Life Boot Camp ... from a Magical Point of View

What kind of attitude did you wake up with this morning?

Did you have the Monday morning blues or did you charge out of bed anticipating everything that life has to offer you today?

In the usual course of life many of us feel as if we are fighting a defensive battle, constantly defending our sanity, peace and freedom from life interruptions. We are constantly retreating and hunkering down until the storm has passed. The problem is that retreat and backward progress aren't exactly great measures of life growth and joy.

So how can you reverse your retreat from life? What if you were to enroll in the equivalent of boot camp? Not Army boot camp but life boot camp. At this boot camp they don't teach you to handle weapons or neutralize incoming physical attacks. Instead they teach you to neutralize and transform life events.

What if you woke up at boot camp this morning instead of in your own bed? Suppose your drill sergeant told you that you would be practicing life drills today, and that he would be throwing all kinds of challenges and distractions at you. Suppose he also told you that your mission was to stick to your goals today regardless of what appeared in your life. Would that change the way you handle the situations that crop up in your life?

Does knowing that the distractions and challenges are just practice drills lessen their impact on your life? Try living just one day in life boot camp and see if it changes your attitude about life events.

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The Magic of Willingness

How much do you LOVE it when you sit at the feet of a guru and he tells you that the secret to a happy life is something you totally don't do well? Like care more, or love more, or let go, or ... I know, wish for world peace?

I used to absolutely hate that. You?

Enter Willingness ...
Luckily, one of my spiritual teachers along the way taught me about the magic of willingness. He used to say to me, "You don't have to let go right now. You just have to be WILLING to let go. Can you be willing?"

Maybe I could be willing. I wasn't sure.

His response? "OK, if you're not sure you can be willing, how about being willing to be willing?"

Now any idiot can do that. I was willing to be willing to let go. And guess what? The Universe took care of the rest. Circumstances and situations changed, over time, without my even realizing it. I woke up one day and realized that something in me had "let go" of the situation with which I had been struggling.

Change happened while I wasn't looking ... all because I had been willing to be willing to let go.

Why Willingness is Magic
So what makes willingness such powerful? After all, just being willing to be willing doesn't sound like a lot of effort. In fact, it's kind of like slacking off. You don't have to care or love or let go or want world peace. You just have to be willing. Is that slacking or what?

Yup, that IS slacking, and therein lies the magic of willingness. When you focus on willingness, you take your attention away from whatever situation is bugging you and put all your energy into willingness. This is exactly the "crack in the doorway" the Universe is waiting on.

Once you have managed to drag your attention away from the situation, the Universe can get to work. It can do what it does best: magic, miracles, that kind of stuff. Why? Because you aren't wasting time worrying, fretting, and basically focusing on what's not working. So then, by Law of Attraction, you make room for the Universe to bring you what you DO want.

Silly But True ... That's Magic for You!
Silly, I know, but then again, most of magic is very, very simple when you get right to it. Magic is nothing more and nothing less then following the operating laws of the Universe. When you do that, you get magic. When you don't, you get ordinary life.

So if you want a really, really simplistic magic ritual, check out the magic of willingness. Or even the magic of being willing to be willing. It really helps when you've got something you just can't let go of, no matter how hard you try. Just be willing to be willing ... be willing in your heart ... and the magic happens.

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The Magic of Dayenu: It Would Have Been Enough

I'm not active in my Jewish religious practice, but when I was growing up we celebrated Passover, and one aspect of that ritual that has stuck with me is the word Dayenu. Roughly translated, Dayenu means "it would have been enough" or "it would have sufficed."

Earlier in my life, I had no idea what it meant but the thought that something "would have been enough" intrigued me. Now I understand that the magic and meaning of Dayenu is really about the art of happiness, which is made especially clear in today's world.

The Magic of Dayenu
Does it strike you as odd, as you move through the world today, that people seem to be split into two different camps? There are the moaner/groaners who have been hit hard by current economic times (or Mercury Retrograde or their in-laws, whatever!) and are complaining about their situation. Then there are the oddly happy people, many of whom have also been hit hard by the economy, but are having a ball. So what's going on here?

What's going on here is that the people who are oddly happy are practicing the art of Dayenu. They look around at their world and say, "This is enough. This is good. We are happy." Or, to take Dayenu one step further, they say, "Not only is this enough, but the step before this would have been enough." Dayenu specifically says, "It would have been enough," not "it is enough."

So the truly happy people who practice Dayenu look at their lives and accomplishments and say, "It would have been enough, and we can be happy, even if we did not get as far as we are now ... even if we had stopped at the achievement or happy moment before this one." Make sense? If not, here's a great example to make it a little clearer.

An Example of the Magic of Dayenu in Action
I have two friends who continually amaze me-they are married, so maybe that has something to do with why they are so happy. Both were hit last year with acute and chronic physical problems, which not only caused them a lot of pain, but also prevented them from doing a lot of work and earning the same income they usually do. This year, they recovered somewhat from their physical problems, although they still had many doctor visits and healthcare bills. But they are incredibly, oddly, amazingly happy.

I ask them, "What makes you so happy? So much has happened to you."

They reply, "Yes, it has ... good, bad, ugly, and back to good. Look at where we live. It's a chunk of Heaven! That's enough. Just having this place to live is enough."

Explaining further, they tell me that their physical problems have forced them to have down time, which they would never normally take. They have spent this time with their horses, enjoying their land, and NOT working. They used to live in a big city and had to pay big bucks to relax with the help of massages and therapists, and so on. Now, living in the country, they can relax for free. If they had nothing else but this land, they said, it would have been enough.

Do they have physical pain? Yes. Have they had to cut back on expenses? Yes. Do they still have bad days? Of course.

But overall, they are living in the magic of Dayenu. On balance, they look for the happiness that comes from acceptance of current conditions, and appreciation of all that has come before that. They understand that even if nothing more good occurs in their life, all that has been in their life thus far "would have been enough."

But of course, we students of the Law of Attraction, know that this will never happen. The beauty of Dayenu is that by living in appreciation of all that was good that has come before now, we always attract more good in our future. Bumps in the road notwithstanding, appreciation of the past and acceptance of the present always (always!) leads to future good. It can be no other way.

Magic is a precision science and it follows the laws of the Universe without fail. Live in the magic of Dayenu today ... and see the magic of tomorrow unfold before you.

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Why Storm Spirits Dislike People

I'm sitting here enjoying an absolutely lovely flash-bang thunderstorm, and remembering a long-ago conversation I had with a storm spirit. Back in the early days of my studies in magic and shamanism, I was given the assignment to go out and communicate with a nature spirit, be it a spirit of tree, rock, or sky.

Being naturally of an excitable temperament myself (being a triple Fire sign, astrologically), I chose to communicate with a storm spirit. I waited until a particularly heavy storm hit our area, then went out to have my first person-to-storm chat. The results were startling.

The long and short of the conversation was that storm spirits don't much like people, and with good reason. During my chat with the storm spirit, I raised the issue that the spirit seemed quite angry and aggressive. The storm spirit replied that it was a bit angry, especially with people, because most people didn't like storms and didn't want them around.

I replied that this wasn't entirely illogical, since storms could be inconvenient, causing a lot of destruction and wet. The storm spirit huffed about that, I can tell you! He said that storms were a necessary part of the ecosystem, and that people didn't properly appreciate their role. Storms cleanse the air and the land, and distribute water where it is needed. He added that it took a lot of force to do all of this cleansing and moving of water. He, like most storm spirits, was fast-moving and very direct. He didn't have a lot of time to chat.

The biggest reason he disliked people, he said, was because most people talked about him but not to him. He said many people were quite negative about storms, in general, and cursed them. Unlike the people of ancient tribes, who properly appreciated the role storm spirits played in the ecosystem, modern people only see the inconvenience of storms.

The storm spirit and I ended the conversation on good terms (he was in a hurry to move on). I discovered a new appreciation for storms and the spirits who create them. I've since had several more conversations with storm spirits, some of which were even in the process of forming tornados. In my experience, storm spirits start out angry. They like to clobber the landscape and be aggressive, but once you get them talking they tend to lighten up. And you have to talk fast, because storm spirits don't have a lot of patience for idle chatter. They are all about action.

If you want to deepen your connection with the world of spirits, storm spirits can be interesting conversational partners, when you can make yourself heard. If you do decide to try communicating with storm spirits, be sure to hail them out loud and welcome them. Since these spirits are used to be cursed rather than welcomed, don't be surprised if your first greeting is met with a salvo of wind and rain. Just hang in there and keep shouting out your greeting until the spirit hears you. The conversation is sure to be a revelation!

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The Tower Card in Tarot Readings - What It Means

Recently I did a Tarot reading for a client who has been having a lot of trouble with accidents, like fender benders and such. This client was so banged-up and bruised from all of his recent misfortunes that he asked for a reading to find out what was going on.

Not surprisingly, in both the present-time and progressed Tarot readings for this client, the Tower card showed up, both times upright. A lot of practitioners of magic shudder when they see the Tower card because they think it automatically means chaos. It does, sort of, but it means something more specific than that.

The Tower card talks about complete material disorganization or chaos, caused by spiritual forces beyond one's control. The world is obviously experiencing a lot of chaos and change right now, as we approach the end of a cycle on the Mayan calendar and prepare to enter the next. The Tower card talks about chaos coming into people's life from the outer world. As you can see on the card itself, the lightning comes into the picture from the outside world.

The Tower Card Upright in a Tarot Reading
These days, when the Tower card appears upright in a reading, it means that a big change is coming that you should be prepared for. Sometimes this means a natural disaster, and sometimes death, but in most cases it is just a warning to be prepared for a major change in your environment.

In the case of my client for whom I was doing the Tarot reading, the Tower card indicated that he wasn't being aware of his surroundings. He needs to be more conscious of the Law of Accident at work around him. The Law of Accident says that if we don't have a strong intention and focus, then we fall prey to "accidental and coincidental" occurrences, like fender-benders. The Law of Accident is more at work during these times of extreme change than at other times. Luckily, nothing serious had happened to him, and he is going use some daily rituals to focus his intent and be more aware of his surroundings.

The Tower Card Reversed in a Tarot Reading
If the Tower appears as a reversed card in a Tarot reading, then the implications are different. If it's reversed, then you need to start looking at whether you have broken any Rules of the Road (the laws that govern magical practice) or whether there is something karmic going on. Maybe you've gotten crosswise with a deity.

If you see a reversed Tower card, do some exploration, through divination or possibly a blow-up Tarot reading, to find out what the situation is about. During this time of world upheaval, it's important to correct situations like this as quickly as possible. Luckily, the world is also much more plastic or flexible right now, so correcting situations may be easier than you think.

A Few Additional Notes About the Tower Card
The severity of the change or chaos indicated by the Tower isn't necessarily related to whether the Tower card is upright or reversed. Whether the card is upright or reversed merely tells you what kind of change you are dealing with. Remember that that Tower card represents changes appearing in the outer world, and often reflects deity-level changes. This card has shown up a lot in recent years, tying in with world and galactic changes. Changes indicated by the Tower card can be violent or drastic, and are simply a warning for us to be prepared. The Tower card isn't bad, it's just a warning to be aware.

Want to Learn More About the Tarot?
The Tarot is an infinitely deep study of magic. The Tarot can be used for divination, spells, spell take-downs, and many other forms of magic. If you would like to learn more about how to use the Tarot, consider joining our upcoming Basic Magic class or learning with our home-study Tarot Course.

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How to Begin Studying Magic

How to Begin Studying Magic

The art and study of magic is a vast study that can take years, and I get many questions about how people should go about studying this topic. It can be daunting and I understand why people ask this question. In my observation and experience, the best place to begin studying is with the four elements of Air, Fire, Water and Earth.

Because everything in the Universe is composed of the four elements, this study is literally part of everything else you will study in magic. Thus, to start at the beginning, start with the element Air. Air is a safe element to start studying because you can do very little to yourself or others with air. The most you may do is make yourself "spacy" or silly for a while, but Air dissipates quickly so you'll soon recover. For instance, we often start beginner magical practitioners with cloud-moving and weather work. Clouds, being of the Air element, are easy to move with intention and not likely to get anyone in trouble.

Learning how to handle the Air element also helps you develop the skills you will need to handle the more advanced elements of Fire, Water, and Earth. Here is a brief summary of what each of the elements corresponds to:

AIR
Seeing, breathing, speaking, hearing, planning, thinking, believing, memorizing, communicating, learning, teaching, information, ideas, wisdom, understanding, worry, sensation, awareness, opinions, data, memory, mind.

FIRE
Energy, power, will, desire, anger, pain, motivation, radiance, passion, initiative, aggression, limitation, endeavor, activity, creative, willingness, urge, inspired, excitable, courage, bravado, compulsion, fanaticism, frustration, resentment, rage, freedom.

WATER
Emotions, feelings, intuition, compassion, empathy, sympathy, knowing, devotion, quest, aspiration, intention, appreciation, integrity, harmony, beauty, balance, serenity, fluidity, grief, apathy, joy, love.

EARTH
Strength, money, foundation, endurance, structure, mundane world, serenity of beingness, solidity, boundaries, permanence, land, commerce, products, confidence, loyalty, persistence, stubbornness, fortress, security, anchor, barter, substance, body, base, possessions.

At first, you will want to learn to handle each of these elements with your bare hands, in what we call direct handling. For instance, if you wanted to handle the Air element directly, you could increase or decrease the balance of Air in your body. The simplest way to do that would be to wear white clothing. White is one of the Air element colors, and tends to increase your mental capacity. Other ways of handling Air include pulling in white energy through your hands or "breathing" in white energy.

Once you have become proficient at handling the four elements directly you can move on to using magical tools. Since magical tools, such as the wand, athame, chalice and plate, are extensions of the basic four elements and your own energies, they should be studied and handled only after you develop a working knowledge and understanding of the four elements themselves. The same is true of the more advanced topics of divination, tarot and spellwork, which are directly related to your understanding of the elements.

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What is Magic, Really?

Confused About Magic?

With Harry Potter, the Halliwell sisters on Charmed, Race to Witch Mountain, and all the other books and movies out there about magic, people can get very confused about magic. People ask us all the time, "What is magic, really?"

Good question. And we have an answer. So here goes ...

Magic is a precision science! It is also:

• The science of deliberate creation.
• The science of effective prayer.
• The science of manifesting Higher Will (God's Will) on the energetic and material planes.
• The science of heightened awareness, selective perception, and dynamic, harmonious relationships.
• The study of intention (as per Aleister Crowley, one of the greatest magicians).
• The system of creation, not coercion.

Note: The word manipulation is often used in conjunction with magic, but manipulation simply means the use of the hands. It should be an "OK" word without a lot of charge, but currently it is used mostly to mean coercion. Look it up!

Every intentional act is a magical act! Magic gives us the ability to communicate with beings on all levels, and allows us to understand, through direct experience, the actual workings of the Universe.

Magic is the traditional path of spiritual growth.
Magic is not extraordinary knowledge. It is the "normal" way of life. We've just lost access to it. When you have this kind of knowledge in your understanding, you have the ability to resolve spiritual questions that otherwise become catechism. From a magician's point of view, catechism is not acceptable, since a magician must experience and verify everything for him or herself. It avoids the trap of dogma. In past time, having a magical foundation was essential so that we could go and talk directly to God, the devil, etc.

Magic is necessary to effective religious practice,
In religious practice, a priest is qualified to perform rituals, but not to create them. Only the magician has the ability to create because he has the tools of divination to test the rituals he creates.

How Do You Spell Magic?
There is some confusion as to how to spell the word "magic." There are three different commonly used spellings: magic, magick and majick. Eliphas Levi first used the form "magick" to differentiate religious or ceremonial magick from stage magic.

Does this make sense? Have more questions? Here are a couple more resources so you can delve deeper:

How to Study Magic

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Magical Kindergarten

In the pursuit of esoteric, magical or shamanic training, there is something that must be explained to all prospective and interested students. It's a condition created in our instant-gratification society by movies such as Harry Potter or "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." In these movies the high arts of advanced sorcery, magick and wizardry are taught from the beginning. Harry Potter goes to school and is immediately taught alchemy, transforming objects from one form to another. He can fly on a broomstick right away. In "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," almost all the characters know some form of Kung-Fu, and can levitate and fight with a great degree of skill. While all of this makes for great movies, it seriously misrepresents the learning process for magical knowledge. These movies portray in two hours what can take decades to learn, if at all.

Having said all that, let's now talk about magical kindergarten. There is a kindergarten for magical learning just as there is a kindergarten for public school. In every form of learning, you must master the basics before you can move on to more advanced techniques. Many fantasy novels do a much better job of portraying the process of learning than current movies. For instance, in a fantasy series like "The Belgariad" by David Eddings or a novel like "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. LeGuin, the period of early learning and apprenticeship is spelled out in more detail. In both of these books, young magicians-to-be balk at having to learn the fundamentals of magick before being able to cast spells, shape-shift or levitate. But in all cases, the masters force their young apprentices to learn the fundamentals, sometimes for years at a time. In this early process, they are teaching their apprentices the skills of seeing, stalking, will and control. A person's knowledge can only be matched with his level of being, and all of these skills contribute to the level of being. You can have a person with a lot of magical knowledge and no being (a powerless magician), or a person with a very high level of being but no knowledge (a stupid saint). In either case, neither will be very effective in the worlds of magick and shamanism.

So if and when you embark on a journey to learn the arts of magick and shamanism, be patient with the process. Learn the fundamentals well because you'll need to know them instinctively later on. If you are going to do a banishment and you encounter a being who could be either a ghost or an archetype, you'll have to know immediately how to distinguish them because you won't have time to think! A ghost can be banished with a blast of electric blue, but an archetype will fight back and send 10 times the blast of electric blue back at you. It sometimes takes years before you understand the implications of the knowledge that you already have, and this is a rightful part of the magical journey. An author who does a great job describing this path is Tom Brown, Jr. His books include "This Vision," "The Tracker" and "The Journey." If you want to get a real sense of what magical kindergarten looks like, read his books, then add about 15 years to it, since he started when he was 8 and most of us don't start this journey until much later.

Does the thought of magical kindergarten sound boring and interminable? It is in some ways because we don't get to satisfy that need in us to do something really big and glorious in the magical realms. At the same time, though, remember that kindergarten was a lot of fun. In kindergarten, you get to play a lot, and you're not required to do much. As you take this journey, the path keeps getting narrower and narrower, so enjoy the path while it's big and wide. Kindergarten is kindergarten, whether you're 5 or 50. Enjoy!

A Real Book of Shadows – What Is It?

A lot of people wonder, "What is a book of shadows? Is it fact or fiction?" In fact, thousands of people type in the search term "real book of shadows" every month to try to find out. If you watch the TV show "Charmed" then you'll know that the Halliwell sisters have a giant book of spells written by their ancestors called a book of shadows. Others will take a hint from the title of the second "Blair Witch" movie, despite there being no actual book in the movie. Still others think a book of shadows is something of a personal journal for Wiccans, an idea popularized by Gerald Gardner, who brought Wiccan practices to public attention with his book "Witchcraft Today," published in 1954.

Obviously the definition of a real book of shadows varies widely in popular culture, and it does among magical and shamanic practitioners as well, depending on which tradition they practice. However, most practitioners agree on three common usages and purposes for a real book of shadows.

** 1. Record Spell Details **

A real book of shadows is used to record all the details of spells that have been cast, including the divinations used prior to casting the spell, the directors and limiters (or parameters) of the spell, the actual methods used in the spell, the results of divinations to check the progress of the spell, and any results of the spell. These details are crucial in case a spell ever goes wrong and has to be taken down. The way a practitioner takes down a spell that has already been cast depends on the way that the spell was cast. For instance, if a spell was cast using a carved candle then to take down the spell the practitioner could break the candle used in the spell and bury the remnants in the garden for a moon cycle.

** 2. Track Magical and Shamanic Research **

Magical and shamanic practitioners are often engaged in research. This research can be to discover facts about past lives, divine future events, try out new techniques, or travel to different planes. For instance, magical practitioners in our tradition will record the results of walks in the black mirror, which is a portal to other planes of existence, commonly called the half-worlds. When walking in the black mirror, the practitioner needs to use a litany or chant to direct the walk and keep from getting lost. After returning from such a walk, not only will the practitioner record the results of the walk in a real book of shadows, including any new facts or revelations, but will also record the effectiveness of the chant so that it can be used again or fine-tuned for future use.

** 3. Preserve Magic and Shamanism for the Future **

Of course, one of the most important purposes of a real book of shadows is to preserve magical and shamanic knowledge for future practitioners. Practitioners of most traditions "stand on the shoulders" of those giants who have come before. There's no real reason to keep re-inventing the wheel. A real book of shadows, which can contain the research and results of multiple generations of practitioners, is usually handed down through the generations. Each generation of practitioners (who are not necessarily related) adds their experience to the book. In fact, the material in a real book of shadows is often so voluminous that the "book" becomes a multi-volume set.

A real book of shadows is really a record of magical and shamanic experience that is preserved either for an individual's use or for future use. Some practitioners keep individual books of shadows and never hand them down, either because they have no one to hand them to or because they are secretive. In any event, if you are a practitioner of the magical arts, you should definitely start your own book of shadows. It will help you remember what you have done, track your magical experiments, and possibly create a magical asset for the future.

In Magic,
Alan

Practicing the Art of Happiness

'Tis the season to be jolly! And are you jolly, happy, and joyful? Probably so (unless you're bogged down with too much holiday shopping, food, and family!). And isn't it easier to be happy during the holidays because we have so many fun distractions. We get time off work, we get to see friends and family we don't often see, and we have permission to celebrate. In other words, during this merry season it's easy to practice the art of happiness.

And that's great, but what about the rest of the year? How well do you practice the art of happiness the rest of the year?

That might sounds like an odd question, but it's not. But it might be easier to explain why with a simple analogy that comes from dog trainers. Dog trainers tell us that we are always "training" our dogs with our every action, command, attention, or lack of attention. What this means is that you don't train your dog only during official training sessions, you train your dog every time you interact with him. Training is always occurring whether you mean it to or not. For instance, if you always push your dog away while you are working in your home office your dog eventually learns that you are "unavailable" when you are in your office. Having been "trained" in this way, he may not come tell you he has to go outside when you're in your office, even if that means that he has an accident somewhere in the house!

The same thing is true of your emotional and mental states. You deliberately "practice" a peaceful state during meditation. That's easy to see. But what about the rest of the day? What if you spend the rest of your day feeling anxious, worried, angry, frustrated, or upset? Then you are practicing those negative states all day long. So while you may practice peace for 30 minutes a day during your meditation, you may be practicing negative emotions for the majority of the rest of your day.

Most of us want to be happy and prosperous but we won't achieve that state if we spend most of our time practicing how to be in a negative state. You have to practice being happy before it becomes a natural state for you. Sure, you might practice being happy and peaceful during your morning meditation but how do you practice that during the rest of your day?

Here are three things to get you started:

1. Make being happy the most important goal in your life. Period.

2. Blow off steam magically when you do feel negative to restore happiness. Get directions HERE.

3. Remember that nothing lasts forever, not even a negative state. Wait out negativity until happiness returns. If you need a quick fix to help you go from sad and blue to happy and in-the-groove, check out the Quick Fix Ebook.

In Magic,
Alan

Is Magic Real?

We get so many questions and emails about this that we thought it was time to post a reply!

In the Harry Potter movies we watch children play Quidditch on a broomstick and little wizards and witches casting quick spells here and there with their magic wands. In the movie, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” we watch martial arts heroes literally flying among the trees to fight. These days we’re flooded with all kinds of movies that bring magic into our lives. With all this new found interest in magic, most people are asking, “Is magic real?” What do you think? Is magic real and can you really have magic in your life?

Yes. Magic is very real and has existed as a precise science for thousands of years. Whether you call it magic, magick or majick, it is real. Every single person can learn to do magic. We were ALL born with the talents and abilities that empower us to do magic. The only reason that magic seems so, well, magical is that this society no longer teaches the art and science of magic. In the distant past, magical study was just as important as math, science or the arts. Even the miracles that Jesus performed were based on the use of magic. In fact, magic was and still is the birthright of EVERY planetary citizen.

Can you learn to do the kind of magic portrayed in the movies? Yes – and no. The movies are great at giving you a taste of what you can do with magic, but they aren’t very accurate. In the Harry Potter movies, for instance, the characters use their wands for every magical operation. In reality, you can only use the wand to handle air energies. Your wand would actually explode or catch fire if you tried to use it to throw firebolts and fireballs like the characters do in the movie.

So what can you actually do with magic? Quite a lot. Here’s a short list to get you started:

- Balance your energies for healing and manifestation
- Change old beliefs
- Defend yourself against physical and psychic attack
- Heal yourself and others
- Find hidden information and see possible futures
- Psychically communicate with other beings
- Create sacred space
- Find lost people and objects
- Manifest what you want and need in life

At the very basis of magic is the understanding of the four elements: Air, Fire, Water and Earth. Called elemental magic, these foundational elements are real. Air, Fire, Water and Earth are part of our natural everyday environment. What makes them magical is the understanding of how they operate not just on the physical level, but also at the levels of mind and Spirit.

For instance, while on the physical level Air is just the stuff we breathe, on the magical levels Air is the conduit of psychic communication, enlightenment, understanding, dreaming and more. If you want more of any of these things in your life, then you need more magical Air. How do you get more magical Air? Wear more Air colors, including white for communication and sky blue for enlightenment and understanding. To take this one step further, you could also take on more Air to make your body lighter.

By just extending your understanding and use of the basic ingredients of nature, you are doing magic! Seen in this light, magic isn’t all smoke and mirrors, nor is it the result of Hollywood special effects. Magic is the result of truly understanding and working with the very elements that are all around you.

One final note: Many masters, including Wayne Dyer, have said, "You'll see it when you believe it." The same is true for magic. In other words, the suspension of disbelief and the willingness not to exercise contempt prior to investigation are requirements for magic to be “real.” Magic is all around us, and always is, but our ability to perceive and use the forces of magic depends on our willingness to be open. No one else can show it to you, only your direct experience and observation can “prove” or demonstrate to you that magic is real.

We’ve found that one of the simplest ways to experience magic (and your own magical abilities) is to work with clouds. Clouds respond to your intention, and you can easily move, shape and manipulate clouds from a great distance. And moving clouds that are suspended hundreds of feet above you is quite magical, isn’t it?

To start playing with clouds, send a blank email to clouds@shamanschool.com. We’ll email the instructions to you ASAP. Have fun!

Alan