Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Spirit Guides: What is a Spirit Guide and Where Are Yours?

Are you in contact and take guidance from your spirit guides and do you even know what is a Spirit Guide? We are all planetary citizens with multiple past lives, and as such we all have spirit guides. Spirit Guides may take on many forms, including angels, animal totems, loved ones from our past, and forms not recognized on this planet. Should you be worried if you don't seem to have any? Nope, you do, you just may not have made contact with them yet.

Spirit Guides: Making Contact
How do you achieve spirit guide contact? An easy way is to start each day with a simple 5 minute meditation. Get comfortable, sit quietly and breathe. When your mind is quiet:

1. Say out loud or in your mind, your wish that you want spirit guide contact. 

2. State that the contact should be achieved in a way that you can easily recognize and handle.

3. Thank your spirit guide in advance. This is a very important step in making a connection with your guide.

Now just go about your day and look for signs. These could come in the form of a conversation you overhear or are part of, animal appearances, a sign in any book you open, thoughts in your head, odd sights and sounds, or various other ways during the day. Be alert and open to a sign that will have meaning to you. If you get to the end of the day and have not seen a sign, just ask again and this time ask for clarification. Don't get discouraged or frustrated if it takes a few tries. If you haven't had contact with your guides before, it may take a little more time to establish a communication link or for you to become accustomed to the type of communications to expect. Also, it is easy to get distracted by everyday life tasks and miss a sign. Keep asking and you will finally recognize the signs at some point. When you do, you will find it was totally worth the wait and that your guides will be there to help you with a multitude of situations.

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Thursday, February 22, 2018

Ask Alan - Do Love Spells Work?


Dear Alan,

I am in love with a particular man and I really want him to love me back. He is a friend of mine but I'm pretty sure that he thinks of me as "just a friend." I was looking through a book of spells and came across several love spells, one of which is guaranteed to make someone love you. I've heard that love spells work but also that they can backfire on you. Do love spells work and should I try this one to make this man fall in love with me?

-Loveless, Chicago, OH

Dear Loveless,

I wish I could give you the answer that you want to hear, which is that you can cast a love spell and have the person of your dreams fall in love with you. Unfortunately I can't. From my years of magical practice, I know that the type of love spell you want to cast, to make a specific person fall in love with you, has a good chance of backfiring.

The reason that love spells don't work is because they break one of the fundamental rules of magical practice, rule #2 in Rules of the Road, which says:

Don't bind another being unless you are willing to be likewise bound. This applies to many love spells and some kinds of healing rituals.

It's kind of like the Golden Rule: don't do unto others what you wouldn't want them to do unto you. Think about this: would you want someone that you don't really love to bind you and make them fall in love with you? Probably not. The same holds true in your situation. If the man of your dreams doesn't love you, then binding him with a love spell may cause him to pay attention to you in the short term, but the long-term backlash could get ugly. The problem is that you'll have a hard time predicting what kind of karmic backlash would result from this kind of spell.

The good news is that you can still cast a love spell - you just need one of a different flavor. While you can't cast a spell to make a specific guy fall for you, you can cast a spell to bring a man of your dreams into your life. To start this spell, you need to first write directors and limiters, which tell your spell what you want the spell to do (directors) and what you don't want the spell to do (limiters). For instance, your directors may say that you want to attract a man who:

- is between the ages of 30 and 40
- lives within 100 miles of you
- has a steady job and earns between $x and $y
- shares similar interests as you (you might want to get specific here)
- has a certain kind of personality
- has any other desired characteristics

Your limiters may state that the man:

- does not have any pre-existing health issues
- does not have any children from previous marriages
- any other limiters you do not want to bring into a new relationship

Obviously you may not be able to think of everything to put on your list of directors and limiters, but just try to focus on the most important factors. For instance, you may find a kind temperament (with no tendencies toward violence) to be of great importance. If so, add that to your list. Also, be sure to make any numbers in your list ranges, such as "earns an income between $x and $y." This gives the spell more room to work.

One other crucial point: the more specific your list of directors and limiters the more force it will take to bring the love of your life to you. If you already feel a lot of resistance in the love-life department, you may want to start with a more general list and place fewer "demands" on your spell in the beginning. As the spell begins to attract men into your life, you can always go back and "tweak" the list until it brings you the exact right person. Love, like everything else in life, is sometimes a process. As our teacher Abraham-Hicks says, "You'll never get it done and you'll never get it wrong."

And, of course, the most important detail. What do you do once you have your list? How do you cast a safe spell? The simplest way is to use candle magic. You'll need a plate, a sun-yellow candle (preferably in glass), and your list of directors and limiters. Place your list of directors and limiters on the plate and put the candle over the list. Each day, stand in the south facing north with the candle, plate, and list in front of you. From this position light the candle with a paper or wooden match and let it burn for 30 minutes. This will "launch" your spell into the Universe so it can begin attracting your desired love. Keep following this process until you see some results, then go back and adjust the list as needed.

Want to learn more about attracting love into your life? Check out the L Is For Love Magick Kindle book; part of the Kitchen Table Magick series.

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Thursday, February 15, 2018

Spirit Guides: When Animal Spirit Guides Show Themselves to You

When animal spirit guides are ready to enter your life, they will repeatedly show themselves to you – in reality, in dreams, in books, in conversations you overhear or take part in, in a TV documentary, etc... They'll pop up in all sorts of situations. The key is awareness. Magic is happening all the time but most of us miss it through lack of awareness.

Finding Your Animal Spirit Guides
Alternately, you can find your animal spirit guides yourself. There are two basic aspects to researching your animal totem: book research and field research. Reading about animals and their characteristics gives you a good idea of what kinds of energies those animal totems might bring into your life. For instance, hummingbirds bring joy, enthusiasm, and lots of energies, while ravens bring mystery and a deep sense of humor. Field research lets you become familiar with animals that live in your local area and that you will be able to interact with on a more personal level.

Spirit Guides: Book Research
Look for books, journals, magazines or online articles about animals. You can also read books specifically about animal totems, such as "Medicine Cards" by Carson and Sams. This kind of research is particularly good for exploring animals that do not live in your area or that are extinct. Yes, you can have animal totems that are an extinct species physically. The spirit can be around to give guidance and energies even if it no longer has a physical body.

Spirit Guides: Field Research
The second way to get information for choosing an animal spirit guide is to actually go out and observe animals that live in your area. These animals can be useful for you to choose as a totem because they are already adapted to your local environment, and can teach you about survival and enjoyment of your area. You will also be more likely to receive physical messages from these totems because you will be more likely to see and interact with them on a daily basis. Since these animals already exist in your physical area you will be able to do more direct research by physically observing them.

When observing watch for things such as how the animal moves, how they interact with you and other animals of the same and different species, how they express themselves, and what qualities are most dominant in their behavior. This type of information will give you an idea of the characteristics of the animal so that you'll know when you are looking for assistance which animal has the traits that you seek. For example, take a colony of ants. Notice that they keep on task no matter how much interference they encounter. If you scoop up an ant on a piece of paper, carry it 10 feet away and set it back down again, it will continue in the same direction it was headed, as if it had never been scooped up. It will persist in completing its task. If this type of persistence and staying on task is what you need in your life, then the ant might be an excellent totem for you. If you want to be more outgoing and gregarious, consider the raven or the magpie. Or what about the spider for sheer creativity and art?

Whether you choose a totem or it chooses you, always be sure to thank the animal spirit guides for their efforts and do everything you can to find out what the totem animal is about and why they are showing up in your life at this time. Animals are all around us and we have so much to learn from them! Choosing a specific animal to be your totem personalizes your relationship with that animal species, and brings their particular personalities and energies into your life. Doing this kind of research is the first step to developing that kind of personal relationship. Also increase your awareness and watch for any particular animals showing up repeatedly in your life. This could be a totem picking you because higher powers are aware of something you need help or guidance on that that particular animal can help with. Learning more about and working with animal spirit guides is fun, inspiring, educational and another way to add magic to your everyday life.


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Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Accepting the Here and Now

One of the questions we get most often in our email inbox is, "How do I create what I want in life?" We get reams of email from people who feel stuck in life, who feel like they are standing still rather than moving toward their preferred future. They want to know why they are stuck treading water-and how to get unstuck.

The Answer: Part I
The answer to this question comes in two parts. First, why do we get stuck on a certain square in our life, unable to get going? Inevitably we get stuck because we don't accept where we are in the here and now. Think about it.

If you don't like certain aspects of your life situation very much, what happens when you think about your life? You either get a deep sense of dissatisfaction when you ponder what you don't like or you try to avoid thinking about those unfavorable aspects. Both dislike and avoidance will keep you stuck in the same life situation forever because both are negative emotions that don't possess a high enough vibration to attract what you really want in life.

If you stop to really think about it, when you hate where you stand in life, you are fighting a war with yourself. One part of you understands where you stand. The other part hates where you stand. Until you can bring the two together-that is, until you can stop fighting your internal war-you can't move off your square. So how do you stop the war?

The Answer: Part II
That brings us to the second part of the answer, which is simple. If you want to stop the war and get off your square, simply accept where you are here and now. Look at your life situation, warts and all, and accept that this is where you stand at this moment in time and space. Don't judge it, don't fight it, just accept it.

Now why is this so difficult to do? Acceptance of a less-than-desirable life situation is difficult because we live in a progress-oriented society. We are taught to keep moving forward and always keep our eyes on our dream. But unfortunately we can't ever reach our dreams unless we first acknowledge the starting line, the place where we currently stand. The journey to our dreams is a path from here and now to there and then. To start the journey, we have to accept where we stand today. Until we feel comfortable with our current life situation, we will always be fighting an internal battle with a script that keeps saying something like, "You should be further along in life by now."

Practice Enjoying the Here and Now
So stop the tape and practice accepting your life as it is today. In fact, go even further and practice enjoying your life. Realize that your "responsibility" in life is not to reach your goals today. Today your primary responsibility is to accept where you are.

Note that acceptance is different from tolerance. Tolerance means bearing your life but not liking it. Acceptance means seeing and not disliking any part of your life, even enjoying every part of your life.

Sound too difficult? Then just start with a single aspect of your life that you either avoid or dislike. Try to see it with new eyes. Find something good about it, anything. Tomorrow, find something else good or at least neutral about it. Keep going until that part of your life becomes acceptable. Then find another aspect of your life and start over again. Enjoy the journey and you will find yourself at your destination sooner than you know.

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Thursday, February 8, 2018

Magical Knowledge: Get Your Piece of the Pie!

How Can You Get Your Piece of the Magical Pie?
Did you know that knowledge, especially magical knowledge, is actually a material substance? Contrary to popular opinion, knowledge is not a concept or idea but actually a thing. At any given time on this planet there is a limited amount of knowledge, and the more knowledge you have the more useful it becomes.

The accumulation of magical knowledge allows people (that’s you!) to live in the miraculous. For instance, yogis, monks, fakirs, and certain teachers and ascended beings have spent decades carefully accumulating their store of knowledge. This knowledge gives them penetrating insight into the drivers in this world, as well as the ability to perform apparently miraculous deeds such as walking through walls.

People Don't Want Magical Knowledge = More for You
So how can you get your share of magical knowledge? It’s not as hard as you think. Here’s the catch: most people don’t want their share of knowledge! Most people are so engrossed in the daily dramas of life that they aren’t even aware of the knowledge that’s available to them. In fact, G. I. Gurdjieff, a teacher and metaphysicians, taught that during times of mass madness such as war, tremendous amounts of knowledge are released. He said:

“The majority of people don’t want any knowledge whatever…this is particularly evident during times of mass madness…when men suddenly seem to lose even the small amount of common sense they had and turn into complete automatons…even losing the instinct of self-preservation.” (from “In Search of the Miraculous,” P. D. Ouspensky)

Doesn’t that quote resemble our current planetary situation? During these times it is the work of esoteric and mystery schools to carefully collect the knowledge that is released and making it available to those who desire it.

Ready to step off the wheel of pain and struggle? Want to take a break from recession, war, and madness? Start accumulating your knowledge - check out the Basic Magic Course to see if it’s right for you. A strong community of like-minded people ready to accept and use the ancient knowledge of this planet is waiting online for you.

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Thursday, February 1, 2018

Shrink Your Limitations Magically

According to a number of esoteric texts and spiritual guides (including one of our favorites, Paxton Robey), Earth is a school. More importantly, Earth is a fairly rugged and difficult school designed to help beings learn life and spiritual lessons very quickly!

As you've probably noticed, one of the most frequently used teaching techniques in our Earth school is limitation. Most of us seem to experience limitation of one sort or another in one of the three basic areas: health, money/career, or love/relationships. Some of us don't have enough money while others don't have enough love. Some are limited in career growth, and still others lack health. And some of us find lack in all three areas at once!

How to Deal with Limitation Magically
So what can we do about our limitations? How can we learn from them and move on to a life of greater freedom? Magically, we can turn to the Law of Octaves to help us shrink our limitations. The Law of Octaves says that anything that exists does so on one of many octaves. Some octaves are huge (on the scale of solar systems) and others are tiny (on the scale of our personal lives).

We can use the Law of Octaves to shrink our limitations by moving them to smaller octaves that occupy less space in our lives. For instance, suppose you have difficulty finishing projects in your life – you seem to flit from project to project never completing a single one. You've probably tried all kinds of ways to motivate yourself to finish these projects with little success. The whole situation can seem daunting. But you can use the Law of Octaves to bring your limitation down to a smaller scale where you can more easily deal with it.

Start Small
One way would be to find a tiny area of your life where you have trouble with completion and seek to correct the problem there. You may, for example, be careless about screwing caps onto bottles all the way or you might forget to check whether you turned off the stove after cooking dinner. Find just one little area that represents the larger problem on a smaller scale. Then, focus all of your attention on being conscious in that smaller octave. Take the time to screw the lids onto jars or to check the stove after cooking dinner. You'll be surprised at how dealing with your limitation on this smaller scale will apply the correction to the big areas of your life.

Be creative in how you apply the Law of Octaves and have fun with it! If you find that you're too inflexible in life, don't try to correct the problem changing everything at once. Try, for instance, to shrink to octave down to one joint in your body. If you can make your hand or wrist more flexible, then you'll become more flexible in life. Or you could become more flexible in your choice of music by listening to a new radio station every day on your way to work (for just five minutes if nothing else). It's whatever works for you as long as you confine and work on your area of limitation on a teeny-tiny octave. Enjoy!

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