The answer to your question is...

Sometimes I have people approach me to ask what I think about a particular magical working. They want to know if I think their magical working will produce the result they want, hypothetically speaking. My response is always the following: The only way for you to discover if your hypothetical working will produce the hypothetical result that you want is for you to do the actual work and get the answers you seek, through your own work.

I imagine this answer is frustrating. After all, shouldn’t I as a magical practitioner and occult author KNOW the answer to your hypothetical situation? Shouldn’t I be able to tell you what will or won’t work, without you actually having to do the work? I will admit, it might save people a lot of time if I could just tell them right out the gate if something would or wouldn’t work or would or wouldn’t get results.

Letting go of what holds you back

I discuss the power of letting go of what is holding you back and share why we hold onto certain thoughts and emotions and how dissolving those thoughts and emotions can liberate us.

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Magical Experiments podcast: Divination and Tarot Magic with Liz Worth

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Liz Worth and I discuss divination and Tarot magic, exploring how to work with the cards and also the importance of taking a grounded approach to your divination readings.

Learn more about Liz

Check out her books

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Elemental Balancing Ritual Connection and Truth Month 5

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2-23-2021 I switched over to the alchemical substances for mercury yesterday, which in relationship to connection and truth is all about communication. In the meditation work I’ve been doing lately, I’ve been focused on recognizing contractions, where a block forms because of one’s internal defenses. I think of it as a form of compartmentalization, because this sense of contraction seems brought on by a need to try and dissociate with an experience. Or maybe that’s just my experience with it.

I’ve also been continuing to read The Body keeps the Score which essentially discusses how the body internalized traumatic experiences. Reading the book has helped me more readily recognize my own trauma from past experiences, but also consider how trauma is created and what role you can play in the trauma another person has experienced because of your actions.

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What does it mean to be grounded?

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In an interview I did with Liz Worth, we ended up discussing the need to find balance in your life and not go overboard with your spiritual work. It got me thinking about what it really means to be grounded, especially in relationship to my recent article on recovering from spiritual burnout. I know from my own experiences and what it’s like to go overboard, because I’ve done it with magic and with being a workaholic sometimes. I’ve had to learn the necessity of achieving a better sense of groundedness in what I do through having experiences where I overdid it.

I’ve been reflecting on my own sense of balance quite a bit over the last few years, because I’ve had to make some changes in how I approach my spiritual work, my writing, and other facets of my life. I’ve realized that being grounded isn’t simply making sure you eat a bit of food after a ritual or a do a banishing. Being grounded is connecting to your life in a meaningful way that doesn’t always involve a sense of having to do something, fix something, manifest something, or otherwise deal with whatever seems to be driving you.

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What does it mean to cross the abyss?

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Crossing the abyss is a phrase sometimes used to describe crossing over the sphere of Daath in the Tree of Life, but in this context I discuss it in relationship to internal work and the dark night of the soul, and what it means to cross the abyss when it comes to your own journey in life and the hard times that inevitably can come your way. I share some of my own experiences in this regard and also explain why these experiences are valuable opportunities to learn and grow.

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Magical Experiments podcast: Identity Magic with Julian Crane

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I interview Julian Crane about his work with identity magic. He walks us through how he's used magic to change his life and shares examples of how he changed his identity with magical work in order to effect the changes he was looking for.

Check Out Julian's books:

Interview with the Magus

Kaocentric Sorcery

A Labyrinth of Dreams

Book Reviews March 2021

Book Review: The Great Unknown by Marcus Du Sautoy (Affiliate link)

In this book the author explores the frontiers of science and shares what we know and more importantly what we don’t know about those frontiers. It’s a fascinating book that explores the frontiers of physics, math, biology and more. I found it to be an interesting book if not quite as engaging as some of his works on mathematics. Nonetheless its a good introduction to the frontiers of science.

Book Review: Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday (Affiliate link)

This is a must read book for anyone because it explores how our egos get in the way of our work. The author provides historical examples of people who’ve either managed to avoid letting their ego get the best of them or have allowed their ego to cause them to fall. The examples help to illustrate the principles of this book, but even without them you only have to look at your own life to see where sometimes you’ve fallen off the right path because of your ego. This book has been a transformative read in my life and is one I will come back to frequently.

Book Review: The Phenomenon of Life by Christopher Alexander (Affiliate link)

This is as fascinating book that explores how life shows up in building design. The author presents a holistic and dare I say spiritual approach to building design that is eye-opening. The various examples and case studies illustrate the principles he discusses. What I found really helpful was how this book helped me further revise my own understanding and experience of space and how we live in space.

Book Review: The Inner Life of the Earth edited by Paul O’Leary (Affiliate link)

This is a collection of articles that focuses on elemental magic and the alchemy of the Earth. Mixed in with these articles is a focus on Christian mysticism. Some of the articles are useful and others less so. As with any anthology the articles are a mixed bag. I did find the collection interesting and would recommend it if you’re wanting to explore Christian mysticism and elemental magic.

Book Review: Emergent Magick by Threskiornis and Zentra El (Affiliate link)

Emergent Magick is essentially a recruitment manual for a magical organization. The book provides a foundational definition of magic as well as the specific practices that are done within this organization as well as how sub-communities are organized. The book also attempts to present what’ shared as a new paradigm, but it doesn’t strike me as significantly different from other magical organizations or currents of thought and practice. With that said, if you’re looking for a model of a magical community, this is a good model to draw upon. I don’t agree with all the perspectives shared on magic in this book, but if nothing else it may provide you consideration of what you’d like to see in your own magical group.

Book Review: Nature Spirits & Elemental Beings by Marko Pogacnik (Affiliate link)

This is an intriguing book about elemental magic and nature spirits. It’s an earlier book, with some commentary provided at a later date, which makes for a fascinating read because you get to contrast the earlier perspectives with the later awareness of the author. I also like that the author shares drawings of the elemental spirits. About the only thing I don’t care for is the tendency to link Christian mythos with the interactions he has, but I recognize that some of what the author is sharing is filtered through the spiritual path he walks, so I recognize in turn that informs his writing and experiences of the spirits. Overall its a fascinating exploration of elemental magic.

Book Review: The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris (Affiliate link)

This is a must read book for anyone who struggles with feeling their emotions and compartmentalizes their experiences. I found that reading this book and practicing the exercises within it helped me immensely when it came to working with difficult emotions. Just as importantly I’ve learned tools for communicating with my partner about my emotions, as well as being more present when my partner shares their emotions. This book is a life changer and since I started reading it and implementing it I’ve felt a deeper level of contentment than I’ve ever felt before and been more in touch with my emotions than I previously was.

Book Review: GPT-3 Techgnosis by Alley Wurds (affiliate link)

This is a grimoire of sorts, where the author has written the book with an AI and treated the AI as an entity. It’s a fascinating experiment with writing and magic, and the author does explain how they edited the AI response in order to focus the content of the book. At times the content is scattered and it doesn’t read like a typical magical book. With that said there are some gems in the book and if you’re someone interesting in writing magic, it may be a fascinating book for you to explore.

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

How to recover from spiritual burnout

I have a confession to make. On occasion I feel burned out with my spiritual practice. I don’t think I’m alone in feeling this way, but confessing that you’re feeling burned out on your spiritual/magical practice can bring up a whole host of questions and doubts that makes you wonder if you’re doing it wrong or if there is something wrong with you because you’re feeling burned out. Add in a practical magic component and you may find yourself even questioning what the point is of practicing magic, especially when you don’t really seem to be feeling it.

Up until a week ago, I have felt burned out with my magical/spiritual practice. The burnout happened during the summer, when my life blew up because of a variety of both good and bad situations that occurred. Actually, scratch that…it probably started earlier, because of something we’ve all been dealing with in the last year: namely the pandemic. I think in one form or another all of us have been dealing with some form of burnout. My burnout just happened to culminate in August, shortly after I quit my job to go full time writing.

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The benefits spirits get from working with us

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When you work with spirits you get the benefit of their knowledge and expertise and their help with manifesting results. You might also develop an ongoing relationship with the spirit. But what do spirits get out of the relationships with us? What are the benefits they receive? I share my thoughts on this topic in the video below.

If you want to learn more about working with spirits, check out my book Walking with Spirits

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Magical Experiments podcast: Magical Group work with Luxa Strata

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I interview Luxa Strata about the magical group work she is doing with the Green Mushroom project. We discuss the importance of group work, especially during the pandemic and how working in a group remotely can still bring you together with people. We also discuss the value of a beginner’s mindset and how this can help you learn more about magic.

To connect with Luxa visit her instagram

Check out the Lux Occult podcast

Elemental Balancing Ritual Connection and Truth Month 4

1-22-2021 I switched over to working with the alchemical substances for the moon. I’ve also figured out how to integrate Bua Gua into this work as well as some work with elemental spirits. I’m feeling rather excited at the possibilities of what could be done with this work and the evolution of my work with the sphere of art as well. I also ended up doing some dream work, which was appropriate with working with the moon. That dream work helped me have a pivotal realization around my own sense of worth and how I’ve let that be compromised sometimes. That realization will help me make better choices with how I take care of myself and with the people I allow into my life on a personal level.

1-25-2021 In the Happiness Trap the author makes an important point: We aren’t good or bad people and the arbitrary value judgments we place on ourselves creates a tension within ourselves when we feel a need to label ourselves as good or bad. This got me thinking about how I’ve labeled myself in the past, and how those labels have shaped my identity in ways that have ultimately been more harmful than helpful. So I’m giving myself space NOT to label myself as good or bad, but simply to be and to allow myself to let go of those values judgments of my identity and instead recognize that I’m simply a person who has made choices, and instead of even defining those choices as good or bad, I’ve simply acknowledged that those choices have had consequences and impacts that should be noted and considered carefully. It’ a different way of looking at things, but its helpful.

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The Magic of working with your emotions

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When you think about your emotions, perhaps the last thing you might consider is that there is a magical aspect to your emotions, or that emotions should even be worked with magically. After all, emotions seem to fall in the domain of psychology and while you can do shadow work around emotions that isn’t always considered “real” magical work. Yet in my own experiences and in observing other magicians, I think there’s a real need to work with the emotions and to do so in a way that is healthy, while also recognizing the role emotions can play in magical work.

What I’ve discovered in my own magical practice, and from observing other practitioners is that while magic can solve some problems, it can also exacerbate other issues, and this can include issues around the emotions. Certainly when I look back at my younger self, I see recognize times when I was reactive with my magical practice because of the emotions I was feeling at the time. I let those emotions take over my identity in the moment. As I began doing internal work aka shadow work around my emotions, it also changed my magical practice. I became less reactive in my usage of magic to resolve problems and started to carefully consider the impact.

What practitioners overlook in magic

I was asked the question what practitioners overlook in magic. Today I came up with an answer to that question, but it's not the answer you'll likely expect. Watch the video to learn what I think practitioners overlook in magic.

Why doesn't Magic always work?

Sometimes you do a magical working and the magic doesn’t seem to work. Why? You’ve gotten all the required resources, done all the steps, but despite doing all of that work the result you wanted didn’t manifest. I share some thoughts on why magic doesn’t always seem to work as well as how to troubleshoot your magical work.

Get How To Troubleshoot your Magic

Take the class on how to troubleshoot your magic

Why consistency matters in your magical practice

One of the most important lessons I learned in my magical work is the lesson of consistency, specifically the need to be consistent with a given practice of magic, especially when you’re learning that practice. From the very beginning of my magical practice to now I’ve applied a consistent approach to what I’ve learned in a few different ways. That consistent practice has instilled a level of discipline with me that has helped me become a better practitioner of magic, and helped in other venues of my life, such as with my writing.

When you aren’t consistent with your magical practice it is hard to create a truly sustainable practice, because you’re not giving yourself the benefit of sticking with that practice. Instead when you jump from one magical practice to another you only the barest taste of what that practice can provide you.

So how do you develop a consistent practice of magic?

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Magical Experiments Podcast: Tarot and Spell casting with Elise Oursa

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In this episode Elise Oursa and I discuss how to mediate and work with spirits, how to work with Tarot and the finer pragmatic details of creating change in your life with spells.

Elise's Website is http://www.eliseoursa.com

and her facebook group is: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cardsncoffee

Elise's new tarot deck Blood and Ink will be available for pre-order soon!

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When to use short term or long term magic workings

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When I think about applying practical magic to my life to effect change and get results, there’s usually two purposes that such workings are applied to. The first purpose is to solve a problem that has come up in your life. You need a solution, and magic is a means of obtaining that solution and resolving the problem. The second purpose is that you’re trying to design your life and you’ve decided to apply magic to that life design in order to help you achieve it. I also consider this to be short term vs. long term magical workings.

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The Ethics and Pragmatics of Love Magic

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Should you do magic to find your ideal romantic partner? And if you do love magic should you try and get a specific person to love you or should you take a more generalized approach? I answer these questions and explore the topic of love in general and share my own pragmatic approach to handling love and love magic.

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How to let changes in your life settle

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Whether you've done magical work to make change happen or just had some mundane changes come up in your life, its important to make space for those changes to settle and to give yourself a way to fully process the change and consequences that come with those changes.