Narrative flow and magic

I'm reading Making Comics by Scott McCloud. It's a fascinating book that explores how to write/draw comics, but of course there's also magical applications, if you're willing to look for them. For example he discusses comic book panels quite a bit and how the arrangement of them is used to shape the perceptions of the reader, but also how taking one or two panels out changes the story. And that got me thinking about how you could use panels as visual representations of magic and rearrange them or get rid of some or include new ones in order to explore potential time variants or to change a space and the identities associated with that space. According to McCloud you change the story when you remove a panel...and if you think about your own life as a story, then you can apply the same idea to the narrative of your life. Write out your life or create panels and then make some changes. It doesn't just change your perspective...it changes the experience of the narrative. 

One of the key points he makes is that you can direct the narrative...that what is paid attention to or what causes a distraction can be predicted and used in writing a comic. This is also true in writing. The way words are used and even the format of the text can set up pacing for the book. For example, if you use a lot of dialogue you're usually trying to move the narrative along. The same applies for action sequences. Now if you apply this to magic, think about why you are doing magic. You're typically doing it to make a connection, create a change, or work through your internal crap. Ask yourself how you are directing the narrative. What are you paying attention to and what aren't you paying attention to? What could you change that would allow you to discover what you aren't noticing?

I've only read the first chapter of this book, but what it reveals in terms of telling stories can be applied to magic precisely because magic is a story as well. A lot of the ritual work we do is done to tell a story as much as it's done for other reasons. We are using magic to act out the current situation and what we want to change and then imprinting that story on reality as a way to provide the specific possibility a path for manifestation. Seems simply enough, but the story aspect isn't considered in terms of a narrative that can be changed, unless we actually think along those lines. When you do a magical working or ritual, consider how you are putting it together. What are all the elements involved? What elements could you change, add, or remove and how would that change the story you are trying to tell? How would it change the working you are doing if the story is changed?

The narrative flow of a given magical working is an arrangement. You cut out what doesn't fit, and you put into place what does fit. Then you tie all those elements together and you tell a story to reality that embeds the possibility you desire into yourself as the magician and reality as the recipient. The result is a manifestation of magic. Pretty simple really, but its made complicated by the attachment people have to descriptive elements which are really just placeholders to describe something they represent. If you understand what's represented, you can get rid of the place holders and work directly with the source. Making Comics is actually an excellent example of that principle because while it overtly discusses how to create comics, if you treat it as a meta text, which I've done in this article, you can also use it to understand certain principles that cut across disciplines and you learn to work with those principles directly as a result, because you're getting to look behind the curtain and actually examine how those principles work. That look behind the curtain teaches you to think about and work with magic differently because you recognize so much of it is arbitrary, set up a certain way because of the given agendas of the people who came up with whatever they came up with. Once you recognize that, you stop relying on the arbitrary aspects of magic and start exploring what really works because you want to see behind the curtain. And IMO, that's really the best way to learn magic. No one, myself included, can tell you with complete authority how magic works, because we're all putting our own spin on it. That's why I tell people to personalize their understanding of magic. I can describe how I think magic works, how I know it works, but you have to discover for yourself how it works.

Book Review: What Video Games have to teach us about learning and literacy by James Paul Gee

This is an intriguing book that explores what video games can teach people about how we learn. The author develops 36 principles of learning which can be found in video games and shows through both personal experience and interviews with gamers how these principles work. In that process he also makes some interesting connections between identity, meaning and learning. What I found most useful about this book is how it got me to think about identity in a different way than I'd previously conceived it. Highly recommended to anyone who is interested in how we learn.

Elemental Balancing Ritual Month 17: Presence

2-20-14 I flew out today to Convocation. Last night and this morning I was a bit emotional. I miss Kat. I've gotten used to having her with me at events like this and this is one of those rare times where that's not the case. I'll see her in a few days, but it does make me appreciate just how much she has come to mean to me. As for Convocation...I flew in and discovered that the hotel didn't have shuttle service, so I needed to get a cab, so I wasn't thrilled with that. However I was able to get here just in time for my workshop on Space/Time Magic and I did a decent presentation of it. I feel it could've been better, but I also had just gotten in, was hungry, and I made it work despite all that. The convention itself is low key. The people are friendly, and it's not nearly as overwhelming as Pantheacon can be. And Glasolya-Labolas is looking out for me, which I really appreciate. It's good to have a spirit ally to back you up.

2-22-14 Convocation has been a fun experience. I definitely plan to come back next year and present again. I've had lovely conversations with Shauna Aura Knight about Pagan Leadership and Ritual Sonics. It's always nice to find people you can geek out with about topics of mutual interest. And speaking of that I've also had the pleasure of meeting Corvus Nocturem and discussing publishing with him. He owns a small press as well and we both found a lot to talk about and may even team up to do so presentations on publishing together. I've felt Glasolya-Labolas's presence throughout this convention, and at different times have gotten intuitions to go somewhere or talk with someone. Each time it's proven helpful and I've felt that I'm coming away from this convention with some new friends and allies. There is movement here and I'm excited to be part of it. At the same time I miss Kat. I look forward to seeing her when I fly home and catch up in person. While I appreciate her in general, being away from her has helped me appreciate her more.

2-23-14 I'm getting ready to leave convocation. This convention has themes based around the tarot. The one for this year was Judgement, and it seemed really apt to me because of the fact that I'd be running into several people here where things went South with those people. Nothing happened here...we ignored each other than having brief exchanges, but I also felt that this convention helped me face myself as well. I participated in a ritual that Shauna put together. I actually ended up invoking the Earth element and being one of the people holding a mirror and telling people to go deep and face their shadows. And I faced some of mine as well. I've always been my harshest critic, but something I've learned over the years is how to stop judging myself and how to start working with myself and at this convention I felt that come into play, both in my interactions with other people and my interactions with myself. I want to make good choices in my life and part of doing that is choosing not to judge myself, but instead work with what's at hand and make a choice based off that in a way that doesn't judge me, but instead validates me and the life I choose to live. More of a proactive approach really, instead of reacting, which I think is really what judgement is about.

2-26-14 The choice not to move, not to take action, can be just as potent a form of movement as anything itself. I also feel it can be a declaration of choosing to be present with yourself. It's something I've been contemplating since I've gotten back from Convocation. I've also been thinking about the concept of the meta-processor, someone who processes multiple streams of information simultaneously. I'm a meta-processor, which is usually good, but I do feel a bit overwhelmed of late because my life is a bit too busy for my liking. It'll be slowing down soon, and this makes me appreciate that the speed of movement is not in and of itself always a good thing.

3-3-14 This last weekend I attended the Spirit Cord workshop. I shared most of my experiences in this post, but some of I decided to post here because of its relevance to my work. I feel that the cord work is very relevant to my current work with my very young self as a baby and pre-baby. I'm doing some intense internal work around those early memories and also I feel going through a cycle that prepares me for my 38th birthday when I move into Stillness and into the exact natal position my astrological chart was in when I was born. In the workshop R. J. mentioned that the cord goes through the center of the spindle of a person's natal chart. He also mentioned that the cord has correlations to the umbilical cord, which makes sense given the life and death aspects of the spirit cord. This is something I hope to explore in more depth down the line, as I work with my spirit cord further.

3-8-14 I've fallen off the wagon with exercise. I haven't been consistent about it at all. I know I need to do something about it, but I think I've been feeling so overwhelmed by all the various projects on my plate, I've just put it off. That's not good for me to do because it's taking an essential part of my life and putting on the shelf. So I acknowledge this and I know I need to get back on the wagon regardless of how much else I need to do.

3-12-14 In the last few days I've gotten back on the wagon and found to my pleasant surprise that my body has still stayed in the shape it was in overall despite some infrequent exercising. However, choosing to exercise regularly already makes me feel better. It's amazing how even getting back into a routine can make a difference about how you feel about yourself. It highlights to me just how important this activity is to my overall well being. No matter how busy I get I need to make sure I stay present with myself and with the movement that is best for me.

3-13-14 I'm heading off to Paganicon tomorrow. I'll be working with Glasolya-Labolas again and Kat will be with me, which I'm happy about. I feel like this month is passing in a blur of movement, as if everything is speeding up. I'm not sure if it's because of how much traveling I'm doing, or if it's just because of the work I'm doing with the element of movement. Either way movement is happening, in so many positive, wonderful ways.

3-17-14 I'm back from Paganicon. This entire month feels like its just flown by in a blur. It make me wonder if I've really been as present with it as I hoped. I did work with Glasolya-Labolas again and at this event I unexpectedly found a bunch of familiar faces, as well as the right encounters that needed to happen. Glasolya-Labolas is quite the diplomat and quite the coordinator of schedules. I look forward to working with him further and am quite impressed with his skills.

I feel like my understanding of movement is changing even further. There is always a rhythm to movement even if we don't always perceive it. I feel that rhythm at work and it shows up in both obvious and subtle ways. The obvious ways is all the traveling and the fact that both businesses seem to be taking off, but the less obvious ways show up in my interactions with specific people or how I experience a given day. Everything is moving and I am part of that movement, moved even as I move it.

3-18-14 Donald Michael Kraig is dead. I only met him a couple times and we never exchanged more than a hello. I read both of his books and found them to be helpful in my own practice. A lot of people were clearly touched by his death and made a response to it on their Facebook pages. Seeing that made me think that at some point all of us die. I know I will die some day. Hopefully it'll be a long time from now, but regardless of when it happens, I'll die and most people won't care, a few people may be happy at my demise, and some will feel sad and acknowledge that I had some type of effect on their life. I'll move from this life onto another life or the void, or whatever and life will go on without me.  Nothing is forever, but everything continues on. I hope Donald Michael Kraig is resting in peace and moving on to whatever next adventure finds it way to his path.

3-20-14 I dislike passive aggressiveness in people, myself included. I know I'm guilty of it on occasion, and I think most, if not all, people are. It's a way to mask how you feel about someone, to smile, but if you look closely at that smile, it's really a snarl. It's a way to pretend friendliness when what you really want to do is stab a knife in the person's back. However in the last few years, I've worked hard to get passive aggressive people out of my life and to make sure I'm not being that way, because why would I really want someone close to my life who pretends friendliness but wants to hurt me? I realize that doing this also extends to online mediums such as Facebook. I don't need people trying to impede my movement in life. I figure I do that enough for myself on occasion, so I'm really being present and asking myself why I'd really want to be connected with people I know wish me harm, no matter how much they act otherwise. Connection of any form lets such people in and says I condone your hostility toward me. Obviously I can't assume that I know the intentions of every person that comes into my life or makes a friend request on an online medium, but when I do know someone who has a history of being hostile toward me I also should know better then to allow that person any connection with me, because as soon as that person sees an opportunity, out comes the knife. I consider the lesson learned today, when it comes to online mediums. I need to honor my choice not to put up with behavior from people that I know is counter productive for me. I want the right connections, right people in my life and I won't find that with someone who wants to tear me down because of their own insecurities and issues.

Bringing Race to the Table Call for Papers deadline Extended

Email for inquiries and submissions: Crystal Blanton Megalithica Books, an imprint of Immanion Press (Stafford, U.K./Portland, OR, U.S.A) is seeking submissions for the Bring Race to the Table: An Exploration of Racism in the Pagan Community.

This anthology explores the topic of Racism and how Racism shows up in the Pagan community, as well as what we can do to recognize it and proactively work to change it by being consciously aware of race and privilege and actively applying that awareness to the Pagan community. We also examine cultural appropriation and its role in racism, and how we can approach issues of culture with conscious awareness that leads to genuine cultural exchanges instead of appropriation.

The vision for this anthology is to include a combination of academic and personally inspired pieces that show the experiences of racism, and the study of racism.

Here are some suggested topics to give you an idea of the focus of this anthology:

• Your experience of racism and how it has impacted your ability to integrate into the Pagan community
• Cultural Appropriation versus Cultural Exchange
• How to recognize and confront Racism in your spiritual community.
• Being an ally within the Pagan community for people of color.
• Intersectionality of privilege, or examples of this within the community.
• Experiences of a lack of cultural empathy, or sensitivity within Pagan groups, and how that impacts safe place for ethnic minorities.
• Understanding how symbolism within Paganism reinforces racism and separation of diversity within Pagan groups.
• Is preserving the lineage of hereditary practices and/or cultures racist? When is it not racist and what defines inclusion or exclusion in such cases?
• How white power gangs are trying to infiltrate the Pagan community?
• Definitions, understanding or experiences of symbolic, adversive, or systemic racism within the Pagan community.
• Stereotypes and prejudice and the impact on spiritual or magic workings. Being the only person of color in a coven, group or community
• Being a person of color at a pagan convention (and how convention organizers can be more conscious of this).
• How Racism harms the Pagan Community, and how it shows up in the Pagan Community
• How, as a community and as individuals, can we increase awareness of potentially harmful racial dynamics and proactively work to engage positive change.
• What is equity and how does it show up in the Pagan Community practically (what are examples of how equity has been or can be applied to the Pagan community)

Rough drafts are due April 15, 2014. These drafts will be edited in a back-and-forth process with the editors. Essays should be 1500-4000 words, although if your work falls outside those limits, do submit it – we can discuss this during the editing process. Drop us an email if you are unsure whether your idea fits into the content. The sooner you start the communication process the better, as after the deadline we won’t be considering additional ideas.

Essay requirements:

• Citations for all quoted, paraphrased, or otherwise unoriginal material • Bibliography of works cited • Prefer APA format

Write in your voice! If you’re academically inclined or trained, feel free to be as intelligent and technical as you like. If your work entirely talks in the first person about your own experience, please include this also. There is a wide range of voices, and we are interested in being as inclusive of style as possible.

Accepted contributors will receive a free copy of the anthology when it is published and additional copies sold at 40% off the cover price to contributors. All contributors will be provided with a contract upon final acceptance of their essays, not when they are accepted for editing. If your essay is not accepted for the anthology, we will tell you after the first round of edits.

The anthology will be edited by Crystal Blanton, Brandy Williams, and Taylor Ellwood. Crystal is the author of two books with Immanion press; Bridging the Gap; Working Within the Dynamics of Pagan Groups and Society, and Pain and Faith in a Wiccan World.  She is also the editor of the first anthology, Shades of Faith; Minority Voices in Paganism, and the forthcoming anthology, Shades of Ritual; Minority Voices in Practice. She may be found online at http://www.crystalblanton.org and her email address for this anthology is crystal@crystalblanton.com .

Brandy Williams is the author of Ecstatic Ritual (published by Immanion Press), Practical Magic for Beginners and The Woman Magician (published by Llewellyn) as well as the editor of Women’s Voices in Magic (published by Immanion Press). She may be found online at http://www.brandywilliams.org

Taylor Ellwood is the author of Pop Culture Magick, Magical Identity, and other books on magic. He is also the managing non-fiction editor of Immanion Press. He can be found online at http://magicalexperiments.com

Immanion Press is a small independent press based in the United Kingdom. Founded by author Storm Constantine, it expanded into occult nonfiction in 2004 with the publication of Taylor Ellwood’s Pop Culture Magick. Today, Immanion’s nonfiction line, under the Megalithica Books imprint, has a growing reputation for edgy, experimental texts on primarily intermediate and advanced pagan and occult topics. Find out more at http://www.immanion-press.com.

- See more at: http://magicalexperiments.com/call-for-writers-bringing-race-to-the-table-an-exploration-of-racism-in-the-pagan-community/#sthash.QgBuUmrs.dpuf

How to Design your life with magic

 

In Manifesting Wealth, I discuss the importance of creating a wealth identity. Part of that process involves making the decision to live your life by design instead of by reaction. Living a life by design involves planning your life, which to my mind really means that you figure out what you really want and then decide how you'll go about getting it. For example, I realized in my mid twenties that I wanted to be self-employed by my thirties and here I am self-employed. I didn't necessarily plan out every step of the way to get to that point, but nonetheless I did decide to make self-employment part of the pattern of my life.

These days I'm more methodical about designing my life. Part of that undoubtedly comes from being a business coach. I help businesses plan their businesses by design instead of reaction and that consequently informs my own decision to plan my life. However, part of my reasoning comes down to the simple fact that I've made enough mistakes in my life based on impulsive decisions and reactions, that I've come to recognize that its much more effective to live a life by design and to carefully examine my choices and ask: "Is this really in line with what I want for my life?"

Where magic fits into all of this involves approaching your life as a narrative and using magic to help you shape that narrative. In my case, this means that a lot of my magical workings are done in context to my life, and how whatever occurs fits into the design I am manifesting. I don't do magical workings to solve problems, s much as I do them to proactively pave a path that is beneficial to me. A good example of this concept in action involves the creation of an entity called Cerontis. I created Cerontis over ten years ago with the explicit purpose of making me aware of opportunities I might want to take advantage of. Simple enough, but also profound because what it really involved was utilizing his services to help me discover opportunities proactively instead of reactively letting them happen to me.

When you design your life by magic what you are really doing is using magic as a tool to help you make intentional choices that fit into your design. A lot of my wealth magic work has been focused on helping me become more successful at working on my business, because I feel that its an integral part of the design of my life. While I certainly want to make a living from my business (and increasingly this is happening) I realize to effectively do this I need to design my business and really design my life around having experiences that will simultaneously teach me the skills I need to learn and help me implement those skills in a practical way that allows me to use them.

Look at your own life. Where do you want to be? what do you want to do? Who do you want in your life? Answer those questions and you've started to create your design. Now start doing magic to actually bring what you want into your life and do it with a mentality of design. Ask yourself: "Does this really help me manifest my design?" If it does, then do it...and if it doesn't, re-evaluate your magical working or your design or both. By taking such an approach you develop a proactive awareness that allows you to implement your design and live your life by your standards instead of continually reacting to whatever comes your way. You learn to filter out what you don't need and so you start to avoid it in favor of living your life by design and your magical work is geared in a similar way and thus helps you keep your life on track as well.

I was on the show Pleasure Saucer, where we discussed magic as well as some contemporary news. It was a fascinating range of topics.

Book Review: When: The Art of Perfect Timing by Stuart Albert

This is an intriguing book that explores how to apply timing to business and life experiences in order to better understand the flow of events and be able to plan for them and their pacing in time. The author shares six types of timing and provides examples of how these types of timing can be applied to understand the temporal aspects of a given activity. In addition, he nicely ties all of the types together and shows how a timing analysis can be done using each type of timing in conjunction with others. If there is one weakness in this book, its that while the author does provide examples of timing, he doesn't show readers how to use that knowledge practically beyond being able to do a timing analysis. However this book can teach you to appreciate time from an unusual perspective and that, in and of itself can be useful for looking at your life, business, and other practices from a different angle than you may have done before.

The Role of Function in Magic

In my post on Tarot collage work, I mentioned that the word and concept of function plays an important on magic, but that I'd explain it in a later post. So here we are. The reason the word function is important as it relates to magic is severalfold. A function, in and of itself, describes a specific action that is supposed to occur within a process as well as why it occurs in the process in way it does. Function, in magic, also speaks to how spiritual entities are supposed to behave. For example, angels are defined by the functions they perform. Those functions are the actions the angels perform, as well as their area of responsibility, but in another sense the function is also the soul of the angel. This understanding of function can be applied to other "types" of spiritual entities as well.

When we consider function in relationship to process, what we discover is that function is what moves process along. A process that isn't working is usually not working because specific functions of the process aren't being activated or don't work the way they should. Without the right functions in place, a process fizzles. So how do you make sure you have the right functions in place? First you have to understand the process and where those functions fit into the process. For example if lighting a candle is a function in your magical process, what is it that function does? How does that function contribute to the process and move it along? What happens if that particular function isn't activated?

Likewise if you are working with an entity, it's worth while to consider how you are interacting with the function it embodies. That entity can't go against its function, so you pretty much need to be in alignment with that function. There's some wiggle room in my experience, but that wiggle room has more to do with interpretation of the function than actually getting around it. This is why its important to be selective about what entity you'll work with, or if you're creating one be very specific about the function its supposed to embody.

Although function sounds restrictive, it really isn't if you understand it. The given functions are restricted in terms of what they do, but where the magic really happens is when you combine multiple functions into a sequence that creates your process and produces a result. If you understand how each functions work off each other, then you can plan for which functions you'll use and optimize your magical working. One of the ways I like to optimize my workings is to thoroughly explore the functions I'm using to see what they can and can't do. Then I know where and when to apply them in whatever magical work I'm doing. This understanding of function makes it easier to find problems in the process as well and then fix those problems. A lot of times it boils down to: "This function doesn't work in relationship to this other function."

This probably comes across as a mechanistic approach to magic, but I don't think it is. If anything I feel that it helps me appreciate magic on a much deeper level because I can understand how and why it works and know what to change in order to improve on what I'm doing. I like that and at the same time it gives me a deep appreciation for the wonder of magic because it never ceases to cause me to feel wonder to see a process come together and produce a specific result.

Collage tarot cards as enchantment workings

Shauna Aura Knight recently made a post about creating your own tarot cards using collage. It's an intriguing idea, and her methodology is useful as a way of doing some deep work with Tarot that nonetheless allows you to create a personal connection with a given card through not only the act of creation, but also meaningful pathworking done with the collage to get at the heart of the meaning of the Tarot card (Note: the image for this post is a collage tarot card that Shauna created and I'm using it with her permission).

One of the other uses of this technique is that it could also act as a form of enchantment. In the capacity of enchantment, the creation of a collage tarot card would be focused on not just helping the person understand the meaning of the card as it relates to his/her own internal work, but also understand the card as it relates to the world, and specifically to what function the card is supposed to embody to the world at large. I think the word function is critical here, in understanding the purpose of the Tarot card. Actually, I find the word function is critical in understanding magic generally, but that's a post for another day. Anyway, the tarot card you create via collage will be one that fits a particular function. That function is partially derived from the card itself. For example if the card is two of swords, then part of the function of the card is derived from being the two of swords, but part of the function is also derived by your understanding of what that function is and how it applies to the world at large. So a question to ask would be: "What does the Two of Sowrds mean to me and how does that meaning function in my life and in the world at large.

What makes Tarot cards useful is the relationship the cards have with each other. While the 2 of swords has its own meaning, context, and function, all of that changes in relationship to other cards. What the 2 of swords means and how it functions is altered in part by the combination of other cards. For the magician this is useful as a form of enchantment, because what s/he does is pick out the relevant tarot cards and line them up to produce specific outcomes. The functions of the cards interact with each other to modify the enchantment and produce a specific result that occurs because of the functions the cards embody and perform when used for enchantment.

When I do a tarot working for enchantment, it works in the following manner: I shuffle the cards and then start pulling cards out. I don't set them up into a spread right away, until I've pulled all the ones I need to pull. Once I'm satisfied I then arrange the cards into a spread that connects each card to the other cards and creates a sequence of functions that perform the enchantment. To activate the enchantment, I read the cards and through the act of reading, simultaneously internalize the cards, imprinting them and their functions into my consciousness so that I can embody them, and externalize the cards by evoking their functions into the world in order to start aligning the variables effecting the enchantment. Approaching enchantment in this way insures that the internal beliefs and values of the magician is aligned with the objective reality s/he is seeking to manifest. I find that it creates a path of least resistance, if you will. If you choose to make collage tarot cards, then you can add in the creation of the cards as part of the enchantment. The creation of the card can be understood to be a gathering of the meaning/function of the tarot as well as the creative force of the magician, with the end result being a personalized card that uniquely represents the function of the card.

What I like about using Tarot cards for enchantment purposes is that they can help the magician make logical sense of the enchantment. The spread is used to create a sequence of steps/functions that generate specific actions, which in turn generate specific outcomes. That's how magic works, in my experience. You create or follow a process you understand and you use that process to program a specific result into reality. It's so simple that it might cause a person to struggle with it, but why make magic more complicated than it needs to be?

The Role of Timing in Space/Time Magic

I'm reading When: The Art of Perfect Timing by Stuart Albert. It's an intriguing book that explores the concept of timing and how it applies to the business world. He identifies 6 different types of timing that can be applied to business or life. Each of these types of timing can be applied to space/time magic as well, provided we understand them and how they can be used in magical work. The concept of timing is important in magic because when we do a working we don't always want it to manifest right away, or we want it to manifest it right away and in order to do that we need the timing to be applied in order to align the variables favorably and manifest the possibility into reality.

The first type of timing is: Sequence. I wrote about sequence in Magical Identity as a useful tool that allows your linear perspective of time to accept non-linear possibilities. Sequence simply demonstrates the temporal order of events, but what's important to note about sequence is that it can be changed and rearranged provided you create consistency in your sequence which allows the linear consciousness of your min to accept the new sequence. Sequence examines the order, interval and duration and location, and helps you consider these variables in your space/time workings. Knowing where and when you need to be somewhere or where and when something needs to occur is important in the timing of your working. Similarly understanding how long a given action in the sequence occurs can helpful for considering variables that can either change that action or change the length of time needed for it to be accomplished.

The second type of timing is: Temporal Punctuation and borrows from the grammatical aspects of language. If you consider punctuation in English for example, you know that a comma, colon, and period each signify different temporal actions. This awareness of punctuation can be applied to the timing of your workings. For example if you want to pause the timing for an event to occur, apply a comma to the working. If you want a specific list of actions to occur, use both the colon and the comma. If you want something to come to full stop, apply the period.

The third type of timing is: Interval and Duration. The intervals are used to measure time and actions within time. A application of them to space time magic asks how long until or how much time. Duration is the overall time needed for the working to occur and it can be useful to situate the intervals in the duration in order to factor in what needs to occur when in order to move a possibility into reality.

The fourth type of timing is: Rate. Rate examines how the environment changes in relationship to temporal events. The rate of speed for a given event can be effected by multiple variables and unless we understand those variables we may not fully see the whole picture as to why an event is unfolding slowly or quickly. We may even make assumptions about a series of events related to the speed with which they unfold, without recognizing that other variables are having an effect on the speed. Magically speaking we can influence the rate of a given event by understanding how to slow it down or speed it up as needed.

The fifth type of timing is: Shape. The shape of a temporal event is rarely a straight line, though we often fool ourselves into believing it is. If you examine the processes of a given organization you'll see the principle of shape in action in the form of bottle necks or in organizational bureaucracy. For space/time magicians, shape can be quite useful because it provides us a way to think about time which captures some of the hidden possibilities and realities of it. We step out of linear time and recognize how time isn't a straight line, but instead is often curved and effected by other variables that we didn't consider. Shape also helps us understand time in terms of changes. For example a helix shape is a cyclical shape that nonetheless shows a progression in time...useful for charting where we are in a cycle as well as what is changing in that cycle.

The sixth type of timing is: Polyphony. Polyphony is the comprehension and application of all the other types of timing simultaneously. I also think of it as polychronic time, which is the experience of multiple events and possibilities of time occurring in one space. Polyphony adds a vertical element to timing that allows us to more fully explore the possibilities and integrate them into reality. Polyphony allows us to understand how different temporal events overlap each other and provides us a way to explore and integrate variables into our magical working by charting where they are in relation to the possibility we want to manifest and the reality we want to manifest it in. Polyphony teaches us how to comprehend multiple possibilities in a given space and choose which ones are most favorable for our desired outcomes.

I feel that to one degree or another I use these various aspects of timing in my own magical work. I find that when you apply timing to magic, it makes the magical work more precise and focused. Instead of just doing a working and leaving it to the universe to manifest it, you set up the parameters for when it'll manifest and this consequently holds you more accountable to making the magic work, because you know that if certain things don't occur within your timing, you need to go back and figure out where n your process you mucked things up.

Working with the Spirit Cord

This last weekend I attended a workshop run by R. J. Stewart, which focused on the Spirit Cord teachings. It was a profound experience for me...one where I felt that certain gaps in my magical education were filled in by the work we did. I've never done cord work before and hadn't found much in the ways of reference to it in the works I've read so I was really curious about what this workshop would be like and what I'd learn from it. I'd gotten a purple cord the week before at Jo Ann's and with that in hand I headed to the workshop. Originally Kat and I were both supposed to go, but she got sick, so I went alone, which felt a bit odd because she had introduced me to this kind of work, but as it turned out even that happened for a reason, as we learned later in the weekend.

The concept of a cord, as it applies to spiritual work, is that the cord can embody all the traditional magical tools, while being none of those tools. The cord is a flexible connection between each tool. I found this interesting, especially as it related to my work with William Gray's material, because Gray discusses how to really understand a given magical tool, it's important to actually take it within you and embody it, and as I learned this weekend the spirit cords works in a similar manner. R. J. explained that the cord is also representative of and connected to your spinal cord, so that in a sense what it really represents magically is a connection to your entire body and how your body process and works.

Another interesting correspondence that came up was that cords traditionally had 7 seven knots in them. 7 knots could be related to the traditional 7 planets in planetary magic, as well as the 7 stages of Alchemy. I suppose we could create a lot of correspondences actually, but I felt that those particular correspondences were significant as it relates to western sacromagical work. As I continue to work with the cord, I'll undoubtedly explore such connections but for the moment I'm going to focus more on just learning to work with it.

Another key aspect of the spirit cord is that it remembers for you. What this means is that the cord can be used to store energies, experiences, memories etc. I tried this out when I wore the cord while sleeping. I found that I vividly remembered a dream that was magical focused in a way that I might not have otherwise, and that as I wrote it down, I could touch the cord and remember what I needed to remember. The cord helps you access those memories and experiences and re-embody them. I also found it relevant to my ongoing work that the cord could be utilized for both stillness and movement and that it's linked to birth and death.

The physical version of your cord is actually representative of your astral cord (not the silver cord typically discussed in astral work). In the meditative work we did with the cord I found that several experiences occurred. First in just working with the cord and connecting it to the spinal column, I could feel how it could be used to raise or lower spiritual energy. Second in working with the cord, I also felt how it could also be used for attunement purposes. For example, in the workshop we did a working with the Faerie Realm where we asked if we could attune the energies of the Faerie Realm to the cord. In my case, Puck came and attuned the cord with Faerie Energy. On Sunday evening, I did a similar attunement with Dragon and On Monday I did the same with the other spirit beings I am working with. In each case, when they did the attunement I could feel the energy flow into the cord and into me.

We also did a working with an astral temple, where we found our Astral cord. My astral temple was on top of a dormant volcano, but the inner alter was in a place where there was a lake of lava. I had an interesting experience there. After I'd worked with the astral cord, this gigantic being came out of the lava and presented itself to me. It then touched my forehead with the tip of its finger and I felt this energy go through me. I asked what it was and it said "He (RJ Stewart) would know me as a Titan." He then told me that if I wanted to work further with it, I should return and seek another audience. On Monday I sought another audience, because I want to get further understanding of what had occurred and the Titan told me I could ask one question. So I asked How and when should I seek your aid? He seemed to like that I'd managed to make one question into two and told me that I'd know when to work with him when the situation called for it and that I'd be guided in how to work with him. He also told me that what I thought of as need differed greatly from what he thought of as need and suggested that I shouldn't call on him lightly. He touched my cord and then my forehead again and I felt a rush of energy go through me, attuning both me and the cord.

We did another working as well, with the Ashim, which are lunar angels. This working involved traveling up and down the gold and silver steps which are representative of the paths a soul takes when it goes to be born or goes to die. I didn't recall much of the experience., but I do remember my Angel showing me the pattern of my lives.

Kat told me, when I came back, that she felt that my energy was different...that my vibration had been raised. Now some of that could be temporary, but I felt that a genuine shift occurred and that continuing to do the cord work will continue to imprint it into me. I already integrated it into my daily work. And later that night when we did our weekly devotional work to Dragon he came through and told her that one reason she'd been sick was because I needed to go to that workshop alone, to show my commitment to the work and show that it wasn't a commitment to her, so much as a commitment to the work itself. And y'know there's something to that because when you get introduced to a specific type of magical work by someone, at some point you need to know why you are doing that work, who for, and what it really means to you. This weekend showed me that and moved me deeply as a result.

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Walking with Spirits is where I teach how to build spirit relationships that hold up over years. Get the book →

Not ready to buy anything? Why Your Spells Don't Stick is a free guide to the most common reasons a working stalls, and where to start fixing it.

If you want help with a specific situation, work with me one to one.

Today is the last day to sign up for Weaving the Web at the discount price

 

Today is the last day to sign up for Weaving the Web in Portland at the discount price of $189. After today the price goes up to $229.

Space and Time are a web that weaves the possibilities of magic into the realities of life. When you learn to weave the web of space and time, you learn how to manifest possibility into reality.

In weaving the web, you will learn how to work with Space and Time as distinct principles of magic that can be applied to your life and spiritual practices. These principles of magic can fit with any spiritual tradition, while allowing you to enhance the effectiveness of your magical work, as you apply it to your life.

If you want to know more about the class, or you want to sign up, go here.

Sound and Silence in Ritual

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How Magic Works is where I teach how to take a desire from intent to an actual result, step by step. Start the class →

Not ready to buy anything? Why Your Spells Don't Stick is a free guide to the most common reasons a working stalls, and where to start fixing it.

If you want help with a specific situation, work with me one to one.

One of the classes I presented at Convocation is the Ritual Sonics class. It's a class I've recently developed because of my own experiments with sound and at Convocation I taught the full version for the first time and was pretty pleased with it. A couple of the concepts I explored focused in one the relationship between sound and silence. In my experience sound and silence are in a symbiotic relationship  that structures so much of our experiences with sound in both mundane and sacred circumstances.

Consider sound and silence in relation to each other. One begins where the other ends, and both are defined by the experience of the other. I actually pointed out in my class that we never really have silence. Turn off your music, be quiet for a few moments and just listen. You'll still hear background noises, and perhaps you'll even hear your own thoughts, suddenly standing out to you because your mind isn't being occupied with sound. In that sense, silence is an illusion, but let's consider another angle.

Sometimes what silence really is involves our choice to stop making sound and just be with whatever is there, or to purposely create a sense of quiet that helps to build up the energy of the ritual. When silence is used in this way, it becomes a part of the sound that is engineered to enhance whatever sounds are made. For example ring a bell and listen to the sound eventually quiet down to silence and listen to this silence and then ring the bell again. What you are doing is building up the sound using the silence as a way to enhance the recognition of the sound.

Another way I like to use sound and silence involves chanting the name of a deity or entity. The chant first starts in your head. You think the name of the deity or entity a few times, and then you whisper the name a few times, and then you say the name louder a few times and then you say the name louder again. then repeat the cycle, using the repetition of the silence and sound to build a cycle of sound that calls out to the deity or entity and establishes a group connection for the people doing the chant. The sound and silence create a rhythm and also illustrate something important in a group setting, which is that initially we're individuals, but as we sync our vocal efforts together we become a group and that group consciousness in turn helps to manifest the connection to the deity or entity.

Sound and silence work hand in hand if we choose to allow them to. I like to integrate silence into the sound work I do because I find it makes the magical working much more purposeful than it might be otherwise. Silence causes us to appreciate the sound more and at the same time go deeper into ourselves to draw on the resources we'll use to make the connection with the entity, deity or purpose that we're choosing to make sound for. The sounds we make in turn allow us to not only connect with the deity, entity, or purpose we are seeing to connect with, but also help us appreciate the silence and use it, in and of itself, to be present with the connection we make.

A book review of Manifesting Wealth

Manifesting Wealth was reviewed by author Lilith Dorsey on Patheos.

Book Review: Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity by Etienne Wenger

In this book the author explores the concept of organizational design from two perspectives of practice and identity and explores how those perspectives inform the creation of community within organizations as well as the power dynamics that occur as a result. The author has some intriguing ideas to present and it's worth a read if you are interested in building community or improving the efficacy of your organization. This is an academic text, so it's not focused on how to build community, however you can get a lot of ideas from reading the text. I'd recommend it as a way of also understanding some of the dynamics in your organization so that you can make changes or make your organization sustainable.

Explore related entries in the Library

• Ritual Frame for Unbinding
• Temporal Collapse Ritual
• Somatic Centering Ritual
• Ritual of Ruin and Rebirth

My upcoming convention schedule in 2014

My convention schedule continues to grow!

I'll be presenting at Paganicon in March. I'll be presenting classes on Publishing, Wealth Magic, Space/Time Magic and the Elemental Balancing Ritual. If you are attending, please come up and say hello!

I've also just been accepted to present at the Second International Left Hand Path Conference in Indianapolis, in July of this year. If you are interested in attending, sign up now, because rates go up after March 15.

I'll continue updating this blog every so often with upcoming events I'll be at and if you are there, please do come up and say hello.

My work with Glasolya-Labolas

I recently started working with Glasolya-Labolas, a Goetic Daimon of Time, but also of diplomacy. He contacted me initially, or rather his name stood out to me and I decided to work with him and see what I could learn. In my tradition of space/time Magic he is the guardian of Memory and a guide to working with retroactive magic. He also can be a protective spirit and can help you find opportunities to connect with allies and even help you make diplomatic overtures to your enemies. I've recently had the opportunity to experience all of these aspects of working with him and I'm quite impressed with his abilities.

As a time Daimon, he is able to help you mask or unmask opportunities, as well as discover possibilities in your memories that can be used to influence opportunities in the present or future. In my particular case, I chose to work with him in terms of masking my own temporal presence at an event, so that while I was there, I nonetheless found that my interactions with several people were limited, which was something I wanted due to my relationship with those people. It occurs to me that I could've also worked with him to change certain past aspects of my relationships with those people, but I wasn't really inclined to, as I didn't desire to have a relationship of any sort beyond a neutral one with those people.

As a diplomat, Glasolya-Labolas was quite helpful in engineering opportunities to meet with people who could become allies. I had opportunities to chat with several people that were influential in their own ways and develop relationships with them that would be beneficial for all involved. I was also able to make connections with people who organized the event and get to know them. And I felt that Glasolya-Labolas helped me know when to be social in general, so that I got to know various people at the event and make a good impression with them. Whenever I felt an intuition to do something social, I trusted it and followed it where I needed to go. And each time I connected with people that I needed to meet.

I would definitely recommend working with Glasolya-Labolas and intend to continue working with him myself. I feel there's a lot I have yet to discover with him, but thus far I'm impressed with what he's shared with me and how he's worked with me. He's quite a helpful ally to have on your side.

Elemental Balancing Ritual Movement Month 16: Momentum

1-21-14 Last night Kat and I meditated and in my meditation I was asked: "How can you be present with another person, when you don't know how to be present with yourself?" Good question and as I meditated on it, I realize how much just being with myself can be a painful experience. This morning's meditation just seemed to confirm that there is this core part of me that feels such pain and hurt, and emptiness and longing and that just sitting with it, really being present with it is something I've spent my entire life avoiding. I think I can point to any number of whys, which is useful for resolution purposes, but even more than that just sitting with myself, really sitting with myself is something and being present is something I need to learn. I told Kat how I realized that for me, my life has always been about then ext person, project etc., and how that focus has always provided me a way to avoid just being present with myself, just feeling whatever it is I'm feeling.

In a related note, Erik, my astrologer had told me that my birthday, this year, would occur in the exact space that happened when I was initially born. I find this interesting and relevant, even to the work I'm doing now, because I feel that in exploring my earliest experiences in this life I'm actually allowing myself to figuratively explore the beginnings of this life and the experiences I've had. It was around this time of year that I was conceived and so I find it helpful to be exploring these issues now even as this year eventually comes to my birth date and allows me perhaps to experience a re-birth in the same space as will have occurred 38 years ago. I'm going to doing something special this year for that particular birthday, but I will just allow that to come to me as the time continues. For now I just need to focus on this work.

I'm continuing to read Born for Love and they talk quite a bit about the neurochemistry of bonding. I'm familiar with the neurochemistry, but as I read it, I consider my relationship with the particular neurotransmitters and map that relationship to my behaviors and I see patterns in ways I hadn't, which confirms the realizations I'm having right now about the drive and motivation behind many of my choices.

1-26-14 I've always been tightly wound as a person, in some ways. Kat observed that I don't do spontaneity so much as I do scheduled spontaneity and I think that's accurate. I can be spontaneous, but it's all scheduled in my mind. I've always been a person who lives in my head, and allowing myself to really feel, to really be present with what I'm feeling is something that still comes hard to me because of how wound tight I've been. I told Kat that for me being wound tight is a control mechanism, both in terms of not letting people in (or only letting them in so far) but also not letting me out. The problem with this control mechanism is that if you hit it in the right place it comes unwound pretty quick. So allowing myself to feel, to let go of control and be present is really good for me, and I did that today with Kat in a manner that did bring up an awareness of blockages in myself and allowed me to feel them. I still feel uncomfortable with them, but I'm not thinking about them...I'm actually feeling them.

1-28-14 I'm feeling pretty accomplished today. My latest book Manifesting Wealth is now available for sale and as always when I get a book published it feels really good to have it done and know its something else I can take off my project list. I'm looking forward to doing book release parties, something I haven't done in the past, but I'm open to trying. In other news one of my uncles may be dying. Not sure how I feel about it, mainly because I really don't know him. I don't have much contact with the majority of my family. I've always been considered an odd person and a black sheep, so I feel a it weird about it, but more from a sense of obligation than genuine feeling.

1-31-14 As I continue working with movement, what strikes me is how even little movements build momentum. The discrete actions, the choices you make all build momentum toward the movement you are enacting. You live with that movement, become it because of the choices you make and all of it builds up and flows to the outcome that's manifested as a result of building that momentum.

2-1-12 I'm continuing to read Born for Love. They talk about how the first year of a baby's life is the year where the baby is the most impressionable, and also just how selective the baby is about who takes care of it. The baby knows who the mom or dad is, but not really anyone else and isn't necessarily receptive to anyone else. Babies focus on what's familiar and safe and use that to gradually explore the world around them. Now I think about that in relationship to what I know about the first year of my life. I lived with my mom for most of it, but there was a fair amount of moving involved and a lot of stress in the environment. And toward the end of that year, I ended up with my dad and with whoever he was with at the time. There wasn't much in the way of familiarity in those environments and recognizing that and seeing how much that's hardwired into a baby really makes an impression on me about that stage in my life and its effect on my own behavior, my needs and wants. It's amazing to think that a year that you probably don't remember much of has such an effect on your life in a way that moves throughout the rest of your life, but clearly it does.

2-4-14 Further reading of Born to Love has proven quite insightful to understanding some of the neurochemical aspects of love and bonding, as well as what happens when a kid doesn't have those initial bonding experiences. What's really fascinating is that a lot of behaviors even as an adult can be linked back to this early period of your life.

2-5-14 In Born for Love, they describe a person who was raised in an orphanage, who didn't get a lot attention or bonding in her early years. What they describe sounds a lot like me: Physical contact can be anxiety provoking, needs to sleep in absolute darkness, doesn't like bright lights, prefers wearing clothes with soft fabrics, doesn't like to be touched and has had to devise cognitive and intellectual behavior strategies to figure out how to behave in different social situations. Everything described here fits me to a T. Up until relatively recently, I didn't like to cuddle or be held because I found it uncomfortable and felt like the other person was trying to smother me with touch. Even now I find it uncomfortable, but less so, to the point that I can cuddle for a while before I start to get uncomfortable. When I sleep at night I can't touch Kat at all if I want to sleep, though in this last year I've gotten to a point where I can lightly snooze in her arms. And even though I do hug people, it's a learned behavior, like so many of my other behaviors. I find social situations awkward and I've had to really study them to understand how and why to interact a certain way. In reading this book and realizing how much my very early years effected me, it really makes me understand a lot of my choices and interactions with people in a different light. I see how that early period of time, which was so unstable, created an unstable foundation for my life.

2-13-14 I attended a talk last night at one of my networking groups. The presenter discussed problem solving vs solution finding and made a point that what we focus is on is what we create. I've heard it before, but sometimes you need to hear messages like that again and it struck me deeply when I heard it. I asked myself if I was focusing on my problems or my strengths, focusing on fixing something or focusing on discovering possibilities and my answer is that I do a fair amount of both but also that it can get very easy to fixate on what isn't working in your life because the tendency people have is to focus on the problems...what isn't working as opposed to what is working. What isn't working shapes the narrative of our movement because we know what is wrong...but do we know what is right? Do we celebrate our strengths and let those create momentum for us? That's something I've been learning to do more and I see its effect in my business. I feel more confident and sure of myself this year than I ever have because I feel I know my strengths, know what I am capable of and how I can stretch myself further. And you know I realize that exercising has played a role in that discovery of my strengths, because as I become more physically fit and strong, I feel more confident about what I can do in general. Play to your strengths and let them move you.

2-18-14 I've just gotten back from Pantheacon and a lot has happened since I last updated this post. On the drive down, I got into an interesting conversation with Kat, where I told her that I realized I was comfortable and content with her. I don't think I've ever felt content or comfortable with other people before. As we talked, I explained that I realized that my understanding of what love is seems to be maturing. My relationship with her has been the longest stable relationship I've had. While we've had our occasional issues, overall we get along really well. Being in such a relationship is a bit strange for me. I have to admit I feel a bit scared because I'm in uncharted waters in this matter. Everything I've known has been volatile with ups and downs, with the initial chemistry of NRE and then that chemistry fading and not necessarily being replaced with anything. With Kat, it is being replaced with something steadier and more grounded. I like it, but I'm not used to it. There's a steady movement to this relationship, a momentum which grounds me even as it carries me forward. Later we also discussed spontaneity and affection and I explained that for me so much has been planned in my life because of trying to understand people. With her, I can give more of myself than I've ever given anyone else...I can relax and be at peace.

At the convention, I presented two workshops plus the publishing panel. All of them were well attended and people seemed to get a lot from the workshops. I think I would only change the titles of the workshops. What stood out to me about the workshops is how movement manifested during them. Before each workshop began I could feel nervous tension in myself. I'd move around a lot, make occasional funny comments and basically put myself into the space of becoming the presenter. Then I did the stillness chant and everyone joined in and it grounded me and set up the sacred space. Everyone got into it. Everyone felt it. And the workshops then were paced really well. I didn't get scattered (outlines helped) and I kept the workshop moving in the direction I wanted. On the drive home Kat told me that she felt I was really building momentum for myself and Immanion Press. I agree with her. I feel that the momentum is building up and it's something I've not really done in the past. But now that I'm approaching my writing and presenting in terms of building a brand identity I like what I'm seeing. There is movement and direction and I can work with that.

The Process of Magic Round 8 starts in 2 weeks!

Round 8 of the Process of Magic class starts on March 5th! 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. You will learn how to:

• Develop your own definition of magic and why its important to have your own definition.
• Use a process approach to magic to understand how it works and what you change.
• Personalize your magical system to improve its efficacy in your life.
• Understand how to fix mistakes in your magical workings.
• Achieve a new understanding of magic and its place in your life and work.

To RSVP for this class go here.

I decided to take Taylor Ellwood’s Process of Magic class after many years of magical practice and study as a way to reboot my work. I’ve been involved with a few traditions but have generally been very eclectic in my approach. In my view eclecticism is a strength if you can find a way to synthesize all of those disparate takes on the magical path. Taylor has stripped away most of the window dressings associated with magic. Instead of focusing on style and aesthetics he focuses on the roots of practice and the processes underlying them. For those who are already involved in magic but are wondering how to weave together the rich variety of strands available to us in the 21st century, examining the processes that underly all magic, no matter the flavor, is an excellent place to start. For newcomers and beginners this course will help you quickly move beyond the 101 stage and help you start getting your hands dirty with practical magic.

Testimonial from Justin Patrick Moore

Memory and Retroactive Magic

Lately I've been doing some work some new space/time magic entities. One of the ones I'm working with, which I'll discuss in more depth in another post is the Goetic Daimon Glasolya-Labolas. One of the topics we've focused on is memory and retroactive magic. The concept of retroactive magic is that you do a magical act that effects a past event in such a way that it changes the present and the possibilities you have access to in the present. I also think of retroactive magic as doing magic in the present to effect a past event. To illustrate both concepts, let me share two examples from my own practice. My first example involves doing magical work to change a present behavior by going into past memories and changing the behavior in those past memories. I have found that if you want to change a behavior in the present, it becomes much easier when you change it in the past. What I do is do a pathworking exercise where I revisit specific memories and re-live those memories, but change the actions and behavior I did in those memories to ones I find to be more desirable. This consequently enables me to change the behavior in the present, because I've built a past where the desired behavior was already being performed.

The second example involved doing a magical work with a group that was in the U.K. I did the working several days after the group did their working (but before they reported in) and sent my magical working back in time so that even though I was doing the working in the present it was contributing to the working in the past. When I checked in with the group from the U.K. they reported strongly feeling my presence on the day they did their ritual, which indicated to me that my present working had effectively reached back to the past.

I've used retroactive magic to also discover possibilities in my present that I initially didn't were available due to past choices. When I felt that way, I'd do a ritual working to change the past choice, or at least change the outcome of that past choice and then I would discover new possibilities that were more favorable to me.

In my meditations with Glasolya-Labolas, he has suggested that time is not fixed and that memories aren't set, but only seem to be set because of the linear perspective we apply to time. If we were to instead consider that time isn't fixed and that within a given memory there are also other possible experiences, we could access those experiences and work with them to change the experience of the present we are in. It's an intriguing idea to experiment with, and although I feel I've done that to some degree via retroactive magic, I'm going to work more closely with Glasolya-Labolas to explore what his approach is and how it might fit or challenge my own understanding of retroactive magic and memory work.

Pop Culture Magic and Video

I've just finished reading Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture by Henry Jenkins (See Review Below). In one of the last chapters he discusses early Fan video creations (bear in mind this book was written in 1992). What I find fascinating about that chapter is 2 things. First that long before youtube came along people were creating video parodies and stories about the characters they enjoy, which just shows that while contemporary technology is helpful for creating such videos, it isn't absolutely necessary. People were making videos before we had social media. That said, social media and better video technology has definitely played a role in the proliferation of videos.

The second thing I find fascinating is the magical angle, because to my mind there's always a magical angle. I've made a few videos (not all that good) and I'm planning on getting better video technology in the nearish future to make more. What's stood out to me about videos though is that with right editing software, you can not just shoot a video but add in some other effects, such as sigils, sounds, random pictures etc, and through that process create an experience for the viewer that can be helpful for your own magical purposes. After all, if the person is watching they are providing you their attention, which brings with it some energy of intention on their part, which can feed into your own.

In the case of the chapter, the fans creating the videos were really creating their own narrative stories with beloved characters and as a result contributing to the pop culture reality of those characters, which consequently I think can also be useful for connecting with a given pop culture entity. When people interact with various characters they are giving those characters more attention, more life via the interaction. Video creations provide fans a way to interact with the pop culture they like and tell stories, weave new realities for those characters. Apply that on a magical level and what you get is deeper interactions with the characters, which can then be applied toward magical workings with those same characters. The videos can be the magical workings as well, with everything set up so that the magical working is done, and then when viewed the ritual is charged and re-done because of the audience participation in watching the video. For example, think of a music concert. When you go to the concert you are caught up in the feelings and experiences of that concert. If you were to watch the concert as a video you'd experience a similar feeling of participation and intention. This can also be applied to videos that are made, with the understanding that the goal is to get some type of emotional response from the people viewing the video in order to continually charge and fire the magical working done in the video. Antero Alli's films are good examples of that principle in action, but I think it could also be done with pop culture, and that if you look at the various fan films that are available on youtube, you'll see the potential. When people are willing to dress up as characters and create their own stories, what they are doing is creating not just a story, but a magical working in its own way, that if understood from that perspective can be helpful for pop culture magical workings.

Speaking of Pop Culture Magic, check out my latest post on Pagan Square where I discuss the esoteric secrets of fantasy.

Book Review: Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture by Henry Jenkins

This book is a must read for anyone interested in pop culture studies or anyone who is a fan and wants to understand the history of fan movements. The author does an excellent job of showing how different fandoms found empowerment in their communities and in their own fan creations based off the pop culture they liked. While this book was originally written in 1992, it's still relevant to contemporary pop culture studies and if anything provides a fascinating historical perspective that allows the reader to understand contemporary fan movements and use of technology better through the context of reading the book. What I liked the most is that the author explored a number of types of fandoms (SF but also romance) and fan activities such as slash, filking, and video making. By doing this he provides a holistic perspective on fan activities that can help the reader better understand fandom and how it shows up in culture.

Weaving the Web is happening at the end of March

 

Weaving the Web: Using Space and Time to Enhance your Magical Practice is happening on March 29th and 30th in Portland, OR.

Space and Time are a web that weaves the possibilities of magic into the realities of life. When you learn to weave the web of space and time, you learn how to manifest possibility into reality.

In weaving the web, you will learn how to work with Space and Time as distinct principles of magic that can be applied to your life and spiritual practices. These principles of magic can fit with any spiritual tradition, while allowing you to enhance the effectiveness of your magical work, as you apply it to your life.

The price for this course is $189 until March 1st. To learn more about the class, and what we'll be focusing on or to rsvp for the course go here.

What is Success in Wealth Magic?

Recently Stephanie Connolly Reisner made a post about success and magic. It was and excellent read and she made a point which I think is important: Having you're act together is an essential part of being successful. She has definite ideas of what success means and she is manifesting that success in her life (When it comes to Wealth Magic, IMO that is what tells you that you are successful). she's aiming for what she wants to manifest and she's not letting anything stop her. I respect that, a lot, because I think too many people have been taught to aim low and consequently get far too comfortable with circumstances that aren't conducive to success. They rationalize away these circumstances, but settle for less than what they could do, if they just pushed themselves to aim higher. From my own experiences of being poor and from knowing other people in such circumstances, I can say that being poor sucks and while you can still enjoy life, there's something to be said for having your life be more stable, because it allows you to have more of the experiences that make life worth living. Jason makes the point that while money isn't the main point of doing magic, having stability in your finances can be quite helpful in improving your quality of life and having time to do what you want to do. Again, I agree with what he's mentioned.

In Manifesting Wealth, I admit that I occasionally wondered if I should really be writing a book on wealth magic, because my financial circumstances aren't the best (though they are continually getting better each year). However, I decided to write the book because while money is a significant topic in the book so is health, love, career, and business, and when I look at my life, I feel that as I'm continuing to get my act together I am also continuing to manifest the physical circumstances that support the life I choose to live. I also wrote it because I've always believed in living life on my terms instead of someone else's and I think that attitude is essential toward really achieving whatever success is to you. So when I think about success in wealth magic, I think there are some foundational components: Finance, Love, Health, doing what you love, and living life by your rules (Those are my standards, so feel free to come up with your own if you don't agree with mine).

Finance: Finance is knowing how to budget, how balance your checkbook, how to pay your bills, and how to plan for your future. It's also knowing what you want to do with the money you've got. In my experience, a lot of people don't seem to know what they want to use money for. They pay bills and live paycheck to paycheck, but they don't have a plan for it beyond that. Or perhaps they know they want to be out of debt, but after that? My plan does involve having as little debt as possible (I think most people, even ones with their acts together, have some debt), but it also involves retirement accounts, emergency savings, and knowing what's important enough for me to justify spending money on (For example I can tell you that buying  board or video game for me is an investment as opposed to a cost, because of the amount of time and enjoyment I get from aforementioned purchase).

Love: A stable relationship (or relationships if that's your preference) is a must. A stable relationship, imo, involves lots of communication between you and your SO. And the communication needs to happen in regards to everything that is shared in your relationship. You have to be able to communicate about finances, sex, spirituality, what you want to do for fun, etc., because if you don't communicate (or if you fight all the time) than you don't have a stable foundation. A stable relationship makes life much easier for everyone and makes it possible to do a lot of things that would be harder to do otherwise. From my own experience, I can say that being in a stable relationship has done a lot to help me in every other area of my life.

Health:  You can have lots of money, but if you don't have health that money will go right back into keeping you alive. Health means eating right, eating the right portions, exercising, meditating, and otherwise taking care of yourself physically and mentally. I've found that since I started exercising regularly again that I'm much happier and more focused. Changing my eating habits has also helped immensely. Your health, imo, is your first source of wealth and the one you have to take care of the most, because the older you get, the more you feel the changes. I know, for example, that how I felt ten years ago is different than how I feel now and even though I do exercise regularly, I can still tell the difference.

Doing what you love: Doing what you love means you are following your calling, in some capacity or another. It might not be your full time career (though hopefully you like that) but you should still be pursuing what you love to do in some fashion. I'll admit that in my case, I greatly prefer not to work for other people and find that doing what I love necessitates being self-employed. Being self-employed makes me happy because I can work with who I want, in the capacity I want. It's a lot of work and effort, but if you keep at it, the results will incrementally improve. I'll admit having someone who believes in you when you do the self-employed route makes it much easier.

Living Life by Your Own Rules: Living life by your own rules is similar to doing what you love, but is distinct in that you recognize what's really important to you and you live it. You live life on your terms and you don't compromise unless that compromise is something you can accept and live with because it still honors you living life by your rules (and yes this is possible).

Those are my standards of success and while I am not completely satisfied with a couple of those areas, I am consistently working toward them and I'm seeing results. That's what matters, imo. If you know what you want and don't have it, keep working toward it. Develop a plan, do some magic and keep implementing until you get it. Doing that will bring you success in wealth magic and your life.

Pop Culture Magic Fan Cults

I'm reading Textual Poachers by Henry Jenkins, which is a fascinating book that examines fan culture during the late 1970's, 80's and early 90's. I'm reading it as part of my research for Pop Culture Magic 2.0 and while it might seem dated to read a book that focuses on fan activities from the last century, I actually find it to be relevant even to current fan activities. While the technology has changed to some degree, the fan activities and what makes a person fan really hasn't changed. What the author describes are people who genuinely engage with the characters of a given pop culture and getting some kind of meaningful interaction out of that engagement as it applies to their own lives and to the sense of fellowship and community they establish with other people that share similar interests. Its clear that for these fans, their interactions with each and pop culture creates a shared sense of empowerment and community.

I titled this post pop culture magic fan cults for a couple reasons. I don't feel that fan culture is really a cult, but I do think that for some fans what the particular pop culture of their choice embodies is a spiritual and perhaps even religious connection under the right circumstances. The connection that a fan feels with a character isn't something to take lightly or to dismiss because the character is "fictional". The very fact that a connection can be made signifies that there is something deeper there and that it isn't just in the head of the pop culture practitioner. This especially becomes evident by the fact that other people feel a similar connection with a pop culture character, building on the investment felt by each person in the reality of that character.

For some Pagans and for Polytheists, there is a knee jerk reaction to the idea that a person can meaningfully interact with a pop culture character in a spiritual sense. On the one hand, I think this is due to the fact that there is concern that people will appropriate practices from polytheistic practice in particular and apply those practices to working with pop culture spirits. I understand that concern and can appreciate why that would be a problem. I think that for pop culture magicians, there is a lot to draw on that isn't rooted in more traditional practices and can still be useful for connecting with pop culture spirits.

On the other hand, I also think some of the reaction is to the idea that a person could establish a meaningful spiritual relationship with a pop culture entity. There's a sense of disbelief and disagreement because a person chooses to invest their spiritual sense of connection toward a pop culture entity. Yet for the people who do make a connection with Batman or some other character, what matters is that what they're connecting to makes sense and resonates on a deep level that speaks to who they are and what they need. If I identity more with Batman and feel there is a genuine connection with him and what he embodies, I don't think its unreasonable to explore that connection and see how it manifests in my life. If, to some people, that makes seem weird or crazy, well it's no crazier than practicing magic.

The way I figure it is that what makes any deity viable is what people invest in that deity. The deity may have an objective existence, but even an objective existence is a symbiotic one. We all objectively exist and yet to continue exist we need to have a relationship of some type with everything else around us. The same applies to any deity. The belief that a person provides a deity is part of that symbiotic relationship and if that belief is placed toward a pop culture entity, why should that entity be less viable than some Deity? If the only determinant of that is tradition for tradition's sake, because people argue it hasn't been done before, well I'd say that it's happening now and has been happening longer than those people think. The human experience is about connecting with what's meaningful to a given person and if we can acknowledge that what is meaningful can differ from person to person, then perhaps we can also accept that you can't force a person to accept your version of spirituality. I don't expect, for example, that people reading this who don't agree with what I'm writing will suddenly change their minds. they won't change their minds, but to expect that their rhetoric will change my mind is a futile exercise on their part as well. I accept that they believe what they believe and I even respect that they want the boundaries of their practices to be honored because it defines who they are (I can't speak for other people, but I'm certainly willing to do that). But I also feel that what I believe and what I practice are just as valid for me...that if I make a genuine spiritual connection (which I have) that this connection is what matters and that their censure is futile, because what is happening with pop culture magic isn't going to go away. It's here to say. We're here to stay. This isn't just a fad or something that's transitory. It's something that speaks to some people and recognizing that is essential to understanding that pop culture magic isn't superficial or something that its in our heads. It means more than just that...and when I connect with an entity that's a pop culture entity and it helps me understand my spiritual work in a more profound way, it's real...as real as anything else a person chooses to believe in.

The Process of Magic Round 8 Starts March 5th

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.

Whether you are just learning about magic or have been practicing for years the Process of Magic course focuses on what really matters: Learning how to use magic to proactively improve your life. Below is a testimonial from one of the students who has taken this class:

By describing the process of magic(k) rituals, Taylor Ellwood taught me how to enhance my work. He taught me how to analyze and improve some rituals I had made, how to apply proved techniques to experimental rituals for internal magic and how pop culture can also be useful for creating pantheons more in relation to oneself. After this class my rituals have been really effective, and I started to think of magic as a means for transforming myself to get the best out of my environment. Highly recommendable class, I'm really happy I took it.

Testimonial from Ivan Marquez

To learn more about this class and to RSVP go here.