Magic for When Someone is Acting Like a Donkey's Butt

Can you use magic when someone is treating you badly, invading your privacy or sacred space or just rather acting like a donkey's butt? As long as you make sure you are on the right side of the Rules of the Road, the rules for magical self defense, and have done nothing to provoke the situation, then you certainly can. There are several means of self-defense magic that you can use in this matter, but using simulacra or voodoo magic is another option. You can learn more about voodoo or simulacra magic in our How to Do Voodoo ebook, but here is a technique one of our mentors used when he discovered a "watcher" had been placed in his home.

What is a Watcher?
Before getting to the voodoo technique; a little history. What exactly is a watcher? There are magical practitioners that can create energy matrices that look like insects such as flies, wasps or ants or they animate the actual bodies of small insects that have died. They use these forms because they are able to slip through your shields and omnils that you have around your home for protection. They are usually used to spy on you or influence you and are therefore called watchers. Watchers many times are thought forms that are sent by others. Since thought forms are connected to the body with a silver cord, they can be dangerous when cut. Cutting one of these cords causes it to snap back at the person and can sometimes result in death. If you suspect you may have a watcher around you, look for signs such as an insect that shows up in a place it could not have naturally gotten to, one that does not have the right numbers of legs and wings that it should naturally have, or if it travels in a straight line or follows you around the house.

Testing For a Watcher
There are a few different techniques you can use as a test to see if you do have a watcher and possibly find out who sent it. Here is the technique we promised to pass on from our mentor.

Use your Chalice, the magical tool for the Water element, to first capture the suspected watcher. The Chalice is a type of standing shield that is as effective as an omnil so anything captured in it becomes confined and isolated. When you see the suspected watcher being still, put your Chalice upside down over it. Then slide a thin cardboard piece under the Chalice and holding the cardboard over the top of the cup, turn the Chalice to an upright position. Now you have captured the watcher and can inspect it more closely through the Chalice. If you want to find out who sent it, you can do like our mentor did and tape the cardboard down over the top of the cup so that it doesn't escape, then pack it up and send it literally on a slow boat to China. Once he did this, all he had to do was look around at people he knew for signs of seasickness or nausea. Once he found the person who had these symptoms for several months, he knew that he did indeed have a watcher and exactly who had sent it. This works because the sender did not disconnect from the watcher before it was trapped and so whatever was done to the watcher had the same effect on the sender. It is like a simulacra that is keyed to a particular person or a voodoo doll. For this reason, you do need to be careful and make sure you are within your magical rights when planning what you will do to the watcher.

To learn more about simulacra or voodoo magic and watchers as well as various techniques to use with them all, check out the How to Do Voodoo ebook. There is so much you can magically accomplish with this fascinating study.

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Shamanism And Medical Science - Mutually Exclusive Disciplines?

contributed by reader, Jenni Greaves

Shamanism is, sadly, viewed by many as a dubious quack-practice grounded in bygone superstition. The minds of such people are closed to the potential of shamanic healing, and they have no wish to discuss the matter. However, some who may not quite believe in the more mystical aspects of shamanism are perfectly willing to accept it as a practice which can be of immense help to the psyche. Indeed, many have likened psychologists to modern shamans, their jobs essentially being to conduct people through the sometimes perilous realm of their souls (or psyches) and resolve conflicts therein. Though the ideological theories of the two doctrines may differ in some ways, the essential aim and, often modus operandi, bear marked similarities. This is increasingly becoming a matter of interest to modern science. Vanderbilt University points out that "Shamanic methods of working with dreams and being conscious and awake while dreaming open new doors in psychological research into the nature and history of consciousness" [1].  While some may be doubtful about the magical aspects of shamanism, modern medicine is growing to accept its psychological and even physical value. Even disbelievers can therefore benefit from shamanism without feeling that they are compromising their scientific principles.

The Psychoanalyst As Shaman
The idea of shamanic soul-flights as psychological healing tools have been present ever since the fathers of psychiatry began to appreciate the presence of and delve into the human subconscious. Freud and Jung, the undisputed fathers of modern psychiatry, were incredibly interested in the myths, symbols and archetypes with which shamans work. Both saw such things as representative of deep cultural mores which are both embedded within and representative of the human mind. Though couching his theories in scientific language, the exploration of the psyche which Freud published in "The Interpretation of Dreams" [2] would have been recognizable to any shaman. The way Freud saw it, mythic frameworks, symbols, and tale-formulae were a way in which humans could interpret and engage with their psychological states (and the demons inherent therein). The shamanic view is something more mysterious, spiritual, and magical, but the idea of healing through a mythic 'soul-journey' is common to both disciplines.

Mind, Body, Soul - Full Integration
Recently, medical science has begun to turn its attention to the spiritual and emotional aspects of healing. Initially this trend began (understandably enough) within the spheres of mental health and psychiatry. However, the medical establishment is now tentatively beginning to explore the connection between mind and body in an enhanced manner, focusing on the emotional aspects of pain and disease, and the physical effects of psychological trauma. This field of study began where physical illness and mental trauma self-evidently overlap – with addiction and substance disorders. The popularity and apparent success of recovery programs which focused on a degree of spirituality gave medical authorities – accustomed to dealing with disorders purely on a physical or chemical basis, pause for thought. The Betty Ford Institute and the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment investigated the phenomenon in 2007, concluding that "spirituality, however hard to define in operational terms, likely constitutes an important motivator for recovery for some (perhaps many) substance-dependent people." [3]. From a shamanic point of view, an addiction is an affliction of the soul caused by the absence or damage of some aspect of the self. Retrieval of the errant part and spiritual re-integration causes the person to become whole again, whereupon they will not need the actions of drugs or alcohol to fill the 'gap'. While unwilling or unable to accept this precise reasoning, medical practitioners are now accepting that addiction is a psychological problem which can be greatly aided by psychoanalytical and spiritual techniques which aid psychological wellness and wholeness. Rehabs.com state that many treatment centers now employ semi-spiritual methods designed to promote mental wholeness and wellness, including "massage and acupuncture services"  [4].

Shamanism and Pain
Shamanism and shamanistic techniques are also being explored in relation to pain and the person's ability to cope with it. In 1949, anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss published "Structural Anthropology" [5] – a book which delved into anthropological theory, practice and conclusions. Within this book was a paper entitled "The Effectiveness of Symbols", in which Levi-Strauss described and analyzed a shamanic ritual of the Cuna people from Panama. The purpose of the ritual was to aid a woman with a difficult childbirth. The shaman, through an elaborate blend of tale-telling and ritual, pulled the woman into a mythic yet deeply personal world which Levi-Strauss perceived to belong to the cultural subconscious. The shaman and his patient believed themselves to be drawing positive spiritual energies to their side and embarking upon a mythic journey through which the woman's soul would be rendered whole and she would gain the strength needed to get through the birth. Levi-Strauss saw it in less mystical terms, but was in no way immune to the psychological potential of the ritual. Indeed, he compared the shaman to a psychoanalyst and drew strong parallels between the ultimate aim and results of the ritual and that of a psychoanalytic session. Neither was he too closed-minded to appreciate the real, physical healing potential of the shamanic ritual. Even though he did not believe in magic or the religion of the Cuna, he did believe in the potential within the mind to heal and aid the body. According to Levi-Strauss, the shaman was "making explicit a situation originally existing on the emotional level and...rendering acceptable to the mind pains which the body refuses to tolerate".  Medical science increasingly accepts that the volume of pain is less important than the mind's ability to cope with it. Naturally every person has their breaking point, but it is truly astounding what the human can bear when they have the right mentality. The British Journal of Anesthesia points out that a person's beliefs about and understanding of the pain which they are experiencing can form "part of the psychosocial context, known to be the largest indicator in predicting the extent of pain-associated disability" [6], and go on to recommend cognitive behavioral therapy for sufferers of chronic pain, in order to diminish their suffering and enable them to cope. In just such a manner does the shaman build up the psychological strength of the patient, bolstering them, unlocking the resources hidden deep within their souls, and enabling them to draw upon those resources to aid them in their pain.

Better United
It seems, therefore, that shamanistic techniques and medical techniques - particularly those of the psychiatrist - can be successfully combined to bring about healing even for those who do not believe in mystical shamanism. The ancient shamans knew a good deal more about the depths of our minds and the relations between mind and body than western science has, until recently, cared to admit-  and their techniques can still be used to bring about unity and healing for suffering people.

[1] Vanderbilt University, "What is Shamanistic Healing?"
[2] Sigmund Freud, "The Interpretation of Dreams", Sterling Publishing
[3] Marc Galanter, Helen Dermatis, Gregory Bunt, Caroline Williams, Manuel Trujillo, Paul Steinke, "Assessment of spirituality and its relevance to addiction treatment", Betty Ford Institute and Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 2007
[4] Rehabs, "Advantages and disadvantages of various methods"
[5] Claude Levi-Strauss, "Structural Anthropology", Basic Books Publishing
[6] C.Eccleston, "Role of psychology in pain management", BJA, 2001

Combining Magical and Conventional Healing Techniques

One of the things that a ceremonial leader once told me is: "Do magic. Do ceremony. Converse with Powers and Beings. AND... get insurance." When we are ill, we have to listen to our inner voice as to which magical and which conventional healing techniques are best for us. That means you have a wide array of possibilities to consider when you seek healing. You can choose from energy balancing, acupuncture, homeopathic remedies, the dragon's breath technique, sweeping with an Athame, use aromatherapy, Kundalini yoga, have conventional surgery, use psychic surgery, take pharmaceuticals, and many, many more magical and traditional Eastern and Western medicine techniques. It's not a one size fits all world when it comes to healing. You can choose a more or less conventional healing route or a combination of them. It all comes down to what methods will put your specific energies back into balance.

Energy and Healing
Since everything is energy, illness and disease can be described as energy states that are out of harmony or out of balance. Using any healing techniques that change the energy to bring it back into harmony can help heal what ails you. Our Energy Healing for Self and Others ebook can help you learn a variety of techniques, some magical and some more conventional that work with bringing your energy back into harmony. As you think about which types of healing techniques to use, here are some foundational healing principles to consider.

Healing Principles
Anything Can Be Healed – Any condition can be healed. It doesn't matter how chronic or acute it is, there is always hope that it can be healed.

You Are a Healer – Yes, YOU can heal. You can heal yourself, animals, the planet and other people. Whether you know it or not, you already know how to heal because healing is natural for humans. Sometimes you just need some help learning how to use your inborn magical healing abilities.

All Healing is About Changing Energy – Everything in the Universe is made up of energy. Even things that appear to be solid are just a big bunch of energy that is constantly vibrating or moving. When the energy for a living thing is out of harmony or balance, illness, pain and disease can result. The shift in energy is not a match for one's normal vibrational state which causes one to be sick. Healing is just adjusting that state back into balance.

To Heal You Must Let Go – Anything you can let go of, you can heal. Disease and illness are often the result of a life situation, issue or hurt that we are holding onto. Sometimes what we are holding onto is from a past life. Using healing techniques to release the emotions around the situation can lead to healing.

You Carry a Legacy of Healing Knowledge – One of the really great things about learning to heal now is that anything you learn in this lifetime carries over to future lifetimes. That's why some people seem to just be natural healers. They've done it before and brought the knowledge with them into their current lifetime.

Healing Evolves as We Do – We are all continuously learning, growing, developing and evolving. As we go through changes, so will the illnesses and diseases we encounter. Think about diseases that were prevalent in the past that we had to learn to heal – smallpox, polio, the plague. Today the focus is more on cancers, heart disease and AIDS. As disease evolves so must healing. Healers must continue to learn and grow to be able to make adjustments to healing techniques or develop new ones to deal with the current diseases.

Really think about each of these principles, what they mean and how they apply to you as a healer. Then all you need to do is to start your journey down the path of learning various techniques of healing. You can do it... with a little magic.

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Why Me? Need Info? Here are Some Magical Methods

Ever wonder why whatever is happening in your life is happening to you? Does it seem sometimes like you have no control and you are at the mercy of chaos and chance happenings? Maybe you need some magical answers to get a grip on your life and take back control. The first thing you need to know is that as a planetary citizen you have a right to any and all information in the Universe. What you do with that information, especially if it concerns other people then falls under the Rules of the Road, but you are entitled to have the information whether you choose to use it or not and however you choose to use it. There are many magical ways to obtain information from spirit guides, higher powers and beings and even from your own Spirit. You will find many of these in our Witchcraft Spell Books series Book 4, The Complete Guide of Witchcraft Rituals & Spells for Beginners. Here are a couple to get you started.

Question Circle
To do a Question Circle you will need to gather a sun yellow candle on a plate or enclosed in glass, paper or wooden matches, pen, and paper. You may also need a compass to help you figure out the cardinal directions of east, south, west, and north. Then follow these directions:

1. Light your yellow candle with your matches.

2. Take your candle, pen, and paper to the east quarter of your circle and sit there facing the outside of the circle (facing east). Ask the Winds of Knowledge what you need to know about your situation, and get quiet inside as you wait for the answer. Be prepared to write down everything that comes to you. Don't think about it, just write. Keep writing until you no longer receive information. Thank the Winds of Knowledge and move to the next step.

3. Get up and move to the south quadrant of your circle, and sit there facing the south. Ask the Winds of Power to show you what actions you need to take for your situation. Again, write any answers that come to you. Thank the Winds of Power.

4. Move to the west quadrant and sit facing west. Ask the Winds of Feeling what emotional shifts you need to make regarding your situation. You may also want to ask for spiritual enlightenment. Thank the Winds of Feeling, and then move to the next quarter.

5. Move to the north, and sit facing north. Ask the Winds of Strength how you can build a foundation for the future you want. Ask for practical guidance about your situation. Thank the Winds of Strength.

6. Now that you have consulted the Winds of each direction, move back to sit at the center of your circle and sit facing east. Read through the answers you wrote that came to you from each direction. Slowly let all the information sink in and reflect upon it. You may want to repeat the question circle several times, at different times, until you get the clarity you need on your situation.

Getting Answers from Yourself
Our life experiences are like a school in which we have set up a number of problems so that as we go through our lives we discover ourselves by discovering the answers. For example, if you find that you keep encountering the same kind of problems over and over again in just different situations or with different people, then that should give you a clue that there is a lesson there for you to learn. Here is a magical technique to use to get answers from your own Spirit.

• Get a sheet of paper and write down the question that you would like to have answered using your dominant hand to write with. For example you might ask what lesson you are to learn from your current situation.
• Then switch your pen or pencil to your other hand (non-dominant hand) and write the first thing that comes to you. Do not stop to think about the question or the answer, just write.
• If you do not get an answer that makes sense right away, don't fret. Just hold the question or any answer you got in your consciousness over the next several days and see if anything comes to you that clarifies it. Information often comes in small pieces at a time so that we can digest it better. It may be only a partial answer at this point and more will come as you are ready for it.

Now you know a way to get answers from higher powers and from your own Spirit as to why conditions are the way they are in your life. You have a right to this information and it can help you decide if there is something you can learn from the situation or if you want to make a change. Take control of your life magically starting with getting the information you need to make a good choice for yourself.

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Need to Dump a Chronic Health Problem Magically? Try This...

There are many techniques to magically deal with health problems, but many of them require some knowledge or foundation of magic. For example, to balance your energy, you have to know about the four elements, their characteristics, how to flow or dump those energies and maybe how to flow them through their associated magical tools. Here's one of the techniques from our Daily Rituals for Attracting What You Want in Life ebook that you can try though without any magical background.

This technique is especially good for those who like physical activity and/or enjoy getting out in nature. You take your chronic health problem and literally throw the symptoms away. Here's how:

1. Go for a walk in the woods, a park, along the beach, or anywhere you are sure to find some rocks and preferably one that has some body of water in it.

2. Take a strong bag or some other object you can use to carry rocks in.

3. You've probably guessed now that the next step is to pick up rocks on your walk. Don't just randomly pick up rocks though. Pick up one rock for each of the symptoms you display for the chronic health problem you want to get rid of and put it in your bag.

4. Don't hurry the process, think through your specific health problem and all the physical symptoms, mental symptoms, the inconvenience or worries it causes for you and any other negative condition that surrounds this problem. For each one you think of pick up a rock and put it in your bag.

5. Now find a body of water such as a lake, the ocean, or a pond in your nature walk area.

6. Standing by the body of water take one rock at a time out of the bag.

7. Hold the rock in your output hand (the hand you naturally point with), focus your intention on the rock and feel yourself flowing one of the negative conditions you thought of earlier into the rock. Do this until the rock feels changed energetically in some way. It may feel tingly or warmer.

8. Then throw the rock as far as you can into the body of water feeling yourself let it go.

How Does It Work?
That's it! Sounds simple, right? It is and now for the magic lesson behind this technique. What you have just done is called simulacra or voodoo magic. You have formed a correlation or psychic connection between a physical object (the rock) and the condition (physical symptom, emotion, thought...). Simulacra or voodoo magic works that same way. You are probably familiar with the term voodoo doll. Well, that is a simulacra of a person. You form a correlation by "keying" the doll to a particular person and then whatever you do to the doll affects the person the doll is keyed to.

To avoid karmic backlash you want to be very careful with what you do to a keyed voodoo doll and make sure you are acting in accordance with the laws that govern magical practice. As another caution, be sure when you are picking your rocks that you don't key them to a specific person or other living thing that could drown when thrown in the lake. For example, if your boss is stressing you out at work which has led to your chronic health condition, don't make one of the conditions you flow into a rock your boss. Instead flow in the emotions you have about it like resentments, fears, and angers or the tasks your boss is assigning to you that stress you out or even the attitude of your boss, but NOT your boss him or herself. The same holds true if your condition centers around a body part or organ. Don't key the rock to the organ or body part, but rather the symptom or emotions you have about the problem with the organ. Once you throw the rock in the water the correlation or psychic connection you formed is severed. According to the laws of simulacra magic, this also severs your connection to the condition the rock was connected to. You can see now why you wouldn't want to have a rock keyed to an organ or part of your body. You certainly don't want to sever your liver or your arm from yourself!

An alternative to throwing the rocks in a body of water is to bury them in the ground and let Mother Earth cleanse them. Leave them there for at least one moon cycle. Whichever way you choose, you now know a magical way to help you deal with a chronic health problem and have discovered that whether you knew it or not, you do know magic. 

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