The Process of Magic Class Round Ten starts in one week!

 

Round Ten of the Process of Magic Class starts on August 6th.

Magic is a process that changes you and your relationship with the world, if you understand how the process works.

In this 24 lesson class, we will explore what the process of magic is and how it applies to you and your magical work. If you’re looking for a different perspective on magic that explores the underlying principles of how magic works, instead of focusing on the tools, ceremonies, and other optional features, this class is for you.Below is the syllabi for this course:

Lesson 1: An overview of the process of magic

Lesson 2: You and Definitions of Magic

Lesson 3: Results, Change, and their respective roles in magic

Lesson 4: The anatomy of the process of magic

Lesson 5: Culture, Ethics and Ideology

Lesson 6: What isn't essential to the process of magic

Lesson 7: Connection and its role in the magical process

Lesson 8: Intention, Attention, and Magic

Lesson 9: Inhibitory Actions and Magic

Lesson 10: Excitatory Actions and Magic

Lesson 11: Internal Work

Lesson 12: Spiritual allies and the magical process

Lesson 13: Invocation 1

Lesson 14: Invocation 2

Lesson 15: Evocation 1

Lesson 16: Evocation 2

Lesson 17: Divination

Lesson 18: Enchantment

Lesson 19: Astral Projection

Lesson 20: Banishing

Lesson 21: Attunement with the land

Lesson 22: The Role of Limitation in the Process of Magic

Lesson 23: The role of Transformation in the Process of Magic

Lesson 24: The role of Mundane actions in the Process of Magic

Plus Two Bonus Lessons!

To learn more and sign up, go here.

When Magic is only Mental

When I've taught the concepts of magical identity to different people, one of the questions that comes up is if magic is only mental in an ontological model. It's a fair question to ask, in the sense that the initial focus of the magical work involves becoming the magic. However the ontological model of magic isn't a psychological model, which means it goes much deeper than just a mental state. Becoming the magical act and result isn't just thinking about it. When I talk about directing the magic inward, as well as outward, what I'm really speaking to is a fundamental recognition that any magical act necessarily must change the practitioner as well as the world around the practitioner, in order to manifest a desired result. In other words, the magician must be willing to shift to a new state of being that allows for and embodies the desired result within as well as without. A purely mental model of magic wouldn't enable such work because it doesn't extend to the world around us, nor does it allow more than a surface level experience of the internalization of magic.

When magic is only mental, its not real. It's a thought, caught up in a swirl of other thoughts and emotions, transitory and illusive. And as a thought it's not even fully integrated with imagination, so much as it is caught up in the minutiae of the practitioner. I've never found a purely mental/psychological model of magic to be workable, because when its all in your head, it's solipsistic and self-obsessive. There is no real connection to the world and without that connection, magic becomes an act of deception and fantasy.

What makes magic work, in my experience, is the simultaneous crafting of the work inward within the magician and outward to the world. When the magic goes inward, it's not just effecting the mind of the magician, but connecting the magician to the inner contacts and spirit guides that are allies to the work the magician does. It is also going inward to the magician's connection with the universe, allowing the magician to change that connection. When the magic goes outward, it goes outward to the world around the magician, aligning the possibilities and variables into favorable outcomes that produce the desired result. By directing the magic inward, the magician becomes the desired result, while setting up the outside to create an environment that allows for the expression and full manifestation of that result.

Magic is lived...not just thought about. You live magic when you make it part of your life, part of who you are, as well as what you do. For me, what makes magic work is that I make it part of the expression of my life and recognize that the expression of my life is the extension of my being into this world. That extension allows me to interact with and change the world, even as in turn the world changes me through that interaction. When you live magic you become the change and its not mental, all in your head, but rather is lived through every layer of your being.

Book Review: Unseen Worlds and Practical Aspects of Spiritual Discernment by Anastacia Nutt

This book applies the concepts of spiritual discernment to psychic protection and shows the practitioner how to use spiritual discernment to recognize situations and people that aren't in alignment with the practitioner. The author provides some useful examples and exercises that the reader can use to apply spiritual discernment to their own practice. This is a useful book for beginning and advanced practitioners, as you will glean some gems of insight out of this text. The only downside to this text is that the author wrote it in two huge sections, instead of breaking it into chapters. However the various subheadings can be treated as mini-chapters for reading purposes. For any practitioner, the practices in this book will help them critically examine their relationships and spiritual practices with an eye toward discerning what is or isn't in alignment with them.

Elemental Balancing Ritual Movement Month 21: Responsibility

 6-20-14 When I was working with my spirit cord today, I felt it pulse and sync with my heart beat. It was quite an interesting experience and not something I'd previously felt in my work with the spirit cord. I also continued my work around regret. I dove in really deep today with that blockage that's by my navel, and I felt it continue to loosen up and as it did I experienced some memories and feelings about a couple of people and choices I'd made around those people. It was hard to feel those emotions, to be in those memories, but I let myself relax into them and as I did, I allowed myself to acknowledge and feel those emotions instead of avoiding them. I felt some sadness and a sense of responsibility that I had previously denied or tried to foist on someone else. Instead I chose to accept the responsibility. There's still work to do around it, but I felt taking that step was significant enough in its own right. 6-23-14 Regret is a form of fantasy, in some sense, and I find that as I delve into this work that some regrets turn into a sense of fantasy, a what if scenario. I realize such a scenario is a blockage, in and of itself, but it also an expression of the regret that can be worked through. So part of my dissolving work has involved working with the regret through the fantasy and using the fantasy to recognize certain realities that the regret doesn't factor in. One of the realizations I came away with is an awareness that I felt like I had to fit myself around another person and their issues and life as opposed to actively working on creating a true partnership. I felt this way multiple times with multiple people and that helped me look at the regret in a different light, because it showed me that the regret presented a filtered perspective. By doing the dissolving work it strips away the filter.

7-1-14 I've been continuing to meditate on regret and today I hit a realization about some of my choices earlier in my life that helped me understand that the reason I made those choices was because I was looking for something and fooling myself into thinking I could get it in the way I was pursuing it. Hindsight being 20-20 I eventually realized that my choices weren't providing me what I was looking for, but in meditating on those choices with the regret work, I was able to understand them in a different way that helped me find a sense of resolution about them I hadn't felt before. Working with regret in the way I've been working it has helped me see how the lack of closure creates regret but also how trying to meet a need can do the same. And when you do meet that need, you may still need to work with past issues in order to resolve those periods of time and occurrences in order to be fully present with the solution.

7-4-14 I'm feeling a bit frustrated lately. I'm having to change my event in Chicago into something else due to the lack of signups for the intensive. And it looks like my September event is encountering difficulties due to circumstances that originate with the place I'd be presenting at. What this continues to illustrate to me is that it may be more useful to invest in video and webinars for classes. While the initial cost might be high, the overall overhead would likely be low. After this month is over, I'm going to start doing some research into what other authors are doing...and this illustrates the importance of being adaptable, of being able to change movement as needed in order to go where you want to be.

7-8-14 I've been doing some work with Raphael, who is the Archangel of Hod. He's appeared to me as a doctor in a clinic, healing various people. He told me I needed to be open about my wounds if I wanted to find healing for them. Later on I talked with Kat and I admitted I was feeling depressed. A lot ended up coming out that helped me realize how much pressure I put on myself, but what really stood out to me was how hard it was for me to feel present with a part of myself that I identify myself as young boy. I think for men in general its hard to identify with the boy aspect of themselves. Part of this is because I think one of the immature images of men is men who never grow up, who essentially are still boys. However, I think that you can be a mature man and still connect with the boy within, but doing that easily...especially if that part of you has been so wounded...that's hard for me and sharing it with someone else is even harder.

7-12-14 I've been watching Neon Genesis Evangelion with Kat. It's been over 5 years since I last watched it. I've seen the series over 8 times. It's one of my favorite series and its also a cathartic series for me, because of the triggers and issues that come up in regards to my own relationship with my parents. However watching it this time around has been different. I've still felt some triggers and issues, but its different now, more muted. The internal work I've done has changed a lot of my reactions...its still a show that touches me, but it doesn't grab me in quite the same way. And I'm happy about that because as much as I like the show, it's good to know I've changed, that while it still touches me, it doesn't hit in quite the same way it did before.

7-15-14 I've come to a place with the regret work where I feel I've plumbed the depths as it were and gotten what I need from it. I'm glad I dedicated the time to it, but now I'll return to some other projects. I've also started work with Netzach, doing the initial phase of connection work, which I'll build on when the time is appropriate. It occurs to me that Netzach and Hod are mirrors to each other representing both the same and opposite principles, a union of opposites to create a composite realization, which would be Yesod, which when refined further becomes Malkuth. Of course the other Sephiroth also have something to add to that, but I'll get to those later.

7-20-14 I've started working with Netzach. Today I encountered the Elohim, which showed up as multi-faceted mirrors which mediated spiritual forces. They explained how they acted as connections between specific types of spiritual forces and the magician. Also Eros pointed something out today in my meditations, specifically noting how I've certain places in my life, certain relationships where the movement is stopped or blocked by how I let those relationships effect. Something to meditate on further. I'm in Chicago right now and visited the Life Force Arts center, as well as the Occult Bookstore. I liked the energy of the Occult bookstore and look forward to coming back some time and presenting again.

7-21-14 Left Chicago today. It's been years since I was there and what struck me the most about the city is the manic, frenetic energy. It's a good place to visit, but I don't know if I could live around that many people all the time. Feeling the movement of the city, both in terms of traffic and people was interesting. It has its own rhythm, made up of all the people, the traffic, events and everything else. And I could see how a person could tap into the energy to fuel their workings, though I think it would be dangerous. You'd have to be careful with how you were connecting and what you were connecting with.

And we arrived in St. Louis. The shop Pathways is wonderful, one of the best stocked occult bookshops I've seen, with hard to find works. The community is friendly and welcoming. I also felt the spirit of the original proprietor connect with me and welcome me to the shop. The workshop I offered was well received and I could tell it helped people come to some good realizations for themselves. More than anything I want my workshops to provide that kind of experience to the people who take them.

Are Magical Tools just Props?

The other night, at the magical experiments meetup, I got into an interesting conversation with Victoria and Sara (Two of our regular members) about whether magical tools are essential, in and of themselves, or if they are just props. Sara made an interesting point that when people argue that magical tools are just props or window dressings, they are being dismissive of them, instead of recognizing the important role they can play in a practitioners work. I have, on occasion, argued that magical tools, herbs, crystals, etc., are props or window dressings, so when Sara made that point, I listened. When I've used that phrase that magical tools are props/window dressing, I've used it to make a point, namely that what makes those tools effective has more to do with the magician and his/her need of those tools as a means of working with the forces those tools represent. In other words, I treat magical tools as symbolic, and feel that once a magician understands what the tools represents, s/he can work with the underlying principles directly instead of continuing to use the tools.

Sara's argument is that magical tools have something inherent to them, which isn't symbolic. And she has a point. For example, the effects that herbs can have on a person aren't symbolic. So there is something to be said for working with certain types of magical tools and recognizing that those tools have something to them that goes beyond symbolic. An additional point to consider is that some magical tools are used across traditions and have a history of specific uses and purpose that, for people within those traditions, and that specific use can't be replicated by the magician alone.  Something else I've considered is that the tools create the atmosphere, set up the space that people work in. A lit candle, incense burning, chants, and ritual tools, all of it creates a space people can work in.

With all that said, what I really came away with from Sara's conversation had more to do with being aware that how some people treat magical tools and their importance is going to be different then how other people treat them. The question is can someone like my respect that difference. And the answer is yes. I can respect that the importance and meaning a magical tool has differs from person to person. At the same time, I also know my own view on magical tools, which is that they have their uses, up and until the magician no longer needs them. For some people, no longer needing a tool may never be an option and this doesn't make that person less of a magician. It just means that person works within a specific system where those tools are essential. On the other hand, a person who can work with a tool and then at some point no longer need the tool because of how they understand the principles the tool embodies also isn't less of a magician because they don't perceive magical tools in the same way that the other magician does.

Each magician has to decide what the relevance of magical tools are, in relationship to their practice. I can tell you what the relevance of those tools are to me, but that doesn't really matter. Whether you consider magical tools essential or you consider them to be props doesn't change that magical tools serve some type of role in the practice of a magician. I use magical tools in my practice. Over time, some of those tools are no longer used because I've embodied those principles. But at one time I did use them and even now what they represented, the principles they embodied are still relevant to my practice. Magical tools have relevance and importance. The degree varies from person to person, but that doesn't change that they fulfill a specific purpose and function.

How to Become the Result you want to Manifest

In Magical Identity, I wrote about how my approach to magic shifted to an ontological model, which recognized identity as a principle of magic. One of the key realizations I had about magic is that a lot of it is reactive, done to solve a problem. The problem with a reactive approach is that you are waiting for things to happen to you before you do something. Another problem is that the focus of the magician is on the world to the exclusion of recognizing the role the magician plays as well. A shift to identity recognizes that the internal work the magician does has as much value as any other magical work being done. More importantly it recognizes that to manifest the result in the world around you, first you need to become the result.

When I do magical work, one of the key parts of the process is that I take the result and internalize it, making it part of my identity. I live as if the result is a reality in my life. It may not be a manifested reality in the world around me, but within my internal reality it is. In doing this I align my identity with the result and make it part of my life. By making the result part of my life, I live it. Living it makes the mundane actions I do bring the possibility into reality because it's something that is part of the actions. The actions come from my identity, are an extension of my identity, a proactive change of reality, instead of a reaction to whatever is happening.

I sometimes hear that magician struggle with results and what I usually discover is that they haven't made the result part of their reality. They aren't living the result and they haven't made sure that the result aligns with their internal values. If the result they want doesn't align with the identity of the magician, the magician will find a way to sabotage it. They may not be consciously aware of the sabotage (often they aren't) but it will happen nonetheless. The sabotage is a blind spot that occurs because the magician isn't integrating identity into the magical process.

I've often said that the problems a person has in their life has one thing in common: The person. The same is true of the results in your life. You, more than anything else, define the success or lack thereof of your magical work. When you look at a magical working and you aren't satisfied with how it worked, then look to yourself first and ask yourself how your identity does or doesn't align with the working. The majority of the time you'll find its a sabotage within you, because you haven't created the necessary agreement with your identity and the result you want to manifest. The rest of the time, it's a problem with the process and you need to take that apart in order to figure out what didn't work and then get it fixed.

When you don't have agreement between your identity and your result, you need to examine why that is and either determine if you can create alignment between your identity and the result or if you need to drop the result. The way I handle it is by making the result part of my life, turning it into a reality within me, which is manifested in the world around me through the actions I take. And I pay close attention to whatever comes up that feels resistant and make sure to address the resistance before doing anything else. Taking this approach has consistently yielded results because I've made sure that what I want to manifest is in alignment with my identity, instead of working against it.

Why you need patience when doing the work

Over the last month and change I've been doing a lot of internal work around the feeling of regret and how it shows up in my life. I've also recently started working on the Quabala, doing pathworking with the Sephiroth. With both of these workings, its been essential for me not to rush the working. What that means is that I can't focus on the results and what I think they should be. I need to be present with the experience and allow it to happen in the way it occurs. This means that I need to allow the work to occur at the pace it happens instead of trying to put it on a schedule.

For example, I was recently doing some work with Hod, with the Angelic order of it. The first day I worked with them, the impressions I got didn't make much sense. I recorded them and then redid the working the next day and the day after, and so on and so forth. The working wasn't going to happen in one day and I knew that, but I also knew that I needed to take my time and be open to the working taking multiple days to occur, as needed. I needed to be patient with the work and not force something to happen because I was establishing a relationship with that Angelic order as well as with Hod.

Patience is important in magical work. You've got to be patient with what you are doing. When you try to force a result, you lose something in the process. When you stick with the work and do it with the purpose of allowing it to happen as it needs to, you get not just a result, but also the experience of the journey. That journey transforms you, shapes you, and allows you to make meaningful change in your life through the connections you make in doing the work. Patience is needed because whether you are doing internal work or connecting with the spirit world or doing something else altogether, what you are really doing isn't something that always speaks to easy and obvious results. Magic isn't always about manifesting a possibility into the world, though it can be sometimes. Even in that case, I've found that magic is still a process of patience, because you are aligning the variables into your favor in order to manifest the possibility into reality.

So what's the point of all this? Don't be in a rush to achieve a result. Welcome the process for what it is and be patient with what you are doing. Allow yourself to go deep into the work you are doing and let it transform you as it also transforms the world. Let yourself be moved and discover in that movement the transcendent glory of magic as it changes your life. When you do that, you'll know what magic is and you'll appreciate why patience is important.

Spiritual Discernment in Pop Culture Magic

 

In Unseen Worlds and Practical Aspects of Spiritual Discernment, Anastacia Nutt argues that its important for people to be careful about what kind of media they expose themselves to. She argues that modern media can pollute the imagination of the practitioner. R. J. Stewart makes a similar argument in his book, and they have a point, although I don't entirely agree with them on their perspective on modern media. It is true that modern media can capture the imagination, and as a result become something which distracts the practitioner's mind. For example, you can probably think of incidents where you got the theme song of a commercial or show stuck in your head. Your monkey mind replayed that theme song endlessly, and it may have been something you weren't consciously aware of. When this occurs, it can be an example of your mind getting fixated on the media, to the point that your imagination can't focus as easily on other topics, or for that matter on your spiritual work.

One of the reasons Stewart and Nutt make the argument they do about modern media is because they are part of a spiritual tradition which has specific imagery that is used in the imagination as part of the work a person does within that tradition. Thus it makes sense that they would make the argument they make because they are using specific imagery which has an effect on the imagination and it's important to preserve the focus of the imagination in context to the workings the practitioners are doing. With that said, I also think that modern media can be useful in magical work, provided you aren't working in a specific magical tradition.

I'm not working in a specific magical tradition and I find modern media to be a useful tool for my magical work. However, even in that work, I still need to be careful about what media I expose myself too. I don't expose myself to just any media, but am very careful about what media I draw on, because of the effect it can have on my imagination. For example, I don't watch horror shows. The reason I don't watch horror shows is because I don't want that type of imagery in my imagination. I feel it would adversely effect my ability to connect with the spirits because of how the spirits are portrayed in those movies. This standard may differ from person to person, but I think it's important to use spiritual discernment to recognize what type of media you'll watch and work with. If you know watching or playing something will influence your imagination you need to ask yourself how it will effect your imagination. If it's something where your imagination becomes fixated on the pop culture and you aren't going to use that pop culture in magical work, then you might consider whether its really the pop culture you want to focus on.

There's also something to be said for the fact that sometimes you can cultivate an unhealthy interest in a pop culture character. For example, a few years back the character of Sephiroth from Final Fantasy 7 was really popular, so much so that a number of fans claimed they were married to Sephiroth. They would share how they'd married him on the astral plane. Seemingly harmless right? But consider the mythology of Final Fantasy 7. In that game, Sephiroth is an insane character, with a mommy fixation and a desire to destroy the world. For all intents and purposes Sephiroth is a psychic vampire. The fixation on Sephiroth is an occupation of the imagination, on a entity that may not have the best interests of the people interested in him.

With pop culture, as with any kind of cultural tradition, its important to be selective about what you work with. Utilizing discernment is taking the time to do the research and determine what you'll work with and why.  It's recognizing that what you choose to work with is important because of how it shapes your imagination. I work with pop culture media but I choose the media carefully with a recognition of how it could effect my imagination. As my imagination is a powerful magical tool, I want to use it effectively in order to achieve the best possible outcome, so I'm going to choose what I feed my imagination carefully to make sure that what I'm putting into is something I can work with magically if I need to, as well as enjoy, without getting so fixated on it that I'm unable to remove it from my imagination if needed. Remember that what you choose to focus on does have an effect on your imagination. When you are working magic, choose what you draw on with an awareness of your imagination so that you can use it effectively when you need to.

I do feel that pop culture is the modern mythology of times and that working with it is useful. There is no reason not to consider working with pop culture, unless you are working in a specific spiritual path or tradition where there would be a conflict of interest. The principles of magic can be used to work with pop culture, and you can develop a spiritual tradition from that work. The system of Dehara, for example, which is based off Wraeththu is an example of such a system which people work with for both practical and spiritual purposes and it works for them because they have established a genuine spiritual connection with the Dehara. It's a modern mythology which nonetheless works because there is something there that is deeper that people connect to and work with.

I was interviewed by Lucian Pharoe. You can listen to it here.

Book Review: Convergence Culture by Henry Jenkins

In this book, Jenkins explores how old and new media converge and shape pop culture as well as interactions people with have pop culture. It's a fascinating book which shows how fans are increasingly shaping the production of pop culture and how companies are reacting to that change. This book also shows the rots of social media and how the changing technology will continue to shape how media is produced. What is particularly important about this book is that it helps you understand how more than ever people have a role in pop culture and how the creation of pop culture is the creation of the modern mythology of our times. The author provides a variety of case studies that show how different mediums of technology are being used in the production of pop culture mythology. this is a must read book for culture studies, but also for anyone fascinated with how pop culture is shaping our time.

The Value of Spiritual Discernment

In Unseen Worlds and Practical Aspects of Spiritual Discernment by Anastacia Nutt, the author makes the point that it is useful to cultivate discernment and the ability to filter out negative energies/entities while inviting in beneficial energies/entities. I agree with her approach and have employed in my daily meditations since I started practicing magic. In a of modern occult works the emphasis on protection focuses on creating a sterile environment from which to work magic, but creating such an environment weakens our ability to work magic, because we are excluding everything, as opposed to only filtering out what isn't needed.

I've always found filtering to be quite useful and in establishing a space from which to work magic or simply doing magic on the fly, I've always focused on creating a system of filters that admits the right energy, while taking anything that doesn't fit and distributing it back into the space outside of the magical working. In this way I'm not so much excluding energy as redistributing it where it is needed, while also bringing exactly what I need.

I think the focus on magical protection has emphasized a more martial aspect to such work in part because people buy into the idea that there is a hostile spiritual environment and entities just waiting to attack. My own take on it is not so much that there is a hostile environment or entities, so much as there are environments and entities that are anathemic to us and don't fit in, but nonetheless have a space they do fit into. So if the magician sets up the space right, what happens is the right energy/entities are brought in, while the rest is filtered out and redistributed to where it does belong.

In my opinion spiritual discernment is really a cultivation of awareness about what you are doing and what fits with what you are doing. It's a recognition that what you bring into any magical work and for that matter into your everyday life is determined by your awareness of what fits and works vs what doesn't fit and will get in the way of what you are trying to do. Spiritual discernment, as a result, examines the chaos and harmony in a person's life to evaluate what needs to be filtered out and what needs to be kept. If we approach protection from that perspective we can appreciate and recognize that everything has its place, but where that place is, in respect to ourselves, will depend on what we are doing and what we need to draw upon. Thus we set up a system of protection that integrates what's needed, inviting it into the place it is needed, while keeping what isn't needed in its proper place, honored but nonetheless not invited because it isn't needed. It's an admittedly a different approach to protection, but it's always worked for me and over the years has helped me filter out a lot of chaos.

When you combine this concept with internal work, it is also useful, because it helps you filter out the chaotic aspects of your life and dissolve then, redistributing the energy and people that are unhealthy into their respective places outside of your life, while keeping in the people and energy that are healthy for you. A lot of my internal work has involved coming to recognize what is chaotic and dissolving it and letting go of attachments that would keep it in my space, while also cultivating awareness about who and what really fits into my life and why. Spiritual discernment, used in the capacity, allows a person to acknowledge that each person has their place, but again also acknowledges that such a place may not fit with your life. Not surprisingly doing dissolving work has a tendency to cause some changes in your life as you look at situations and people differently through the work you do and let go of the unhealthy attachments you were holding on to before.

I've had an article published in Silverstar magazine on Redefining Pop Culture Magic.

I was interviewed by Jeremy Crow about the upcoming Left Hand Path Conference, Manifesting Wealth and Magical Identity.

Spirit Cord work with the Quabala

One of the techniques that R. J. Stewart shares in The Spirit Cord is how the cord work can be used in relationship to Quabala. He provides an exercise where you work with the Ashim, which are the lunar angels of Yesod and from that work with the archangel Gabriel. I did the exercises and found them to be quite help for attuning myself to the lunar energy as well as to the Angelic order associated with that energy (I shared some of this work in my monthly posts about movement).

I'm reading William Gray's book The Ladder of Lights, which covers the Sephiroth in detail. I've decided that as I read each chapter, I'll explore reach Sephiroth and the associated planet and angelic order using the spirit cord as part of the working. So far I've done the work with Malkuth and the Angelic order of the Kerubim and the Archangel Sandalphon and started to work with Hod, which I'll detail at a later time.

What I noticed with the work I did with Malkuth was that the spirit cord technique worked just as well with that sphere as it had with the Ashim. I actually noticed that part of the spirit cord work focused in on the temple of dedication, which Stewart writes about in The Spirit Cord, so in one sense it felt like I'd already partially attuned myself to that energy and was just approaching it from a different angle. Nonetheless it helped immensely in turning the conceptual information provided by Gray into experiences that integrated the concept of Malkuth into the work I'm doing. What I noticed when working with each layer of Malkuth was an integration of those layers into my consciousness in such a way that helped me interface with the respective beings I encountered during the work.

I plan on applying the spirit cord technique to each Sephiroth and then possibly extending the work further. What I find useful about this work is that it draws on the understanding of the cord as a tool of remembrance, a spiritual library of sorts that can be used to integrate specific concepts into practices that become part of the spiritual essence of the practitioner. The spirit cord aligns the practitioner with the forces s/he seeks to work with and creates a spiritual DNA which can be used to recall those forces and make it easier to work with them because of how they are integrated into the cord.

During my spirit cord work with Hod, I experienced a faster frequency and I was told that one of the benefits of the spirit cord work is that it could help the practitioner handle the changes in frequency of energy by helping the practitioner sync their energy with the higher frequency energy, while acting as a buffer for the practitioner. It's a useful insight into the cord that I'll definitely employ as I continue this work.

Book Review: The Spirit Cord by R. J. Stewart

An excellent book which explores cord traditions of magic and shows you how to create a spirit cord and work with it in your own magical work. There are a number of exercises shared, which are helpful for learning how to work with the spirit cord. The book provides enough guidance and information that a practitioner will get a lot from it, but the key to truly working with the spirit cord is to make it your own. I also suggest taking your time and working with each exercise until you feel you've gotten the essence of what's being worked with. For the ritual magician, this is a definite must have book that will add a valuable tool and technique to your ongoing work.

Silence, Sound, and Magic

I'm reading Music Power Harmony by R.J. Stewart. He has some interesting insights to share about silence and sound and their relationship to magic. He notes the following, "Before music begins there is silence; but that silence itself is full of sounds. When the music commences, it generates patterns through the (non-) silence that preceded it, but each fragment of the music holds countless moments of resonance, interaction, silence, and sound." There is no silence. We live in a world of sound. That sound is all around us. Turn off your T. V., music, or whatever you are listening to and just listen. There will still be noises. The hum of your electronics, or just the sound in the background. Still yourself and listen and you will hear sounds you normally block out. Yet allowing yourself to hear them will provide an experience that shapes your consciousness by opening you up to what is around you all the time.

Stewart also notes that actual silence is found within, which is true to some extent, but only in the ability of the magician to be able to still the monkey mind. The chattering of the monkey mind brings its own sound that echoes through the mind, distracting the magician from the focus of the magical work. The monkey mind is stilled when the magician learns to cultivate silence by recognizing that there is no need to comment on everything. The stillness of the mind leads to an experience of silence that allows the magician to be receptive to whatever it that s/he is working with.

What I find most relevant however is what he says about musical empowerment, which is that it enables us to be transformed, to open ourselves to being transformed. I find this to be true with music and to some extent with other forms of media as well. Some of that transformation is the impressions left on the monkey mind, which is why you find yourself thinking of that annoying song or commercial tune you recently heard. However, when used for ritual purposes, media transforms the consciousness by conditioning it toward achieving states of altered awareness that in turn is used for magical purposes. And whether you are making the music or listening to it, you become part of this sonic experience that imprints your mind with the path to achieving that altered state.

In my own work sound and silence form a rhythm,which is used to create that altered state of consciousness. Each moment of sound is interspersed with moments of silence, with sound and silence leading into each other and supporting each other in order to help the person immerse themselves into a state of consciousness conducive for magical work. Vocalization is also used to help tune the working to the spiritual realms that will be called upon when doing the working. Silence and sound are powerful and both should be used with each other to help emphasize the working.

For example, take a bell and ring it. Let the sound fade until there is silence, then ring the bell again, letting the sound fade to silence, then ring it again. Observe the effect on your consciousness as you do this activity. The sound of the bell cuts through everything else in the background, but the silence brings awareness of the background to the forefront. The alternation of sound and silence takes you out of your usual state of mind, creating that altered state of consciousness that is useful for ritual work.

This can also be applied to the human voice. Chant a word or a syllable. Vocalize it as you say it and then let that vocalization fade into silence, then chant again, silence, and repeat. Note how the sound and silence sync up and work together to create the state of mind which is receptive to what the chant embodies. The patterns of sound and silence are used to create resonance with the magician and the forces s/he is calling upon or connecting with. That resonance is built up as the rhythm is established and through that build up the connection is established and strengthened until the magician is ready to bring it to head and commence to the next stage of the working.

I'm finding sound and silence more relevant than ever to my won work, both in terms of ritual magic, and solitary work. Sound entrains us while silence stills us. Both have their place in magical work and when used together they can be a potent tool for creating deeper connections or for putting you in the right state of mind.

Magic isn't always Safe

This last weekend I gave a talk on the 7 Faces of Alchemy ritual at the Northwest Alchemy conference. At one point, one of the people attending the talk asked what the statement of intent for the ritual was and if I'd had a specific result in mind. I explained that my intention, at the time of the working was that it would function as a purposeful catalyst for change in my life, but that I didn't have specific results in mind because I felt that defining the result too much would have taken away from the efficacy of the working. I wanted to have an experience and I recognized then as I do now that when you have an experience, you necessarily give up some control to have it. You can't have an experience if you aren't open to it showing up in your life in ways you don't expect, that nonetheless brings change to your life.

My answer to that question also prompted me to note something else about that ritual: I didn't want to define the result too much because to do so would have sanitized the working, made it safe in a way that didn't allow for genuine change to occur. Life isn't safe (despite what illusions we provide ourselves to that effect) and I don't think magic should be either. Now I'll admit I've stated that it is useful to define the result and that when you develop a process of magic, it can actually be very useful to define the desired result so you can work backwards. In practical magic, defining the result is very useful because it provides a measurable outcome to shoot for. But there's always exceptions to the rules...

Sometimes you want to do magic to change your life, but you recognize that you need to be open for the change show up in ways you can't anticipate. You recognize that you need to be pushed in order to grow and if you try to control that process you'll just keep yourself stuck in a rut. Sometimes you need magic not to be safe and defined, because when its safe and defined it keeps you where you are...predictable. Sometimes you need to let go of control and be open to the experience, to letting it change and push you in ways you didn't expect could happen.

Magic isn't always safe. It shouldn't always be safe. When I did the 7 Faces of Alchemy work, it wasn't safe magic. It changed my life in ways I couldn't anticipate and pushed me to change and grow. I had a lot of illusions about myself stripped away and I had to come face to face with my decisions and look at what my life really was as opposed to what I thought it should be. It was hard work that humbled me and helped me change in a way that ultimately benefited me. It wasn't safe work though because if it had been safe I wouldn't have faced those issues or been humbled in that way. It was dangerous work that challenged me as a magician and person. By opening myself to the experience and allowing that experience to become part of me, I allowed myself to give up control and accept whatever came my way, with the understanding that it would change in me in ways I didn't expect.

Whenever I do magical work with an eye toward creating major changes in my life, I do so with the understanding that I won't be safe. My life will change and that change will necessarily require some sacrifice on my part that will likely be hard to give at the time I make it. Yet I also know that surrendering to change will bring with it opportunities and if I am open to those opportunities I will end up where I need to be. It may be uncomfortable and painful, yet what I learn as a result will challenge me to grow.

The Cultural Value of Pop Culture Magic

Among other books I'm reading, I'm reading a lot of pop culture studies books as research for Pop Culture Magic 2.0. In several of the books the authors make some relevant points about how the concept of pop culture is treated. Pop culture is considered to be low culture, culture of the masses, something which is frowned upon as being not relevant or serious to our times, as compared to older works that are considered high culture. Shakespeare, for example is considered high culture, even though when he wrote the plays they were considered pop culture. The point to consider here is this: What makes one cultural artifact valid or another invalid as more to do with social agendas than the actual artifact. This is relevant to pop culture magic in the sense that the dismissal of pop culture magic is at least partially derived from cultural standards used to judge pop culture as not relevant because pop culture doesn't fit the agenda of the people deciding what is or isn't culturally valuable.

I admittedly have my own agenda. I find pop culture to be relevant and insightful in regards to the times we live in, and in the magical and spiritual work people do. I think that integrating pop culture into magical work makes a lot of sense because of how pop culture informs our awareness and experiences of the world. When I see the occasional negative reaction to pop culture magic, what I really see is a reactive reinforcement of cultural standards, usually done without being consciously aware of that reinforcement. And in cases where it is done with a consciousness awareness of that reinforcement, what strikes me most is what I perceive as fear on the part of the person. The fear that pop culture will overshadow and replace what they find to be culturally valuable.

What keeps culture alive and relevant is how people interact with it and make it a part of their lives. This is true for older cultural artifacts as well as contemporary cultural artifacts. Thus it can seem that pop culture is in competition with older cultures, and thus the response is to decry it, make it less valid and valuable. However I think that pop culture doesn't have to be in competition with older cultures and can actually inspire people to learn more about older cultures. For example, while Marvel's Thor is not the Thor of Norse mythology, he is derived from that Thor. People who enjoy the modern day presentation of Thor may become curious to learn more about the Norse version of Thor as a result. The same could be argued for Greek myths. The Zeus of Percy Jackson isn't the same as the Zeus of Greek Myths, but how many people have been exposed to Greek mythology as a result of Percy Jackson?

Another concern is that people might take cultural concepts from older cultures and corrupt them by applying them to contemporary culture. There is some validity to this argument. A cultural concept from an older culture will have contextual meanings and associations specific to that culture which may not carry over or apply to contemporary culture, let alone pop culture depictions of contemporary culture. On the other hand, something worth considering is if applying a classic cultural concept to contemporary culture might allow people to learn more about those values who might not otherwise be exposed to them. There aren't easy answers to this particular conundrum, but I'll admit that part of what I think pop culture can be is influenced by the cultures of the past and acknowledging and consciously bringing that influence to bear could be good for all of us.

I think it's useful to examine our own biases and recognize what informs them. The education system is slanted toward presenting "high" culture and valuing that culture over contemporary culture. How then does that effect our own biases and opinions when it comes to pop culture? If we value a certain type of culture over another, what are the standards and values informing that decision and how have we come to that decision? I'll admit that in my case I've always been fascinated by pop culture and its various expressions. I see value in it and through it discover new ideas for my magical work. That other people feel this way as well tells me that pop culture magic has more lasting value and can bring something to magical work and indeed spirituality that could be useful to explore. Knowing our biases as we go into that exploration is important, just as it is important to understand the biases that inform other people's perspectives and opinions about pop culture and its place in magical work.

The continued evolution of my non-anthropomorphic magical work

I recently came across a blog post on pagan square which explored two meanings of anthropomorphism. The author argued that anthropomorphism wasn't necessarily an error and argued that classifying it as such negated the benefit of being able to relate to deities in a manner that was representative of the emotions and attributes that people could relate to. She went on to note that it was possible to derive two meanings in anthropomorphism. One meaning would argue that divinity has human form and physical characteristics of humans, which she felt would be an anthropomorphic error. The other meaning is that a deity, entity, etc., has human like consciousness and she felt that making this assumption was not an error. I disagree, because I find that when you attribute human consciousness, feelings, motives, etc., what is really happening is that you are seeking to control the relationship with whatever you are connecting with.

It makes sense in a way. If I ascribe certain types of behaviors to an entity, in order to work with it, it makes the experience feel safer. The problem is that assuming you understand the consciousness of a non-human by ascribing human values to it really misses out on actually connecting with the entity. In a lot of my recent work I've moved away from an anthropocentric model because I've come to recognize how limiting and problematic such a model is. At the same time, what I have found interesting is how some of the previous work I've done nonetheless set the stage to connect with entities I'm working with in a non-anthropomorphic manner. For example, I've been revisiting my work with neurotransmitters.

When I initially did the work with neurotransmitters I sought an anthropomorphic connection. In other words, I wanted them to appear before me in a shape I could recognize and communicate with me in a way that was humancentric. In those workings I'd ask for a symbol I could use to evoke the neurotransmitters. In my recent work I've gone back and approached the work in a manner that is focused on experiencing the neurotransmitter as it works instead of trying to sanitize it by making it seem human. While the neurotransmitter exists in my body, it doesn't mean it shares the same consciousness, values, feelings etc. When I've done the recent non-anthropomorphic work with the neurotransmitters, what I've discovered is that the symbols I'd previously been given actually are actually the experiences I'm having. In other words, the neurotransmitters provided the experience of them as symbols. In the current work, I'm experiencing them and yet finding that the experience mirrors the symbol. It's quite fascinating, but even in this case I don't assume an anthropomorphic consciousness at work, but rather a sharing of the experience in a way that would make sense to my anthropomorphic consciousness.

All of my other magical work has also been around a non-anthropomorphic approach, which focuses on being open to the experience without interpreting the connection from a human perspective. I can acknowledge, as a human, that my experience will occur through my senses and awareness of those senses, but I do my best not to place human values on what I'm connecting with. Instead by being open to the experience as it occurs I can connect in a way that is genuine and allows for mediation of the entity being connected with. I'm not blocking the connection with my human biases and interpretation. This mediation of the entity is stronger as a result, allowing the magician to establish a deeper relationship based on the authentic experience instead of the biases of the magician.

For example, the recent spirit cord work I shared about the lunar work I did involved working with the Ashim, which are the angels of the lunar realm. I didn't assume the angels would appear to me with wings or harps. In fact, I didn't assume they would appear to me at all, and in fact they didn't. My experience of them involved feeling them as they transported me to the lunar realm. By not going in to the working with anthropomorphic assumptions and biases, I was able to connect with them and be aware of them as they worked with me, without assigning values and consciousness to them that didn't necessarily fit them.

I see anthropomorphism as an extension of the tendency to apply psychology to magic as a way of explaining. Anthropomorphism makes magic seem safe and easy to handle, because it's all in your head. The problem with that approach is that takes the magic out of magic. It's just a head game then, easily explainable in terms of behavior, but lacking real depth. Anthropomorphism conveniently applies human behavior to experiences to make those experiences more palatable, but it stops us from really allowing ourselves to be moved by the magic we are working or the entities we are connecting with.

Book Review: The Sacred Cross: A Transformational Spiritual Tool for Life by Anastacia Nutt

This book teaches a stillness technique called the Sacred Cross. The author does an excellent job of balancing the conceptual aspects of the technique with practical exercises used to integrate the technique into your spiritual practices. She also provides some excellent suggestions for how the technique can be used in concern with other spiritual practices you are doing. I've found the book helpful as I've worked with the sacred cross technique and have adapted the technique into my ongoing spiritual work on a daily basis. If you are wanting to learn a useful stillness technique, this one will resonate with you and be very helpful.

The Value of Cursing

I spent my high school years in York, PA. One of the rare, interesting places in the area is Rehmeyer's hollow. In the early 20th century, Rehmeyer, who was a hex magician, was killed by another magician, Blymire, who claimed that Rehmeyer had cursed him. Killing Rehmeyer didn't seem to do Blymire much good, given that he ended up in jail for his efforts, but if you visit Rehmeyer's Hollow you can tell that whatever happened there left a permanent mark on the land, because it's a pretty spooky place. I remember driving there late at night, and doing a lot of my early formative ritual work in the hollow. It was and still is a place that I have fond memories of and on the exceedingly rare occasions I happen to be in York, I make a point to visit the hollow.

When I was an angst ridden teenager, I did the occasional curse, really as a way to feel empowered in situations where I didn't feel I had much power otherwise. However in more recent years I haven't performed a curse and I find it interesting to encounter the occasional occult book, which discusses curses in a manner where it's clear that the writer is pretty serious about actually using them. My own response to reading this has also been enlightening, because I consider the idea of doing a curse to be a waste of time and effort. This is in part because something I've come to realize about people in general, myself included, is that we are our own worst enemies. The way I figure it, someone I genuinely dislike is someone who is already cursed by just being them and having to deal with their own issues (or not deal with them as the case may be). I realize that this attitude is also reflective of a lot of the internal work I've done, especially around the dissolving practice, which has allowed me to strip away a lot of the dysfunction and consequently also makes me re-evaluate where I want to put my energy and time.

A couple of years ago, I decided to do a banishing ritual that involved some people from my past. Even though I hadn't been in touch with any of those people for a while, they brought up such feelings of anger and hurt and I realized they likely would've been thrilled to know they'd continued to push my buttons. And I knew that if I did a curse, it would really just be feeding the anger and hurt. I'd be cursing myself as much as them and I just didn't see the point. So I did this banishing working, where I vomited up those feelings and released what I was feeling. Since then I've felt much happier and focused on what really matters, which is doing my own work and experiments and also helping people out, which is something I find a lot more empowering.

I look at cursing and what I see is an ego game. I'm pissed off at so and so for saying or doing something I didn't like, so I'm going to mess that person up. That's what it boils down to. And all that said I've been the occasional recipient of a curse as well, and what I've taken away in those cases is that I have more power over that person than anything they could do to me, because I've gotten them so worked up that they feel the need to try and do something to me...and by doing they are really giving me their sense of power. Actually that's true in any situation where a person gets worked up enough to try and do something. Of course you take appropriate pre-cautions. I do my daily work each day and part of doing that daily work is making sure I've got my bases covered, but even so in that situation where they are trying to do something to me, who really has the power? The person who is throwing the curse might feel like they've got the power, but they're giving it all away instead of taking a moment to really examine their own perspectives and roles and why they are so invested in a situation that they let it get to them like that. As for me, I'd rather just walk away and focus on doing what's important. I'd rather focus my time and energy on what calls to me then wasting it on someone else.

Lunar and Sacred Cross Workings

My current magical work has focused on continuing to work with the Spirit Cord, specifically in relationship to some space/time magic and Lunar workings with the Ashim, as well as integrating a new daily meditation, the Sacred Cross, which I've been using as a stillness exercise. I've been finding that stillness work in general is creating a deeper foundation for my space/time magic work, which makes sense because what it does is create a very specific state of mind that allows a person to experience space and time differently. The work in the Sacred Cross technique involves directing your consciousness both inward and outward, inward to yourself and the Earth and outward to the cosmos, and then bringing all of that into yourself and creating stillness from it that connects you to the rhythm of the universe.

Part of what I like about the Sacred Cross work is that you are initially using the beating of your heart to move yourself into that altered space of consciousness. When you can draw on your own rhythms to help you move into a specific state of mind, it really teaches you to be aware and appreciative of what your body can share with you, as well a how your body can open you up to experiences with the world at large. Since I've started doing this working regularly, it's enabled me to hit deeper states of consciousness, as well as enhancing the other stillness work I'm doing.

With the spirit cord work I've been doing an exercise where you walk the silver and gold stairs of the sublunar realm to connect with the Ashim, which are the Lunar angels. The gold and silver stairs are part of the journey a soul takes when it dies and when it reincarnates, but you can also consciously work with the Ashim. The work I've been doing with the spirit cord has involved bonding the lunar energy to the cord for purposes of connecting with the Ashim, but doing this work has also taken me into some interesting directions. Each time I've done the working I've connected with a being which has instructed me about the journey of souls, both as it relates to this planet, but other places as well. I've also been given access to a library of sorts, where I've encountered my higher self, or guardian angel, who has shown me a book, which is about my lives, specifically parallel timelines, where I don't experience those lives directly, so much as I learn about them and the choices that were made to create those time variants of this life. What's interested me most in this aspect of the working is how I might integrate the contents of the book into the spirit cord, or if the spirit cord could be considered analogous to the book.

I also did a lunar working where I connected to the archangel Gabriel. We discussed the spirit cord work, space/time work as it relates to the spirit cord and then he reached out and touched my brow. I felt him attune me and then he told me I should do the spirit cord wrk in relationship to the other planetary and archangelic energies as I continue the work I'm doing at this time.

I still have some lunar workings from the Spirit Cord to do, but I'm doing the work slow and steady. I'm not in any rush to be anywhere...it's more about understanding and mastering what you're working with, instead of trying to get somewhere fast. Nonetheless doing this work is quite fascinating and I find myself enjoying getting back to my roots as it were by doing some of this work and considering as well how I can integrate it into other projects I'm working on.

Book Review: Making Comics by Scott McCloud

If you want to write comics or create art for comics or do both this book is essential. And if you're a writer of prose, I still recommend this book because it'll help you appreciate writing from a different angle. If you enjoy reading comics books and want to know what happens on the creation end of them, then this book is a must read. There are some excellent ideas, and McCloud does a great job of providing readers a chance to peak behind the curtain and understand what happens when you make comics. This is also an inspirational book...it will get you to think differently. I've been inspired by it not merely in terms of writing or art, but also in other areas of my life, including my spiritual practice because of how the concepts in the book get you to look at the world differently.

Book Review: Missing Microbes by Martin Blaser

In this book the author explores the ramifications of the overuse of antibiotics in both the the health and food industry and how this overuse is effecting the microbial systems within our bodies. It's a fascinating book that will open your eyes and get you to think carefully about your food and medical choices, as well as how you choose to give birth, and other such decisions. The author also shares the various studies he's been engaged in and provides solid information on how the changes in our microbial systems are contributing to the rise of super bacteria as well as new diseases. If you're interested in understanding the biology of your body, this book will be eye-opening.

Book Review: Divorcing a Real Witch by Diana Rajchel

In this book, Diana explores the topic of divorce and what t do when you are a Pagan (or married to one) and are about to go through the process of divorce. She walks readers through that process as well as exploring how people come to that decision. What I like in particular about the book are the rituals she shares and ideas she has for how to make a clean break of it, and make the divorce as easy as it possibly can be. I wish I'd had this book when I had my divorce. Reading this book will help you make sense of your divorce, find empowerment, and move on from the relationship you are leaving. And it can also be a good book for couples to read, to help them have some conversations that may need to occur, especially if you are in a rocky phase of your relationship.

Life Skills and Magic

Recently John Beckett posted about poor magicians being poor magicians because of the chaos in their lives. Some of the responses to what he wrote ranged from agreement to arguing that he was making statements from a place of class and privilege. Shortly after John wrote that post, I found another post by Frater Barrabbas, which may or may not have been a response to John's post, but which I like because of the some points he makes about wealth and success as it relates to the practice of magic. Jason Miller weighed in on John's post and makes the point that a magician can be good at magic and still be bad at handling life skills. John Beckett wrote another post in response to Jason's, where he essentially agrees with Jason's take on the discussion. All of it makes for fascinating reading, in relationship to a few topics: Wealth Magic and its efficacy and place in the magician's life, the definition of success and what that really looks like, and finally defining the relationship between magic and living a "good life". So here's my take on this conversation...

Being good at magic and being good at life are not necessarily one and the same. They can be linked together, but they don't automatically go together. I have known many magicians in my life who are good at magic, but nonetheless live chaotic lives. In fact, I'd argue that sometimes their very skill at magic actually contributes to the chaos in their lives. Why? Because so much of practical magic is reactive magic, done as a response to situations and problems that occur in the life of the magician. I used to be one of those magicians. A problem would come along and what would I do? Look to magic to solve the problem. I'd do a magical working and the problem would be resolved, for that moment. Eventually the problem would show up again in a different guise, but nonetheless similar enough that if I knew what to look for I could recognize it for what it was. It took me years to realize something significant about the problems and chaos I was dealing with in my life: I contributed to and helped create the problems I was dealing with. I lived my life by reaction and consequently practiced my magic by reaction. And there are many magicians who do approach magic in just that way. It works great for the short term, but has little long term value.

The secret to wealth magic is that you figure out what you really want and make that the drive of your life. But what you really want needs to be greater than just meeting materialistic needs. It needs to speak something deeper within you, something that connects you to other people and to the world at large. It's that drive which will fuel your actions, bring you success, and help you design your life. Without that drive, you'll be like so many other people, caught in the minutiae of life, being ground away because some deep part of you is unsatisfied. So what is it you really feel called to do? What is it that brings you deep satisfaction? What is it that allows you to contribute not just to the well-being of your own life, but also to other people and to the world at large? Take the time to explore what you feel called to do and make that the focus of your life's work. Just remember one thing: If you choose to pursue what you feel called to do, don't assume it'll be an easy road to travel. It can and does take a lot of work, but if it's worth doing, you'll do the work because you know doing it will be fulfilling for you.

In my other business, I'm a business coach and what I teach my clients to do is run their business by design instead of by reaction. This same practice applies to living your life. When you plan by design, what you are doing is determining what you want for your life and what you will need to do in order to achieve what you want. Seems simple enough, but its a lot harder to execute than you'd think because so much of what people think they want is short term desires, material desires, etc., and curiously enough its actually harder to stay motivated and focused on achieving short term desires, because of how transitory they are. What I really teach my clients is how to reach past the short term desires and get in touch with what they are called to do, get in touch really with their core values and ideology. If you aren't in touch with your core values and ideology its hard to plan your life (or business) by design because you don't really know why you are doing what you are doing.

However it's not enough to define what you feel called to do. If you really want to pursue your calling, then be proactive and plan for it by design. Look at what actions you will need to take in 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, a year, etc., to get to what you want. Define each area of your life that will need to change and develop action for each of those areas. If this sounds systematic, it is, because when you apply a systematic approach to your life, you start to prioritize what's really important and cut out what isn't important.

Planning by design also means you take a critical look at your life (or business) and examine who and what is in your life as well as analyzing your own behavior and actions. Are you happy with your life? Are you happy with your relationships? Are you happy with what you are doing? All of these are good questions to ask, but you have to be honest with yourself in regards to the answers. Most of you have to recognize how you contribute to the state of your life. If you aren't happy with where your life is you do need to acknowledge and own your part of it. You can't control everything around you, but you can control your reactions and responses to situations. In fact one book I'd recommend reading is The Magic of Thinking Big, because it teaches you how to look at any situation you are in and find a way to make the situation better or make it work to your benefit. It's one of the best books on wealth magic, that isn't overtly about wealth magic. It teaches you the real power of positive thinking, which isn't the law of attraction schlock that's out there, but instead is focused on acknowledging the environment and circumstances you are in and looking for the available opportunities that will help you achieve your goals.

Planning by design also means you look at the material aspects of your life and determine what you need to support your calling. It doesn't mean you have to make a 7 figure salary to be wealthy, or even that money or material wealth should be your primary focus. It does mean you define what you need and you make sure you can get it, and you also learn the necessary skills to keep it and sustain it. A lot of people mistakenly assume that wealth magic is about money and how much you have, but that's short term thinking once again rearing its head. Unless you know what you'll use the money for and how you'll use it, it doesn't matter. Defining how you'll use money and what you'll use money for is far more important because then you understand money is a means to an end and as such your focus is on achieving the end and using money for that purpose instead of simply trying to acquire money.

Along with planning your life by design, I recommend also doing some internal work. Internal work isn't just getting clear on your core values or what you feel called to do. Internal work also involves working through your internal chaos and dysfunction. We all have it, to one degree or another. Internal work teaches you how to diffuse your reactions, work through your triggers and as a result control your responses. It takes a lot of work, but it is worth doing because of the clarity it brings to your life. Don't be surprised though if in doing this you change the relationships you have in your life. In the decade I've been doing internal work, a lot of my associations changed. As I worked through my internal chaos, it caused me to look at the circumstances of my life and the people I associated and make changes to both, based on what I felt would be healthy and supportive for me accomplished what I feel called to do.

Magic by design is good magic. Part of planning my life by design is utilizing practical magic in a proactive role. Instead of simply reacting to problems with magic, why not look at how you can integrate magic into your life design? For example, my work with the goetic Daimon Bune has involved getting his advice and suggestions on what resources I need to develop a successful business. In the years I've been working with him my businesses have improved quite a it thanks to his advice. Another example of proactive magic has involved learning to work with my body and the microbial life within in it to optimize my health. Practical magic doesn't have to be reactive, and when used from a design perspective, it makes it easier to navigate around potential problems instead of having to react to them. When you use magic from a design perspective, you are actively shaping your life around your life purpose, around what you feel called to do. That's how you mix life skills and magic in order to come out ahead.

Since we're on the topic of wealth magic, check out the latest podcast interview with yours truly by Occult Sentinel where we discuss wealth magic, identity, and other concepts relevant to the post above.

The Process of Magic Round 9 starts in one Week!

Magic is a process that changes you and your relationship with the world, if you understand how the process works.

In this 24 lesson class, we will explore what the process of magic is and how it applies to you and your magical work. If you’re looking for a different perspective on magic that explores the underlying principles of how magic works, instead of focusing on the tools, ceremonies, and other optional features, this class is for you. Here is a testimonial from one of the people currently taking the class:

I have been reading and experimenting with magic and the occult for over five years and it seemed like I was going off in too many directions, without a map to guide me. I felt like I was spinning my wheels. This course helped me focus, without tying me into any particular Religion or belief system. If you are looking for a course that builds a foundation for your understanding and practice of Magic, this is the one! - G. Marlett

And here is a series of blog posts that another student has written as she engages in the work we are doing in the class:

Entry 1

Entry 2

Entry 3

The process of magic teaches the fundamentals of magic, by taking apart various practices of magic and exploring how those practices work and then teaching you how to personalize such practices. To learn more and to RSVP go here.

Work with instead of swimming against

Shauna Aura Knight recently posted a series of blog posts about her definition of magic. She'd written the posts because she's currently taking the process of magic course and one of the exercises involves students defining what their definition of magic is. I think her responses are very thoughtful and demonstrate the kind of engagement that's really important in understanding magic.  Here is her first entry, second entry, and third entry. A little while back I wrote something about magic, which is integral to this blog post, but also to my own definition of magic and how I think magic works, when it comes to practical applications of it: "The genuine experience of magic is something which changes you and your relationship to the universe. It’s not a result. It’s an ongoing relationship that informs how you experience the world and your place in it, as well as how you change it."

In her second post, Shauna makes several interesting points abut magic and why people do magic:

Some of our ancestors certainly spent a lot of effort making offerings (including the occasional human sacrifice) to appease the gods and shift the weather, or end a war. Do I think it works like that? Not really. I think that everyone stays a lot calmer when we feel like we’re doing something. We humans just don’t cope with the idea that the earth could shrug and we’re wiped out and we have no control over that. So I think in some cases, magic becomes an illusion of control.

and:

Magic works really well for changing myself. It works well for changing the consciousness of myself and others where I have that influence. But the more specific external physical results I want, the more I’m swimming upstream against the nature of physics. Or, the more physical work I’m going to need to do to take it beyond just my intention and my will.

and in part 3 she noted:

I think that, with magic, we want proof. We want flash. We want miracles.  And when we don’t get those, we wonder what magic is. When we see how magic works, it doesn’t seem very flashy…or, we realize how unimportant the flash really is.

All of these points she makes are good ones and again I'd suggest reading her entries in their entirety because it'll give you some food for thought about magic. I agree with Shauna that for so many people, what they want is proof that magic is real. They want Hollywood magic, but what they don't realize is that magic is a process and that it is subtle. The majority of magical work I've done has usually involved a build-up of actions and energy toward manifesting a possibility into reality. Rarely is it instantaneous, but the results happen when I need them to, because I've planned that into the working. And as I mentioned in a recent post on high magic, sometimes what we want is to feel connected and to also feel like we made a difference, even if how we're trying to make that difference is a symbolic gesture as opposed to real actions.

I do believe magic can generate physical results. However I think the way those physical results are generated has more to do with turning possibility into reality than anything else. When you think about it, turning possibility into reality is what practical seems to be about. Magic is stacking the deck in your favor, but for that to happen involves working with what's possible and selecting the possibility you want to manifest into reality. Some possibilities are easier than others to manifest. As Shauna notes, the more external physical results you want to generate, the more you swim upstream against the nature of physics (as we know it anyway). For example, if you want to throw a fireball, you're going to have change the laws of physics (or create some technology). If you want to telekinetically move an item, you've come got to come up with the energy to make it happen. And that energy isn't just changing the physical environment but also accessing the possibility of tossing a fireball or moving an item with your mind.

I prefer not to swim against the stream. I prefer to work with what's around me. Part of working with something involves learning about it. For example, if I'm going to work on the microbial level of my body, I'd better do some research into what that looks like, so that I at least have an idea of what I'm working with and how factor that into the magical work I'm doing. If I want to do a weather magic working, I'm going to research the weather system I'm in, so I understand the possibilities available.

I look at practical magic in terms of possibilities. What are the available possibilities? What are the variables that effect those possibilities? What can I work with to make the possibility to turn into reality? Viewed in this way magic isn't full of flash or glamour, but it works really well in terms of turning possibilities into reality. I work with what's around me, instead of swimming against it. I don't need to swim against anything to get what I want and I'm always in favor of creating the path of least resistance toward achieving my goals.

On a different note Lilith Dorsey interviewed me on her blog about divination.

How Pop Culture spreads Magic

In Spirit Speak by Ivo Dominguez Jr, the author shares an interesting cosmology of the different levels of Deity forms in a diagram, which also shows the context of where humans fit into the picture. At the top you have a unitary being, which you might think of as the universe. It encompasses everything. Then you have mediators of that being which include such beings as deities, angels etc, all of which perform specific functions and channel specific aspects of the unitary being into the universe in a manner that is more comprehensible to us. Then you have ancestors, dis incarnates, etc., and finally the humans at the bottom. It's a pretty fascinating cosmology and you see some of it in other models of esoteric practices, but what I really found fascinating is that I've seen the same model presented in Raymond Feist's Riftwar series.

The Riftwar series is a fantasy series written by Feist over the last 2 or 3 decades. He doesn't really get into the cosmology of it until the Serpent War Saga, but in that saga the characters discuss the nature of magic, the universe and deities and what's presented is fascinated because it discusses how the deities are mediators of the universe, while also being shaped to some degree by their interactions with mortals, and specifically by how the mortals mediate or comprehend them, which brings up an interesting point to consider about mediation. Mediation is a two way street. While we our opening ourselves up to mediate a force, we nonetheless are also bringing to bear our own perspectives about that mediation. In that sense mediation is an interpretation of the force being worked with.

In any case, as you read Feist's series more of the cosmology is revealed. The universe is treated as an entity in and of itself that learns from everything that exists within it, while the various deities are representative of forces and concepts mortals deal with. Some deities are further removed than others and as a result the mortals interact with the lesser deities in order to connect with the greater deities. All of this is similar to the cosmology that Ivo describes in his book. With that said, there is one distinct difference and it's this: Feist's work is a work of fiction, while what Ivo is describing is his actual system of spirituality. Nonetheless, there is a sharing of esoteric concepts in the fiction, and it is doen in a manner that plants seeds in the reader and helps them understand the concepts if they later encounter them in esoteric non-fiction. Certainly as  read Ivo's description of his cosmology, it made more sense to me because I saw certain elements of it expressed in what I'd read in Feist's fiction that were similar to what Ivo described.

Pop culture can be used to convey esoteric knowledge and secrets in a manner that may not be fully accurate, but nonetheless presents enough information for people to get something out of it. In Paranormal Media, Annette Hill notes that paranormal media such as books, shows, etc., is becomingly increasingly popular in mainstream culture, and certainly if you look at the profusion of television shows, paranormal books, and other types of esoteric themed media, what you see is an increasing interest in occult topics. Frankly, I think this a good thing, as it enables esoteric techniques and concepts to be shared with people who may not identify as occultists now, but may be open to exploring magic in their lives. And of course what you read in pop culture can also inspire magical experimentation, as it has in my case.

Pop culture is a viable medium for sharing esoteric concepts and secrets with people who aren't necessarily practicing magic at this time. That such information is becoming increasingly prevalent speaks to the fact that it fulfills a need for our society at large that likely can't be met through mainstream religious practices, which are less about empowering individuals and more about presenting a top down approach to spirituality that expects people to lessen themselves for the deity they worship.

Book Review: Paranormal Media: Audiences, Spirits, and Magic in Popular Culture by Annette Hill

In this book, the author discusses the growing interest in the paranormal and how the media has cultivated and fed this interest. She also examines the role of the audience in paranormal media and how that audience simultaneously provides skepticism and belief to paranormal media. It's a fascinating book which explores how contemporary culture is increasingly exploring the paranormal, magic, and other topics as a way of understanding the mysteries of the universe. If you're interested in paranormal studies or want to understand why the paranormal is becoming increasingly popular in mainstream culture, this book will provide some answers and also show how contemporary audiences are engaging with the paranormal.

The Need High Magic Fulfills

I've been thinking a lot about "high" magic lately, magic done for the purposes of connecting with the divine, for communion, and in some traditions as a way of mediating spiritual forces into the world at large. Specifically I've been thinking about the need high magic fulfills for the person/people practicing it. Part of what's prompted this thinking has been the consideration of my own experiences with high magic. The conclusion I've come to is that high magic, ritual magic, or whatever you want to call it fulfills a deep need: the need to connect with something deeper and larger than ourselves. Call it a deity, call it nature, call it what you want, what we get from such a connection is a deep need met that speaks to a desire to connect with the universe.

This need isn't written about or pointed to in magical texts and I'm sure that some people would argue with me about that need I'm suggesting is fulfilled, but in my experience, I find that people in general choose to take action based on what something will do for them. This isn't to say they don't want to take action for more altruistic reasons, because that certainly can be an element for why they are doing a magical working, but I've never encountered a person yet who hasn't done something without at least some type of gain for themselves. The gain may not be material, but its still there. And when I think about high magic and the purposes of doing magic, what I see is this deep need for connection being met.

We do this high magic ritual to connect with a spiritual being, to get information, or whatever else, but also to establish we are not alone. Or we do a ritual to respond to a crisis, to save the planet or a person or whatever else, but in part we're doing it because as people, as a community we need to find some way to feel connected to each other, to who or what we're doing the ritual for, and to feel a sense of control even if there may not be any control to be had. It's a deep need which goes unstated, but its worth stating it, if only to recognize that it is there, and to develop an informed awareness that allows to knowingly integrate and use that need in our magical workings.

I think that if we were to openly acknowledge that need it would also allow us to critically examine magical workings we do and ask ourselves why we're really doing them. For example, doing a magical ritual to stop oil pumping from a broken line into the ocean is not really an effective form of practical magic, but if we examine the underlying need for it, what we find is a desire to connect with the Earth, to somehow feel we can do something for the Earth. All well and good, though I'd suggest taking more practical mundane action to help out, such as looking at lifestyle choices or cleaning up litter or changing your carbon imprint, would be a better way to serve the Earth. And if you still feel the need to connect to the Earth via ritual magic, then do that magic with the recognition that you want the connection, because that will in and of itself change the working, and you might just get an experience that provides further direction for what you can actually do to help.

When we examine our magical practice and get real about why we are doing what we are doing it lets us have a deeper experience with magic. We aren't fooling ourselves and saying we're doing this working strictly for this reason, but acknowledging that there is something we need from the working ourselves that allows us to process an event or feel a sense of control where perhaps there isn't any. And then we can look and actually determine what we can do about the situation and take action accordingly.