Magic

Can social media become an expression of magical workings

When I recently asked my Facebook group what questions they had about social media magic, because of a book I’m getting ready to write on the topic, it didn’t surprise me that some of the questions I received were skeptical ones that questioned if social media could even be used as a medium for magical work. I understand why that question is asked, because the prevalent image and associations of magic are all based around traditional perspectives of how magic ought to work, with traditional tools that don’t really touch on modern technology and using it for magical purposes.

Yet nonetheless modern technology has been used in conjunction with magic and is being used with magical workings in order to get results, by myself and many other people, because the simple fact is magic isn’t limited to a specific toolset or way of doing things. Those limitations are human imposed and say more about how we limit our understanding of magic and how it can be practiced and what can be done with it. If we recognize the limitation as self-imposed then we can let go of it and start exploring how to adapt social media or anything else toward magical work.

Magical Experiments Podcast: The Luciferian Current with Anima Noira

In this episode of magical experiments podcast, I discuss the luciferian current with Anima Noira. We discuss spirit work and how to work with Lucifer as well as discussing love spells and magical workings and when one should or shouldn’t employ magic for results driven purpose as well as what its like to do magic for the purposes of internal work.

My magical name has been variously translated as “Breath of Darkness”, “Dark Life Force” “Animating Darkness” or “Dark Fire”. Anima Noira is an occult writer, artist, videographer, and host of the Devil’s Disciples talk show. She has done the Devil’s Work as a model, witch, and priestess. She publishes her essays on the occult on her website, Inner Ignition.

Explore related entries in the Library

What I am re-learning about creating magical tools

Over the years I’ve created some magical tools for myself. I first started creating magical tools as a teenager, first starting out with creating specific staffs and wands, and then in my early twenties exploring how to meld art and magic together to create magical tools with the paintings I created. However of late, I’ve been inspired to explore the creation of magical tools in further depth. Some of this inspiration has come about because of working with my magical partner, and some of it came about because of a recent interview I did on the Random Illusions podcast and some of it has been inspired by Alison Chicosky’s work on practical occult.

One of the challenges I’ve had with creating magical tools is not feeling like I have the requisite skills to do so, but I realized that’s a mental block on my part so I’ve begun challenging that mental block by considering what magical tools I could actually create. For the moment, I am creating those tools for myself, but I’ll probably make those tools for other people down the line.

Breaking out of the 5 Element model: A different approach to elemental magic

I’m currently writing Walking with Elemental Spirits, which is a book that explores my system for elemental magic. One of the central arguments of that book is that the 5 element model of earth, water, fire, air, and quintessence is a bit outdated. It has worked well as a model, but its evident that there are more elements than just the aforementioned elements. Why are we holding onto an outmoded model that was used to describe reality a long time ago, as a taxonomic means of categorizing the experiences of the world? I’ll be bold and just say we hold on to such models because we are taught that something which is old is typically considered better and if it works why change it.

I don’t agree with this sentiment. While I think the 5 element model is a great foundational tool, I also think that when we hold onto an old model and never question it we’re missing out on an opportunity to evolve magically, as well as to evolve the overall discipline of magic. I’ve been practicing elemental magic since I first started practicing magic, and for many years I did rely upon the 5 element model because it was what was available. Yet being the magical experimenter that I am, I inevitably ended up questioning it.

Magical Experiments Podcast: Skrying and Spirit Work with Harper Feist

In this interview Harper Feist shares her experiences with skrying and spirit work. We discuss the different types of skrying people can do and why skrying can be a viable alternative to invocation/evocation, as well as leading up to those practices. We also discuss the nature of spirits.

Harper has a class coming up on Skrying

Harper Feist is a member of the OTO, a past master of Leaping Laughter Lodge, an ordained priestess of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica and the current interviewer of U.S. Grand Lodge’s official podcast, “Thelema Now.”

Why its important to revisit old magical workings

When you have performed lots of magical workings and created specific types of outcomes, it can helpful to revisit that work. I share a few reasons for revisiting old work and also explain why it can be helpful to revise older workings, or shut them down, if they are still working in the background.

Magical Experiments Podcast: Ancient Magical Artifacts with Alison Chicosky

In this episode, Alison Chicosky and I discuss the various magical artifacts she's created and she tells us how she created those artifacts and what her research process is. We also address the recent controversies she's been dealing with in the occult community.

Visit Alison's website at http://www.practicaloccult.com

To see pictures and links of the products we discussed in the show visit: https://www.magicalexperiments.com/blog/2021/11/4/further-experiments-with-pentacles

Featured items from Alison's interview

Picture courtesy of Jennifer G 2022

The Triangle of Hekate - Being used her for skrying purposes and to connect with the goddess Hekate. Comes with a pdf about the archaeological history of the triangle.

Picture Taylor Ellwood 2022

Pentacles - Individual planetary pentacles that can be worked with. Each one has specific attributes that can be drawn upon.

Picture Taylor Ellwood 2022

Hermes-Thoth Prosperity box comes with a papyrus with the spell written out, as well as incense to burn. The box is made of olive wood.

Taylor Ellwood 2022

Mercurial Mind Bracelet - It has each of the pentacles of Mercury on it. Very useful for prompting creativity and helping with communication.

Taylor Ellwood 2022

Bracelet of Blessings - Jupiterian bracelet that lets you tap into the expansive and protection of the Jupiterian current.

Magical Experiments podcast: Heart Magic with Irisanya Moon

In this interview Irisanya Moon discusses what Heart Magic is and shares how it can be used to help you heal your heart as well as sharing her work with Aphrodite as a goddess of love and initiation. We talk about what the relationship with a godd can look like and what that entails for one's personal work as a result.

Get Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow and Messenger of the Godds - https://amzn.to/3r7XPgj (affiliate link)

Get Aphrodite: encountering the Goddess of Love, Beauty, & Initiation - https://amzn.to/3ngHfK6 (affiliate link)

Get practically pagan: An alternative guide to health and well-being: https://amzn.to/3Gen3A5 (affiliate link)

Get Reclaiming Witchcraft: https://amzn.to/3tkKjsy (affiliate link)

Irisanya Moon (she/they) is a writer, priestess, and teacher, and has facilitated classes and camps around the world, including the US, Canada, UK, and Australia. She was initiated into the Reclaiming Witchcraft tradition in 2014. She is a frequent contributor to Moon Books anthologies, a contributor to Witches & Pagans magazine, a columnist for Pagan Dawn, a blogger for Moon Books, and a blogger for Patheos.com (Charged by the Goddess). Irisanya has written and published four books: Pagan Portals - Reclaiming Witchcraft; Pagan Portals - Aphrodite; Practically Pagan: An Alternative Guide to Health and Well-being; and Pagan Portals - Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow & Messenger of the Godds. Three more are in the works. She is a devotee of Aphrodite, Hecate, the Norns, and Iris. They seek to find love and to inspire love by reminding us we are not alone, while meeting at crossroads, holding the threads of time, and bringing down messages from the godds. She is passionate about the idea that life is a love spell, a dance of desire and connection, a moving in and out of the heart, always returning to love.

What does magical partnership look like?

I was recently asked what its like to work with a magical partner. In this video I share my thoughts and perspectives about working with a magical partner and the lessons I’ve learned along the way as a result of doing this work. I also discuss different types of magical partnerships and share why its important to have a good understanding of what the partnership is and what the purpose of the work is.

Magical Experiments Podcast: Appalachian Folk Magic with Byron Ballard

This week I interview Byron Ballard about Appalchian Folk Magic. We discuss how folk magic works and how to create a spiritual lineage of your own. We also discuss the importance of research and why folk magic can be done anywhere. Byron Ballard is a rootworker and energy consultant; a freelance writer and an urban farmer; a weaver of words and webs, and the author of Roots, Branches, and Spirits, Staubs and Ditchwater, Asfidity and Madstones, Earth Works: Ceremonies in Tower Time, and Seasons of a Magical Life. Links to her books are below and are affiliate links.

Roots, Branches and Spirits

Seasons of a Magical Life

Staubs and Ditchwater

Asfidity and Madstones

Earth Works

You can Learn more about Byron and her work at https://www.myvillagewitch.com/

The process of experimenting with magic

I think the conventional image that people must have of a magical experimenter is someone running around with crazy hair, doing all kinds of off the wall magical workings, which may or may not be grounded in conventional magical theory and practice. I can understand if that’s the image that comes to mind, but the reality of magical experimentation is that it is a careful process, grounded in the experiences of the magician and the work they have done up to the point of experimentation.

When it can be useful to go old school with your magic work

Way back, when I first started practicing magic I used to have a sword, an athame, a rod, a chalice, and candles and incense, and other various tools that people typically use with magical work. Over the years I drifted away from using such tools, taking a minimalistic approach to my magical work, or coming up with my own tools, based on unique needs I had. However of late I’ve been going back to an old school with my magical work and I’m finding it to be refreshing to do, because its like coming back to an old friend you haven’t seen in a while and picking the relationship right back up.

The role of separation in magical work

Are you the magic you work? Are you the experiences you have? Are you the clothes you wear or the car you drive? Before I go all Tyler Durden on you here, the reason I’m asking these questions is because of something I read in the book Creating (Affiliate link), where he discussed the necessity of being able to separate yourself from your work, relationships, experiences, etc. It really struck me, because there is something to be said for overly identifying with something.

In magical work this over identification is framed as a lust for results, but it could also be framed as an obsessive fixation on something. You hold on too tight to an identity and the result is that you don’t actually get what you want, because you’re too caught up in the identity instead of knowing when to separate yourself out from it. You let it define you, instead of seeing it for what is. the only way to free yourself from fixation is to recognize it for what it is and separate yourself from it.