Tuesday, March 30, 2010

How Magic is Like a Candy Bar ... and Why the Candy Bar Approach Won't Bring You What You Want

For a lot of people magic is kind of like a candy bar. It is an "impulse" kind of thing. As you stand in line at the check stand, you see rows of candy bars and, on impulse, buy one and eat it. If you hadn't been staring at all the candy bars, you probably wouldn't have bought or eaten one.

Magic is kind of the same way for many people. Something goes wonky in their lives and no immediate solution is apparent. All of sudden they think,

"Maybe magic will fix this."

So they fire off a question to us, a group of magical practitioners, and then forget all about it. When an email response arrives back in their inbox, 90% of the people ignore it, even though it contains valid magical information.

Why?

Because the impulse to "do magic" has been satisfied by sending off the email, just as the impulse to "eat something tasty" is satisfied by downing a candy bar. That's all, it's done. As a result, a lot of people either think that magic doesn't work or that magic isn't real. They think, "Oh, I checked it out but nothing much happened."

Hmmm...

The Problem of Mixing Impulse and Magic
Impulse and magic go together about as well as oil and vinegar ... they don't. Impulse is by definition a short-lived spurt of action that comes and goes in a blink of the eye.

Magic, on the other hand, is the art and science of intention and attention. To do magic successfully, you have to develop the ability to focus your intention and attention on what you want for rather long periods of time. That doesn't sound much like impulse, does it? And yet, impulse is the doorway through which many people approach magic. No wonder people think that magic isn't real or doesn't work.

What Makes Magic Work?
So if impulse is not the best way to approach magic, how should one approach magic so that it actually works? It's simple. Like everything else, magic takes practice. That's why most people who are involved with magic say they have a "magical practice." To be successful, magic has to be practiced the way you would practice the piano or yoga.

Magic takes practice because while every single person on the planet is born with magical abilities, we don't tend to use those abilities (called Spirit perceptics) in everyday like except at a very subliminal level. Occasionally, we may receive "premonitions" about something or experience "deja vu," but for the most part we don't exercise our magical skills much. Hence, when we go to use them by the sheer force of impulse, nothing much happens.

To "practice" magic the way you would a piano, you use daily magic rituals to help you exercise your magical skills and keep you in contact with magical beings. The magic rituals don't have to be complicated, and in fact it's better if they are simple.

A Simple Magic Ritual for a Magical Practice
There are thousands of magic rituals you could use as part of your magical practice, and here is a very simple one to get you started. This ritual will help you exercise your Spirit perceptics, but won't be so difficult that you will avoid doing them.

This ritual exercises both your ability to attract your desire into your life as well as your ability to "see" when something has manifested. To do this ritual, spend 5 minutes each morning sitting quietly. Envision a single thing that you want to appear in your day. Whether you choose a green marble, a handsome man, or a rainstorm, choose something concrete. Spend the 5 minutes of your sitting asking the Universe to bring that thing into your life today.

Oh, and pick something small and insignificant so that you don't overburden yourself with expectation. Don't pick "the love of my life" because that has too much expectation on it. Stick with little things, like a blue bird or the hiccups ... things you don't care much about one way or another.

During your day, keep your eyes, ears, and Spirit sense open for that thing. Many times, it will appear in a form that you least expect. For instance, suppose you chose to call a green marble into your experience. Depending on how specific you were, you may end up standing on green marble tile, or you may hear someone say the word "green" and read the word "marble" in a magazine. At first, your attempts to use this ritual may bring you somewhat "splintered" results, but be sure to acknowledge all of these results and thank the Universe. Your results will get more specific over time.

If at the end of the day you feel you still have not "received" that which you asked for, do another short meditation. Review your day and ask your mind for a "print out" of all possible events that might match your desired "thing." You'll be surprised at how much this "print out" will reveal to you about what you missed during the course of your day. Your mind records everything, and if you review its data carefully you will most likely find what you are looking for.

Do this magic ritual for 40-days in a row and jot down your results daily. Even if you get no results on a particular day, just keep doing the exercise. This magic ritual becomes an anchor-point of intention that will transform you into a powerful manifester. The whole goal of this ritual is to help you hone your intention and attention by starting with small objects. It's simple but ingenious.

Got it? Good ... now go try it!

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Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lollaping/ / CC BY 2.0

2 comments:

  1. I think what you are basically saying is that magic requires some level of discipline beyond that of being an impulsive child. I think that's why meditation is important to the process. It starts to tune you into "more of that".

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    1. Thanks for adding your insight. You are so right about meditation. Meditation is a great way to tune in to our spiritual and magical side. So much of our society is geared towards instant gratification that many don't have the patience to wait for what can come or to put the time into creating a manifestation. Meditation can help slow down our busy worlds.

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