Curiosity is the Key to Finding What You Seek

We've all heard the biblical phrase, "Seek and ye shall find." It always sounds very positive and rewarding. But how many of us are so frustrated with seeking and not finding that we'd like to have a serious chat with the author of that phrase (St. Matthew)?

If you've been seeking for a long time but haven't found what you're looking for, don't fret!

If you haven't found what you're looking for, it may not be because you're not looking long or hard enough. It may because the quality or tone of the attention you give to the seeking process isn't quite right for finding what you want.

The tone or quality of your attention can actually be the difference between finding what you want and being in total frustration. It turns out that the best tone for finding what you want is curiosity. If you can maintain the innocent curiosity of a child when seeking anything in life, you will find and get everything you want.

Why is this? Because there is an inverse relationship between attachment to what we want and getting what we want. The more we are desperately attached to what we want (i.e., "I just gotta have it!"), the less we are likely to get it. But, if we can become very curious about what we want without attachment, then we will attract it into our lives.

For instance, let's say you want to bring a certain amount of income into your business. The first thing to do is to tell the Universe in a very clear and precise way. Write down exactly what you want and what you don't want (and by when). Then, adopt a posture of curiosity. It might sound something like, "Hmmm, I wonder how the Universe will bring this about..." As you encounter different people or events in your life, you might ask yourself, "I wonder if this is going to an avenue for what I want?" or "Isn't this interesting?"

The channeled teacher Abraham tells us that "genius is nothing more than continued attention on the same thing." In other words, the longer you direct your attention positively toward something, the more you're a genius in that area. The same thing is true about curiosity. The longer you can maintain a child like curiosity about what you want, the faster that which you want will come into your life.

So the phrase "Seek and ye shall find" is most definitely true, but only if you learn to seek as a child would seek-with wonder, delight, and joy in the process. Anytime you find yourself getting obsessed or frustrated with the process, just go back to that light hearted curiosity. The Universe will always bring you what you want, and that child like curiosity will keep the doors of your life open to receive it.

Enjoy the journey!

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Do You Have an Unwanted Spirit in Your House? What to Do

Do you keep losing your keys and other small objects? Hear cabinet doors slamming in the middle of the night? Is something causing your dogs to bark at nothing at all?

If so, then you may have one or more unwanted spirits in your home. This is not unusual, nor anything that you need to particularly fear. Many times spirits who have not "moved on" hang around a house, either because they are familiar with the house or simply because they like something about the house.

For instance, when we moved into our current house, we would often see a spirit sitting in an old barrel chair in our living room, particularly during our morning meditations. When we described this spirit, a very thin old man wearing jeans and a red checkered shirt, to one of our neighbors, we discovered that he used to live in our house. He simply "hung around" during meditations, liking the feel of the barrel chair. Eventually, though, he made my wife uncomfortable so we gave the very old chair to the pastor of a church. The spirit of the old man never returned.

What to Do if You Have a Spirit in Your Home
So what should you do if you have an unwanted spirit in your home? There are multiple options, none of which are difficult or scary. You might try one of the below options.

1. Learn to Live with the Spirit
Our neighbors live in a very old farmhouse, which is inhabited by a spirit who is mischievous rather than dangerous or harmful. He likes to slam kitchen cabinet doors at night, when the house is dark and quiet. What do our neighbors do? Nothing too drastic. When they hear him banging the doors, they just yell "Stop that!" or "Cut it out!" Oddly enough, that's all it takes to keep him quiet. Since he doesn't get up to any other kind of trouble, they leave him be the rest of the time. Most spirits don't like yelling or loud noises, so this often works when a spirit is up to naughty tricks.

2. Talk to the Spirit
Many spirits have no idea that they no longer have bodies and are "hanging around" where they are unwanted. If you can see, sense, or feel the spirit, then you can talk to him or her. You hold a conversation with a spirit just as you would with another person. There are two main differences. First, some spirits are quite "down tone" and may not respond to you right away. Don't worry. Just keep asking questions and talking to the spirit until you get a response. Second, the spirit's "answers" may sound like a voice in your head rather than an actual voice. This is perfectly normal since the spirit doesn't have a body, so can't speak out loud.

Once you engage the spirit in conversation, start asking questions about the last lifetime in which the spirit had a body. Ask for a name, the time period in which he or she lived, and other relevant details. Finally, bring the conversation around to the happiest time the spirit can remember in that lifetime. This memory of a happy time should bring the spirit up the tone scale, and allow him or her to move on. You may want to help the spirit by asking him or her to move on, or offer to help him or her find a new body (in a tree, cloud, or rock, for instance).

3. Banish the Spirit
This option is a last resort, and should only be used if the spirit in your home is really bothersome or harmful. While these kinds of spirits do exist, most spirits are relatively harmless. One way to discover whether a harmful spirit is inhabiting your space is to cut a clove of garlic in four equal sections, and place one section in each cardinal direction in your home. If the hearts of the garlic cloves turn dark within 24 hours, then you do indeed have a darker spirit cohabitating with you. At this point, you will need to either do a banishment or have someone do a banishment for you. Shamans, magicians, and other spiritual practitioners can do this using a keyed athame and electric blue energy.

Explore these three options if you have an unwanted spirit living with you. As discussed earlier, most of these spirits are fairly harmless, and will move on if you simply ask them to leave. Good luck!

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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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Why Does My Life Suck So Bad?

This is a question that is on the minds of many people, and while I could give you a lot of different magical or shamanic answers, the truth of the matter is that life has always sucked. Most of us just never noticed it.

Most of us have, in the past, been able to repress or ignore our frustrations about life with all kinds of other "stuff." We poured our energies into extreme sports, frantic activities, or obsessions about things that shouldn't matter on a life or death level (Little League parents going nuts comes to mind), so we have always been able to avoid the "suckiness" of our lives.

No more. Welcome to the preamble of 2012, the Dawn of the Age of Aquarius or whatever you want to call it.

2012 is Happening in Us, Really
As we head toward 2012, we've seen some major weather shifts, some man-made catastrophes, and a lot of assorted mumbo-jumbo about what might or might not happen worldwide. But in our conversations with Grandmother (also known as Mother Earth), we've come to realize that 2012 isn't going to be creating as much havoc "out there" as it is "in here," within us.

No actual pole shifts are going to happen on the planet, but a bunch of tiny pole shifts will happen in us as individuals. So what does a pole shift mean to the average human being? It means that we will no longer be able to distract ourselves from the general "suckiness" of life with extreme sports, self-medication, or other worldly goodies.

Instead, we're going to have to face the "stuff" in our lives that really bother us, and resolve those issues. There are lots of ways to do that, magically and shamanically, but at the core of the issue is a simple question:

"What the heck is bugging you?"

If you can't answer this question then 2012 is going to hit you like a ton of bricks. If you can answer this question, then 2012 is going to be a breeze.

What is Heck is Bothering You?
The answer to this question isn't about making a list of all the complaints in your life. It's about drilling down to the fundamental core, the fundamental issue, around which your life has constantly revolved, whether you know it or not.

Can you answer that question? Do you even have a clue?

If not you might try a question circle, a simple magic ritual in which you ask the Winds of the Four Directions for guidance and inspiration.

Get the directions for a question circle here.
Learn more about Daily Magic Rituals here.

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Increasing Your Psychic Abilities

We are all psychic. It's a fact.

Psychic abilities are the birthright of every citizen on this planet--we just forget to use those abilities on a regular basis so they grow weak. If you want to increase your psychic abilities, all you have to do is practice (and it's simpler than you think).

If you've tried various methods to increase your psychic abilities but they haven't worked, don't despair. One of the keys to success in developing these abilities is learning to ignore the outcome. Just practice your abilities and don't worry about whether you're "right" or not.

A simple way to get started with your practice is to begin accessing information that you can't possibly know through your five senses. Begin asking yourself these kinds of questions everyday, and listen for the answer. For instance, before you walk into a movie theater, ask yourself, "How many people will already be in the theater when I walk in?" Go with the first answer you get and don't question it. Thank yourself for the answer. Now here's the key: when you walk into the theater, don't bother counting the number of people. Act as if you never asked yourself that question.

If you walk into a mall, you might mentally pick out a store and ask yourself, "What's the highest discount they are offering today?" You can also ask questions like, "What's the most interesting thing I will see today in the mall?" or "Will I meet anyone I know today in the mall?" Again, the key is not to put your attention on verifying your answer. Just keep asking the question, receiving the first answer you get, thanking yourself for the answer, and ignoring the rest.

Over time, you will unavoidably begin noticing the "correctness" of your answers. You can't help but notice that you've picked out the highest discount a store is offering or that you actually did meet someone you know in the mall. If you really avoid verifying your answers, you'll be more open to what your psychic abilities tell you (rather than hearing all your own doubtful mind chatter). You will begin to notice how "right on" your abilities are--if you can actually avoid verification of your answers early on in the process.

The "art of ignoring" or selective perception is one of the key principles in magic and in developing your psychic abilities. Remember, you're accessing information in another realm, so you have to learn to focus your attention in that realm. Putting your attention solely on asking and receiving is the key. Good luck and, most of all, have fun with this!

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