Month: July 2011

‘The Magic is Real!’ (Sometimes We Just Need To Be Reminded.)

‘The Magic is Real!’ (Sometimes We Just Need To Be Reminded.)

Author: Lodestone & Lady’s Mantle

Do you remember the day when you forgot? What was it? Was it when you felt like the last person to learn there wasn’t a Santa Claus? Was it that one day the magic failed? Was it even a single moment? Did you just stop seeing “Them”? Be it ghosts, fairies, elementals, or that invisible friend that faded after countless therapy sessions, it’s one of the biggest stumbling blocks I’ve discovered with the modern practitioner.

We’ve forgotten.

We embrace the religion and forget that what it stands for is even there: The Magic is Real. We pray when in need, we dance under the moon when the space allows, and we burn our candles, but when was the last time you saw the magic working? We celebrate the festivals, we check our astrological charts, we burn incense or sage and sweet grass, but there’s something missing for so many that something needs must be said.

The Magic is Real.

There’s probably three people in our community that haven’t seen “What the Bleep” or that ‘secret’ movie, but the rest of us can see how even science is telling us it exists. It may be wrapped in reduced expectations of magic, but it’s still there. Jung theorized it, with the Collective Unconscious. Kirlian photography has given us pictures of it. Bad ghost-hunting television programs have taken miles of footage of it.

The “One Decimal Point”* is coalescing all of this data (and making-up even more than that) ‘where witches fear to tread’. They hold INATS, and other conventions, to sell us “Aura Photos”, and crystal bowls, but we don’t find the magic there, either. Weekend Yoga supplants Open Circles, Reiki replaces Spellcasting, and chanting dispossesses invocations, but it’s still the “Same Shinola, Different Wrapper”. Going through the motions isn’t Magic. Magic is about Life, and not simply little pieces of life. To truly live in Magic one needs to enfold their life within it.

We cast, we wait, we see results, we get what we want, and we stop. …and we forget. We forget it works. We forget it’s Real. If we wait too long, we have to remind ourselves again. It’s not your fault. A LOT of time and effort went into teaching you that it wasn’t real. It was in every classroom. It was behind every disapproving scowl, inferred in between every-other word in every book we’ve read. It’s left out of our day-to-day jobs, and rarely mentioned in commercial radio. There’s a lot of momentum to over-come.

I have three suggestions: See! Do! Remember!

1-See:

Have you ever seen an Aura? Not that retina after-image of someone you’ve stared at for too long, but a real aura. Once you can see those, it includes every metaphysical manifestation, from seeing the wind, to spotting ghosts. You used to see them long ago, as a child, but were taught they weren’t there, so you developed a Blind Spot to them. Now you need to overcome that Blind Spot. It’s not as hard as you would think. Let’s help you out…

A) Take an Orange sheet and hang it on the wall. I know you probably don’t simply have anything big and orange lying around, so this may mean a trip to a hobby store. Since demand is low, it shouldn’t be too hard or costly. I’m afraid it does have to be orange, though: Sorry.

B) Place a brightly burning candle in front of the orange sheet. Don’t start a fire! We need to reflect back-lighting from the orange sheet, when we…

C) Place a Living Subject in front of the candles, and dim the lights. This gives a clearer contrast to the Aura and therefore an easier target. Next, the Eyes…

D) Work with hard and soft focus of the eyes.
The hard-focus is the left-to-right eye coordination of the two eyes. We play with it when we flip through those old “Magic Eye” books from the 90’s. Staring out to the horizon spreads them apart. Trying to thread a needle brings them together. Know these extremes.

Next, Soft-Focus: This is the thickening and thinning of the shape of the lens of the eye. The closer the object in front of your eye, the thicker the lens becomes, as we try to, say, focus on our fingerprints.

The room and subject are all set up. Stare through the subject, and off into the horizon, past the wall behind them. As you adjust your eyes, always be aware of the subject. Bring your focus in, closer and closer, until (with the aid of your finger) you are focused in to an inch from your eye. Stay Aware of The Subject! Your body will respond to the objects you focus on, but your mind needs to remain aware of the Subject before the Orange sheet. This exercise is about getting past the Blind Spot you’ve developed.

The effect can be dramatic, so be prepared. You may choose to reject it, so it pops in and out, as you ‘keep loosing it’. Stay resolute.

Now that you can ‘See!’ …

2-Do!

A) Gain control of your aura, now that you can see it. Change its shape, modify its thickness, or even generate energy-forms. See what you can do with it, like a child with crayons or play-dough. In the safety of your own home, it’s okay to play with it.

B) Cast spells! Not the huge “Life-Changing, Will-Dominating, Karma-Will-Get-You” kind of spells. Just cast the little ones. Summon things into your day, like having a specific vintage automobile drive by, or a woman out walking a bizarre pet (leaving it to chance as to the breed) , or seeing a little farther into the future. Send telepathic messages to a compatriot, provided you’re both okay with the exercise. “Keep Your Hand In”, as they say. Magic begets Magic. It’s like a muscle: Use it or loose it.

3-Remember!

Keep a journal: It makes no difference what you call it. Even scientists keep logs of their results. If you want to keep doubt at bay, nothing breeds certainty like good solid proof! Your journal can do that for you. Whether it’s a Book of Shadows, Book of Secrets, pebble-notes, text-file, or even video-log, make sure you can look and see that you cast for it, and you got it! Record The Results, as well as the Attempts. You need to remember that both took place.

You’ll be surprised at how these simple little things can bring dramatic effects back into Life. It doesn’t just affect your life, but also the community at large, as the paradigm is nurtured, and Magic gains momentum. The more we each recognize this, the more and stronger results we all realize. The more we manifest things, the more dramatic the manifestations become, as each practitioner ‘pushes the envelope’ a little further.

If you can’t remember, you forget to do. If you don’t do, you forget to see.

Sometimes we just need to be reminded.

The Magic is Real!


Footnotes:
*-“The difference between Pagan and New Age is one decimal point” — From Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers and Other Pagans in America Today, by Margot Adler (Courtesy of “Pagan Confederation Canada” website)

How Do You Know A Magical Working “Took”?

How Do You Know A Magical Working “Took”?

Author: Bronwen Forbes

I ran across this question on a Pagan forum the other day, and it got me thinking back to when I was new at all this ritual and magic and witchcraft stuff – was that really half a lifetime ago? – and so unsure of my ability to do even a basic working. Fortunately for me, the Gods I chose to invoke were kind, patient, and tolerant of my novice fumbling, as were my teachers and fellow students.

There are actually several ways to know whether or not a ritual or a magical working “worked” or “took.” Some are immediate; some are long-term. In general, sabbat observances and celebrations don’t have the success bar set very high. If you feel like you’ve “done” Litha, or Mabon, then that’s good enough — whether you’ve participated in a three-hour ritual or simply prepared a satisfying barbecue in the back yard for your friends and family.

The first (and sometimes only) indication you have that your spell or ritual was a success is to ask yourself: How do I feel? Do you feel better than you did before the ritual started, or do you feel worse? If you feel better, i.e. less worried, less frightened, more confident, more energetic, calmer, happier or whatever then, at least on some level, the magical working was a success (I’m assuming no one is stupid enough to actually do a working to increase worry, fear, low self-esteem, lethargy, nerves, or sadness) .

Paganism and Witchcraft do have one thing in common with all other religions, and that is to offer comfort and a life raft to the practitioner in times of troubled waters. So if you’re done with your spell or ritual and you feel better, that should that tell you something.

Also, sometimes you just know. There’s almost an audible “click” that means, “Message received. Action forthcoming.” In fact, it sounds a lot like the “click” you hear when you meet someone for the first time and then say to an old friend, “I don’t know, we just clicked!” That click.

If you aren’t already, you should start keeping an informal log or journal of what magic and rituals you do when, and what result (s) you hope to achieve. For one thing, it’s a good idea to keep track of what happens. Say you do a magical working for an easing of financial difficulties. You write it down in your log and forget about it.

Three months later you look back and realize that, since you did that working, you’ve gotten a small raise at work, a nice tax refund from the federal government, and all of your Pagan 101 books that you posted for sale on amazon.com have actually sold! Does that sound like your spell was successful? It does to me!

Another good reason to keep a log or journal of the specifics of your workings is that, if the rite is a good one, and it works — two or three months down the road — you can re-create the working years in the future, if you find yourself in the same situation. Even better, you can share the basics with a friend who might, say, be in a dire financial situation just like you were and isn’t sure what to do, magically speaking, to fix it.

Sometimes, though, with big workings on big issues like, “I want to move to another part of the country, ” or “I want a child, ” one ritual or one spellcasting just isn’t going to have enough “oomph” to help you accomplish what you want. You may need to wait a few weeks (one lunar cycle is good) and do another one. And another one on the next major holiday. And another one on the next holiday after that…

For a big working, I suggest you vary the details slightly in order to cover all the different aspects of the issue. For example, if you want to move across the country, try doing one working to choose your new location wisely and help you get yourself and your stuff there safely, another working to get a job that will take you there (or be waiting for you when you get there) , and still another working to help you find good friends and a congenial community once you arrive. They are all rituals to help you move across the country, but each one focuses on a different aspect of the moving process.

How do you know whether or not you need to repeat the working more than once? Same way you get to perform on stage at Carnegie Hall: practice, practice, practice.

Unfortunately, when you’re talking about magic and ritual, there is no box you can check like there is on your email to indicate message received and read. And it really doesn’t matter how carefully you prepare and how well you execute your working. Some things just aren’t to be – at least right now. Does this mean that your time and effort and energy were for nothing? No. It just means that energy has been “banked” somewhere, and is waiting for more favorable conditions to act.

Patience is more than a virtue, here. It’s a necessity.

Let me give you an example: ten years ago, I was doing regular intense workings in order to find love, or for love to find me. But no matter how many losers I hopefully dated, the time was not yet right. But the day I woke up (and I don’t mean in the morning) and realized that one of my oldest friends was Mr. Right, all that energy that I’d sent out and the Gods had stored for me fueled one heck of an intense courtship!

Within 3 months I packed up and moved to where he was currently living. A year later we were married. As of this writing, we’ve been happily wed for over eight years.

When the time is right for the working to “take” – be assured, it will!

It’s Elemental My Dear Wiccan: Power and Energy

It’s Elemental My Dear Wiccan: Power and Energy

Author: Marty Couch

Let’s start with a scenario. You are driving in the country. You can see clearly for miles around. You are coming up to an intersection. There are no other cars to be seen. The light is red. Do you stop?

You may be inclined to answer “no, not me”, but really think about it. If you are like most people you will stop. Even if you will drive through after stopping, almost everyone will stop first. Why?

What does this red light mean to you? How is it that this symbol of a red disc glowing can stop a vehicle? By all logic, no damage would happen. If there are no other cars to be seen, there is no chance of an accident or ticket. So, what gives a red light so much power?

Let’s take a look at another example. How much money do you have in the bank right now? How much do you have on you? How much do you make an hour? How do you feel when you receive unexpected money? How about when you are broke? So, what is this money that has such power over our lives, our thoughts and our feelings? At the core its just paper with pictures. Merely symbols for us to look at. How do these symbols gain such power?

And how about this one? What time did you get up this morning? What time is your favorite TV show on? What time is it? Time, what is it? Do you see how the change in wording seeks to find out why something that has no actual physical manifestation can have such power over our lives?

So, what gives so much power to these and many other things? How do these seemingly unimportant items gain such control over us? Well, in all these cases, thousands (if not millions) of people over the course of time have put energy plus intent toward their meanings.

The formula is simple.

ENERGY + INTENT = POWER

This is at the core of all we do in ritual. We raise energy, state intent and release it as power. What we do in a specific ritualistic way is what society does every day without realizing it. Intent is added to energy and the result is power. Sometimes this power is for the good. Sometimes it has devastating effects. The formula however stays constant.

So, let’s take a look at each of these items.

ENERGY: According to TheFreeDictionary.com energy is “the capacity to do work”. So, how much capacity do we posses? Let’s take a look at (probably) the most famous formula for energy:

E = mc (squared)

Now, for those who have had a few years elapse since physics class, energy equals mass times the speed of light square. In this famous formula by Albert Einstein, energy is measured in joules, mass in kilograms and the speed of light is 299, 792, 458 meters per second (and in the formula this gets multiplied by itself) . (Source: Wikipedia.com)

So, let’s break this down a little. For those reading in the US, we’ll start with pounds. Someone who weighs 180 pounds is about 82 kilograms. So, 82 X 299, 792, 458 X 299, 792, 458 = 7, 369, 792, 465, 641, 904, 000.00 joules. So, if we consider it takes only 1 joule to lift an apple a couple feet, think of the actual energy we posses. Remember, in Einstein’s formula was the key to the first atomic bomb. The energy released from 1 atom was enough to level cities.

Of course this is only the scientific way of thinking about energy. Let’s go a bit further in discussing energy from a spiritual point of view. In “The Creative Process in the Individual”, Thomas Troward states about the creation of the universe “At this primordial stage neither Time nor Space can be recognized, for both imply measurement of successive intervals, and in the primary movement of Mind upon itself the only consciousness must be that of Present Absolute Being, because no external points exist from which to measure extension either in time or space. Hence we must eliminate the ideas of time and space from our conception of Spirit’s initial Self-contemplation.

This being so, Spirit’s primary contemplation of itself as simply Being necessarily makes its presence universal and eternal, and consequently, paradoxical as it may seem, its independence of Time and Space makes it present throughout all Time and Space.”

What Mr. Troward is saying is that as Spirit (or God and Goddess, or Elemental Spirit) was creating our Universe, there was no concept of time or space, as there was nothing to measure it against. So this power that created all there is, is present in each and every molecule of our Universe IN IT’S ENTIRETY.

This is huge. The power that brought about the whole of creation exists in every cell in our body. Not a part of this energy, but THE WHOLE OF IT. Think about this for a second. All the energy that exists is within us. Not simply a part of it but all of it. Quite simply, our source of energy is infinite.

So, if we have infinite energy, why don’t we have whatever we want? The answer is in the other part of the equation, intent.

So, let’s look at intent. Intent is defined as “an aim or purpose…firmly fixed” (source: thefreedictionary.com) . So, our intent is our aim or purpose that is firmly fixed (as an idea) in ritual. All that we do in ritual is used to support this intent. When we choose the candle, oils, incense, herbs, symbols, quarter calls, deities, tools, etc. it is all to support this intent. Intent however is the variable in the equation. So, if we have everything, where does the formula go wrong? Why don’t we have infinite power to do what we want?

Well, we may have all the correctly colored candles, the proper herbs and oils, the full moons energy, but if we start our ritual by thinking, “This will never work” or even “I hope this works” then the intent we put in to it is doubt. So, all this energy at our disposal goes toward our ritual not working.

Think of a child. Have you ever turned your back on a child for a second and when you turn to them, they have climbed half way up a shelving unit to get to something? They have no limits. They know they can do anything. And our first reaction is to say, “No, you can’t do that”. What happens when they hear that? Usually that is the moment they fall and hurt themselves.

They were doing fine until we told them they did not have the ability to accomplish what they set out to do. This is what builds up over time and begins more and more to limit our abilities. We start out in life as infinite possibilities and almost immediately start excepting limitations.

So, let’s look at the third part of the equation. Power. Power is “the ability or official capacity to exercise control” (source: thefreedictionary.com) . So, what we are working toward in ritual is the ability to gain control over a situation. This power comes from infinite energy and our intent. If our intent knows no limits, our power to control situations (our lives, careers, health, etc) is also infinite.

How do we avoid limitations? How to make our ritual practice more powerful? How do we tap in to and release this infinite energy that we posses? Well, how we undo the limitations we have acquired through the course of our lives is not something that can be answered in just a paragraph or two. As we travel through these future articles together we will discover how to remove these blocks and begin to fulfill our infinite purpose.

Footnotes:
wikipedia.com
thefreedictionary.com
“The Creative Process in the Individual” by Thomas Troward

Using Quartz to Ease Unhappiness

If you are feeling out of sorts or can’t shake off a sadness, try this simple spell to lift your spirits. During a new moon phase, take a piece of clear quartz and place it on a bed of sea salt, either on a small plate or in a bowl. Light a white candle next to it and say this spell nine times:

Painful feelings leave me,
Bring joy and pleasure swiftly,
Angels heal my suffering,
Light up my heart with speed.

When you have said the spell nine times, close by saying:

So mote it be!

Quartz (Clear)

Quartz is one of the most common minerals on earth, but it is considered an essential part of any witch’s crystal collection. It is a multipurpose stone that can be included in almost any spell to bring about a positive result. Quartz is wonderful for balancing emotions, especially if you are trying to heal painful feelings such as child abuse issues or if you have problems with self-esteem. This crystal amplifies magickal wishes and will bring extra power to any spell. Use it to tap into a higher consciousness and to keep in touch with your spiritual side.

Using Moldavite to Enhance Your Psychic Gifts

Sit quietly in a room free of noise and clutter and hold a piece of moldavite in your left hand (nearest your heart). Close your eyes and concentrate on how the crystal feels in your palm. If the stone can help you, you will begin to feel a pulsating throb run through your fingers. At this point, place the stone in your pocket or, if it’s a piece of jewelry, put it on. You will start to receive premonitions within a few hours. These can appear as imaginary visions or as significant dreams. Make sure to write them down.

Today’s I Ching Hexagram for July 14th is 41:Decrease

41: Decrease

Hexagram 41
 
General Meaning: Increase and decrease are part of the natural cycle of life. As spiritual author long ago put it, ‘To every thing there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.’ Like a reservoir that is being used to irrigate the fields, learning to accept a decrease in position or material possessions is part of preparing for increase in the future.

We may live in materialistic times, but there is no disgrace in material decrease, particularly if it represents an investment in future gain — even if that gain be in the form of one’s education or the development of personal character. Likewise, the inner strength that comes from bearing loss can be balanced by a corresponding increase in inner strength and insight — as in the expression ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.’ When letting go of attachment and personal demands leads to a greater simplicity in daily life, good fortune often comes calling.

In nature, the lake evaporates to form the clouds that drop the rain that nurtures the surrounding forest. As the forest grows thick, more rain is captured for the lake. Similarly, an ‘evaporation’ or decrease in one area of your life, may give rise to an eventual increase in another. A loss of responsibility at work can mean more free time; more free time may generate more career options. A period of decrease is not necessarily a bad thing; in fact, it can free the spirit and fill the soul.

Be mindful of the lesson of young lovers: even with a minimum of possessions, feelings of the heart can bring an unsurpassed richness to life. The smallest of actions, if sincere, have value. So remain confident, for a time of decrease may actually bode good fortune, especially if you remain open to that possibility.

Let go of frustration, resistance and regret over whatever may be going down at this time. Accept the cycle, and remember what goes down must come up.

Moldavite

Although there is no absolute proof, this rare and precious natural glass gem, bottle-green in color, is thought to be extraterrestrial, formed from a meteorite impact. Because there is only a small finite source of moldavite in Central Europe, it is sought after and rather expensive to purchase. You will have to be very grounded in order to wear this stone, because its power can easily overwhelm more sensitive individuals. I use moldavite often to enhance my psychic ability or to connect with my guides in dreams.

Your Daily Number for July 14th: 1

Your personal power is strong today. You may find yourself starting a new endeavor, or engaging n a new pursuit that is based in self-expression or spirituality. You’re connected with the world today, and it may be a good idea to jot it all down on paper.

Fast Facts

About the Number 1

Theme: Masculine, Creative, Independent, Aggressive
Astro Association: Mercury
Tarot Association: Magician