Mind mapping and magic

One of the creative techniques I've appropriated for magical work is mind mapping. If you're not familiar with mind mapping, it involves creating a central idea and then drawing lines to related bubbles with information. It's a useful technique for organizing information and also helping you see where the information fits into your process. One of the resources I've drawn on for mind-mapping is Unstuck Focused and Organized with Mind Mapping (Affiliate link), which is a book that shows you how to keep mind mapping uncomplicated, while also helping you organize it. There also some audio files included where the author interviews successful business people who've used it for their businesses. While mindmapping can be used for business, it can also be used for magical purposes. For example, if you're putting together a ritual, you can use mind mapping to outline the elements of the ritual, assign roles, and organize the process of the ritual. Likewise if you're developing a magical process or technique mind-mapping can be used to discover weak areas in the process you're developing, or it can be used to discover further areas for experimentation.

My spider web sigil technique is partially based off of mind mapping, and I've found it useful for mapping out my life and the people, places, etc., of influence that effect what I'm doing. Mind-mapping in general is just a useful technique for looking at the world, your profession, life, spirituality, etc., in a different way.

Phenylalanine and Epinephrine - Taylor's Report

Phenylalanine: Appeared as an Emperor. He explained that he provides information and instructions to other neurotransmitters. He's one of the more common NT's and can cross the blood-brain barrier. He showed me a network and his role in that network was that of an overseer of sorts. Epinephrine otherwise known as Adrenaline appeared as a yellow cloud with flashing eyes. He explained how he stimulated the body, and how pain and other sensations could activate him and help him activate the body to handle whatever needed to be experienced.

My partner Kat also had some intriguing experiences. She's going to start posting on here as well.

Book Review: Sorcerer's Stone by Dennis Hauck

This is an excellent beginner primer to Western Alchemy and its tenets. The author does a good job of presenting and explaining the symbolism of Western Alchemy, and the relationship of the planetary and elemental energies to alchemy. More importantly, he emphasizes the importance of doing internal work and explains how Western Alchemy can be used for internal work. This is an excellent starter book for anyone who wants to learn about the fundamental basics of alchemy.

You can order the book on Amazon (Affiliate link) or on Powells (affiliate link)

Pattern Recognition and magic in your life

For my birthday, my partner Kat got me this game called Attika. It's a game where you try to build a city from one temple to another temple or just try to build the entire city. You also have "neighbors" trying to build their cities. And what's most interesting is that to get extra turns you have to build the city in the right order. For that matter to get free buildings, building in order is encouraged. It's a fun and challenging game, because it involves looking at the environment you are building in, and recognizing the patterns, spatially, and resource wise that will allow you to successfully build a city. When I think about it, this game describes a lot of how I approach magic now. To me, successful magic is a process, and a form of pattern recognition. Where, why, when, how, what I will do the magic for all fits into the larger pattern of living my life. Just doing magic to get someone or get money or solve some temporary problem is thinking small, too small really, if you can't recognize where that activity fits into the larger pattern of your life, and into the habits you exhibit and/or want to change. What does it mean to put magic into getting a job in the greater pattern of your life. Don't get me wrong, getting a job can be important for survival needs, but when we do a magical act, if we focus only on the short term or basic needs, what else are we missing out on in the pattern of our lives?

When I talk about magic as a process, I'm also talking about how magic takes one's internal reality and translates into the external reality. But along with magic there is also all the demons and dysfunctions as well as virtues that a person has, which is also brought into external reality, and if we ignore all of that, we may find that our magical work proves less effective because we our working against ourselves and against the patterns of our lives. When, instead, we look at the patterns in our lives, and examine where magic can be applied to change those patterns proactively or help us achieve our overall goals, life becomes easier to live. Instead of getting that crappy job that covers the basics, but leaves us miserable and wanting to leave, we find that job that meets our higher needs as well as our basic needs and brings us fulfillment.

While life isn't quite like the board game I mentioned, recognizing the patterns of identity and how we express them and consequently how we manifest our choices is essential to knowing how and where to apply magic in a useful and truly meaningful manner. Instead of reacting, let's look at our environment, both internal and external, and consider carefully what we will do that will meaningfully improve our lives, instead of just going through the motions.

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Identity and Time

Each year on my birthday I do an elemental magic switchover to a new element for the next year. Last year I switched from Emptiness to Time. This year, however, I'm not going to switch from Time. Part of it is because astrologically Saturn is a significant influence over the next year and I think I should capitalize on it, but part of it also is because while I did some work with time, I ended up actually working a lot more with the element of Identity. It makes sense actually because when I finished with the element of Emptiness, I felt like my life was a blank slate. And in January of 2010, I was divorced. Needless to say that was also a big change in identity for me, and I felt like much of this year has been an exploration of who I am and what I want and need.

Even getting involved in a new relationship has brought identity changes. I identify myself as childfree, but my partner has children and that's involved some adjustment to how I think about children and my identity in relationship to them. This entire year has been less about time and more about identity, discovering and claiming my identity, as well as claiming boundaries for that identity. I actually think that's one of the more magical acts I've done this year. It's helped me understand the role of identity in magical work, and it's also helped me identify the parts of my identity that I've wanted to change.

This year has been one of the best years of my life. Instead of holding on to the past, I've let go and embraced the present as an opportunity to explore who I can be, and in turn allow that realization to manifest in the universe and in my life. The previous years of internal work have paid off, and my life has come into a lot more focus as I've really reshaped my contractual agreement with the universe into an agreement I can really be behind. And it's going to keep getting better from here.

My work with the element of time is something I'm going to continue with. But today I'm going to celebrate my holy day.

Happy birthday to me

My work with Bune

I recently decided to work with the Goetic Demon Bune, who amongst other things, provides riches to a person. As you can probably guess my focus was on doing a wealth magic working with him. However riches is a very ambiguous term so I knew I needed to decide how I wanted to work with Bune and how that kind of working would relate to wealth magic. Just wanting him to get me money or wealth wasn't realistic because it'd leave plenty of loopholes. Instead I looked at the circumstances already available to me. In this case I run a business and have another business I'm about to start. I provide services to clients and I'm developing product lines. I realized that what I wanted was to work with an entity that would help me become more aware of business opportunities and ping my intuition to notify me of potential clients and business opportunities. I consulted Bune to see if he could provide me these services and he agreed that he could. In return he wanted a dedication at a meal and for a book on wealth magic, a painting, and a blog post about my work with him. These seemed like reasonable requests for me to fulfill, so I agreed to them.

I've since created a painting to Bune and hung it in my business office. I'm writing this blog post, and I'll likely write others to provide updates on the efficacy of the working and I did a dedication to him at a meal in his honor. By doing all these activities I am showing him my willingness to develop a partnership and relationship. That's my preference in working with entities in general. It's better to establish a relationship of mutual benefit instead of trying to command or control something.

I did this working last week, but I've already seen a couple opportunities arise. I'm excited to see what will happen. By taking the time to define the role and activities I wanted Bune to perform in, I've also created the path of least resistance for him to do what he does, while also providing a path for how it can occur.

Explore related entries in the Library

• Bune
• Bune in Financial Tower Time
• Vassago
• Alchemy of Goetia

Illusion, Definitions and the Movie of your life

I've been reading Illusions by Richard Bach (Amazon Affiliate link), which is an interesting book about a reluctant messiah. At one point in the book the author uses a metaphor of life as a movie to point out that people create their own films and determine in them how helpless or actualized they are. I think there's some degree of truth to this idea, particularly if we understand that how we choose to define our lives and the experiences we live determines how empowered or disempowered we feel. While it's true that  that we don't control all of our circumstances, the beliefs and definitions that we apply to a given situation definitely effect our ability to control ourselves and handle situations. The value of internal work is that it helps us get out of the movie so that we can consciously start living. To do that we have to determine if we want to continue to believe in the reasons and definitions that hold us back, or critically examine and question them in order to truly test their validity in our lives. When we question those beliefs and definitions, it involves taking a different perspective to everything we do. By looking at our actions and choices from a different perspective, we can test whether or not how we behave is really helping us, and if the supporting beliefs for that behavior are actually providing clarity and conscious choice to our lives. If the behavior is detrimental, chances are so is the definition that supports. It's necessary then to make changes in your definition, if you want to permanently change your behavior. Merely trying to repress or stop the behavior won't actually change it. In fact, it'll ultimately make it stronger. So you need to understand the definition, or if you will, the rationale for the behavior. It may not make sense on a conscious level, but I can guarantee it made sense at some point or you wouldn't continue to do the behavior.

Once you understand the rationale, you can change it. This usually involves picking apart the definition, and putting in a new definition that specifies how you consciously want to act in a situation. When something triggers you, instead of causing reactive behavior, you'll stop and make a conscious choice.

Geekery and magic

I'm a geek and I'm proud of it and how it influences my approach to magic. When Pop Culture Magick was first written, I remember getting a review where the reviewer said it must have been written by a geek and I suppose he was right. I am a geek and I enjoy exploring the intersection between my geek interests and my magical interests:

Why the body is a pathway to the divine

I came across this article where a Baptist preacher has argued that doing Yoga goes against the Christian faith because it teaches that a person can experience the divine through the body. This isn't surprising because so much of Christianity is about damning the body as a portal to sin instead of celebrating it as a gift of manifestation. My own philosophy and spiritual beliefs about the body run counter to the Baptist preacher's perspective. To me the body is a gateway to the mysteries of the universe, and a way of accessing the divine. Yoga and other physical exercises are part of the key to accessing the spiritual realities the body can reveal to us, though they are not the only part of the key. Learning to commune with the body and the different levels of consciousness it provides us access to can also reveal a lot about not just the body, but our connection to the world and universe.

When we deny one level of existence or favor one over the other we create imbalance. The body is not something that should be denied, but rather is a part of us we need to embrace as part of our given approach to spiritual living. By making peace with the body we also make peace with our desires and pains, and from that begin to experience the divine within ourselves.

Call For Papers: Oops, Wrong Chat: A Survival Guide to World of Warcraft

Taylor's Note: I posted this because of my own interest in Pop culture and also to support my publisher. Most of the books you’ll find written about WoW attempt to come at the game from an academic viewpoint, thereby to give it some credibility and respectability among the uninitiated who look at it with a dubious eye. We already know that non-gamers regard us MMO fans as geeks and freaks, somehow sucked into this nerdiverse that is anathema to real life.

Well, we think it’s about time the balance was redressed. We don’t need to apologise for our passion to those who just don’t ‘get’ it because they simply haven’t tried it. Neither do we need to dress it up as academic study. ‘Oops, Wrong Chat’ will be an affectionate yet honest look at the world of Azeroth, informing those who are not informed and entertaining those who are already fellow travellers in that world.

We are looking for well-written witty and/or insightful articles that talk about the gamer’s experiences in World of Warcraft that will be helpful for new players but also of interest to veterans. Articles will typically be named after Achievements or Quests in the game, and any potential contributor should inform us what topic they wish to explore and what title they’d like to use, in order to prevent duplication of submissions.

Articles can be anecdotal, involving the writer’s experiences in WoW, or else can be informational, focusing upon particular aspects of the game, but with a light touch, accessible to non-aficionados. Or they can be more like social commentary, talking about the community within WoW itself.

Raiding, questing, role-playing, PvP, the lore of WoW, working on professions and achievements, being a pro trader in the Auction House, collecting pets and mounts, exploring the least trodden and secret corners of Azeroth, WoW as a sedentary sport – all these are potential topics. Or perhaps your idea is different. We are open to all submissions that are written well and entertain. Submissions can be between 3000-10000 words, and the deadline is 1st March 2011. All articles should be submitted in Word or RTF to editorial@immanion-press.com

Context and its place in magical activities

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

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

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

Quality and magic

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

Why I like to learn different subjects

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

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

The balance between tradition and experimentation

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

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

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

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

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

Endorphin

Endorphin is a guy in a jogging suit. The symbol he gave me is a fleshknot that has a tripod base, with each part of the tripod rising to twist around the other two parts. He causes pleasure, notable in runner high, but also in meditation and experiencing something new, but he also opens doors of possibility. At the same time endorphin warns about being overused because it can cause addiction. The sensation of endorphin is a tingling feeling...and also a feeling of flow. Book Review: Taoist Yoga by Charles Luk

I found this book to be an insightful read into Taoist internal alchemy, however I'd also say that anyone reading it needs to have at least a couple years experience to even begin to get the concepts discussed. What I found was that the book provided greater clarity about some of the different exercises I'd already done, but I also realized that if I didn't already have experience with those exercises, I probably wouldn't get what the author was discussing. It's a useful book to have for an intermediate to advanced Taoist meditation practitioner. 5 out 5

Amazon link

Powells link

Some musings on retroactive time

I had some thoughts the other night, after I'd been playing Assassin's Creed 2 about retroactive time and what would happen if you didn't live the life of your ancestor the way s/he had lived it. The video below is some of my discussion about retroactive time and ancestor memory.

Dopamine and Norepinephrine

Dopamine: Appears as an old man/trickster figure. Dopamine causes pleasure, most notably in sex when a person orgasms. When I worked with him this time, as with when I first worked with him, he reminded me to use dopamine carefully...that it's not something to be abused. This makes senses to me, especially if you consider the possibility of addiction to the pleasure. Norepinephrine: Appears as a kabuki Actor. Norepinephrine causes numbness, so its basically a natural painkiller for the body. There's some definite applications when used in combination with other neurotransmitters.

Limitless freedom: are you really free?

I've been thinking about the concept of enlightenment, in terms of attaining a state of non-attachment to everything as well as what the result might look like and I think it might be something like experiencing limitless freedom.You become everything and nothing, but because there are no limitations you can never turn that possibility into something real. In fact, you the person don't even exist. A rather tenuous existence, and while a person might be one with everything and nothing, what in the end does that really mean, and what does it really do for the person. I'll admit I'm attached to my identity.

Need and desire can be spiritual

"When we think the solution to our unhappiness can be found in the external world, our desires can only be temporarily sated. Not understanding this, we are tossed this way and that by the winds of desire, ever restless and dissatisfied. We are governed by our karma and continually plant the seeds of future karmic harvest. Not only does this mode of action distract us from the spiritual path, but it also prevents us from finding satisfaction in our daily life" -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche I was thinking about what's written above the other day as I was walking around the Hawthorne district in Portland. I'd just come out of Powells (a bookstore) and I realized that while I'd enjoyed going into the store and looking at the books, I'd also felt a sense of dissatisfaction, a recognition that nothing I could purchase would be anything more than a distraction, an illusion. I might temporarily fulfill a desire and enjoy doing so, but I would still have to come face to face with the underlying reality that whatever I got was only a temporary distraction from that desire, and it would come back to remind me that it needed something more.

Since then I've also been thinking how much desire and attachment actually anchor a person into living life, providing the drive that people have to live, and I consequently wonder how much the valuing of the spirit over the material world is just another desire, another sign of dissatisfaction expressed in trying to find some spiritual answer that will take away any sense of need a person has.

Seems to me that need and desire are spiritual in and of themselves. Without the need or desire for something, would we strive so much for our goals, our projects, our ideals, etc.? When we determine that something is not spiritual, aren't we just creating the dualistic divisions that cause Karma? I find the subtle hierarchical beliefs about the spirit vs the material to be the most dangerous because in trying to divide everything up we also end up labeling it and using that labeling to create the dualistic tension described as karma.

If satisfaction is to be found, it must be found in our ability to make peace with our desires by accepting them as gateways to spiritual experiences that also allow us to perceive the material world as the manifestation of the spiritual. Instead of dividing, why not just experience it all?

Dream Technique part 2

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

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

Dimethyltryptamine

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