The Magic of the Long Moment

Time travel, or the manipulation of time, has long been a shaman's tool for healing or research. For instance, a shaman might take a person back into a past life event so that person can understand what happened, or a shaman might travel into the future to explore possible what-ifs. For shamans and magicians time is elastic: it can be stretched like taffy, compressed like cotton, or frozen like ice.

One of the simplest ways to begin playing with time magically is to practice the art of the long moment. The art of the long moment is simply the ability to slow our perception of certain events so that we can really see what is happening in present time. It's also called the Cortothalamic Pause. Why do we need such a pause? Because we normally rush headlong through life events at the speed of sound, which doesn't give us optimum time to respond appropriately.

3 Steps to Instant Reaction
Here's the 3 step process that normally happens in any life event:

1. We receive an incoming perception: A person speaks loudly to us
2. The perception is immediately routed by our flow of associations to a certain place in our memory: In this or a past life, we have memories of loud voices and anger.
3. The perception is assigned a meaning: The person is angry with us.

These three steps happen in less than a second. Less than one second after we receive an incoming impression, we have assigned a meaning to the perception and are already beginning to react. We will assume that the person is angry with us regardless of what the person is actually feeling.

In the regular course of things, our time is compressed in this way. There's no time to really evaluate the incoming perception and respond appropriately. Do you ever overreact in the heat of the moment and wonder why? It's because you had no Cortothalamic Pause. You reacted based on memory. In other words, most of us are interacting with life using mechanical reactions from memory -- we are hardly ever in the "now."

The Magic of the Long Moment
This is where the long moment comes in. If you can slow yourself at the moment you receive an incoming piece of data then you can stretch time. In this long moment you give yourself the power to evaluate the information you have received and give a true response.

How can you practice the art of the long moment? It's not hard. Twice a day practice the Cortothalamic Pause. When someone asks you a question or asks you to do something, stop everything inside yourself for 2 seconds. Stop all thought and consideration. Get quiet. Then respond to the person. For a long time you won't actually be able to stop your internal thoughts, but you will be able to see all the mechanical reactions and thoughts that immediately spring up. You'll be truly surprised at the massive and often chaotic activity that happens inside yourself. It will give you true insight into the way you interact with life.

Flower Essences for the Long Moment
To enhance the probability of having a long moment, you can include these flower essences as part of your daily regimen:

- Lavender and Chamomile for calming
- White Chestnut for reducing repetitive thoughts
- Thyme for helping to manipulate Time

Explore the Long Moment and More
Want to explore more flower essence remedies and other techniques for self-healing and self-exploration? Check this out:

Energy Healing for Self and Others (ebook)

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Magic Rituals: This One is Very Cool

Here's the magic question of the day for you:

What's the difference between a ceremony and a ritual?

The answer may vary according to the tradition in which you study, but based on my review of multiple tribal traditions (along with my own observations and experiences), a ceremony is a reenactment of some past event and is meant to bring that event (and its meaning) into present time. For instance, certain dervish sacred dances are ceremonies that reenact past events. A ritual, on the other hand, is a magical act that has an intended magical effect, and therefore must be suitable to the here and now, even if that means adapting it for modern times.

Just a little magical tidbit to think about.

And while you are pondering the possible implications of that, here's something else to play with. Recently we had some of the more advanced students in our school design their own magic rituals as part of their original research. One student came up with what I thought was a fabulously fitting ritual, very in keeping not only with the here and now, but also with the effect that he wished to create.

The Very Cool Magical Ritual
So here was his situation: he had just moved into a new neighborhood and had had some less-than-positive encounters with his new neighbors. Wishing to restore harmony, both within himself and in his relations with his neighbors, he used an ordinary landscaping task to create a powerful ritual.

He needed to trim an olive tree that day. As he approached the tree, he realized that olive branches are the traditional symbols of extending peace to another party. Perfect. As he trimmed the olive tree, he used the Navajo Beauty Way Walking Litany to create a sacred space around himself, the tree, and the entire area surrounding the tree.

Then, to expand the circle of sacred space and restore harmony, he carried an olive branch to each border of his property, saying the Walking Litany as he went. Those of you who have used the Walking Litany know that this form of the Beauty Way is actually a spell in motion. By saying the Walking Litany as he carried and placed each of the olive branches, he was in effect putting up a magical spell matrix around his property and in contact with his neighbors.

He reported that he felt appreciative of his neighbors' efforts to beautify their yards after performing his self-created ritual to extend peace to his neighbors. Prior to the ritual, his emotions ranged between anger and scorn toward those neighbors, especially when the neighbor's yard improvement projects overlapped with his own.

The external results have yet to be fully played out, but without a doubt the ritual created an internal effect. Because an internal change in us always leads to an external change in the world, this student is bound to soon see the positive physical effects of his personal ritual.

Pretty cool, huh? I think so.

Daily Magic Rituals for You
You can learn more about daily magic rituals in our "Daily Rituals for Attracting What You Want in Life Ebook" ebook. This ebook features numerous magical rituals that you can easily incorporate as a part of your everyday life, plus teaches you the process of creating your own magic rituals.

Check out the ebook here:

Daily Rituals for Attracting What You Want Ebook

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Magical Self-Defense: When to Use It

When to Use Magical Self-Defense

As magicians, it's important to study the area of self-defense carefully since we have considerable power and force. The inappropriate use of that power and force can cause Universal backlash. We must be especially careful to control our tempers and not use our abilities reactively.

According to Western magical practice, "You have a right to be here and follow your own path so long as you hinder no one else in doing likewise." This foundational principle asserts our right to exist and follow our own path and by extension, our right to defend ourselves against those who might seek to prevent us from walking our path.

As you grow in magical ability, you will inevitably attract beings on different levels that seek to interfere with your path in some way. Writer Clarissa Estes, author of Women Who Run With the Wolves, so accurately states, "If you have beauty in your life, know that it will attract the dark as well as the light. Don't be surprised. Be prepared."

Here's a good rule of thumb to use when it comes to self-defense:

"In cases of direct and violent personal harm you are entitled to defend yourself by any means available, provided you did nothing to encourage or provoke the attack."

For a more in-depth look at when to use magic for self-defense and some techniques to use for magical self-defense, take a look at these articles:
Magical Aikido for Self Defense: What to Do if Someone Grabs You
What You Probably Don't Know About Magical Self-Defense

OR

Learn Magical Self Defense at home with our online course.

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Don't Fix Your Life! Live a Magical Life Instead

We get a lot of emails each week from people asking for techniques, spells and advice to fix their lives. We always we respond, but for the most part we aren't able to send the "magical cure" over email.

Why is this? Because even if we were to fix the current "problem" in a person's life, another problem would soon appear. That person's consciousness created the first problem, and will create another and another and another.

So what does this tell us? It tells us that there's a big difference between trying to fix your life and learning to live a magical life. The first is a temporary solution at best, while the second produces a permanent, positive transformation in your life.

The bottom line is that you can't fix your life. You cannot successfully and permanently apply magical principles to temporary life situations. Those situations exist simply to tell you that something is awry in your life, and that you need to pay attention. What you can do is change your consciousness and your intention with magic.

How Magic Works to Improve Your Life
Magic is the study of fundamental Universal laws and principles. When you don't understand these laws, life appears chaotic, whimsical, without reason and often perverse. The same was true in earlier times, when people did not understand the basics of weather and thought that willful deities were punishing them with drought or famine.

When you begin to understand the basic laws of the Universe (and of this Earth school), you begin to see the rhyme and reason that moves through your life and everyone else's life. Magic gives you levers with which to leverage the forces in your life toward your goals and aims. With these levers you will have greater control over you attention, your behaviors, your compulsions and your desires. You'll understand the roots of all these facets of yourself, and know how to direct them in your favor.

Learning spells and exercises without understanding the basic principles behind them can get you only so far. Why? Because when you don't understand the reasons behind those exercises, you don't get much use out of them. The study of basic magical principles teaches you the skills to design your own spells, exercises and techniques that work in YOUR life - because you designed them! Using spells and exercises that work in someone else's life rarely creates permanent change in yours.

So roll your sleeves up, really get down and dirty - and personal - in your study of magic. Your life is not like your car - you cannot take your life to a shaman and have them fix it in 3 days. You can, however, learn the art of magic and your life will fix itself (magically). Got it? Good!

If you want to know more about the art and study of magic or learn basic Universal principles, check out these courses:

Home Study Courses

Magic Ebooks

Magic Email Course

Magic Kindle Books

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Cloud Magic in 4 Simple Steps

If you are interested in becoming a magical weather worker, then cloud magic is a great place to start. Magical weather workers can do truly incredible things, including altering the direction of storms, calling in moisture during droughts, and even influencing temperatures on a local or global level. In terms of daily use, knowing how to work with weather can help you clear up an impending storm on the day of a big outdoor concert, alter the course of a snowstorm so you don't have to drive through icy roads, or bring in some local cloud cover so your plants don't wilt from the heat during a sizzling summer. But before you can do all of these incredible things with weather, you'll need to start on a smaller scale, with cloud magic.

Cloud magic is simply the art of moving clouds around in the sky. You can reshape clouds, move them from left to right, or even drill a hole in an overcast sky to let some sunshine through. Cloud magic teaches you to extend and use your energies, which you can later develop when working with the winds of the four directions and larger weather systems. Below are 4 simple steps you can use to begin practicing cloud magic.

1. Choose a day that has scattered, puffy clouds for this exercise. Get into a comfortable position (either sitting or laying down) where you can easily see the clouds.

2. Choose a particular cloud to work with. Decide what you will do with your cloud. You can split the cloud in half, shape it to look like an animal, extend one end of the cloud or make the cloud taller. Whatever you choose, keep it simple. For instance, you may choose a cloud that already looks like a duck, but a duck with a short tail. Choose to extend the duck's tail until it looks proportional to the rest of the body.

3. Shape the cloud using your thoughts and intention. See the cloud as you want it to be. Now super-impose that image over the actual cloud. You can also talk to the cloud or use your hands to shape the cloud. While you obviously can't touch the cloud with your hands, clouds are sensitive to force of movement in your hands as well as the energy your hands project.

4. Clouds are very reactive and easy to shape, but sometimes slow to move. If you work with your cloud for 1-2 minutes but very little seems to be happening, take a break for a few minutes then look at your cloud again. You'll probably see that the cloud has moved in the direction you pushed it. The cloud just took a while to get there.

As with all of these types of exercises, don't judge the result. Just keep practicing. Before long you'll be delighted with what you can do with cloud magic and you'll be ready to move on to more complex weather working techniques.

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