The sun's role in planetary magic

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I’m reading Retrograde Planets by Erin Sullivan (affiliate link) and she makes a very intriguing point about the nature of the sun as it relates to astrology. She claims that the sun is ultimately a reflection of the other planets that mediates those energies in our lives, through the sun sign. I found this commentary relevant because of ongoing magical work I’m doing that involves creating a specific space where you phase out sublunar energies, because of how they interfere with magical work. I also found it relevant for another reason, because when you are working with specific materials you don’t want direct sunlight to tamper with the energies. The commentary filled in a gap for me around the work I’m doing.

If we consider that the solar energy is essentially a mediation of other planetary energies as they show up in your life, then there exists the possibility that we can change our relationships with a given planetary energy by changing how the solar energy mediates that planetary energy. For example my Saturn is in Leo. My sun is in Libra and mediates that Saturn energy around relationships and my ability to love myself versus seeking love with other people. The result is that I’ve necessarily had to do a lot of self love work around myself because of the Saturnian influence as mediated by Libra, but in doing that work, one of the aspects I’ve explored is how to change my relationship with Saturn. This necessarily has involved changing how I approach setting boundaries and healthy relationships in my life, but it also of late involving working on self-responsibility and applying a Saturnian approach to relationships that redefines them in favor of healthy self-awareness and taking responsibility in a way that empowers me, instead of punishing myself.

This new perspective also has helped me see how retrogrades can actually be powerful and positive experiences that open us to awareness around the areas of our lives where change is needed and opportunities are available. For example, when Mercury goes into retrograde, the opportunity is revealed around the area of communication and what you take for granted about communication that could be worked on. Or apply this to Venus or Jupiter, with whatever meanings are associated with those energies. What could you discover about yourself in a retrograde period that could be worked on and developed in a meaningful way?

The application to inner alchemical work is clear when you apply this lens to planetary magic, but you can also apply it practically to your life. For example in the case of relationships, you can engage in magical work that’s designed to help you improve your communication and relationships skills. This ay mean you work with mercury to call up situations where you can practice your communication skills or that you approach a specific situation with an aim of enhancing your communication using mercurial magic…and at the same time you’ll factor in the solar influence and how that shapes your approach to communication. In my case, the solar influence is Libra/Scorpio cusp so I have to consider how that communication might be really intense and also a balancing of different perspectives, in a way that might work against me. The solar mediation of mercurial energy is an essential aspect to consider in terms of how I might apply magic to communication.

Taking this perspective on around planetary magic has shifted my overall approach with a consideration of how to factor in the planetary influences on the sun, as well as how the sun also plays a role in the other planets. It is a two way street and meditation on this idea can be helpful, especially as you develop planetary magic workings further, or apply them holistically to other endeavors. I’m applying this awareness to my daily work as well, in consideration of how to best direct the given planetary influences and also be more aware of them in terms of how they show up in my personality so that I can apply them in a way that is helpful to my efforts.

A nuanced approach to planetary magic factors in the way the planets influence each other, instead of treating them as siloed entities. Ideally you’ll get the various influences to play off each other, but even if you don’t learning how to plan for them can help you get better results with your planetary magic. Applying this understand may provide an additional key that opens doors for you with the respective planetary forces you are working with.

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How to use game creation to construct pop culture magical workings

I discuss how game creation can teach us principles of magic that can be applied to pop culture magic workings as well as magical workings in general. I also share a couple of ideas on how to use game creation to construct magical workings that are executed when a game is played.

Causality, responsibility and results

When I look at the essential process of magic I find that it can be really helpful to consider it from different perspectives, especially in relationship to achieving results. I’ve recently discovered an interesting formula that frames results in terms of outcomes. The formula is Event + Response = Outcome and I learned about it from a class I am taking. The formula works like so. An event occurs and you determine the response that will provide you the best possible outcome. It’s a pretty simple formula on paper, but when considered in real life it calls for strategic awareness.

In results based magic, the process is defined by the result. The first question I ask is, “What is the result I want to achieve?” When I can define the result I want achieve then I can start to develop the process of magic and mundane actions I’ll take that helps me get the result. The formula I mentioned above takes a somewhat similar approach, with a nuanced difference.

The nuanced difference is that events happen and you determine your response to the event and take action to get the outcome you want to manifest. In contrast with magic, the idea is that you are happening to the event or rather using magic to create the event that produces the result. However there is a lot of magic that is done as a reaction. An event happens and a person does magic in order to make a result occur that resolves the event in their favor. This latter example of doing magic fits into the formula mentioned above.

What I’ve been considering about that formula is how it focuses the attention on response. An event happens and a response is warranted. The question I ask myself is, “What is the outcome I want to generate?” This question asks me to carefully consider the outcome I want to create as well as the steps that will need to be taken to achieve that outcome.

I recently applied this formula to a situation where I needed to consider the outcome I wanted and specifically how that outcome would address an experience I was having. I looked at all the choices I had available to me, from the improbable to the most probable and I asked myself how the choices would actually get me the outcome I desired. I considered whether I would need to employ magic or mundane means as well as subjective variables I was aware of and could anticipate. Then I took action based on the outcome I desired with the best possible actions I could take.

Anytime I come across a methodology that breaks down how results or outcomes can be achieved I like to apply it to my process oriented approaches for magic to see how the methodology can be applied to magical work, and to life in general. It inevitably improves my understanding of process work, magic, and all the other facets of life that these methods can be applied to. In the case of this formula, it’s helping me consider the overall outcome I want to achieve and what the best path will be for getting to that outcome.

Processes for mediation of planetary and astrological influences

In this video I discuss how I use sound, scrying and pentacles for the purposes of directing and focusing planetary and astrological influences. I also discuss the purposes of the overall purpose of these processes in relationship to ongoing work I’m doing with the sphere of art.

The cosmology of maps and magick: The path is the territory

I’ve recently started reading The Sacred Alignments and Sigils by Robert Podgurski (affiliate link) and he shares the following: “The way to illumination has long been described as a path, route, or journey, along with other numerous allusions to the plotting of a course…the path is an emblem that is vivified as students engage with their quest. The going makes the path: it’s both agent and action as well as facilitating magickal velocity bringing about union with the godhead or the One and All.” I thought this was an interesting passage and it got me thinking about my own use of the word path and what it describes in relationship to spiritual work.

It seems to me that path is both an ontological and cosmological term in context to magical work and perhaps spiritual work in general. Yet the path is also a descriptor of the map that we’re working with, and a route through that map. The path becomes the territory by which we understand the map. Wordplay aside, the path becomes the process through which we depict and explore the spiritual work we’re doing and put it into context within our lives. I use the word path because it is generally a relatable term and yet it is a highly personal term as well. My path isn’t necessarily your path, and yet can still be relatable.

What I’ve noticed in general is there is a tendency to map out the spiritual journey and work that a person does. I suppose the advantage of this tendency is that it provides a way for a person to make sense of and make meaning of the spiritual work in relationship to their lives. This is an essential aspect of spiritual work: We seek to meaning and sense of it so we can apply it in a way that actually changes our lives.

Maps, metaphorically, become systems and processes that we use to create change in our lives. They describe where the dragons are but they also describe how the world, the cosmos, etc., should be…while the path describes how the practitioner gets there. The practitioner is describing the path and creating the map as they go through the territory. The territory becomes known through the path and the map, and yet the challenge is to continually wander into the unknown and learn. We don’t want to rely upon the path so much that we don’t discover the journey.

I’ll likely never stop using the word path in my lexicon, or other words that are similar. It’s a convenient word that describes the process a person is undergoing. Nonetheless its important to also recognize the limitations of a given word. The map isn’t the territory and the path isn’t necessarily the full experience we think it is. The ontological and cosmological implications of your work may never be fully describable because some experiences can’t be fully put into words. And we’ll continue to try because that is part of how we make meaning out of experiences and turn them into realities we can make sense of and live in, in a way that is truly essential and empowering.

How to work with your inner identities

I discuss parts work and share how you can use this method to work with your different identities or aspects of yourself, for healing, learning and a variety of other purposes. I also discuss how to recognize and work with inner aspects in a way that empowers you entire identity.

Sound and spirit: How singing and chanting creates connection

In Holy Daimon (Affiliate link) the author shares how spirits love the sound of humans singing. When I read that it reminded me of a statement what William G. Gray shared in Magical Ritual Methods (Affiliate link) about invocation and how he uses sound to setup the connection between the magician and the spirit. In my own work with spirits, and magical work in general what I’ve discovered is that sound is powerful medium that conditions the receptivity of the human consciousness while also establishing a specific space in the environment around you. Frater Acher shares the following in the first aforementioned book:

“The spoken word is the sword blade of the magician. It forms the bridge between the realm of the spirits and the realm of matter. It is itself a hybrid power, half born from flesh, half born from spirit. Singing - making our voice carry particular melodies and vibrations that express intent not only in the words spoken but also in the meaning of the melody”

When I sing or chant to connect with spirits, I infuse vibration into the singing because it serves to harmonize the connection through the energy of the vibration. The vibration aspect is essential because I use it to find the frequency of the connection. The sound of the words form the essence of the desired connection and provides meaning to the human mind, while the vibration calls forth to the spirit and invites it to connect and work with me. The sound also mediates the shared essence of the practitioner and spirit, creating a relationship between them that enables communication. That communication can come in the form of visual or auditory experiences, but in my experience is more succinct and powerful as a spiritual transmission.

This principle isn’t new, but it is worth coming back to and exploring in depth in your own practice. The sound of the spoken word, the naming of a spirit is a power into itself and this concept of sound and connection underlies what is happening when we call to a spirit. It also can play a role in the naming of a space. For example, my partner and I name our home and the name of the home speaks as much to our relationship as it speaks to what we cultivate in this home and in our interactions with each other. The name is significant but the sound plays a role as well. When I say the name of my home, I’m evoking through the sound of the name all the experiences that have occurred as well as calling for more experiences.

Singing has another effect as well. It elevates us emotionally and energetically. It’s important, as a result to consider what energy you want to bring into your interactions with the spirits you’re connecting with. When I sing or chant, I do it from a place of joy for the experience of the magic as well as for the opportunity to connect with the spirit. I like to make sure that I put myself in the right frame of mind and emotion because I want to give myself over to the experience and showing up with anything less than my best effort is a disservice to myself and the spirit. Singing creates the space, the emotion, the energy, and the presence when you fully invest yourself in it.

How do you incorporate sound into your connection with spirits? Comment below.

Want to actually do this, not just read about it?

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.

Visions of alternative realities and space/time magic

My girlfriend recently told me about a short story she was reading from Sooner or Later Everything Falls into the Sea by Sarah Pinkser. In this story the main character is just one of many different versions of the same person and she is invited to a convention where she gets to meet the alternate versions of herself. I started reading the short story and it reminded me of a technique I came up with long time ago, and shared in my book Space/Time Magic.

The technique works along a similar premise, namely that there are alternate versions of ourselves and each version of yourself has something about them that is different from you. However they also have a connection to you, namely being an alternate version of yourself that is tied to you through your identity. I think its possible to connect with alternate versions of yourself utilizing magic in order to exchange information, swap skills, and otherwise interact with the alternatives of you. I have used meditation and pathworking techniques to connect with my alternate versions and this has proven to be a helpful process for skill swapping.

The way it works is that you pick a skill that you want to learn. There is an alternate version of yourself that knows this skill. For example, say you aren’t very good at managing money. You could connect with a version of yourself that has really good money management skills. That version of yourself can share those skills with you through spiritual transmission. You are already connected to each other by virtue of being the same person, albeit with some differences so the process of transmission is very easy.

You do a pathworking where you visualize the DNA spiral of the universe. The spiral contains infinite versions of the world and each version has a version of you in it. Seek out the world that has the version of you that has the skills or information your desire. Call out to that version of yourself or invoke yourself into the version.

When I connect with a version of myself that has skills I want, then I also have to determine what skills I can offer to that version that it may want. What I’ll do is a skill swap where I’ll transmit the skill I have to my alternate self in return for the they have that I want. For example a long time ago I reached out to a version of me that had really good financial skills and asked for those skills so I could become better at finances. In return I gave him some skills around spiritual work.

It can be fascinating to connect with alternate selves. I do this working every so often and I always find it insightful because it gives me a glimpse of my life if I had gone down a different path and made other choices. I still have this life I’m living but there are alternate versions of me living different lives and all of us have something to offer to each other.

How I integrate pentacle work with other forms of magic

Picture copyright Taylor Ellwood 2024

Recently a friend gifted me some planetary pentacles for Neptune, Uranus and Pluto. I was intrigued at the opportunity to work with the pentacles and also inspired to integrate them with other magical process and experiments I’m currently working on. In the past I’ve found that the pentacles have been useful tools for focusing planetary energies in my magical work as well as setting up specific passive magical workings that are activated as needed.

In my initial working I decided to work with two Uranian pentacles that helped inspire creativity. I set them up in conjunction with a folkloric magical working using three sticks in a pattern that’s designed to create focus. That very evening I was going through a class and I found myself feeling very creative and focused on how I could apply the learnings from that class. I started implementing some of the ideas and felt a sense of deep awareness around how the specific application pentacles, mixed with another form of magical could be used to inspire specific states of being and awareness.

In the picture above is another working, this time with a Venusian pentacle for love, as well as a Uranian pentacle for time work, a Uranian pentacle for creative balance and a Neptunian pentacle for power. Three sticks are being used for several purpose. The initial configuration of the sticks is focused on enhancing scrying work that is done for the purposes of connecting across time with younger versions of the self, or with ancestors, or other people. Once the connection has been made the sticks are changed to another pattern to enhance the work with the pentacles. The mirror and flame are used to focus the attention of the magician in a trance state that can then be applied to interface with the pentacles.

picture copyright Taylor Ellwood 2024

Want to actually do this, not just read about it?

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.

In this example above the tree sticks have been put into a pattern of a star. The star creates a focal point above the Venusian pentacle, drawing in the other pentacles, while also aligning the spirits attributed to each stick to aid with the scrying and in this case spacetime magic being worked with. The star serves to both amplify and focus the overall intent and energy of the work so a connection can be made to a past self with the intention of doing self love as a form of healing for the person being worked with AND with the ancestors. The healing work is around the specific traumatic patterns that are existent in both the person and their ancestors. The approach here is driven by a desired result to heal the person and extend that healing into the past while also breaking the traumatic patterns for future generations.

Combining different techniques and systems of magic can be a delicate piece of work, because the original context of the respective techniques and systems is that typically they weren’t intended to be combined with other techniques or systems. The question that always comes to mind for me is: Can I combine multiple techniques/systems in a way that either creates a new magical working or enhances an existing one?

The purpose of the working is another important factor to consider. The purpose of this working involves using scrying to connect with a past self and then applying changes to both myself as I am now and my younger self so I can do healing around trauma, while also sending that healing into the past via the ancestors. The pentacles applies planetary influences, while the folkloric magic calls in the ancestors as well as animal/plant and faerie allies to aid in the process of connecting with the past and healing the trauma. The work is also carried to the future, to future generations to promote peace and harmony in the world. At the same time, I use the pentacles, scrying mirror and candle, and the folkloric magic to also call in that same peace and harmony to the world now. My thought is that this work can apply across time and that through personal healing, using homeopathic principles, it can create a ripple effect in the larger continuum of humanity.

This is part of a larger work I’ll be continuing to work on. It is also my continued experimentation with Scrying beyond what I’ve shared in my book Scrying the Divine.

Explore related entries in the Library

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• Orias, Shifter of Forms
• Faerie Thought-Forms

Perspective exercises

I share some perspective exercises I like to do that can increase the mental flexibility and spiritual awareness you apply toward your magical practice and your life.

How to counter curse

In this final video of the series I discuss counter cursing and why you may want to do it and how to do it. I also discuss how to turn someone cursing you into an opportunity that benefits you by taking the curse and turning it into an advantage.

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How to protect against curses

I discuss how to protect against curses and share what your thought process and overall approach ought to be toward handling curses that someone sends your way. I also share how to turn someone’s curses into fuel for your own magical work.

The Karma of Cursing

I discuss the karma of cursing and how the act of cursing can create attachment or karma between yourself and the person who is cursed. I share why this can actually cause the curse to not happen or backfire on the curser.

What makes a spirit a spirit?

I've been thinking about the question, "What makes a spirit, a spirit?" 

I'm currently writing Walking with Nature Spirits, and in the writing of this book I've been thinking about this question because of how I approach the work with nature spirits, but also because of the stereotypical imagery associated with nature spirits, which usually has them set up with imagery of gnomes, undines, slyphs, etc., basically humancentric shapes and appearances.

The benefit of the humancentric shapes is that it makes easy for us to identify with those spirits. The downside however is that we all too often get stuck filtering our experience of a given spirit on the basis of the human oriented shape we associate with it. This isn't limited to nature or elemental spirits either. 

We see this same tendency to humanize the appearance and experience of spirits with Daemonic spirits, angelic spirits, and any other type of spirit out there. This tendency brings with it a kind of entitlement as well: Namely the entitlement that the spirits are really here to serve or work for us. It's a naïve belief that isn't fully accurate and can create potential problems when we adhere too strongly to notions of what we think spirits are or are not. 

One of my main purposes for writing the Walking with Spirits series is to present an alternate perspective to spirit work that is rooted in building a collaborative relationship with the spirits, but also recognizes that to experience the spirits we must be willing to experience them on their terms as much as possible. 

What does that look like?

When I work with a spirit what I try to do is engage the spirit on the level of experience that it chooses to show up at. What that means is that instead of expecting it to show up a specific way or in a specific form, I open myself to the experience of the spirit as it chooses to show up.

Sometimes that still includes a human form and human communication, but sometimes the experience is more direct, the feeling of sensations as the spirit makes itself known sensually. For example, I might be walking down a path and feel the spirit show up and connect with me emotionally or through physical sensations. I might experience a transmission of information.

We've gotten so used to spirits showing up in ways that are easily understandable to us, but I'm interested in what gets lost in the translation as it were, because I think that some of what a spirit could share does get lost in translation.

This brings me back to that question of what makes a spirit a spirit?

Is a spirit defined by the categories and taxonomies that we put it in or by the shapes it takes on and becomes for our benefit? Or is the spirit something we can't quite define because it doesn't fit our conventional human experience?

I don't have an answer to these questions...just observations and experiences that help me connect with the spirits, but also help me realize how filtered and biased that connection can be. I recognize that even with the approach I've taken which is a much more sensorial approach I can't necessarily remove all the bias and filter that comes with the human experience. I can be aware of it, but it is still a part of me, a part of the reality of my life, and perhaps it is something that the spirits find value in.

I wonder if they ask a similar question...what makes a human, a human?

Want to actually do this, not just read about it?

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.

The mechanics of cursing

I explore the mechanics behind cursing and how cursing works as well as what you need to consider and understand about cursing as it relates to who you are and the impact it can have on you.

How to step into your power

I’m continuing to read Becoming a Supple Leopard (affiliate link) and try out the exercises in it. One of the key points the author emphasizes is how the torsion of your movements directs the overall experience. I relate this to my study of qi gong, which focuses on both the physical and energetic movement of the body. I’ve been combining what I’ve learned with the aforementioned book with my qi studies and I’m finding that this is subtly changing the way I stand and move, and in turn its allowing me to access more subtle experiences of qi.

In martial arts and qi gong, the subtle nuances become very important. The way you move shapes the experience of the qi as it flows through your body. The more you progress, the more you are shaped by the experience of the movement, as well as your understanding of that movement. The understanding isn’t an intellectual exercise. It a felt experience that embodies the depth of your work as you engage in it.

The cultivation of qi occurs through developing a deeper relationship with your body. For example, over the last few months I’ve been working on my posture. I’ve noticed that as I continue this work, my confidence has increased because of the way I hold myself in my stance and presence. I am getting to know my body through the repetition of exercising, the stretching I do each morning and evening and through the graceful strength of the movements.

Energy work is often depicted as something separate from the body, but the most effective energy work is a fusion of the body with the spirit and the qi. I am not just moving the physical body, but every other aspect of my being. And I am also being moved by the world around me, because I exist in a collaborative relationship with it, and this is made apparent by the physical and spiritual experiences I have through this work.

We step into our power when we embrace the natural state of being that looks beyond the artificial categorizations people are so fond of using to understand the world intellectually. We are more than the intellect and when we embody and embrace this, it enables us to discover a relationship with the world that draws on the experiential work that occurs through such activities as martial arts and qi gong.

My approach to magic has been changing a lot over the last few years. I’ve steadily been integrating a more embodied approach to my work as I feel it’s essential to connecting with the more subtle aspects of reality manifestation. Stepping into your power is a recognition of how potent you are, as yourself, in this work you engage in. Each movement presents a way to get outside of your head and discover the rooted relationship that awaits in the practice of movement.

How to Re-Write and Re-wire Memories

Awhile back I went to a restaurant and took myself on a dinner date. I don't normally eat out alone, but I wanted to re-write and re-wire a memory and I've found that sometimes the best way to do that is to revisit a site and make a new memory that overwrites the old memory.

But what if we can't do that? What if we're too far away or if the memory is simply too triggering?

We may still want to change the memory, but we may need to take a magical approach to doing that work that liberates us from the trauma and tyranny of the past, while also enabling us to transform our present and presence. 

I like to take two different approaches to this kind of magical work.

1. Use pathworking to rewrite the memory and create a new story and narrative

I have used pathworking to rewrite traumatic memories. In the book Magical Imagination by Nick Farrell (Affiliate link), there's an excellent script you can use where you create this idyllic garden in your mind.

The garden seems really peaceful, but there's a rotting tree in it and that tree represents the memories you need to work through. You go into the tree and you find a corridor of doors and each door leads to a memory. 

You go into the memory but you have complete control of that memory. You can change it anyway you want and rewrite the memory and experience however you please.

You can make different choices and cause different actions to happen and transform the way the memory unfolds. It's magical and it can help you change the deep patterns in your life.  

2. Transform the memories with the memory box.

You can also use a magical tool like a memory box. A memory box is a tool where you store memories in order to transmute them into energy in your life. It's similar to that magical tool in the Harry Potter fiction...the pensieve.

I created my first memory box many years ago and I've used it for a variety of space/time magical workings, but one of the workings I do is I store memories in it, and convert them into energy for transforming my life.

The traumatic memories become fuel for empowerment. By removing them from my active and unconscious memory and storing them somewhere else, I let them go from my life and this frees me from the trauma I would otherwise be holding onto and allowing to define me in my life in a way that empowers and frees me from the past so I can embrace the present.

3. And sometimes you just need to do a cathartic magical working...

I said I was only going to share two ideas, but I thought about it and sometimes what you need to do is a cathartic magical working where you release the emotions, thoughts and triggers of the memories.

In the summer of 2022 I hiked Mt. Pisgah. I took with me three letters I had written. Two of them were written to an ex. One was a letter where I just vented over my hurt feelings and another was a gratitude letter. The third letter was for me and in it I wrote about the life I wanted to create for myself. It was an act of magical writing designed to help me create a new narrative for my life.

I hiked all day and I found three different spots. At each I did a ritual where I buried a letter and did a ritual of release where I cut the ties that bound us, and in the process began healing from the traumatic experiences and memories I was feeling. By the end of the day I was physically and emotionally exhausted, but I also feel cleansed and this began a process of healing that is allowing me to radically transform my life.

Our memories don't need to define us. We can turn them into tools, we can heal them and we can let them go and live our best lives.

Rewriting the narrative of your life through social media

I find social media to be a fascinating tool, as a writer, because of how it has become a journaling tool for people. Each day I’ll read updates where people share fascinating notes about their lives, as well as their various interests. Something which has always stood out to me about social media is that it’s a space where people are rewriting the narratives of their lives through the content they generate and the live interactions they have with other people.

One of the ways that I experiment with social media as a magical practice involves creating a distinct narrative of my life that I want to manifest. I consider social media to be a hypersigil, but instead of creating a character to represent myself, I simply use the medium of social media as a representation of my life as it is happening. The writing and reading of events can create a compelling narrative the speaks to the reality of the person doing the writing, as well as those doing the reading.

As a a writer I become the reader of my life, both in terms of responding to other people’s comments on what I’ve shared but also reviewing the memories of my experiences that are on the social media sites. We are co-creating an interactive dialogue that shapes the narrative between us in written and sometimes graphical form.

From a magical perspective the approach I take is that social media allows me to create a narrative of my life fused with a specific intent that is embedded in the writing. What I choose to write and share is reflective of that intent. One consideration is that the intent is filtered because social media and writing in general is filtered by the subjective biases we bring, but that’s also a strength from a magical perspective, because that subjective bias becomes a magical tool for the writing. Your subjective bias has all the personal attachments connected with it and that fuels the writing and crafts the experience of the narrative.

In my upcoming class the Practical Magic of Writing, we’re exploring how to create a narrative of your life, using hypersigils. Social media can be one of the mediums you use for this kind of magical work, especially when you integrate other elements such as pictures and videos. I have used Facebook to create manufactured memories and on Instagram I’ve been developing some reels and videos as well as stories told through pictures. The stories I tell become part of the magic of my life and shape the manifestation of that life into reality.

How to establish spiritual presence through Somatic posture work.

I’m reading Becoming a Supple Leopard by Kelly Starret and Glen Cordoza (affiliate link) in this book the author explores the fundamental movements needed to maintain good posture while moving. It brings up a relevant point that posture isn’t a static experience or condition, but rather something which is ongoing and ought to be maintained while moving. How does that translate into practical terms?

If I am exercising or lifting an object, I should do my best to maintain good posture. I want to pay attention to keeping my back straight and in a neutral position in order to optimize the performance of my body, while maintaining my health. I’ve been doing this very activity more mindfully as a result of my martial arts studies, but one aspect I think is worth considering is also the psychological and spiritual aspect of paying attention to posture.

When I sit or stand, in the past I have had the tendency to slouch. I never really thought about it until it was pointed out to me, but when I started paying attention I noticed not only how I felt physically but also how I felt emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Focusing on my posture altered my experience. I began to feel more confidence in myself as well as more connected to both my internal qi and the qi around me. What this illustrated for me was the importance of doing posture work to cultivate states of experience which elevate my identity and my interactions.

I also have noticed this same effect when I focus on my posture as I move. My movements are more confident and focused when I pay attention to and integrate good posture into the movement. Initially as I’ve done this work, I’ve had to really focus on getting my posture right, but as my consciousness integrates good posture into my stance and movements it becomes more and more of a natural part of my being and expression. The result is more confidence but also a deepening of my spiritual power and presence.

Why would good posture make a difference in one’s spiritual presence?

Good posture allows us to align our body physically and physiologically within ourselves but also our environment. On the emotional level it allows us to expand our presence and this translates over to the energetic and spiritual level. When I maintain good posture I move and show up with confidence and presence. This occurs on multiple levels.

What all this work with posture is demonstrating is that something we take for granted, such as posture, can play an important role on multiple levels of our being. Making the effort to work on your posture can have many benefits, provided you are willing to consistently do the work to change and then maintain correct posture in all situations.

Book Reviews of 2023

Book Review: Celebrating the Male Mysteries by RJ Stewart (affiliate link)

In Celebrating the Male Mysteries, RJ Stewart shares the importance of exploring the masculine mysteries and presents a healthy vision of what such mysteries can look like as well as how they can interface into mystery traditions in general. Practical exercises and theory are presented as well as specific visualizations that men can use for sacromagical work. I recommend reading through the book once and then going back through and doing the exercises. This book can be an excellent companion to other men’s work books and offers another valuable resource for creating healthy masculinity and relationships.

Book Review: Larva: the Book of Transformation by S. Connolly (Affiliate link)

This is a collection of spells with well-written instructions and component lists that you can easily perform without having to do a ton of work to get the materials together. There are a variety of spells for different purposes so you could easily be working with the content of this book for a variety of situations.

Book Review: Saturn in Transit by Erin Sullivan (affiliate link)

I bought this book on the recommendation of a friend and I’m glad I did because it provided some excellent insights into Saturn in transit and how Saturn as an astrological influence works. It also helped me plan some of my planetary magic in further depth so that I could use Saturnian influences more effectively. I highly recommend this book if you want to understand the astrological and magical potential of Saturn.

Book Review: Meditations on the Death Daemonic by J. C. Cesari (Affiliate link)

This is an interesting book that explores the concept of death in relationship to death as it pertains to loss in a variety of forms, including the loss of life, but also the loss of a job, relationship or other aspects we may not typically associate with death. The author has the reader go through some journaling exercises to explore their relationship with death and then presents a dictionary of spirits a person can work with. What I wish had also been included was an in-depth exploration of how a person might work with the spirits around death as it relates to the topics that the author focuses on in the book. It’s a good start on that exploration, but the book could be developed further.

Book Review: Dark Moon Mysteries by Timothy Roderick (Affiliate link)

If you want to work with the new/dark moon, this is an excellent resource to help you do that work. I used the various exercises in this book to help me do some deep shadow work as well as doing some releasing around various matters in my life. I highly recommend this book.

Book Review: The Male Mysteries by Nikki Dorakis (affiliate link)

In this book the author shares rites and rituals that can be used as coming of age or initiations for men’s mysteries in a Pagan context. This is a fascinating book which can really help men both in terms of using what’s in the book, but also designing their own male mysteries.

Book Review: Howlings from the Pit (affiliate link) by Joseph Lisiewski

In this series of essays the author makes some cantankerous arguments as to why grimoire magic works and why other systems of magic don’t work when it comes to spirit work. He shares some interesting perspectives, but I’m not convinced that his system of spirit work is superior to others, especially because it can be possible to get similar results without taking coercive methods for spirit work. The author’s own limitations also show in the theories he espouses, and demonstrate how subjective some of his arguments are, but the book is thought provoking and will challenge you to be more rigorous.

Book Review: Mating in Captivity (affiliate link) by Esther Perel

This is a really thought and emotion provoking book about sexuality in relationship. Reading it brought up a lot for me, as I sorted through some baggage around my sexual history, but it also provided some useful insights about relationships, the erotic and sexuality and what it can take to maintain the sexual components of a romantic relationship. It also brings up the very important point of not taking sex or anything else in the relationship for granted.

Book Review: Swamplands of the Soul (Affiliate link) by James Hollis

In this book the author explores how to deal with the inevitable realities of moments in our lives when we feel depression, sadness, loss, betrayal and other emotions. He shares that rather than trying to always be happy we should strive for meaning and provides some useful perspectives via Jungian psychology on how a person might do this. It’s another excellent book by this author.

Book Review: The Book of Pluto by Steven Forrest (Affiliate link)

Reading this book peeled back another layer of astrology in general, as well as helping me understand Pluto’s role in astrology. It helped me understand and fill in some additional information about astrology. I feel like my overall knowledge of astrology grew as a result of reading this book.

Book Review: Hex Twisting by Diana Rajchel (affiliate link)

This is a comprehensive spell compendium for counteracting hexes and curses that someone may be directing toward you. The author also shares methods for diagnosing whether you are experiencing a curse as well as how to purify and cleanse yourself. It’s both practical self care and defense and the author does a thorough job of providing resources for anyone who may need them.

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