Japanese proverb"People that eat blowfish are stupid.
People that do not eat blowfish are also stupid."
With the advent of the New Age, many people are airing great new ways to change your life for the better. These ideas are based on the premise that we have total control of our lives on some level. All we need do is reach that level with our desires. This is, of course, the big challenge. You can read millions of words on that subject. Why is there so much information? Because achieving this kind of control is a very individual thing. There are so many different ways that each person could write his own book. To succeed, each must find his own path. The reason there are instructions at all, though, is because each can find guidance in the successes of others. Magick is one of these many guides.
This file is relatively short because it concentrates less on the myriad details of magick and more on how to find your own path. The task is never as easy as it sounds, but it is not complex, either. With straight forward exercises (good, honest work on your Self) you will achieve whatever you desire. We all have this power. The way we use it is not by gaining a new ability, but by getting out of the way of the ability we already have. This book outlines the basic blocks and the kinds of things to do about them. But, as with any advice, it is up to you to honestly assess your own situation and discover what works best for you. Remember, achieving your personal Power is everyone's path in life. You will succeed, it is only a question of when. This book is designed to bring that success more quickly and, overall, more easily.
Many people these days still appeal to the "booga-booga" aspect of magick: "We will grant you incredible powers to use on whomever you please if you send us money." As we enter into the New Age of understanding, people are learning that occult powers are actually a natural part of everyone's life. It is our goal to help this process along. We hope to teach newcomers what magick is about. This book is written not only to inform, but also to circumvent the psychological barriers set up by living in a mechanistic society. The mechanistic paradigm (the idea that each person and object is totally separate from the rest of the universe except through physical interaction) precludes magick (non-physically affecting one's environment). The magickal paradigm states that your beliefs create your reality. This choice is like contemplating eating blowfish- when you analyze it, you can conclude that adopting either paradigm is stupid. Since you can't please everyone else, pick the one that you like best. If (and only if) the magickal paradigm appeals to you, then choose it. Then the trick is to get out of the mind-set that says that magick is impossible. We hope that you will try some exercises to prove to yourself that magick works. Once you have done so, then you are on the way to achieving anything you desire.
Power can be a very misleading term. The way most people mean it is in the sense of "power-over." People recognize power as the ability to get others to do what you want, especially when these others have different ideas. This is not Power (with a capital 'P') at all. When you rely on someone else to do something for you, you give your Power to him. This is very different from doing something *with* someone, then both parties gain. But, to believe that you must force or trick another is to say that you need this person to do something that you cannot. You may steal their power (lower case) but you give away your Power.
Power is, among other things, the innate ability to bring whatever you truly desire into your life. When you "make" others manifest them for you, you create blocks in your own mind. These blocks say "I cannot do this myself," which obstructs your Power. This is "giving away your Power."
When you "take your Power," you accept responsibility for your life. This is not guilt or martyrdom, it is honestly assessing your life and recognizing your successes and failures. Give yourself credit for even the smallest success and recognize that you can overcome every obstacle. Then you allow your Power to express itself. What you need comes to you; projects work for you.
We often think of many obstacles as insurmountable. For instance, many believe the lottery to be their only desperate hope of escaping poverty. Such people give away their Power. And why shouldn't they? Everything they've experienced tells them this. Our whole society is rooted in the mechanistic paradigm (all causes and effects have a physical link), which precludes a belief in Power. How is one to know that this concept works? How can this be real when it is so different from what we are used to?
Our society has a concept of "Reality" as an objective existence of which we are all a part. When two people have different ideas of the nature of some detail, then at least one is Wrong. We all have a fear of being Wrong. When we are Wrong we miss out on things and people don't like us as much. Therefore we desperately strive to be Right. It turns out that Right is what ever those around you happen to feel that it should be. It's as if they all took a vote when you were out of the room. But "Right" changes all the time: from preservatives are harmless, to preservatives cause cancer; from Stalin is a great leader, to Stalin was a monster; from Ptolemy explains the forces of the universe perfectly, to Newton explains the forces of the universe perfectly, to Einstein explains the forces of the universe perfectly. The philosophy of science this calls this evolving better (or at least different) explanations. Yet, while these ideas hold sway, people call them "Reality."
Just how reliable is Reality? We all live our lives using our individual concepts of Reality to get along. We update them as we see fit. But few will fundamentally change their concepts. We are sure that, although we may not have the details, we certainly have a feel for the basics. Anyone who disagrees with the mechanistic paradigm, for instance, must be missing at least a few marbles. Such a person is irrational in a universe that we know to be rational.
But is the universe truly rational? Science has pursued the mechanistic paradigm down to the smallest scale, particle physics; here it fails to explain the universe. The building blocks of Reality do not behave rationally. If you drive a car from one side of a mountain to the other and you have a choice of two tunnels, you will drive through one of them. If a single electron has a choice of two holes in a plate to pass through, it will go through both. You can plot the speed and position of your car to the limit of the accuracy of your instruments, but you will never be able to do both to that electron.
When you observe this mythical car, it is a solid object. If it were not, it would not be a car. If you drove it around, then tested to see if the car were not solid and discovered that it wasn't, what would you think? Around the turn of the century, scientists figured out that light acts like a wave when you test for a wave, and like a particle when you test for a particle. In the regular world it must be one *or* the other. The two are as mutually exclusive as a non-solid car that you can none the less drive. Mysteriously, light was behaving like both. Eventually, scientists concluded that light doesn't work like the universe we are used to. The act of observing light defines its character. This is called wave-particle duality. Later in the century, scientists found that atomic particles, the building blocks of all matter, behave this way, too.
Now imagine that you can find no evidence that this car crosses the space between where you see it and where you saw it last. Suppose the car isn't actually "there" when you're not looking- the act of looking brings it into "existence." What would you think if noticed that your expectations seem to have an effect on where it turns out to be? This is awfully strange, but it is the kind of universe that particle physicists find. "Looking at" a subatomic particle "brings it into existence." Also, scientists are finding that whatever kind of particle they expect to find in an experiment, tends to be there. This is starting to look less like brilliant theory and more like an effect of the observers. They are no longer separate from their experiments. It turns out that the universe doesn't actually work the way we've always assumed it does.
This is the nature of matter on the smallest scale, and it doesn't make sense in every day life. This does not mean that we should abandon our present ideas of how to live. Keep what works ("If it ain't broke, don't fix it"). Particle physics won't affect how you drive through tunnels, for instance. But, if you accept physics, the epitome of the mechanistic paradigm, this means that our mechanistic ideas of how the universe works are fundamentally incomplete. In other words, the mechanistic paradigm is not the whole story.
Big deal. What does this mean in a practical sense? The world seems to work just the same as it did when the mechanistic paradigm was unchallenged. But what if our preconceptions dictate what we are aware of? It is a common trick to set up a group of people for startling event and see how many will overlook a strange inconsistency. In one instance, a teacher took a student off into an adjoining room on a pretext. There was the sound of an argument and a crash and the student ran out through the room. One of the other students suspected a set up and she was the only one who noticed that the teacher's accomplice was carrying a bone. A much more dramatic example is the story of Magellan's ships. When the explorer landed on a particular island, the natives, who had never seen Europeans before, recognized them as funny looking men in funny looking little boats. But Magellan soon found that the natives were unaware of the large ships that carried them there, though they were impossible to overlook. The natives had seen men and small boats before, but they had never seen a large ship. Such a thing was outside of their experience and therefore outside of their comprehension. Their eyes must have seen the ships, but their brains did not. The natives gathered to try to see them, staring intently at where they supposed to be anchored. Soon the local shaman could discern the barest outline which he described to the others. Eventually they could all perceive ships.
Who can say what we make ourselves unaware of? It is only after we've expanded our perception that we learn how limited it was before. But we can't go around indiscriminately "expanding our consciousness." What we choose to believe is based on our desires. If you are happy with what you believe, the is no reason to change. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Change is challenging and even if you succeed, it may well be unpleasant. But if you feel unable to overcome obstacles in your life (and you *really* want to), then you have nothing to loose. Magick will only expand possibilities. If it's all a crock, you've lost nothing. If it's true, you can do anything you're willing to work for. It is a draw-win situation. The only way you can lose is to make your choice out of fear. Don't let the opinions of others influence what you choose to believe. Don't give away your Power. Everyone else is in the same situation you are, so when it comes to your own life, there is no greater authority than yourself. If you're interested in magick, try it and see for yourself if it works for you.
Magick is a way of using your Power. More technically, magick is the process of non-physically affecting your environment through messages consciously impressed on the subconscious with a system of symbols. (This will become clear later.) This is the broadest definition and it can include such things as prayer, meditation, chanting, positive thinking, subliminal tapes, programming and hypnotism.
Some think that magick is unnatural and evil. It is no more evil than any tool. A knife, for instance, is "good" or "evil" depending on its use. It can be invaluable in many beneficial projects, yet it can also harm. Nothing is immune to misuse. People even try to use prayer against others. Such potential is not a reason for fear, but for respect. The idea that magick is unnatural is a modern misconception. Magic has only recently come to mean Hollywood special effects or pulling rabbits from hats. It is often spelled magick in order to distinguish it from this new meaning. For millennia magick has been a path to enlightenment and self mastery or just plain getting what you want. It is nothing supernatural. Magick uses natural powers and the natural flow of the universe to bring about the changes you desire. We are so immersed in magick that, like still air, we are unaware of it. We all use this power without thought, like breathing. Magick is using these powers with awareness.
Magick involves placing a message of your choosing into your subconscious. This is all that is necessary to achieve any goal. The power of the subconscious is awesome. When you unite it with your conscious will, you can do anything you want. Remove the internal barriers and the external barriers melt away. Oriental philosophy would call this "following the Tao." Achieving this is the challenge of magick.
How can programming the subconscious affect the world around us? What are the mechanisms involved? According to the occult view, it works because that is the nature of the universe.
In the West, we use the mechanistic paradigm. A paradigm is a pattern or model, in this case describing the way the universe works. We use paradigms to function, usually without even realizing it. The mechanistic paradigm is one of the most basic that underlie our culture. This model states that there is an objective reality in which objects interact solely through physical contact. Science has updated this to include fields like gravity and magnetism, but the principle is the same. The result is a universe in which the individual is nearly powerless. You can only make real change through physical action. Magick is the act of making such changes non-physically, so it does not fit in with the mechanistic paradigm.
Most westerners are unaware that the magickal paradigm represents a majority view among the world's cultures. Basically, it is the antithesis of the mechanistic view. It states that there is no objective universe, only subjective universes. These universes are the perceptions of each individual. You couldn't possibly do any experiment that would show your universe to be either subjective or objective. You must be an objective observer in order to tell the difference. You are automatically a subjective observer because you are in the universe. That's life.
At this point, there is no practical difference between these views. The universe looks the same either way. But the magickal paradigm also states that the universe is an expression of your perceptions and your perceptions are that part of yourself over which you have control. When you change your own attitudes and preconceptions, the universe will follow. This gives an individual as much power over the universe as he has over himself.
We obviously don't exercise infinite power. There is more to magick than merely having a desire or belief. That is because we have many conflicting desires and beliefs on many levels. There is a level called, among other things, the Little Self. This roughly corresponds to the subconscious and the super ego. The ego, the part of ourselves which we think of as "I," is called the Middle Self. The Little Self is the gateway to the High Self, our connection with godhead and the universe. Infinite power lies with the High Self, but our access is through the Little Self which has its own ideas. The Little Self is aware of and accepts everything around it and everything you think, even when you are not aware. These perceptions build up very strong ideas in the Little Self. When these ideas are different from yours (those of the Middle Self), your ideas loose. To succeed, you must unify your will.
Of course, people rightfully complain that even if we do create our universe, it's still tough to make changes. That is because there is quite a bit of inertia to ideas that have been strongly supported since childhood (or before, if you accept past-lives). In an extreme example, the original "Peter Pan" had to be changed to keep from harming children. In the original version, the characters flew because "they believed." Many children attempted to fly and discovered the hard way that their Little Self did not agree. Things like a belief in gravity may be possible to overcome, but no one will argue that it's commonly done.
This example sounds silly because our experience of gravity is so compelling that it seems ridiculous to consider it to be "merely a thought construct." But another belief that is nearly as widespread is that of poverty. This is a significantly less daunting belief which many have overcome. As long as you believe you are poor, you will be. This is often a very strong belief. Many cannot even genuinely imagine themselves as being wealthy. But, because it is not beyond reasonable comprehension, it is possible to reprogram your Little Self- much as it's possible for left-handers to learn to be right-handed. Magick is an effective way to do this.
If you are unconvinced, consider how many little messages you heard when growing up, which you now believe on some level. Frequent messages, especially with children, usually become true. If you have heard all your life that you are poor or dumb or unsuccessful, eventually you believe it and eventually it's true. You probably know many people with an unjustifiably poor self image. This is an image which their Little Selves accepted, probably during childhood when they couldn't protect themselves. That is how messages to the Little Self work against you. And the Little Self is aware of everything, even when you are asleep. It also believes everything it hears. So the next time that you hear that you're not good or that you need to buy a product that you don't really want, consciously give your Little Self a different message. Talk to it and tell it what you want to believe. This is what makes your universe, so make it the way you want it. When you have a particularly powerful belief to overcome, then you must send a powerful message. That is the role of magick.
The religious rendition of magick is prayer. Although they are different things, the principles are similar. Techniques that are effective for one will work very well in the other. In fact, they use many common symbols. One could say that magick is secular prayer.
Prayer works when "God answers it." This is entirely in line with the metaphysical explanation. You can say that the Higher Self is God or your connection to God. This is simply a different way of expressing the same ineffable principles. You can adapt anything here to fit into your views. Don't let the way these concepts are phrased put you off. Feel free to interpret this as much as you like in order to make it acceptable and usable to you.
The explanations so far require new way of thinking about the universe, but those entrenched in the mechanistic paradigm need not miss out. Psychology has enough respect as a science to offer hope. If you replace Little Self with subconscious, the principle is the same. Although there is no longer a source of infinite power or non-physical change. But influencing the subconscious is the next best thing in a mechanistic world.
Psychologists would say that magick directs all your unconscious efforts toward your goal. It also eliminates those unconscious efforts keeping you from your goal. This may not sound like much, but it is primarily these efforts that determine success or failure. It is easy to overlook because, for the most part, the conscious will is the same as the unconscious will. Thus, we succeed at endeavors such as waking up, getting to work on time and fixing dinner. This may seem silly, but when your subconscious doesn't share a goal, even simple tasks are exceptionally difficult. The power of the subconscious can either fight you or help you. Where ever you succeed, it's almost certainly helping. Where ever you fail, it's almost certainly fighting.
The subconscious represents everything the mind does that we do not think about. This involves a most of what we do. When you are driving on a familiar freeway in good conditions, you are usually thinking about the music on the radio or salient problems. At such times it is your subconscious driving. If you notice something strange in the road, it was your subconscious that brought it to your attention. This is very helpful, but that isn't necessarily the case. The subconscious can throw up all kinds of barriers, preventing even the simplest tasks. It can make you late for work when it doesn't feel like going- you can wake up late, feel ill, misplace car keys or even have an accident. This influence sometimes goes to the extremes. People can even be paralyzed by hysteria, a condition that lies entirely within the mind. Pathological fears are another example. An agoraphobe, for instance, can have such an extreme reaction to being outdoors that he cannot leave his house no matter how badly he wants to.
The subtle action of the subconscious can be almost as profound. Even when the influence of the subconscious is indistinguishable from chance happenings, on larger scale the effect is dramatic. Psychologists try to ensure that experiments are "double blind" for this reason. They must set up an experimental group and a control group. In the latter, there is only the single element, the target of the experiment, that is different.
In drug testing, experimenters use placebos on a control group. The act of administering a substance can have a profound mental effect, even when that substance is inert, a placebo. When they expect effective drugs, people can have great results with a placebo. But the "placebo effect" is purely psychological. If either the experimenter or the subject think that they know which is being administered, that is enough to throw off the results. The subconscious of the subject reacts to what the subject expects. If the experimenter knows what he is administering, then the subject's subconscious reacts to cues from the experimenter's subconscious. This is sometimes called the "Clever Hans effect" after a horse which seemed to be able to do math. In reality, clever Hans but was reacting to cues from the people around him. When someone near him knew the answer, the horse could sense that person's expectation. It was sometime before researchers even considered these nearly invisible clues. Although such subconscious actions are very subtle, they can dramatically change the results of an experiment.
The subconscious similarly affects results in your life as well. Magick programs the subconscious to work for you. This is not as potent as the metaphysical concept, but it will make you as effective as you can possibly be in a mechanistic world. A unified will directs all your efforts, conscious and otherwise, toward your goal. Since the subconscious can present insurmountable barriers, working out these barriers is all it takes to be on the road to success.
Some may be disturbed to think that magick may be misrepresenting how it works, but that should not be a problem. In one experiment, scientists gave placebos to a group of subjects. After the placebos "took effect," the scientists explained what they were. Even when the scientists made it clear to the subjects that the placebos had no biochemical action, many subjects still wanted a prescription for them. (It would be interesting to see how much more effective prescription placebos are versus over the counter placebos.) Were these people stupid? Or were they wise to stick with something that worked?
Those that cannot extricate themselves from old mechanistic views need an excuse to allow the placebo effect to bring them success. Ironically, the same discipline which made magick so difficult can now provide this excuse. Scientists are exploring some new ideas which depart from the founding mechanistic paradigm. Ideas consonant with the magickal paradigm show up in Jung's synchronicity, quantum physics, the Gaia hypothesis and the morphogenetic field hypothesis (see Rupert Sheldrake's "A New Science of Life"). When these views obviously challenge the traditional mechanistic paradigm, they are a source of hostility or amusement. When the challenge is more subtle, people ignore it. Never the less, the West is gradually turning toward a view more in tune with magick. With greater frequency, people are willing to consider the idea that we affect our universe on more than just a physical level.
Scientific evidence now supports the idea of non-physically affecting your environment. Quantum physics suggests that an experimenter's goals seem to create whatever particle he's looking for. The morphogenetic field hypothesis suggests that actions affect all other actions to the degree that the circumstances are similar. This explains why it becomes easier to grow a certain type of crystal over time and how new animal behaviors "jump" from one isolated population to another. Science is continually finding support for things that metaphysicians have said for millennia.
If your respect for science is such that you cannot take magick seriously, do some research into these areas. If you can find an acceptable explanation, then you can respect magick. This respect is essential for success. But don't look for "proofs." The concept of magick is nebulous. It's designed to explain the way things are. "Contrary evidence" only shows that you misunderstand. Change your definition to include the new evidence.
Magick can never be proven wrong because it can't be pinned down. Since it explains a subjective reality, it can never be proven right, either. The magickal paradigm will confirm any preconceptions, so the mechanistic paradigm will look "true" if that is what you expect. Since it also postulates so many unknowns in the mind, this paradigm states that what you get is what you expected. As with so many things, you will believe if you want to and you won't if you don't want to. But when you're on the fence, the right explanation can help you accept the possibility. Only then you can honestly try magick. If you experiment with a negative attitude, it is the nature of magick to confirm this. Magick works best for those practical enough to be skeptical, but open minded enough to give it an honest try. If a part of you is genuinely interested in magick, work to become comfortable with it. Start with simple and harmless work. Leave the embarrassing stuff for later, after you've seen it work and you don't care so much if your friends find out.
Avoid getting too involved in the "explanations." If you need one, pick whichever you like. It doesn't have to be any of those here. Each has to build his own models. In any case, reality transcends the understanding of waking-consciousness, so any expressible explanation is "wrong" in the traditional sense, anyway. For a good illustration, try to "understand" wave- particle duality in any but a mathematical sense. It's as impossible to picture as a four dimensional cube.
However the universe "actually is," always act in a manner that is responsible in an objective universe. If this were not essential, people would have abandoned the objective universe long ago. Objective or subjective, there are many empirical rules of behavior that we all know. Magick doesn't change these rules. Don't drive crazily because you've done a protection spell. Don't spend unwisely because you've done a prosperity spell. Don't jump off a building because you've done a flight spell. Remain within these rules and you loose nothing by acting as though the universe is subjective. You should not be doing anything you don't want to do in the first place, because such acts are pointless in either universe. If the universe is objective, then you have had some harmless fun. If the universe is subjective, then you have the chance to get anything you want. If you approach it properly, you can't lose.
So far you have read a few possible explanations of how magick works. This is to open your mind to the fact it *can* work. But any explanation puts a limit on the possibilities. The possibilities which a model rules out are much harder to achieve while you use that model. Please don't limit yourself unnecessarily. But remember, no matter how much you may try to believe that you can fly, it's not likely you'll succeed. The obvious lesson here is, be careful: test the waters of your subconscious, act responsibly (but not over cautious). Don't jump off a cliff after your first flight spell. Don't quit work after your first job spell. Start slow and find out how your Little Self works before you do any life changing work.
There is a hazard so universal that you should treat it as fact: Karma. This is the old saw of, "what goes around, comes around." You attract things of a similar nature to what you concentrate on (similar to morphogenetic fields). And remember, when you concentrate on something, your Little Self does so at least as much. The mechanistic reason for this may be "the subconscious mind directing subtle actions to bring about circumstances in tune with its thoughts." Metaphysicians often explain it as "like vibrations attracting like."
Everything has a "vibration." This is similar to the vibration of musical notes, though obviously not the same. As with musical notes, one vibration can start a sympathetic vibration. One vibrating piano string will start similar strings vibrating. Karma is the word for this principle in magick. There is a certain vibration associated with any act. If you hit someone, the emotions and actions involved are of a certain vibration. This will tend to attract things of a similar vibration, primarily violent acts. You will tend to attract someone to hit you. It turns out that everything you do to others you essentially also do to yourself, and vice versa. It sounds trite, but being nice to others and yourself truly makes the world a better place for everyone.
It doesn't matter how you understand karma, or even if you believe in it- you are warned. Many people don't believe. The action of karma, particularly on such people, is often too slow to notice. It can easily take lifetimes for a soul to work through karma. But the soul will, so avoid bad thoughts. This is impossible, but you will get better with practice. Each unpleasant thought has a negative effect on you and others. This brings negative things into your life. This is pretty rotten, but remember that each positive thought brings positive things- that can be pretty good. In any case, you needn't respect karma to find yourself a happier person for trying to live this way.
If you are just learning about karma, you will probably find that it is now a little more obvious in your life. But sometimes it's difficult to figure. If you do a spell to heal someone, you would expect to be attracting good things. But what if immediately afterward you receive a transfer back home to live near your scummy relatives? Hardly fair! Yet that's the kind of result you can expect if you do anything to a person without permission. People have enough difficulty with their own Little Selves, it's nearly impossible to divine the desire of someone else's. The most beneficent act could violate someone's will on some level. If the person asks you, then you are free to act. But, even if you are absolutely sure that the person would want it, if he hasn't asked you, don't do it.
Another fantastic example is the love spell. Do a spell to attract the kind of person you want, not a specific person. Exercising your will on others without their consent is always nasty- doing so magickally has an even higher cost. Watch yourself. Many people working with magick do so under a "threefold law." This means that any karmic response is tripled. This is to keep people particularly scrupulous when they are fooling around with this stuff. Take it seriously.
Karma is best described by the golden rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." The other major rule of magick is just as common place, "Know thyself." This is essential because of the Little Self. Magick is the science of expressing your will. Because there are many aspects to your will, it follows that you must be aware of all these aspects to be an effective magician.
"Know thyself" means be aware of the thoughts and feelings of your Little Self. Learn how it feels about the things you want. Learn it's beliefs. You must know your starting point to effectively change negative beliefs. To do this, you have to pay attention to all the subconscious cues that your Little Self gives you. Explore your feelings, keep track of your dreams, look at your past. One of the best clues is your own life. If you create everything on some level, then part of you "wants" each thing in your life. You must not deny this, but work with it. The goal is healing because destruction is at best temporary.
Different desires on other levels interfere with your conscious desire. Your Little Self picks them up everywhere. You must be aware of this so that you can counteract it. Every ideal commonly in the mass media impresses itself strongly. When Madison Avenue spreads the word that young and thin are the ideal, your Little Self will accept this if you are not careful. If you are not young and thin, this message undermines your sense of self worth. The resultant sense of undeserving works against your success. There is so much exposure to these messages that it is a real battle to avoid them. Particularly in childhood, when we can't protect ourselves, others deeply ingrain ideas that can be with us for life. You must work hard to discover these feelings and counter act them. If part of you feels undeserving, genuine success seems impossible.
There are other aspects to this problem. Not only might you feel undeserving, but you could even desire failure. There are many reasons for this, usually based in childhood. Whatever the cause, you must look at your failures to see if there might be some reward. Many people are subject to chronic illness, for instance, because of the attention they get or an unpleasant situation they avoid. If you really want to succeed, you must consciously release your desire for the rewards of failure.
You must also look at the fear of success. Many times we do not consider the problems associated with what we are striving for, but the Little Self does. It may be afraid of the responsibility of a better job or a new spouse. Think through your goals very carefully. What would life be like if you had what you desire? You will have to address any new tasks and responsibilities. You will have to be aware of any sacrifices. Once you are sure that you want not only your goal, but the sacrifices and responsibilities that go with it, then release your fears. People fear change, because it is unknown. You must be aware that you are taking a leap and welcome it. Have faith in your Self. When you know your Little Self well enough, you will be able to trust that it will bring you what you desire. When you don't know it that well, work on that. If you fail, it's time to work harder.
When you and your Little Self have the same goals, and you have healed all the blocks to your success, you *know* that what you want is coming. When you know, you do not feel desperate. If you are feeling desperation, you are blocking. In that case, back to work! When you have worked hard enough, then you are ready for the easy part, the spell or ritual. When you enter ritual you should know what you want and why you want it. You should have healed all feelings of failure and undeserving and you should know that your spell will bring it. Work to cultivate this feeling of calm expectation, it is an important key. When you do a ritual, you will release all the power you have built to do its work on the universe. You should not even have to think about it again.
Once you achieve this, though, there is another caveat. Many people have something unpleasant happen to them and later realized that they had asked for it. "Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it." Always think carefully about what you want and how you ask for it. Once again, solid background work is the key.
Magick is a field with many different disciplines. There is sympathetic, Earth, Ceremonial, Enochian, Celtic, Egyptian and Kabbalah magick just to begin. These are occasionally different in their basic techniques, but mostly they differ in the symbols they use to achieve their goals. The principles are the same, however. Whichever form you prefer, it is how you observe these principles that determines your success. Beyond that, it is only personal preference.
Preference is very important, too. It is your Little Self that you are addressing, and it is as individual as you. You must learn what works best for you. The first clue is what appeals to you most. Once you find the best methods for you, you build your own personal magickal system. It is up to you to find these methods, through research and experimentation. There is so much information that it is impossible to give more than a sample here. The information in this book is enough to get started. It is your work that will complete it. If you are happy with what you get on your own, you need never open another book. But you must at least pay constant, careful attention to your work to fine tune it. As with anything, the more work you put in, the better your success.
The first principle is to take what you're doing very seriously. This is not so easy when you're struggling with society's negative attitudes. Ignore any intrusive thoughts you might have. Concentrate on what you are doing. You must passively avoid any distractions. Do not try to actively avoid them for that usually becomes an even bigger distraction. As long as you enter with the right attitude, the rest will come with practice.
Magickal ritual is a very special thing. You must set it apart from your ordinary functions. When you do this, your Little Self is aware that you have that an important message to give it. Not only is the message less cluttered by stray thoughts, but it proceeds more directly to the Little Self. The more special things you have surrounding your ritual, the more effective it is. (As long as you don't have so much that these things become a distraction in themselves.)
Pick a time when you are relaxed and awake and not under the influence of any drugs (e.g., alcohol or medication). Take the phone off the hook and see that you are not disturbed. Create a "sacred space" that is only for ritual. If you can set up a regular time or place which you use for nothing other than ritual, this is ideal.
Before you begin, take a bath or at least wash your hands and use this to symbolically wash away all other thoughts and distractions in your mind. Relax your body and mind. Remove watches and tight clothes. Make sure the time of the ritual is clearly separated from your usual day. Use a symbolic act like knocking three times to open and close the ritual. Anything that you can add to the ambiance will help: incense, special or no clothing, candle light, silence or meditative music (or whatever music is appropriate to the spell- be careful of any lyrics!). If you know a second language that you don't ordinarily speak, such as Hebrew or Latin, you may want to use this. Alternatively, you can use the Thee's and Thou's of archaic English.
During the ritual, concentrate on your goals. Make sure that your ritual is not so long that you can't keep your mind focused! It is better to repeat a ritual over days or weeks than to have an enormously long one in which you spend most of your time thinking about balancing your checkbook. Know what you will do before you start. You may ad lib, but your purpose must be completely clear before you start. Don't be surprised, however, if a ritual goes differently from expected. You may, for instance, gain an insight as you work that seems unrelated to your goal. It is important to consider this! It may be the key to what you are trying to achieve. It may also be a distraction, so be aware.
Since magick is the science of controlling your Self, the entire key is in attitude. Not only must you take it seriously, but you must also cultivate the right feelings. You must want and expect your goal.
Wanting seems easy, but this is deceptive. That is because the many facets of a personality often want different things. You must unify your desire just as you must unify your will. A person who grew up abused may learn, on some level, to associate this with love. That person's Little Self will seek out abuse as an expression of love. It will want abuse even if the individual does not. Changing the desire of the Little Self to that if the individual is the challenge.
An even bigger challenge is that of expectation. According to the magickal paradigm, you not only get what you want, but you get it in the way that you expect it. Thus, if you do a spell for money and you think "I'll never win the lottery," the money cannot come that way. If the spell is to work, the money must come from another source, such as finding a better job. Too often we rule out all possibility. When you do a spell, you know that has already worked. If you do not know this, it has not worked. This is the ideal. It may well take some time before you work up to this point.
For these reasons it's usually best to start slow. Remember, to be completely successful, you have to want and expect on every level. Begin with a project easier than levitation! Work your way up to something life changing only after you have proven yourself. And don't look for dramatic results. Don't rule them out, of course- you can win the lottery or even have ET hand you a suitcase of money. But remember, this is dealing in what you believe, and people rarely believe that dramatic things can happen to them.
Look at magick as an extra push- something to make the random events break your way. In addition to magickal means, strive for your goals on the earthly level. Preliminary results usually tend toward things like improved success in your ordinary pursuits: business picking up, a bonus, getting that job interview. Also, the energy you put into these mundane efforts also supports your magickal work. Even if you concentrate on winning a lottery, you must at least buy a ticket. All your efforts help to build expectation and gives a very strong message to the Little Self.
The message you give to your Little Self is the most important aspect of Magick. The whole process is communicating the right message. Desire and expectancy are the two most important messages. But often these do not get across. The Little Self has the understanding of a child. There are certain messages that work well and quite a few that work disastrously. You must learn how to talk to your Little Self.
The Little Self understands images and feelings; it does not understand negatives or time. When you say "I will not fail," the image in your mind is that of failure. The message to another person would be what you mean, because they understand the negation, "not." The message to the subconscious is "I will fail." Never, never, never use a negative when talking to your Little Self.
If you change your message to, "I will succeed," you still have a problem. Since the Little Self does not understand time as we do, it will perpetually see success as being in the future. Success will never arrive. The proper message would be, "I succeed." This is not the way we are used to thinking, but it is necessary for magickal work. Always formulate your goals this way when you begin a ritual or spell. In addition, the more you think in this way in everyday life, the more powerful will be the positive messages to your Little Self.
The images which you give your Little Self are even more important. It is the images which your words conjure that actually do the communicating. When you choose your goal, you should try to choose one or more images to represent it. The image must include you in it, either see yourself in a scene or picture it as if looking out of your eyes. The scene should represent to you exactly what you desire.
The more you imagine in your scene, the better. Details, smells, sounds and textures all help enormously. The scene is most effective when it brings up all the emotions that you would feel if you were actually there. A drawing or picture is a good aid. Surround yourself with as many things you can find that make you think of your goal. Imagine you have what you want and know you have what you want. That is a successful ritual.
Over the millennia, people have discovered symbols which speak to the Little Selves of nearly everyone. Various sets of symbols form the foundation of the many different schools of magick. They are often culturally oriented. Because our culture is far removed from its magickal symbols, each must discover his own. There are myriad of occult books that offer as many different symbols as you could want. If you are interested, research them. Look first to your religion or ethnic background for your symbols. Mythology and astrology are also good sources.
One kind of symbol is the magickal tool. This is a physical object which you have consecrated for magickal work. If you have, for instance, a cross or star which you want to use for protection, you must empower the object for that purpose in a ritual. You will direct you will, through statement and visualization, into to object. From then on it is a constant tangible reminder to you and your Little Self. Treat it with the greatest respect.
When you want to use a symbol, first explore your feelings as you look at it. If it conjures the feelings you want, then use it. With symbols from a source, try do this before you read what the "authentic" meaning is. Sometimes you can get new information by not prejudicing yourself. Be careful if the meaning is very different, though. If you are not entirely in tune with your Little Self (and few beginners are), you may be missing something that will affect your spell.
Chakra To give you an idea of what to look for and a sample to try, here is a simple set of symbols based on the Chakra. Chakrum (singular) is Sanskrit for wheel, although vortex would be a better word. Chakra refers to points in the body where certain energies localize. These types of energies correspond to many different things: herbs, stones, times, planets, moods, political beliefs. It is possible to relate anything to a chakrum. This chart gives points on the body, one of the many color schemes and how one experiences these energies. This becomes useful when you seek a reinforcing energy. You can use this chart to decide where to apply a magickal oil or what color is best to use in a given project.
| Red | Root | Physical Health and Energy |
| Orange | Spleen | Sexual and Reserve Energy (Second Wind) |
| Yellow | Solar Plexus | Mental and Emotional Energy |
| Green | Heart | Love, prosperity, fertility, growth |
| Blue | Throat | Command, creation, will, expression |
| Indigo | Brow | Magick, psychic energy |
| Lavender | Crown | Spirituality |
| White | Positivity, all colors combined, the Universal Deity (God) | |
| Black | Absorbs negativity | |
| Pink | Filial Love, "Agape" (look it up) | |
| Brown | Earthiness, grounding, hearth & home | |
| Gold | Wealth | |
| TEMPLES | Thoughts, mind |
The blue is a very light blue. Indigo is a very dark blue, like navy blue. Lavender is a mixture of the colors and the energies of red, indigo and white. It is a very light color which you might be able to see at the edge of a gas flame. The root chakrum is at the base of the spine. The spleen is a few inches higher and to your left or along the spine (your choice). The Solar Plexus at the navel (there is a major nerve nexus here). The Brow or Third Eye Chakrum is associated with the pineal gland. On the skin, the point is on the brow between the eyes. The crown is the top of the head, associated with the fontanelle (soft spot). If you use something black (like obsidian) to absorb negativity, be sure to wash it occasionally to get rid of the negativity. When you burn a black candle, this creates a vacuum. This may be filled by for negativity unless you also burn a white candle to bring in positive energy.
Magick is not just an occasional exercise to bring what you want, it is a way of life. It requires a certain kind of relationship with your Self. This does not preclude any kind of life style or religion, it is entirely separate. It isn't what you do but why and how you do it. Magick demands that you love and respect your Self and that you accept your Power. This is the goal. "Getting what you want" is a small bonus.
Building a magickal relationship with your Self is much like building one with a best friend. You learn all you can about its beliefs and feelings. You help heal it and it helps you. You achieve this through communication and love. You love through learning acceptance. You communicate by learning and listening to the language of the Little Self.
The Little Self expresses itself most clearly in dreams. You should keep a regular dream diary. Have a journal handy by the bed. As soon as you wake up in the morning, write down as many details as you can. If you scribble down notes, transcribe them into a clear, coherent text. If you remember no dreams, write this down. You should have an entry for every day that you sleep. It is best to record them in present participle (e.g., "I dream that I am writing in my journal").
Once you have a dream recorded. Consider it and write down your impressions. How does it make you feel? To what does it pertain? What symbols are there? What does it tell you about yourself and your life? After you have considered these things, you may choose to look up the possible meaning in a dream dictionary. It is best to do this afterward because someone else's interpretation could prejudice your own. The advantage is that many dreams are "contrary." Such dreams actually mean the opposite of what they seem to on the surface. A dictionary can help jog your awareness. Once you've tried on your own, it's not a bad idea. Remember, though, your impressions are the most significant.
You can make great progress during your dreams as well. The more control you have in your dreams, the more Power you have in your life. Try to develop this control. Remind yourself each time before you go to bed that you will remember your dreams and exercise your will in them. The ideal is called a waking or vivid dream. In this you are consciously aware that you are dreaming and everything, especially color, is very clear. The most important thing to remember in a dream is to defeat everything that attacks you. Attackers represent those things afflicting you during the day. Don't let them beat you in your dreams. If you need help, call for it. When victorious, make the attacker give you a gift. The gift is the benefit that you can gain from any situation. Defeat your dream monsters and you gain power to face your real monsters.
From your dreams you can learn what your Little Self desires and fears. You can also gain powerful symbols for your work. These are all highly personal and it is up to you to divine this information. But, don't try to interpret too much. Much of what you dream is reviewing the events of the day and other items of no great insight. Look at all your dreams and discover which ones hold meaning for you. Don't worry when you don't understand. Your Little Self will keep trying when it has something important to tell you. As long as you keep listening, you will progress.
You should also keep a daily diary. It too, is a line to your Little Self. Use this to record the events of the day and your thoughts and feelings. These will reflect what is going on inside you. Use it also for introspection. You must do a lot of soul searching to learn about your Little Self, this is most effective when written.
It is even more important to track the progress of your magickal work. Each time you do a spell or ritual record your goal, your feelings before and after and your methods. Before you get to this point, you should also have explored all your feelings associated with it. Then pay careful attention to all that happens to you (part of the reason for the daily diary). Often, a spell will work and we will not even notice.
Since magick works with what we believe, things come to us in the way we expect or allow. When you do a healing, it will tend to look entirely natural, rather than miraculous. If you do a prosperity spell, receiving a tax refund check the following month could be the universe's response. Keep an eye out for any hint of possible results. Even the weakest indication is very positive. It may not be enough to satisfy, but it means that you are being effective. If you keep working, you will be able to improve until you achieve the result you desire. When you give yourself credit for even the smallest success, you build the relationship between you and your Little Self.
Another good way of communicating with your Little Self is through pendulum work. You can use any object on a string, but if it holds significance for you, so much the better. Hold your arm steady and think about the pendulum swinging forward and back. It should eventually begin to do so without you *consciously* moving your arm. Next change the movement to left and right by thinking about it. Once you can do this with facility, assign "yes" to one direction and "no" to the other. If you choose forward and back as "yes," alternate thinking the direction and thinking the word. Eventually, even when you start cold, the pendulum will swing forward and back when you think "yes." Repeat with the word "no" for the opposite direction. Now you have a way of talking with your Little Self. You can ask it questions directly.
Eventually, you can even get your Little Self to spell words by holding the pendulum over a semicircle with the alphabet on it. The direction of swing will indicate each letter. Another method is automatic writing. With this you hold a pen and relax and let "it" do the writing. (This may sound like an Ouija board, but it is not. Do not try to use one for this purpose or vice versa.) Whatever method you use, be careful. Your Little Self wants to please you. It will tend to give you the answer you want. Make sure you want the truth and that your Little Self understands this. Always be friendly, as you would with a child. Praise success and don't berate failure. After all, it is only trying to please. As usual, this requires regular work over time, but eventually you can have such a good understanding that you need no tools. You will simply "know" how your Little Self feels. This is the ideal.
Another way to achieve this awareness is through meditation. This is a method of calming the conscious mind. There many physical benefits from the stress reduction alone. It also allows your inner thoughts and feelings to express themselves. All the skills you learn in meditation are very useful in magick. Not only is it a line of communication with the little self, but it teaches you to quiet the conscious mind which is essential in ritual. You would do well take instruction in a meditation technique such as yoga or self-hypnosis.
If you are learning this on your own, observe these rules: Relax your body consciously and completely. You must be in a comfortable, calm environment to do this properly. Starting at your feet, think about each part of your body and let it relax. It may help to tighten the muscles first. Use a cue to tell your mind to relax. This can be something like mentally going down stairs or counting backwards. [Do not use a common cue. For instance, "three, two, one" is something that you might encounter on the radio while driving. This could be dangerous. It would be better to use, "three, three, three, two, two, two, one, one, one." This is less likely to cause a problem. It is dangerously easy to get into a meditative state during automatic tasks like driving. This you must avoid.] Once relaxed, you can use this state to allow subconscious thoughts to float to the surface, or you can use it in ritual to give a powerful message to your Little Self. This mental state is another key to magick.
You will find that it is very difficult to focus your conscious mind at first. See how long you can hold one word or picture in your head without any other thought. It is probably an astoundingly brief time. Watch commercials to see how many seconds they show one unchanging scene. This represents the average attention span. This is one of the reasons that magick is so difficult, you must remain focused for the entire ritual. Be aware of you concentration span. While it is short, you should be working short rituals. It is better to have three five-minute rituals than one half-hour ritual if you spend twenty minutes of the latter thinking of other things.
In order to improve your concentration, spend some time each day trying to hold a word or picture as long as possible. Another good exercise is to pick a word and try *not* to think of it for a week. Count how many times you think the word in your head, if you think it again when counting it, count that instance, too. This is very difficult, but eventually you will even be able to hear or see the word without thinking it.
These skills immediately become useful in communicating with your Little Self. You will want to hold positive thoughts, such as "I am a lovable, successful person." You will want to dispel negative thoughts, as when the TV tells you, "I was very unpopular until I started using Cream Toothpaste!" When you are trying to reprogram your Little Self, feel free to use aids such as subliminal tapes. Another good one is colored cards. Place your simple, direct message, such as "I succeed," on a colored card where you will see it each day. Put small pieces of the same color where you will encounter them throughout the day. Each time a bit of card comes in your field of view, your Little Self will notice and remember the message, even when you don't.
Symbolic acts are also very powerful. When you clean out your house and get rid of everything that you don't *need,* you make way for new things to come into your life. This is a good thing to do in concert with a major change in your life, quitting smoking or graduation, for instance. It helps to tell your Little Self that your old life is over and your new one has begun. The more you can eliminate the symbols of your old life, the more you can shape your new life to your liking. Be aware of all that you do, for you can use ordinary acts to give messages to your Little Self. Your morning shower can be a ritual to "wash away" all your stress or yesterday's mistakes. If you do this, however, you must *make* it a ritual. Develop a routine and concentrate on the purpose of the act throughout. This is true of all magickal works.
Once you have begun this work to focus your conscious mind and reprogram your Little Self for success, then you can begin some small works of magick. You want to start small because most people have difficulty accepting a great success on a deep level. If start with a spell to win one million in the lottery and you are not ready for this, your failure will set you back. If you do prosperity spell and you get a small raise or win $10 in the lottery, that is a start that you can build on.
One of the better starting goals is manifesting an insignificant object. Manifesting means bringing it into your life. Things tend to manifest in unremarkable ways, so keep a look out. The blue feather is a classic. Set up a ritual in which you concentrate on a blue feather. See it, feel it, smell it, want it, then let it go. Then pay attention for the following week (and keep track in your journal). You may find a blue feather on the side walk. You may notice one for the first time on a billboard that you pass every day. You may see one on TV All of these are successes.
It is best to start with insignificant, uncommon (but not rare) objects. An uncommon object gives you a good indication of success. A rare object is a challenge you can work up to. An insignificant object is easier because you do not have interfering desires or fears. You have to be relaxed and confident and let go of your desire as you complete the ritual. You should be able to manifest such an object before you proceed to a greater challenge. It is valuable to repeat this exercise every so often in any case.
Another good spell to start with is a spell to do good spells. That is, you can use magic to help remove blocks and fears. For instance, if you have discovered that you feel unworthy, this will seriously impair your ability to manifest what you want. But, you can use your desire for self worth to empower magickal work toward feeling worthiness. You can also do a spell to support your ability to concentrate on your goal. This is just an extension of all the other methods of getting messages to your Little Self.
When you discover blocks and fears, when thoughts intrude and your mind wanders, or when you find yourself thinking exactly what you're supposed to avoid, don't worry! This happens as you learn to control your will. The idea is not to avoid these problems, but to *learn* to avoid them. You can't do this by trying to force yourself. There are no instructions on how to do this, only exercises. Just do your stuff and the rest will follow. When problem surfaces, recognize it and go on. Don't try to stop it and don't dwell on it, just continue. You may know that you have "spoiled" a ritual with a stray thought, but complete it anyway- it's a good exercise. Sometimes you can deal with stray thoughts by *trying* to think about them. Concentrate on these thoughts and let your mind tire of them, then go on with your work.
Work steadily, but not overly hard, on these exercises and make magick a part of your life. Unify your will. Take and prove your Power. Only after you have done this are you ready to do magick. When you feel you are ready, develop the messages and visualization which will be the most powerful for you. Decide how you are going to set up your ritual area and how you will orchestrate your spell. Whatever you feel best with is what will be the most powerful. If you need an idea of how to start, consider the examples that follow.
Once you have discovered and addressed your blocks, you are ready to do a spell. This is only a little different from what you have already been doing. In a spell you do nothing new, you do it differently. A spell is a ritual, an act carefully planned to have the greatest effect. You must do the planning, for only you know what will be the most effective ritual. Plan carefully and completely. You may want to use a script (it would be best to memorize it). You can ad lib once you're more experienced. At this point, you have enough information to develop more powerful rituals than you are likely to encounter in any book. However, since this is so different from what most of us are used to, here are some samples to give you a starting point. Feel free to use and change these rituals as you please. They are here to give you an idea of how you may want to approach things.
The ritual starts in a special place. It could be out in the woods or in a special room. Ideally, you would never use this place for anything but ritual, but this may be impossible. If in the home, choose a quiet time and unplug the phone. Make sure that you are not disturbed.
Before the ritual, carefully clean and arrange the area and take a bath or wash your hands. Think about washing away the days thoughts and cares. You are now ritually purified. You should not engage in any mundane activity until after the ritual. Enter your ritual area and knock three times, to mark the beginning. From this point all your thoughts are on the ritual. Don't do anything automatically. No matter how familiar, think about every action and what it means.
Light candles and incense (only if there is no danger of fire!). Imagine the ritual area surrounded in a circle of white light. You may physically trace this circle to reinforce it. (Traditionally, all such movements are clockwise when invoking and counterclockwise when dispelling.) Repeat an act of purification. This is like the bath only more symbolic. You can hold your hand in the incense smoke and touch water from a ritual cup to your forehead, for instance. Next, relax and aum- that is chant the mantra "ohhmmm" (or whatever works for you) to bring your mind to the proper state of alert relaxation, ready for work.
At this point you will state your will. Tell your Self and the Universe how you choose it to be. This is not merely verbalization, during ritual your word is law. What you say, is. Feel your statement with your entire being, with every sense. Use all the techniques that you have found effective. Then, let the feeling go. It is going out into the universe to do its work. End your expression with a statement like, "According to free will and for the good of all." This helps to avoid problems with karma, as long as you mean it. Do not allow other thoughts to intrude at this point, it is now time to close the ritual.
Imagine removing the white light circle (counterclockwise). Knock three times to end the ritual. Put out the candles, clean each item and put it carefully away in a special place. The ritual is only finished once you have completed all of these steps. Only then can you resume thinking about what's on the TV and how big a jerk your boss it. As a beginner, you should always be prepared to go through this entire procedure before you start. Even in an emergency, you should at least remove the white circle and knock (very quickly, perhaps, but do at least this much when possible). Nothing in a ritual is mundane, so it must be clearly delineated from your mundane actions. Otherwise you will dilute your spell and give the wrong messages to your Little Self. When ritual is obviously separate, your Little Self will know when to pay close attention.
Once finished, do not talk about your work. Silence is another important key to magick. If you discuss it with anyone else, they cannot help adding their thoughts. This is almost always detrimental. It is fine to work with people, then your energies multiply. But never talk about specific spells that you have done.
This is one aspect of magick that attracts many. It is a big mistake! Karma will get you every time. Don't try to rationalize. Though you may be able to put it off, you will not escape karma. In the mundane world, you might justifiably do violence in order to defend yourself or another from physical attack. In magick, this justifies only defense, never attack. Don't imagine yourself to be an agent of karma or a martyr saving others at your own expense. Who ever has done you wrong will get his. It's frustrating to wait and we all want to be there when it happens, but it is never worth trying to make it happen.
When you have any kind of relationship, particularly a magickal one, you develop a karmic tie. You will want to avoid such ties with people you don't like. Even if you get the best of such a person, he will still drag you down. It's difficult to resist when you feel that the person owes you. If you have been swindled and left with no legal recourse, it's tempting to use magick to get your money back. Trying to get even will develop a tie with this person and probably set you up for some bad karma. Don't worry about the money, either. You can get that from anywhere (see "Prosperity"), In seeing this swindler as your only source you give your Power to him. If you are brave, you can demand justice in such a situation. This incurs no karmic debt, but you, too, can expect justice. Not very many people genuinely want this. Most prefer mercy because we have all done plenty of things that we would rather not have to pay for. If you want mercy, you must extend it to others. When you ask for justice, all your debts present themselves. If you survive, great, but it won't be fun. There are much safer ways of dealing with nasty people.
Psychic attack can be a real problem because it is so prevalent. When you make someone angry, the person is attacking you. Simply directing angry thoughts is a psychic attack. (This incurs bad karma, so learn to avoid this yourself!) We all have natural defenses, so these attacks seldom have an effect. But if someone has ability, or if he concentrates a lot of energy, you are likely to suffer. Psychic attack usually comes in through the neck and manifests as a headache. As you become a better magician, you will be more sensitive to the energies around you. You become more vulnerable to psychic attack. You also become better able to defend yourself as long as you remain alert. This work will also help protect you from physical threats. Keep in mind that, though magic may help, you must still act responsibly!
Affirmations: I am now safe and secure. All negative influences are reflected off me into the Earth to be healed. I allow only the positive into my life.
Visualizations: See an egg of white light around you- because this keeps in negative energy, also see it filled with violet light, which will turn the negative to positive. Another good visualization is three concentric circles around you (or whatever you wish to protect) of white (outside), blue (middle) and pink (inside). Also, you can imagine a mirror at the back of the neck or encasing the whole body, reflecting outward.
Other: Religious symbols are especially good for this work.
Remember that the things you have in your life are those that you have drawn to you. When someone upsets you, he usually has a lesson to teach you. If you can learn this lesson, you can escape the situation. If you escape without learning your lesson, you'll probably be in a similar situation soon. Sometimes people often make us angry by reflecting a part of our personality that we are unhappy with. Also, the negative vibrations we pick up during our everyday lives attract negative things. The purpose of the ritual bath is to remove such influences. It is also a good idea to do an entire spell for purification. This is not only good to do on yourself, but also your home and wherever else you spend much personal time.
Affirmations: The white light cleanses me of all negative thoughts and energies. Only positive feelings remain in me. I release all negative vibrations into the Earth to be healed.
Visualizations: See yourself being washed clean by white or violet light from above you (your High Self). Each time you inhale, take in pure white light. When you exhale, release all your negativity. See this negativity go down into the earth to be healed.
Other: Place a piece of rock salt under your tongue. Use incense smoke or water to cleanse yourself. Again, religious symbols are very effective.
You must take love spells very seriously, for they are quite dangerous. Never, never, never do a love spell on an individual. This is often a great temptation, but don't even risk the possibility of imposing your will on another. The karmic results are severe. Even if you succeeded, you would still lack real love, for you would have to continually renew the spell to keep the person. What you want, among other things, is someone to help express your love for yourself. As you will often hear, you must love yourself first. This isn't a problem, for you already love yourself- that is the main reason you are alive. The problem is when you block that love. Eliminating these blocks is the Soul's goal. But don't despair, you needn't actually remove them to draw love to you. Just beginning the work can attract that special someone who will help.
Affirmations: I am a perfect manifestation of love and I draw love to me. I now allow love to come into my life. I feel and express perfect love and draw other loving people into my life.
Visualizations: Picture yourself as a magnet, feeling and drawing love. Imagine yourself bathed in green or pink or orange light, depending on your goals. Pink is for filial love (agape) and for that of a lover. Orange is for the sexual aspect (spleen chakrum). Green is for both (heart chakrum). But the distinctions are somewhat blurred, for love is a combination of all of these.
Other: Friday is the day of Venus and the waxing to full Moon is a time of increase, so these are good times for ritual. The ubiquitous heart symbol can be useful.
Money is not all there is to prosperity. What do you want the money for? What kind of life do you want to live? What do you want to have? Keep these goals in mind. You may get them instead of the money.
As you work though your blocks to prosperity, you will probably find that one of the biggest is guilt. Our society functions under the assumption that a person can only gain at the expense of others. Don't try to get money by taking it from others through force or fraud, magickally or otherwise. That is giving your Power away. In the magickal paradigm, you create. When you understand this, there is no greed because you can have whatever you desire and without taking from others. It is not money that is a root of evil, but the love of money. It doesn't matter how much you get, but how you get it. When you do a prosperity spell, it should be a joyful expression of the infinite supply available to you. If you are begging or hopping to be rescued, you have more background work to do.
Another aspect to remember is that money, like all other kinds of energy, flows. In order to get it, you have to spend it. There must be an outflux for there to be an influx. This is not an excuse to be irresponsible! It is easy for the flow to be too much in either direction (especially out!). Don't be miserly or wasteful, remember the flow. Use each bill you pay to remind you that you've drawn the money to pay it and that more money will come to take its place.
Affirmations: I allow prosperity to manifest itself in my life in great abundance. I draw from the infinite source all the money I need and more. In my life, I now express the infinite supply of wealth around me.
Visualizations: Imagine yourself bathed in green light (heart chakrum). This is a situation where visualization works particularly well, because it's a tangible object. You can even use a picture or model of the new home or car you want.
Other: Good times for a prosperity ritual are Thursday, the day for increase, and during the waxing Moon. The $ (or appropriate regional symbol) has a great deal of power- consider using it.
Your body is the most direct expression of your Little Self. It is one of the most accessible, yet challenging things to change. If you can find and address the root causes of health problems, like heat disease, it is often relatively easy to do something about them. But self image problems can be very difficult because of the way our society approaches the subject.
Over weight is a good example of a self image problem. Madison Avenue bombards us with an ideal of beauty. It is almost impossible to escape. If you are over weight and unhappy about it for other than health reasons, you are probably a victim of this. It is dangerously easy to make self love or approval contingent upon losing weight. Until you've lost it, you may feel undeserving and thus fail. You may succeed, only to have old habits or new crises can throw you back into old eating habits. You have made no fundamental change, so the cycle reinforces itself. So many different problems manifest this way.
You will certainly want to deal with eating habits and exercise, but this is often insufficient. People have different metabolic rates and different body types. Do not make liking yourself contingent upon your having a different body type! If you dislike your body, you dislike your Little Self. You must love yourself unconditionally. This is the same transcendent spirit expressed in wedding vows: for better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health. Love yourself not regardless of how you look, but because of how you look. Wanting to improve doesn't mean that you must dislike yourself as you are. If you were given $900, you wouldn't despise it because it wasn't $1000. Rejoice in your Little Self's expression of being alive. Until you do, this lesson will hang over your head. Ironically, you are most able to change your looks when it matters to you least.
Remember to be responsible. Always get good health care. When trying to lose weight, follow a sane plan under a doctor's care. But in addition, work to love yourself unconditionally. Strive constantly to fight the messages from the media and those around you. You are a loving, lovable person and your looks reflect this. Make yourself aware of that. When you succeed, you may eventually look like your ideal, but even if you don't, you will see the beauty in yourself. You will be more able to defend yourself from those small minds unhappy enough to attack you for not conforming to their ideal. You will also draw those who can see your beauty. As an extreme example, anorexics always feel that they are too fat. They cannot lose more weight, for that would kill them. The answer lies with truly seeing themselves.
Any time your goal is self improvement, the principle is the same. In order to better yourself, you must first realize that you are lovable, now and always. Never try to better yourself to become lovable- it doesn't work. The goal of magick is to heal those things you do not like in yourself, not destroy them. You better yourself by first bettering your self image. You change your behavior by healing the hurts that cause you to do harmful things. Recognize that all unhappy things are in response to pain. Your Little Self can hurt you, much as a favorite pet may bite you because it is in pain. Do not feel anger or misery but love and healing.
Affirmations: I love myself completely as I am now. I surrender to love. I know that I am a loving and lovable person. I heal all hurts. I now express perfect health in my life. I bring complete health into my life. My body is now a beautiful, healthy expression of my Self.
Visualizations: Imagine yourself so close to the sun that you can see nothing else. Visualize the area you want to heal bathed in blue-green light. Listen to or imagine the note F#. Concentrate on the heart and throat chakra (green and blue, respectively). The root chakrum (red) is another good focus for physical well being. When healing someone not present, put a photo next to a candle. Put the name of the subject on the candle and use this to focus your concentration.
Other: Rituals to increase energy and health are most effective during the waxing moon and at high noon. Rituals for eliminating disease or losing weight are best done during the waning moon. The five pointed star (symbol of Man) might be a good symbol (if you do not have any negative associations with it).
At this point you are on your own. It takes forty days to make or break a habit, so you should concentrate on daily exercise for at least this long. Magick is not a quick, easy way of getting what you want. It is a long, hard road. Though it's quite possible to have instant success, visible results can take months. Real rewards can take years. But we all must travel this road some time. Be cautious of those promising an easier path. Though it may appear slow, magick is one of the fastest ways of taking your Power. The difficulty lies not in feats of physical or mental prowess, but in steady diligence. Do not try too hard, or you will not last long. If you are not happy with the way your life is going now and you desire to take your power, then commit to the life changes which magick demands. If your commitment is genuine, then everything will fall into place over time. Above all, be patient.
Best of luck and stay on the path.
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