Ritual Magic: Spells and Rituals for the New Year

Here it is a new year already and while most people are making New Year's Resolutions, magical practitioners make yearly aims as a great way to practice ritual magic all year long. Did you know that 45% of Americans usually make New Year's Resolutions and that only 8% of them actually are successful at achieving their resolutions? A great percentage of those who make resolutions keep them in the first week, 75% in fact. But by the time 6 months have passed that number dwindles down to only 46% still sticking to their resolutions. As you can see the statistics aren't very encouraging for making and keeping a New Year's resolution.

A Yearly Aim
A yearly aim for magical practitioners is a bit different. With the yearly aim the goal is to learn, experience, discover, and bring magic into your life. This yearly aim can change form with each month or with each season, with accompanying daily rituals as exercises. This cuts down on the redundancy and brings new life to the aim. It is important to pause daily or weekly to record results and reflections, noting and appreciating the changes and the magic.

Picking a Yearly Aim
To get started with a magical yearly aim, do some reflection on where you are magically. If you have not taken magic seriously before or are just starting out exploring a magical path, the aim could be answering the question "Is Magic Real" for yourself. You can also ask for guidance from higher powers and beings for some direction on picking an aim. You want to have an aim that is something you can observe progress on, but leave it open enough to explore it in a variety of ways. Give some thought to the wording of your aim as it can make an enormous difference.

One of our students felt she was always tense and stressed and although she had tried numerous practices to reduce the stress, still felt it in her body. She decided to set an aim that would help her find where the tension and stress came from, where it lived in her body and how to deal with it through magical means. Unfortunately, she worded her aim that year as "To observe and explore my tensions and stresses". That year was consequently a very stressful year. The Universe definitely gave her plenty of opportunity to observe and explore stress, which after all is what she asked for. The next year, having learned a valuable lesson, her aim was "I want to observe freedom in my life and practice feeling free". That made a much more enjoyable year for her. The following year was even better as her aim for that year was "To observe and explore the abundances in my life and the ease with which they come." As you can well imagine that year brought about many wonderful things with very little effort. Think carefully about the exact wording of your aim before settling on the final one.

Planning for Successful Aim
After you have picked your yearly aim, it is time to get a plan for specifically what magic spells and rituals or resources you will explore to achieve your aim. Take the example of "Is Magic Real". Here are some examples of the exercises you could pick from each month that would lead you to explore this question.

• Take a different exercise from our blog or article library each month and perform the ritual magic described. 
• Get our free ebook of 10 Magical Quick Fixes and pick one exercise a month from it to do.
• Get the Everyday Magic Email Course.
• Get our Daily Rituals for Attracting What you Want in Life ebook and pick a different daily ritual to incorporate into your life each month.
• Do the Navajo Beauty Way for a month.
• Do a 5 - 10 minute sit or meditation each morning for a month.
• Adopt a moving meditation practice such as the Gurdjieff movements, a walking litany, or walking a labyrinth for a month
• Practice a magical technique that you have wanted to learn and put off. For example, everyday for a month practice dowsing with your pendulum until you have the technique down.

These are just a few examples to get you started. Pick something each month that you can experiment with and explore that will lead you to answer the question "Is Magic Real?" Throughout the process, you want to be sure to take the time to record your observations, reflections and results in your Book of Shadows. This helps you look back over the year, see where you started, what you have achieved and help form an aim for the next year.

Whether you adopt daily rituals into your life, strengthen your use of ritual magic, explore other magical realms, gain a greater understanding of yourself or prove that magic is indeed real to yourself, the main goal with a yearly aim is to invite magic into your life, make it a part of your daily life and to learn to appreciate the process.


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Ritual Magic: Rules for Creating Your Own

We have given you lots of ritual magic that you can do on a daily basis in previous articles, newsletters, and our ebook Daily Rituals to Attract What You Want in Life, but you can also create your own ritual magic. If you know how to create your own ritual magic, you can make rituals that are more personalized and fit your own specific aims and goals. Here are a few key things to keep in mind as you create your own ritual magic.

- A ritual should break through the mechanical personalities that usually control our lives. It should allow us to take a break from daily life and connect with consciousness, being aware of spiritual aims and who and where we really are.

- A ritual should connect us with Spirit by quieting the mind or putting one in touch with physical sensation. Attracting what we really want in life is only possible through connection with Spirit.

- A ritual can help us access higher powers and beings which can help with attracting what we want.

- A ritual can help us go to a deeper level and remember what we truly want. As we go through our busy lives reacting in mechanical ways to everything around us we are cut off from accessing our spiritual desires. Rituals can take those spiritual aims and bring them into how we interact with and go about daily life.

- Design the ritual in accordance with Universal Laws, Rules of the Road and principles of the four elements. This not only makes the ritual safer, it can enhance it. So for example if the ritual you are creating has to do with gaining knowledge, then incorporating principles of the Air element will make the ritual more powerful.

There you have it. Taking these few simple guidelines into account when creating your rituals will help make your rituals safer, more powerful, and help you attract the things you personally want in your life. So be creative, have fun, and start designing your own ritual magic.


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Ritual Magic: Magically Make Hard Decisions Easy

I’m sure we’ve all faced times when we need to make a big life decision and find ourselves unsure, wavering and just not able to make a choice. Typically we resort to asking friends or family or making a pro/con list, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if the right answer would just magically come to us? Guess what, it can! Try out this little ritual magic technique the next time you have a big decision to make. We call it the 3 Day Question.

Using the 3 Day Question brings you guidance from your spirit or your spirit guides. Here’s how to do it:

1. Describe your decision in very precise, concise terms. For example, “Do I take this trip or not?”, “Do I take this job or not?”. Don’t add in a lot of extra information, just state the question you are struggling with.

2. Take around 3-5 minutes to sit in a quiet place and hold the question in your mind.

3. Now ask your question out loud.

4. Forget about the question, the decision and anything to do with the whole issue for the next 3 days. I know that is easier said than done, but strive to switch your attention to something else any time you find yourself starting to think about it.

5. At the end of the 3rd day, ask your question again. Whatever the first answer you hear is the answer for you to accept.

You may hear the answer come from within you as a “voice in your head” or a picture. You may instead hear the answer from outside yourself. This could come in the form of a conversation you overhear, a song, a sign in a window or dozens of other ways. Look for the sign that gives your answer. For example, let’s say your question was, “Do I move to New York or not?”. At the end of the 3 days, you ask your question and maybe you hear the song New York, New York on the radio or maybe you hear someone in a conversation next to you saying they love New York cheesecake. Or you may just very clearly inside yourself hear, “Yes”.

In order for this ritual magic to work, you must not obsess or think about your question during the 3 days period. This interferes with the process and will not give you the desired results. Magic is a precision science and therefore the more precise your question is worded, the more precise your answer will be. Make sure you ask a question that will yield you the exact answer and only that answer which you seek. With this simple, little bit of ritual magic, you can access your own spirit wisdom and that of your spirit guides to turn making big difficult decisions into a much easier and less stressful process.

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Doing Ritual Magic With Your Eyes Closed

We've all heard the saying, I could do it with my eyes closed and when it comes to doing ritual magic, the meaning is a little different, but is a useful way to do some techniques. In the case of some ritual magic, closing your eyes helps sharpen your other senses, specifically the spirit senses.
Have you ever been to a retreat or workshop where they did the exercise of blindfolding you while your partner leads you around? This exercise promotes teamwork and trust. This can work in doing ritual magic too where trusting in the Universe, your guides or the magical process itself can affect the outcome. Closing your eyes also helps sharpen your spirit perceptics or spirit senses. By closing off one of your physical 5 senses, you open the door for these spirit senses to kick in.

Ritual Magic to Practice with Your Eyes Closed
There are many magic rituals where we deliberately close our eyes or use blindfolds, but it is best to start out with a very simple magical exercise. This one can be done anytime you talk on the phone with another person, assuming you are sitting down rather than driving down the road chatting on your cell phone.

As you speak to the person on the other end of the phone, close your eyes. Now visualize what the other person is doing. Are they sitting down? If so, what is their posture? Are they walking around their house? Extend your perceptions. Can you tell what they are thinking or if you can predict what they will say next?

If you have difficulty with visualization, imagine yourself extending your senses through the phone line until they reach the other person. This often helps people get in touch with their spirit senses, which are crucial for most magic rituals.

Jot down any insights, visions, or information that comes to you through your spirit senses. If you like, you can ask the other person a question or two to verify whether your spirit senses are correct. It really doesn't matter whether you are correct in the beginning. The goal is to locate, use, and develop your spirit senses.

Do this exercise for at least 10 phone conversations. You will notice a definite increase in the amount of psychic or spirit-sense information that you receive. If, after doing this exercise 10 times, you don't feel that you have located or used your spirit senses, have 10 more phone conversations with your eyes open. You might be surprised at how much physical sight interferes with your spirit senses. Most people receive far less spirit-sense data when they have their eyes open.

Learn more ways to develop your spirit senses and psychic abilities in our Psychic Development ebook.

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Ritual Magic for Peaceful Sleep and Family Harmony

This ancient nighttime blessing ritual can help create harmony and health in a family, with couples or even within yourself. This form of ritual magic is best done at night with the whole family before bedtime. Doing this ritual consistently each evening before bed can help create calm, restful periods of sleep or give you peace and calming anytime you are unhappy or stressed. If you don't have a partner to do this ritual with, you can do it by yourself or with your pets. Here's how to do it:

1. Sit in the South, facing North. Gather and place materials in front of you. You will need:

• Sun Yellow candle
• Paper or wooden matches
• Chalice
• Sea Salt
• Spring Water

2. Charge your Sun Candle:

• Light a sun yellow candle with paper or wooden matches (do not use a lighter)
• Wait until you have a steady candle flame
• Cup your hands around the flame, focusing your attention on the candle and flame
• Say this verse in a voice of command to charge the candle:

"Child of Wonder,
Child of Flame,
Nourish Our Spirits,
And Protect Our Aim."

3. Fill the Chalice halfway with spring water, and sprinkle in some sea salt.

4. Blow Water Blue (bright blue) energy into the Chalice as you swirl the water clockwise.

5. Blow Water Blue into the Chalice and swirl the water clockwise before and after saying the verse below and between saying each line of the verse:

"Water and Earth where you are cast,
Let no spell nor adverse purpose last,
Not in accord with me!
Bless these people and bless their space,
Far from here send baneful trace,
Thus my will, so it be!"

(If you are doing this ritual alone, you can change the fourth line to "Bless this person and bless my space.)

7. Holding the Chalice in your left hand, face the person you are blessing (unless you are blessing yourself).

8. Dip the index finger of your right hand into the water, and draw a vertical line down the center of the person's forehead (or on your own). The line should be 1 – 1 ½ inches long.

9. Draw a horizontal line of the same length from left to right through the center of the first line, forming a cross.

10. Draw a clockwise circle starting at the right end of the horizontal line and touching both ends of both lines. As you draw the circle, say to the person, "For the peach of your mind." (If you're doing the ritual alone say "For the peach of my mind.")

11. Repeat the same procedure on the person's chest (or your own), over the heart. As you draw the circle, say, "for the joy of your heart." (Substitute the words "my heart" if you are doing it alone.)

12. Ask the person to take a sip of water from the Chalice and as they do this, say, "And for the health of your body." (If you're doing it alone take a sip and say "And for the health of my body".)

13. If there are two people participating in the ritual, reverse roles have the person that was just blessed now do the blessing to their partner by repeating the process. If there are many people involved in the ritual, one person can bless everyone, and then one person in the group can bless the first person.

14. You can also use the alternate verses, "For the health of your mind." And "For the health of your Spirit".

This is one of the many rituals presented in our Kindle Book "Witchcraft Spell Books" series Book Three – Learn How to Do Witchcraft Rituals and Spells With Magical Tools. You can check it out as well as the other Kindle Books in the series on Amazon. Try this ritual magic out for yourself with the nighttime blessing ritual and bring peace, harmony and magic into your life and your family's life.

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Ritual Magic: A Daily Ritual of Fire Magic to Release the Unwanted

If the New Year has brought about awareness of something you would like to release from your life (something that's been bothering you or something no longer needed), a simple daily ritual of fire magic can help.

Ritual Magic: Finding a Firebowl
First you will need a firebowl and firebowl ingredients. When choosing a firebowl, look for one that is made of brass, cast-iron, ceramic or a hard hardwood. It should be 4-6 inches in diameter and 4-5 inches deep. It should also be a shape that is easily held with one or both hands and light enough to carry in one hand if necessary. Make sure your firebowl is of a shape that will be stable when placed on a flat surface. The shape of the bowl should also be curved-in and flared back out at the top rim to promote "columning" of incense or smoke.

Ritual Magic: Firebowl Ingredients
Fire Clay
To use your firebowl you will need to fill it with ground fire clay or clean, fine sand. Non-scented cat litter (which is ground clay) works well as long as it does not have chemicals or deodorants in it. Put 1-2 inches in the bottom of your firebowl as an insulator to protect the firebowl itself, your hands and any surfaces from the heat.

Charcoal Disks
You will also need some self-starting charcoal disks. These can be purchased from religious supply stores or online (we have them in our school store too). Round charcoals with bowl-shaped depressions in the middle are the best to use. There is a kind with pie shaped depressions, but we find these do not work as well.

Matches
You will need wooden or paper matches to light your charcoal. The scent and energetic side-bands associated with butane and other petroleum products change the fire-band you are working with so don't use lighters to light the charcoal disk.

Other Ingredients
You will need to collect or purchase pine resin to burn on the charcoal disk as well as finely ground or rubbed sage. If you collect sage, you can grind it in a blender or coffee grinder. You also need to collect some finely chopped or shaved wood chips or tree bark. This is used to insulate the charcoal from the pine resin or incense that you burn in the firebowl and to facilitate the burning of the materials you use in your firebowl. You will sprinkle the shavings on the charcoal and then put the pine resin and sage on top of it. The last thing you will need for this exercise is a Sun Yellow utility candle. Make sure it is pure sun yellow  colored without any orange tones to it. An unscented candle is best to use.

Ritual Magic: Charging the Firebowl
Charging your firebowl programs it for a specific purpose. Since magic is a precision science, charging your firebowl for certain operations makes it more effective by stating the intended purpose and programming that into the tool. Charging is not an invocation or prayer to spirit-beings or deities, just a program. Here is how to charge your firebowl.

1. Stand or sit in the South facing North with your firebowl and materials in front of you.

2. Light your Sun Yellow utility candle with a wooden or paper match.

3. Light another wooden or paper match from your candle flame and use this to light the charcoal disk. The disk will begin to spark within seconds. If the charcoal is old or damp, you may need to use metal tongs to hold it over the flame for several minutes or light the top of it in the center of the bowl-shaped depression. Most of you will realize that once the disk is lit, you don't touch it with your hands, but for beginners who have never used one before we like to add this word of caution – It is hot, just like a charcoal on a BBQ grill.

4. Once the charcoal sitting in your firebowl is lit, pull Sun Yellow energy from your utility candle into yourself and blow it out onto the disk.

5. Add the wood shavings onto the charcoal, then the pine resin and finally the sage.

6. Wait for it to produce a good column of smoke and add more sage or resin if needed.

7. A voice of command should be used when saying the charge verse. The verse will vary according to what you are programming the firebowl for. Here is a basic firebowl charge verse (used for a house cleansing) and then some substitutions you may want to use in creating a verse specifically for this exercise depending on what you are releasing from your life.

"Fire and Air where you are cast,
Let no spell nor adverse purpose last,
Not in accord with me!
Cleanse these walls and cleanse this space,
Far from here send baneful trace!
Thus my will, so it be!"

This charge verse is obviously for doing a cleansing of a room, house, ritual magic circle or some other space. Some substitutions you can make to suit your purpose include:

• Cleanse these tools and cleanse their space (instead of Cleanse these walls...)
• Cleanse these people and cleanse their space (when clearing negative energy from yourself or others)
• In place of "spell" or "adverse" or "baneful" you can substitute anger, grief, trauma or any other applicable term. For example lines could be changed to "Let no fear nor sickness last" or "Far from here send cancerous trace". Just be sure when applying substitutions of words that you do not disturb the rhythm of the original verse.

Ritual Magic: Fire Magic Daily Ritual
Now that you have your firebowl and know how to charge it, you are ready to begin the fire magic daily ritual to release what it is that is bothering you or that you find no longer serves you. Everyday write on a small piece of paper what you want to release. Charge the firebowl, and then burn the paper in the firebowl. This works because "Thoughts are things and words have wings." In other words, writing things down makes them more material, more real. Burning the paper changes the unwanted item into simple fire magic, fire energy, with no negative charge. Sometimes you may have to repeat this ritual for 3, 7, or 11 days before you see change. Be sure to record results in your Book of Shadows to ensure you notice any changes. Magic often happens but we sometimes fail to see the changes.

The firebowl is just one of the magical tools that can help you bring ritual magic into your life for a variety of purposes. You can learn more about using magical tools in our online Basic Magic Class or specifically more uses for the firebowl in our Firebowl - Cleansing Tool Ebook.

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Ritual Magic to Wash Your Cares Away

We've all had occasion to let our old patterns, habits and beliefs get in the way of our spiritual growth or enjoying life, but did you know that ritual magic can help you let go of those old ways? When you find yourself stuck in negativity or holding on to old ideas and beliefs that no longer serve you, here's one of the simple ritual magic tips you'll find in our Kindle book, Learn How To Do Witchcraft Rituals And Spells With Your Bare Hands.

How This Ritual Magic Works
First here's a little bit about how and why this ritual works. The element of Water was used in tribal times for cleansing and as a way to release the old and bring in the new. Tribal people would walk in the rain next to a source of running water (creek, river, etc..). The running water served to carry off old ideas and beliefs that no longer served, while the rain coming down from above brought clear, new ideas. The same is true today and this ritual magic can serve to also release negative feelings, stop negative thoughts, and get rid of low tones such as depression.

Why This Ritual Magic Works
Magically, the element Water represents emotions, which are the language of Spirit. Moving water is able to carry the elements Air and Fire. The magical element Air represents thoughts and the magical element Fire represents will and action. So the Water element is able to carry off the unwanted thoughts and stuck patterns habits and beliefs. Walking in the rain by running water gives you the movement of the Water element to energetically cleanse out those unwanted feelings and thoughts. They can then be replaced with new ideas, thoughts and energy.

Doing This Cleansing Ritual Magic
Here's how to do this ritual:

1. Pick a rainy day and find a place outdoors that is next to a source of running water such as a creek or river or even a spillway. If you don't have a running water source you can access or are experiencing a drought and don't have access to rain, you can use the shower as it provides fresh water from above and running water below.

2. Walk next to or stand in the running water source and feel your old beliefs, negativity or problems being carried away by the flow of the water. Feel them being recycled into other forms some other place in the Universe, away from you.

3. Feel the rain water coming from above and visualize its brightness and refreshment bringing new ideas, thoughts and feelings to you. You can also send up prayers to higher powers and beings telling them what you want to release and what you would like to bring in.

4. Make sure you have running water, not standing water when you do this ritual magic. Standing water is stagnant unless it has been specifically programmed, so it doesn't do the job of carrying negativity away from you. Standing water that has not been programmed ("charged") can receive negative energy from you, but it requires a lot of effort on your part to push that energy into the water.

Yes, this magic ritual takes a little advanced planning to do since you will be getting wet, but the results are certainly worth any inconveniences. It's not one you'll want to do every day, but every so often taking some time to get out in nature, cleanse your energy and refresh yourself can go a long way to keeping you on your spiritual path and wash away mundane worries.

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Ritual Magic for When Steam is Coming Out of Your Ears!

When using protection magic or magic for self-defense purposes, you are quite often dealing with fire energies. Someone may be directing violence, anger or negativity your way which would all fall into the category of fire energy. Using ritual magic for self-defense is a great way to protect yourself from an outside physical or psychic attack, but if you are not used to handling fire energy you could end up taking excess fire energy into your body and not getting rid of it all. This can lead to headaches, a variety of aches and pains, tension and stress, hyperactivity or even extra anger on your part.

In our Magical Self Defense Course, we cover ways to safely handle fire energies when practicing protection magic. One way we teach to get rid of this excess fire energy from yourself is to use a direct flow technique that rids you of excess fire energy after you have used protection magic or actually anytime you start noticing these type of symptoms in yourself that let you know you have an excess of fire energy. It's like self-defense against your own anger so you don't ruin your whole day.

Here's how to use the direct flow technique as protection magic against your own anger, pain and fire excesses:
1. Place your output hand on a large electrical ground (such as light switch, electrical outlet or refrigerator).

2. See and/or feel the energy and push the pain, anger or other excess energy down your arm and out through your hand. It is good to look at a corresponding color of the exact fire energy you are trying to push out to make sure you are accessing the correct energies (see more below).

3. Keep pushing the energy out until you feel a decrease in the symptoms (ie. – pain diminishes, anger starts to fade...)

It can take several minutes for the excess energy to get all pushed out of your body, so an alternative is to lie on your back, put your feet on the refrigerator and push the excess energy out your feet. You also want to make sure you are pushing out the correct type of fire energy. Here are some examples of the fire energy colors and their related symptoms. Use this to visually look at the appropriate color as you flow or push out the energy.

Sun Yellow – over enthusiasm, wide awake when should be sleeping

Yellow Orange – jumpy, nervous, anxious, shaky, trembling, frustrated

Red Orange – angry, irritable, red-faced, feverish, physical pain or aches, frustrated in an angry or aggressive way

Bright Red – overheated, fast metabolism, over dramatic, fast living

Deep Red/Red Purple – skin rashes, high blood pressure, dull headaches

The direct flow technique works great to get rid of your own excess fire energies, but can also be used as protection magic on someone else who is directing their excess fire energy (ie. – anger, negativity..) towards you. Just as it will drain the excess fire energy from your own body, you can use it to drain fire energy from another person. The technique is pretty much the same, only hold your input hand towards the other person, pulling in the fire energy they are emitting while holding your output hand on your grounding source (or pointing towards it). With practice you can get to where you don't have to actually put your hand on the ground object anymore, but can just point your output hand towards it. Be sure no one else walks between you and your ground object (including pets) while you are flowing this fire energy as it can affect them negatively. Quite often when using this technique with an angry or over-excited person, they will just stop in mid-sentence and look confused wondering where their energy went and what they were going to say next.

This is just one of the simple self defense techniques of protection magic we present in our Magical Self Defense Homestudy Course. With a little practice, it is easy to do, requires no tools and is something you can use almost anywhere, anytime it is needed. So the next time you find yourself about to "blow your top" or with "steam coming out your ears", stick your feet on the fridge instead and ground out your excess fire energy.

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Ritual Magic: Daily Rituals of Greeting

Daily rituals of greeting are just what they sound like. These are rituals done every day greeting and acknowledging those spirits above us in the hierarchy that find magic and miracles to be simple. Greeting them daily introduces you to them, and starts you on your way to developing a relationship between you. Once you have a relationship, meaning you have reached out to them and you have felt them make contact with you, you can begin to ask them for help and guidance.

Ritual Magic: The Navajo Beauty Way as a Daily Ritual
The Navajo Beauty Way is a very powerful daily ritual that can be used for greeting and to start you on the way to developing a relationship with higher powers and beings. It is a non-denominational set of exercises that was created in very ancient times and is designed to:

• restore personal power through developing trust in one's wisdom gained through personal experience
• enhance creative flow and one's connection to the environment and nature's laws and forces
• help us learn new skills and use new tools for observing and maintaining harmonious and pro-active inner states
• develop a practical working relationship with higher powers and beings or natural forces and laws
• create stability and choice in walking in different realities and worlds
• being safe and protected without the need to build walls or hide behind masks
• establish and maintain contact with higher powers and beings or natural forces and laws so as to live in compliance with and gain support in our creative endeavors
• maintain spiritual integrity for individuals or groups during times of high external change and stress
• preserve cultural and spiritual identity beyond the efficacy of sociological myths in times of breakdown, and restructuring of communities, tribes or nations
• restore the balance both internally and externally between the feminine aspect of integration and oneness, and the masculine aspect of separation and duality

That's a lot to get from one simple daily ritual! If I had to pick just one daily ritual to have in my life, the Navajo Beauty Way would be the one. Time and time again, I see the magic, enlightenment, guidance and wisdom this ritual has brought to my life and those of others in my magical circle. There are actually 3 parts to the Navajo Beauty Way: the exit ritual, day greetings and day endings and the walking litany. Our Basic Magic Students are taught this ritual from the very first day of class and continue using it as a daily ritual throughout their studies and beyond. I have personally seen it open doorways through which I was able to see other beings such as animal totems and garden divas and received guidance from higher beings for problems I have faced.

A Personal Experience from Daily Ritual
Just to give you an idea of the power of this daily ritual, here is one instance I will never forget. I was facing a situation in which my reputation was in question and would be attending a meeting that would address the issue the next day. Needless to say I was dreading it. The night before, I went out and did the Exit Ritual and asked for the truth in this situation to come out and for others to be able to see my true self. After I finished the ritual, I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look and saw a skunk walking towards me. Not just any skunk mind you, but a skunk that was around 4 feet in height. Obviously a totem!! I ran inside to check the Medicine card book for the interpretation of the skunk and sure enough – reputation. I'm sure you can guess how the meeting the next day went and it was definitely settled in my favor. Not all experiences with the Navajo Beauty Way are this dramatic, but in all the years I have been doing this daily ritual, I have definitely received continuing magical guidance and beauty in my life.

Doing the Beauty Way Exit Ritual
One of the most common forms of the Beauty Way is called the Exit Ritual. You do the Exit Ritual every time you leave an enclosed space, like your car or your house. It takes a little practice to make this a part of your life that comes naturally. For some people there is an embarrassment factor to overcome when they start doing this daily ritual. Others find that they forget to do it each time they exit somewhere. That's all OK, don't stress about it. Just keep doing it and it will come more naturally as time goes on.

So are you ready to dive in and add this powerful daily ritual to your life? Here's how:

1. Once you exit your house or car or other enclosed area, stop and put your focus up into the sky and say aloud, "Sky Above" or "Sky Father." (Note: the reason we extend our focus first is that the exit ritual is a form of asking favor from powers and beings, so it is appropriate that we go to them rather than asking them to come to us. In ritual, when we have carefully prepared sacred space, we can then invite them in and then bid them farewell).

2. Keeping the awareness up above, extend your focus into the earth and say aloud, "And Earth Below" or "And Earth Mother."

3. Then, keeping awareness of both above and below, say aloud, "I Greet You."

4. Wait a moment and see what happens. Be alert for acknowledgement or response in one of these three ways:

• From within you, such as a realization, a change of attitude or belief, a new awareness.
• Changes in your environment, such as a sudden breeze, a change in the color of the sky, a bird or animal suddenly appearing, or a tree or shrub suddenly becoming vividly visible or possibly a four foot skunk to come walking by.
• A response from Sky and/or Earth: a special message for you, an answer to a question, or guidance and new directions.

5. What happens may happen in just that moment, or it may happen throughout the day. It may change the quality of your day, your awareness ... whatever you notice.

6. You may also want to use hand gestures. Arms raised in a upward facing V for "Sky Father" and arms down in a downward facing V for "Earth Mother."

The Exit ritual is also a quick and easy way to get reconnected with your inner peace and serenity. Deep inside, you are always peaceful, happy and serene - sometimes you just don't know how to access that part of yourself. So, if you find yourself getting frustrated, negative or stressed out, go outside and do the Exit Ritual. See what changes this simple daily ritual can make in your life. To learn more about the Navajo Beauty Way and other magical daily rituals, get our Daily Rituals ebook.

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Ritual Magic: How to Learn Magic Through Daily Rituals

There are many paths for how to learn magic, and doing daily rituals is among the best and easiest paths. Why? For one thing, daily rituals give you daily feedback as to results. You will see magic starting to work in your life pretty quickly with daily rituals. For example, if you do a daily ritual for pain relief, you will very quickly find your pain alleviated or have an idea of what else you need to do to alleviate it. With daily rituals you can see fast progress as opposed to other practices like long-acting spells where you have to wait to see results. Daily rituals are also a great way of how to learn magic in that you may get many chances during the day or week to practice the ritual. This not only increases your skill at performing the ritual, but also gives you a more consistent connection to higher powers.

Ritual Magic: Daily Rituals Needs Consistency
You do want to make sure that once you have a daily ritual, you practice it with as much consistency as possible. In spiritual circles, people have discovered that the consistency of doing a ritual at the same time every time increases the level and quality of the connection with the higher. Consistency is a key principle to success in many areas of life and one that most people find difficult to maintain. At the moment of setting a goal we usually have a high level of energy or excitement and are convinced of our ability to achieve the goal. Then life happens and we get busy in our mundane level lives and realize we have not paid any attention to our goal. It can take 40 days to break one habit and put another in its place. Doing daily rituals consistently can help you create the "habit" of making magic an integral part of your life.

Ritual Magic: Active vs. Passive Daily Rituals
Daily rituals can be an active process as opposed to more passive practices like meditation. Whereas you may use meditation as a daily ritual, those rituals that have a more active component give you a participatory role in the ritual and can lead to more personal relationships with higher powers and being. Allies will show up in daily rituals to help you out on a short-term basis, and some may stay with you permanently as spirit guides. Instead of doing the regular sitting type meditation, walking meditations can add an active component to this type of daily ritual.

Ritual Magic: Keeping Daily Rituals Fresh
Finally, daily rituals give you enough variety to keep you interested and prevent you from getting mechanical. Even though you may be doing the same ritual everyday, the focus of it may change according to what is happening in your life or according to how you feel at the time. The results you see may vary and give you various perspectives that lead to insights about yourself and others that you hadn't seen before. Just doing a ritual because you have told yourself you will do it everyday will not work. Going about a ritual in a mechanical way does not open you to all the magical possibilities of it.

The key to using rituals as a doorway to the higher is to keep them simple and do them daily. Rituals that are too complex won't make it onto our daily schedules, and rituals that we don't do often won't have as much effect as daily ones. If you don't already have a ritual to use as a daily ritual, you can find plenty in our Daily Rituals for Attracting What You Want in Life ebook.

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Ritual Magic: The Importance of Daily Rituals and Ritual Magic Throughout the Year

Why Do Daily Rituals?
With our crazy, busy lives, daily rituals of magic keep us grounded, at peace, and connected to higher powers and beings who can help us get what we want in life. It is not as important what the ritual is as it is that it is done consistently. Daily rituals create a channel for us to connect with our inner guidance, totem spirits, angels and other powers and beings. When we go about rushing through life we are not able to hear the quiet voices of higher guidance. These higher beings are willing and eager to help us manifest what we want in life, but we can't hear them over all the noise of cell phones, radio, TV, video games, gossip and our own mind chatter. I'm not saying you have to give up your job, social life and family and go sit at the top of a mountain. What I am saying is that we all need to set aside some sacred time everyday and daily rituals are a way to do just that. Whatever you pick to do as a daily ritual, going for a walk and tuning into the nature around you, meditation, yoga, hug a tree, the Consistency Exercise, the Navajo Beauty Way...., just take Nike's advice and just do it.

Ritual Magic for Change of Season
It's also important to do ritual magic throughout the year, such as during the change of seasons. Tribal people have always done this as a way to release the energy of the previous season and prepare appropriate energy for the coming season. In modern cultures, we simply get ill or at most do mundane world level tasks such as "spring cleaning". But what about an energetic cleaning or spiritual cleaning? This is even more important for the health of your mind, body and spirit. So maybe the next time you start a "spring cleaning" of your house, you also include doing a 4 element cleansing. For anyone not familiar with a 4 element cleansing of your house, here's how.

Four Element Cleansing
First, you will need a charged firebowl to cover the air and fire elements and a keyed and charged chalice for the water and earth elements.

In the firebowl you will be burning sage and pine resin on a charcoal disc. In the chalice will be spring water and a pinch of sea salt. Stand in the south facing north to do the charging. The charge verses for a cleansing are:

Firebowl Charge Verse:
"Fire and Air where you are cast, Let no spell nor adverse purpose last, Not in accord with me. Cleanse these walls and cleanse this space, Far from here send baneful trace. Thus my will, so it be."

Chalice Charge Verse:
"Water and Earth where you are cast, Let no spell nor adverse purpose last, Not in accord with me. Cleanse these walls and cleanse this space, Far from here send baneful trace. Thus my will, so it be."

(You can learn more about keying, charging and using the firebowl and chalice in the ebooks Firebowl-Cleansing Tool and Chalice – Water Tool.) http://ow.ly/gOhuI

Then:

• Start with your firebowl on the east most wall of the east most room in your house. Start on the lowest level of the house.
   
• Draw a lemniscent (sideways figure 8) with the smoke at your starting location.
   
• Walk slowly along the wall letting the smoke of the firebowl flow into the wall.
   
• About every 2 feet use the firebowl smoke to draw a lemniscent (sideways figure 8) on the wall. Do this also on any windows, mirrors, or reflective glass/black glossy surfaces.
   
• Continue walking along the walls in the house in an uninterrupted manor until you have gone completely around all the walls in your house and return to the exact same place you started. Then make an ending lemniscent over the one you made when you started.

Walk the same pattern along the walls again with the charged chalice, dipping your fingers into the salt water and spritzing some on the walls every 2-3 feet until you again return to the place you started. (Be sure you have put your firebowl in a safe place while you do this especially if it is still burning for fire safety reasons).

A Four Element Cleansing is good for removing psychic imprints from walls, objects and people. It can clear out negative energies or influences and any psychic residue left by any type of beings. We all come into contact with negative energies daily, so taking the time to clear these energies out of your living space will add to your peace of mind and being.

Special Ritual Magic
Other important times for rituals include birthdays, naming days, new moon, full moon, and change of life (such as transition from adult to wise crone). I participated in the naming ritual for the grandson of a dear friend when he was 3 months old. It was a very formal magical ritual done in a full cast circle, for a wonderfully magical child. The child sat totally quiet throughout the entire ritual (not a usual state for him) that lasted about an hour and a half as he received his shamanic name, "Shining Antelope" and watched the various parts of the ritual unfold. It is a very special memory for me still 10 years later and for his family.

Doing special magical events throughout the year is a way of acknowledging higher powers and beings that are at work in your life everyday, acknowledging life transitions and inviting those powers to participate with you. Whether you do a magical ritual in full cast circle, a simple ceremony or just take a longer time than usual to do your daily ritual and connect with higher beings, it is a way to show our gratitude for their presence in our lives and strengthen our connection with them.

If you need ideas for daily rituals you can get started on, check out our Daily Rituals for Attracting What You Want in Life ebook. Get started on introducing ritual magic into your life and you'll be amazed at the changes it can bring to your life.

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