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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Magic Spells: What is a Magic Spell?

Exactly what is a magic spell in real magic terms? No, we don't wave magic wands, say some words and turn our enemies into toads. There is actually an art and a science to performing magic and spells in particular. A magic spell is any psychic or magical operation that combines a number of elements (air, fire, water and earth) and/or program factors that produce a particular result over a period of time. You could also call it a formalized intention that is carried out over time until completion. This definition would include chants, litanies, sonics, directors and limiters and even prayers.

How A Magic Spell Works
Spells are energy matrices programmed to build momentum and overcome obstacles until the end goal is manifested. Magic and spells in particular tend to take the path of least resistance to reach the goal. This is why directors and limiters are used in a magic spell. Without the use of directors and limiters, the path the spell takes could be very destructive and possibly break the Rules of the Road. There have been many cases of spells asking for money or a debt paid off in which the practitioner does not specify in the directors and limiters that no harm must come to any person or being from the spell, only to have the money come to them through the inheritance of someone passing away that they did not intend. If those type of events and conditions are not specified and the Universe sees it as the path of least resistance to the goal, it can happen just that way. Therefore it is a good idea to practice spellwork with tried and true spells that are proven safe before embarking to create your own. You need to have a clear understanding of the use of directors and limiters, basic magical operational laws and the terminology involved with spellwork before creating and launching magic spells of your own.

Types of Spells
There are different types of spells that can be used and different ones are more appropriate to use in one situation over another. Here are some basics and brief descriptions.

Litanies and Chants – A chant is any set of verbal commands or instructions to create a magical effect on the environment. A litany is a chant that is used to affect the person saying the litany. All spells and prayers are either litanies or chants. The verses used to charge the firebowl and chalice are chants.


Sonics in Spellwork – Sound energies affect both the material and spiritual levels at the same time, regardless of the elemental makeup of the sounds. When launching a spell you must be able to use voices of command and words of power effectively when reciting the litanies and/or chants in the spell to ensure that the energies are consistent with the aim of the spell. For example if you speak a chant for an Air and Fire oriented spell in a watery voice, you may create unintended side effects.

Directors and Limiters – These specify the what, how and when factors of a spell. Directors and limiters always need to be specified for candle and tarot spells. They list what you want the spell to achieve and the areas or conditions you want to avoid. They also address the purpose of the spell, elements and energies to be used, safeguards, and when the spell will start and stop.

Candle Spells – This type of spell programs one or more candles to act in accord with a spell's purpose, directors and limiters and verses. The candles energize, activate and feed the spell as well as assist in programming the spell. The candle translates the verses and directors and limiters into an actual energy matrix that has force in the world.

Tarot Spells – The modern Tarot as revised by the Order of the Golden Dawn is designed to use for spellwork. Readings with a Tarot deck form the basis for this type of spell and various cards can actually show spells that have been performed in the past or present lines. Before undertaking a Tarot spell, the practitioner needs to understand the Tarot and be experienced in doing 12-card readings with a Tarot deck. Tarot and other divination methods can also be used to test the potential success of any spell.

Simulacra Spells – These types of spells use a simulacrum or likeness of a person or thing to perform a magical operation on. When the object used as the simulacrum is keyed to a person or thing, whatever you do magically or otherwise to the object also happens to the person or thing it is keyed to. This is a type of water and earth element spellwork.

Real magic and spells can be enormously effective if performed correctly. Remember though that altered procedures create altered results. Think each step of the spell through carefully and get some instruction from an experienced practitioner before taking on your own spells. Our Basic Magic Class is offered online and spellwork is covered toward the end this course. If you're ready to get serious about becoming a magical practitioner, check it out.

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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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Magic Spells: How to Learn Magic

We quite often get emails asking how to learn magic. In this day and time it seems that we have seen an increase in these types of emails. It is exciting to hear that for whatever reasons, more people are seeking out magical knowledge and a different way of life. Whether you are seriously interested in studying magic, just out to see for yourself if it is real or want to dabble in some magical practices, we have lots of resources at the Esoteric School of Shamanism and Magic for you.

Can I Do Magic?
First off we like to make clear that we work on the premise in everything we teach that nothing is taken as true or real until you experience it for yourself and KNOW for yourself that it is true. A magician must experience and verify everything for him or herself to avoid the trap of dogma. That means you have hands on exercises throughout that you can practice and see results from. Many real magic techniques are not instant however and you do need to be willing to put in some time and practice. Some people have natural gifts and may see results sooner and others will need to practice a bit more. Everyone however can do magic. It is actually the "normal" way of life, but we have just lost access to it.

Magic Is a Precision Science
Our approach to magic and spells is that of a scientist since after all magicians and shamans are technicians of the sacred. One of the first things students learn in our Basic Magic Class is that we teach magic as a precision science. That is because magic is the science of:

• deliberate creation 
• effective prayer 
• of manifesting Higher Will on the energetic and material planes 
• of heightened awareness, selective perception and dynamic, harmonious relationships

Magical techniques are taught in such a way that they can be duplicated and replicated if directions are followed. Students do have to follow directions as given since altered procedures produce altered results as many students over the years have found out for themselves.

Rules of the Road
Having said all this, what we respond to those asking how to learn magic is that they should start with basic spells and rituals offered in our free online resources. They also need to become familiar with the Rules of the Road which are the ethics of magic. These Universal laws govern magical practice and are in effect whether you know them or not, believe in them or not or agree with them or not. Practicing magic without knowledge of these governing laws can result in disaster.

Free Resources To Get You Started
In our free resources section of our website, we have access to a wide variety of simple and safe magic and spells for beginners. We also have a newsletter that comes out twice a month you can subscribe to by email, a blog with informational articles and a platform where you can ask questions, as well as our Facebook community you can join in on. Whatever method works best for you, the main thing is to get started exploring the world of magic for yourself. Here are some links to simple, but powerful spells and rituals to get you started:

• Sun Candle 
• Rooting
• Weather Working With Clouds
• The Exit Ritual
• Grounding
• Chalice Blessing

When you're ready for more just go to our Resources section and Is Magic Real page. And remember to have fun and enjoy your journey into magic and spells.

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