Keeping track of your magical projects is essential to staying on top of the work, knowing the results, and tracking the successes and failures. I share some ideas on how you can track your work, whether you are solitary or working with partners.
Identity as the compilation of the past
In the last week and a half I’ve been engaged in an experiment around how I frame my past, in relationship to my present. This experiment came about as a result of reading The Courage to be Happy (affiliate link) In that book the author makes the point that people often use the past to define the present, justifying their current circumstances because of what previously happened. Certainly, this has been my own experience and I found myself in a place where I was feeling on edge because of events that had happened over the course of the last year.
The author makes the point that an alternate perspective can be adapted, where we consider what meaning a person’s present identity is giving to the past. He also argues that the past doesn’t exist, because its something that can’t be regained It is simply gone. Instead what happens is that people compile their past experiences and use them to justify their current sense of identity. Anything that runs counter to the present experience they want to cultivate is conveniently forgotten and ignored. Consequently what ought to be considered is that a person’s now defines their past as opposed to the past defining the present.
An Elemental Magic Exercise
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I'm getting ready to write my next magical book, which is going to be about my work with magical elementals. One of the ways I've taken to working with the classic elemental spirits has involved going for walks. When I go outside for a walk, it allows me to open myself to their energy and experiences, but its not simply a matter of going for a walk. There is a precise state of being that is involved, as well.
Divination, the observer effect, and results
One of the fascinating aspects of divination is the observer effect, where the act of observation, or in this case divination has an impact on the magical work a person does, or for that matter the mundane realities of a person’s life. In this video I share some of my thoughts on this aspect of divination and share why I use divination as an active form of magical work, instead of for the purposes of getting information.
How to apply tension-resolution systems to magic
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In the book Creating (Affiliate link) the author shares an exercise where throughout the day of a workshop he and his partner randomly pour 7 glasses of water, but don’t explain why they are doing it to the workshop attendees. At the end of the day they ask the attendees to tell them why they are doing this activity and various people share their theories as to why. In the end, it turns out the teachers were doing this activity to illustrate the principle of tension-resolution.
What is the principle of tension-resolution?
It is this: Where there is tension, people will naturally seek to find a resolution for that tension. The author points out that often what is accomplished is NOT a resolution, because people attempt to resolve tension out of a need to control that tension, without fully considering where that need is coming from. It’s a useful lesson that demonstrates the limitations of what we know and control, because it also reveals that in making the choice to act upon tension, we may end up speculating and trying to fill in the gaps instead of being truly open and curious.
Magically speaking, however this inspired some thoughts on my part on how tension-resolution can be applied as a principle of magic. The most obvious lesson is the one the author shared and his sage advice of practicing observing reality objectively. Instead of feeling the need to fill in the gaps with what you think you know, it can be useful to simply observe and take in what you experience without feeling the need to explain it or categorize it or define it. This is no easy task, but it can be very effective for teaching you discipline around how you observe a situation or experience.
The author also makes the following observation about tension: “Tension is the engine that generates energy for action.”
In magical work, we can use tension to empower the workings we do. In fact, one of my go to’s in terms of fueling magical works involves using tension of any type to feed into the work, because tension is a constant and at the same time we are moved toward wanting a resolution (i.e. result). We can use the tension to achieve the result by directing it toward the magical and mundane work we’re doing, and then continually cycling any tension that continues to rise until the resolution is achieved. A good example, would be using the effort and emotions around a job hunt to feed into the magical working that expedites the resolution of the job hunt.
You can also take the opposite approach and delay the resolution by amplifying the tension. The benefit of taking this approach is that by drawing out the tension, you strengthen the result that occurs, because the tension becomes stronger and stronger. The more tension there is in a situation, the more it forces the situation toward a resolution, but if you can delay the resolution, the resultant “explosion” creates a stronger effect of generating a result. For example I used the tension of this summer, doing door dash and dealing with the fallout of my divorce, as well as my internal misery to force several situations to resolve in my favor. Because that tension had been drawn out for so long, it was so powerful that when the time came for desired results to manifest they were almost instantaneous.
We use tension to create movement in our lives. It’s what propels us through any crisis, but any other situation as well. If we can master the awareness of tension, we can apply it meaningfully to our magical work and achieve results by knowing when and how to apply tension to get what we want, when the moment is most opportune to achieve it.
Explore related entries in the Library
Knowing, not-knowing, and power
I discuss a realization I had around tension, knowing, and not-knowing and how all of this relates to power or the experience of not having power, and why this is important to us as magicians and creatives.
Building a foundation in magic
What does it mean to build a foundation in your magical practice and in your life? I share my thoughts and experiences around this concept of a foundation and how it can change your life if you approach it in the right way. I get philosophical and talk about what it really means to live a magical life and why that isn’t always as easy as one thinks, and I read an introduction Storm Constantine wrote in one of my magical journals.
Breaking the web of reality
In Living Magick (Affiliate link) one of the authors makes an interesting claim about how magic can be used to fundamentally break the web of reality, though apparently it can’t be taught, but only carried out as a unique act (Needless to say I don’t agree with THAT assessment). In contrast, in The Elements of Spellcrafting (affiliate link), the author argues that magic is not the direct cause of change, but is merely an influence of change. I agree with him that a lot of magic is more influence based, but I do think magic can, under the right circumstances have causal aspects to it, and be quite a direct force in a person’s life. These two opposing perspectives, where one can break the web of reality (although supposedly only in a unique way) and that magic is only an influence instead of a direct cause of change illustrates the weaknesses in modern occult theories and the limitations that we all too often readily accept in the explanations other people offer us. My own perspectives and theories and processes have their limitations as well, which is one reason I always say challenge what I share, because its not gospel truth, anymore than what these other two authors, or all the rest share.
On Madness and Magic
I share some thoughts on the role of madness in magic and my own experiences around divine madness and how it shapes my spiritual work and path.
My process for creating a magical space out of my home
I recently moved into my own space, and this gave me the opportunity to create a magical space out of my home, because the space is entirely my own to design and shape as I please. I decided to employ principles of organic design that I’ve been learning about from Christopher Alexander’s works as well as Sarah Goldhagen’s work on the topic. Both of these people, as far as I know don’t practice magic. They are architects that help design buildings and landscapes. Their knowledge of designed space is quite profound and has been very useful to me in developing a space of my own that not only reflects who I am but allows me to turn my lived in space into a spiritual sanctuary for my magical practice.
I mention their works because as always I find that the majority of my inspiration in magical practices comes from outside the magical current, where the perspectives of other disciplines can be fruitfully employed to inform the way we practice magic. In this case, I’ve taken the principles these authors have described in their books and used them to help me create an organic generative space that enhances my spiritual work, connects with the entity of the home I’m living in (and allows it to become part of the spiritual work), and at the same creates a space that is very comfortable for people who want to visit. In this article, I will walk you through my thought process and the overall development of this as a case study example of how spatial design can be employed to create an ongoing magical space to work and live in.
Should ongoing magical work be kept secret
Should ongoing magical work be kept to yourself? I discuss the pros and cons of keeping magical work to yourself and explain why I share my own work so publicly. I also share some exciting updates!
Elemental Balancing Ritual Connection and Truth Month 10
7-21-2021 today I switched over to Binah/Saturn. Given that I recently did a Saturnic ritual it felt appropriate. I had a continuing realization that it doesn’t matter what I do in the short term, because what I’m really dealing with is my own pain and suffering and I am the author of that, for the most part. It helped me come to an important realization and a sense of peace about the choices I need to make in order to move forward with a number of things. I think my time of chaos is coming to a close. I will still have some grieving to do and other processing, but I can do it and I can also commit to the path forward that will pay off down the line.
7-23-2021 The last couple of days have involved a number of job interviews. What’s been interesting for me is realizing that I’m juggling these different possibilities and trying to decide which ones I’ll explore and which to let go. I let go of one because it was clear I wasn’t the right fit. I feel this very Saturnic weaving coming into play which is actually helpful because I’m ruling out what doesn’t work for me, in favor of figuring out what could work as well as what I want to do with what I’m learning. And through it all I’m also recognizing I’m going to have to make short term sacrifices to get to where I want to go.
Finding a place to go in your magical work
For many magicians, the magic work stops once they get the result they are seeking to manifest. This makes sense, especially with practical magic, where so much of the point is about getting specific results in order to change your life in some way that ideally improves it. You get the result and the magic work ends because you’ve obtained what you want.
Yet, I find that the focus on results is so limited. That may seem odd, especially if the point is to get a result. After all, if I get the result, isn’t that the point? Why is that so limiting? There’s a couple reasons its so limiting, and why we need to think beyond the obvious and work the magic beyond the result.
The first reason is that the achievement of a result inevitably brings with it consequences. There’s a ripple effect, because the result doesn’t happen in a vacuum. You get a result, and what you bring with it (which so many magicians fail to recognize) are the changes that occur because you got the result. You work magic to get a job and that job brings with it change. You work magic to get a lover, and you get the lover and everything that comes with that person. You work magic to change some aspect of your life and you get that result and the changes that spill out from that result.
What Saturn is teaching me about Truth, Connection and Boundaries
I share my experiences with my Saturn work and how it is effecting my understanding and work with the elements of truth and connection as well as where boundaries fits into all of this.
The Mysteries of Death and Rebirth part 2
We live with death everyday, but we don’t always recognize it. In this video I discuss not just the obvious examples of death, but the subtle nuances as well. I also share some of my previous near death experiences and how they have lead to different rebirth experiences.
Memory Resonance technique
I recently saw the movie The Green Knight. It was a fascinating movie to see because of how it evoked specific experiences during the watching of the movie. Whether this was intentional or simply a byproduct of my own spiritual sensitivity, I couldn't tell you. But what I can tell you is that any such experience can be stored away and used as a way to help you sync up with related experiences.
I call this the memory resonance technique and the way it works is that you use the experiences you are having to connect with the memory of other experiences, and in turn you use those memories to enhance the current experience and open you further to liminal reality.
Falling apart and coming back together again
The last couple of months have been really intense for me. I’ve had experiences where things seemed to come together and then they would fall apart. Some of that, a lot of it, was my own doing. My life has felt like a jigsaw puzzle and every time I thought I had the right pieces, I’d realize something was wrong and I would take the puzzle apart again.
What I discovered in the last couple months is that I really needed to allow myself to break down, and come back together again. Then break down and come back together again. It’s not an easy or fun process and many people will try to avoid it, but we really can’t avoid such work, especially when we need to do it, because what we are breaking down are the patterns of our lives that no longer work. We try to put them together again, in some new variation and maybe some of it works and maybe some of it doesn’t.
The Mysteries of Death and Rebirth part 1
Death and rebirth are integral part of our life cycle. I discuss the mysteries of death and rebirth in relationship to the movie The Green Knight and share an experience I had with Cronus, as a result of watching that movie.
The current reality vs the desired result
In practical magic, one of the interesting issues that can arise around results is determining whether or not the current reality has been factored into the magical working. What I mean by current reality is the reality that we’re dealing with, which we want to change. It may seem rather obvious that a person would factor the current reality of a situation into the magical working being done to address that situation. However that may not always be the case.
It is rather easy to get fixated on the desired result, because that desired result is something we want. It moves us away from the reality we’re dealing with and brings us to a reality we want to deal with. Yet there is a benefit to the current reality that we need to consider: The current reality grounds us in what is, and also informs us of the gap between what is and what we to manifest.
How to accept and work through uncomfortable emotions
We all have feelings and emotions that can be intense. Some are enjoyable, but some such as misery and unhappiness and fear can be emotions we try to avoid. I explain why you can’t avoid them, how they can sabotage you and what you can do to be more accepting of them, and actually find peace with them.