Why Bad Magic Happens to Good People

People who are new to the art and science of practicing magic are often surprised when they start doing magic rituals and discover that their lives get worse, not better, at least temporarily.

Tires go flat on their car, they get into fights with their spouse, or an unexpectedly large expense pops up. Then they wonder, "I'm a good person. Is this a warning from the universe that I shouldn't practice magic?"

Nope, it's not. I've seen it happen over and over again, and I have a name for it: the inconvenience factor.

Magic and the Inconvenience Factor
Anyone who starts practicing magic will undoubtedly run into the inconvenience factor ... it's a universal law. In fact, it's the universe's way of protecting esoteric material, and of testing whether someone's desire to learn this material is truly genuine or just a momentary wish in passing.

Whenever we start a new Basic Magic course or in-depth teleconference course, we warn students that the inconvenience factor is bound to occur. This factor tends to keep students from being able to attend class on a regular basis, at least at first. When the class is a teleconference course, the inconvenience factor turns up in a number of ways. One student may try to call into the teleconference only to get an "all circuits busy" signal. Another student may plan on using his cell phone only to find that the battery has suddenly died. A third student may have printed out his homework materials in readiness for class, and then discover that he can't find them anywhere.

Serious students, having been warned about the inconvenience factor, simply strive until they overcome the "all circuits busy signal" or dead cell phone battery. They may show up in class flustered and aggravated, but they do show up through sheer perseverance. This is the kind of effort the universe seeks to divide those who truly want to learn magic from those who just want to win the lottery tomorrow.

True desire is what separates a person capable of becoming a powerful magician from a dilettante. True desire is also what allows a person access to magical materials. The dilettantes always fall by the wayside, sidetracked by inconvenient life events, long before we get to the "really good stuff" in class.

Is the Inconvenience Factor a Form of Religious Warning or Vengenace?
This is a question that arises from time to time from students who have been raised with a strongly religious background that discourages the practice of magic. When these students are confronted by minor fender-benders or other inconvenient life events, they wonder whether these events are warnings from a jealous god to stay away from magical practice. That is, of course, one interpretation, and those who feel this interpretation to be true should stay away from magical practice.

However, we have worked with hundreds of students with this type of background who have successfully made it past the inconvenience factor with no further consequences. Life is as you believe it to be, and thus if you believe in a jealous god who discourages magical practice, the events of your life will bear out this belief. On the other hand, if you believe the universe is big enough to accommodate both magic and religion, then you will find that you can practice magic in harmony with the practice of your religion.

The Rules of the Road: Rules of Magical Practice
Magic, like all arts and sciences, has its own set of rules. We follow the Rules of the Road, as put forth by Reverend George Dew of the Church of Seven Arrows. We find, by our experience and observation, that these rules are true, immutable, and quite freeing. Check them out here and see if you agree:

Click here for Rules of the Road.

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Are the End Times Coming? I Have No Survival Gear!

As we approach 2012 people are getting increasingly nervous about the so-called "end times," with many people saying that the current economic downturn is simply a pre-cursor to "the end of it all" (whatever that means!).

Are the end times coming in the catastrophic ways predicted by Nostradamus and other predictors? Will California fall into the ocean? Will our population be decimated by a deadly virus? Will the poles change position, bringing on all kinds of natural disasters?

I hope not. I forgot to pack a survival kit!

What's Really Going to Happen in 2012?
First of all, whether 2012 is even the correct date for a major world-shifting event is up for question, depending on who does the prediction. The Mayan calendar, the calculations of the Hopi legends, and Nostradamus don't all agree on the date. But suffice to say that we are moving from the Piscean Age into the Aquarian Age ... and some things will definitely change in the world.

So then the question becomes, "What is going to happen during this change and how do we prepare?"

Based on my conversations with Grandmother, the spirit of Earth, who is also known by many other names, and my own observations, I'm pretty sure that I won't need a survival pack of the physical kind. Granola bars, meal packs, and water are not going to be my main concerns.

Grandmother has made it perfectly clear that during this world change, unlike any other, physical changes will be at a minimum, and mass extinctions will not take place. The poles will not trade places. In other words, the planet itself is not going to "take the hit."

Who is Going to "Take the Hit" During This World Change?
Good question. I wondered that myself, so I asked Grandmother. Her reply? "You." How comforting! She wasn't talking about me specifically, but the beings (spirits) that inhabit the earth. In other words, instead of transformation taking place in the physical world, the changes are going to take place within us. We are going to take the hit - personally, so to speak.

California probably won't fall into the ocean, but our hearts may sink into our stomachs quite a lot during the next few years. The economic changes occurring already have a lot of people feeling anxious ... and that's just the beginning. The way I understand it based on my conversation with Grandmother, in the coming days we will each be faced with situations that make us feel uncomfortable, angry, frustrated, sad, or otherwise negative.

In other words, events will occur, with nauseating regularity and increasing frequency, which will offer us the chance to feel negative about the way things are, or choose a different route toward a more positive outcome. The events will range in size and effect from small and annoying to "OMG, I can't handle this!"

An Example You Can Relate To
Here's a perfect recent example: my accountant rang me up on the eve of taxes being due and told me I owed the government more than was in my bank account. I got mad, frustrated, and upset, since this came on the heels of a number of similar events.

Then I got smart. I whipped out my tax notebook and compared it to the return my accountant had prepared. I found a series of major errors. Wow. The end result? I owed nothing in taxes ... and had in fact overpaid when I sent money with my extension. Things worked out great.

So what could have been a disastrous event ended up being quite positive, but only when I shifted my attention away from reaction and into actions that restored my personal power.

The Real Sacrifice of the End Times
The short conclusion to this long-winded tale is this:

In the coming world change we won't be sacrificing the planet. To survive, we will have to sacrifice the useless parts of our personality, like pride, envy, vengeance, anger, and fear.

It sounds easy in theory, but it is way harder when the Universe keeps throwing monkey wrenches in your plans. It will sometimes seem like you can't do the simplest task without running into a bunch of complications. Don't get mad. And no, you're not crazy. You are just a vital part of the world transformation as we move into the Aquarian Age.

Do the best you can with what you have, stay as positive as possible ...and the Universe really will reward you for being a positive force in the coming world transformation. One way I like to stay connected is to do the Navajo Beauty Way ritual. It keeps me smiling, sane, and sweet. Give it a try.

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The Magic of Idiots

Have you noticed that a lot of people are acting idiotic lately? Maybe your boss is more irritable than ever and snaps at you. Perhaps your friend is unintentionally rude and forgets to invite you to his party. Or how about the random stranger who insults you for no reason?

In other words, people are acting like idiots, which is perfectly in line with the times. In case you haven't noticed, the world is in transition. Whether you call it a transition from the Piscean Age to the Aquarian Age, or you call it the "end times," the world is undoubtedly changing--and fast!

During these times, according to planetary history, one of two things happens: total extinction or people acting like idiots.

Personally, I prefer people acting like idiots, don't you? The last few cycles of the Mayan calendar ended up with total extinction ... so on the whole, people acting like idiots is pretty mild.

What's even better, you can actually squeeze a little magic out of people acting like idiots. Really.

Where's the Magic in Idiocy?
Strange as it sounds, there is a great deal of magic to be had in someone else's idiotic acts. During times of world change, such as now, there's a certain amount of craziness that has to take place in order for the world to shift from one age into another. That craziness, or idiocy, has to be acted out by the beings on this planet.

So when someone else acts like an idiot, they are acting out a portion of that craziness that is so necessary to world change. The magic in this situation is that you don't have to act crazy because someone else is doing it for you. See what I mean?

So while it may be insulting or bewildering to be in the presence of someone who is acting rudely or crazily, the good news is that you don't have to trash your own life by acting crazy. Someone else is carrying that burden for you.

Is That Too Crazy an Idea?
If this whole concept sounds insane, consider this. While most people think that concepts such as "knowledge" or "consciousness" are ephemeral and have no weight or matter, in reality knowledge and consciousness are both made of matter.

In other words, they are physical substances. That means there is only so much knowledge on the planet at any given time, and when it is all possessed by people, there isn't any more to go around. The rest of the people then have to go around in ignorance because the store of knowledge has run out.

The same is true of idiocy, except in reverse. During world change, there is a lot of idiocy or undirected energy on the planet. It, like knowledge, has substance and weight. And, like knowledge, people possess this kind of energy. When people possess this energy, they act like idiots and do crazy things. And while they may insult you, the fact of the matter is that they are doing you a favor. They are possessing the crazy energy created by planetary change, which means that you don't have to.

So ... this may all be a little out in left field for most people to consider, but for those who want to sail through this Earth change with a minimum of dings, dents, and fender-benders, it's a concept worth considering. Daily rituals might also be worth considering ...

What if you were grateful to and appreciative of the idiots around you instead of insulted and angered? Hmmm ... might be worth a second or two of thought!

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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 is My Magic All Wonky? Pluto at Work

"Why is my magic all wonky?"

I love when I get questions like this via email, and believe me, a lot of magical practitioners are finding that their magic is indeed a little wonky these days. Magic spells are going off track, astrological effects are hitting harder than ever, and divinations are often "hinky" at best.

So what the heck is going on with the magic?

Wonky Magic and the Pluto Return
The short answer to the question is this: astrology. Astrological factors are at work here. In particular Plutonian effects are at work. My sense of things is that globally we are experiencing a Plutonian return. Pluto, called by many astrologers the Lord of Karma, completes its orbit every 248 years.

Basically, we are receiving the results of whatever was occurring around 1761. During this period, the French-Indian War occurred, the Seven Years War ended, the Western Territories changed hands and the colonies experienced an economic slump. Then, of course, the difficulties with Great Britain began during this period, ending with the war for independence in 1775. So, here we are again.

Pluto has returned to the same position it was 248 years ago, and we are reaping the karma that has accumulated during that time.

What's Happening on the Individual Level
On the individual level, adaptation, acceptance, and change are being called forth. To the majority this appears to be a threat to survival, whereas to some it presents an opportunity for innovation. There will be possibilities galore for exasperation and anger, but also a lot of impetus for change that we have been, until now, too stuck, lazy, tired, or unimpressed to make.

What seems to be working for us, and for many magical practitioners, is to avoid confrontation on the worldly level and to create change on the magical level. In other words, if a physical event occurs that angers you, don't go immediately to action. Instead, focus on using daily magic rituals of maintenance to create an inner sacred space. From that sacred space, do whatever magic you choose to effect change, whether this be a spell, some simulacra magic, or a ritual offering.

For those of you who aren't sure what magic to use to create inner sacred space, check out the "Magic in Your Mailbox" series. It's an email serious that helps people formulate and use basic magic rituals as a part of daily life.

Sign up for "Magic in Your Mailbox" here.

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