and we also look at how other people are using clothing to determine if those people fit in with our respective outlook. I think of clothing as a symbol, and an indicator of a lot of other information about person. That person over there? She's wearing a business suit, so she's either working in a corporate job, or is a self-employed entrepreneur. That person over there, he's wearing a pair of denim jeans, work boots, and a t-shirt. He's either working in construction, or in a tech company. Now the only problem with what I've just written is that we're judging what those people do (and to a lesser extent who they are) by the clothes they wear and we could be completely wrong...and yet people do this all the time, and the enterprising magician is aware of this and has clothing for different occasions, in order to fit in with whatever type of situation s/he is in...or stand out as the occasion warrants. Watch the video below, where I discuss this more and then tell me what you think. Do you use clothing in your magical work, and if so, what do you do?

Video blog: Definitions and Magic

In this video blog, I discuss definitions and their relationship with magic in further detail.

Short notes

A Note about Definitions and Meaning My post about definitions could easily also apply to the word models. The word models is used a lot in magic theory. There is the spiritual model, the psychological model, the model for this or the model for that. But I don't think definitions are really models. I do think models are metaphors that attempt to categorize magic, whereas I think definitions are less about categorization and more about making meaning, or maybe even making connection through meaning. You can't really have connection if some kind of meaning isn't involved and definitions are all about meaning, the establishment of it as the way to understand what's around and within.

A Note about Immanion Press

I'm still involved in Immanion Press. At one point, in the winter, I gave some serious thought to leaving Immanion Press as the managing editor and heading for the hills as it were, but then the divorce happened and I figured that was a big enough change in my life. The purpose of Immanion Press, as it applies to occult books, is to publish the books other publishers won't touch and/or reprint what's out of print. And I think we've published some great books by some great authors and I hope we continue to.

What isn't realized, I think, is that for all intents and purposes Immanion Press is volunteer run. I don't really get paid for doing the editing, layout, or managing of other editors. It's a lot of work and it's mostly a labor of love, save on those occasions when it can become a labor of hate.

I won't be at the Esoteric Book Conference this year representing Immanion Press. Lupa will be there, and you can buy books from the press through her. I have mixed feelings on how much I will represent the esoteric book line in the future, since I no longer do any of the distribution for it, beyond my own books. I'll still do the managing editor part, but I figure it's time to focus on myself a bit more, which includes finishing some writing I've been working on, so I actually have a justifiable reason to show up at a conference.

Review of Sacred Kink by Lee Harrington

What I most enjoyed about this book was Lee's efforts to provide detailed information about each path and create a framework for people from multiple belief systems to engage in the incorporation of kink to their spirituality. Lee's expertise as both a sex educator and spiritual teacher shows through in this book time and time again. He provides excellent examples and also useful definitions for understanding each path. I found a lot in this book that I know I can apply to my own spiritual practices and I think anyone else would find a similar treasure trough.

5 out of 5

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Definitions, definitions, it's all definitions

The more I focus on definitions, the more I realize how integral they are to any sense of self and identity a person has. We define everything to not only explain everything, but also provide structure and environment for ourselves, to create a sense of place in the universe, little realizing just how constructed all of it is. Truth seems to be that the majority of definitions used were created by someone else, and there's a kind of blind adherence to these definitions, without really questioning them. Maybe it's the belief that "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" I see the belief as being one of the primary blockers of innovation change. "You're reinventing the wheel." I've heard that one a number of times because I decided I'd question definitions. At least it is MY wheel.

Definitions seem to be integral to magical activity and theory as well. And I'm not talking about trotting out the rather tired definition of magic that Crowley belched out years and years ago. I'm talking instead of the realization that definition is an integral key for providing the framework through which an action can occur. No definition and you don't have an action, because there is an absence of environment for that action to occur in. Definitions provide structure, environment, a call to action. But they provide more than that as well. They provide insight into the unconscious, into the deepest layers of a person, and what makes that person tick. Definitions are the basis by which we make sense of reality.

Video Blog Magic and Identity part 2

In this video I explore the concept of identity further and how it relates to magical work. I discuss definitions and their role in forming identity.