Life Magic is Simple (and Secret)!

There's definitely magic in the beauty and pageantry of ritual. I love the rhythmic chant and flow of putting up a full cast circle. But not all life magic has to be so complicated, nor is it practical to do a full-cast circle for every one or at any time.

That's where life magic comes in. Life magic is magic for life. It is magic that can be done during the flow of life, without anyone actually noticing. There is, indeed, magic in secrecy.

Life magic is the practice of conducting magic while appearing to do everyday activities. You get the effect of the magic without the weird stares from other people!

Life Magic--Some Definitions
Before we dive into how you can create life magic rituals that fit perfectly into your life, we first need to discuss a couple of definitions, or magical principles.

1. All magical acts are intentional acts, and all intentional acts are magical acts.

2. Any magical ritual you create has the significance that you empower it with.

3. Secrecy, or the shielding of your magical ritual from others, has its own magical power.

So now you know the three principles necessary for you to create your own life magic rituals.


Life Magic--Some Examples
As you think about what might make a good life magic ritual for your life, let's work our way through the three principles discussed above.

The first one says that all magical acts are intentional acts, and vice versa. This means that each time you perform your life magic ritual, you need to pause (at least internally) and put the majority of your intention and attention on your ritual. For instance, if your life magic ritual is to clasp your hands together, with your right thumb crossed over your left thumb, you need to put your attention on your hands. You may still be walking or talking or doing other activities, but your attention and intention need to be focused on your hands. It's kind of like walking and chewing gum.

Next, your magical ritual has the significance you assign it. Suppose you tell yourself and the Universe that when you clasp your hands in this particular way that you are connecting with your guides and angels. This then becomes the magical power of this ritual. You may want to make this significance more clear by writing down the meaning of this gesture, or doing some ritual in which you communicate the significance of this life ritual. You may also want to have a word of power you think or say when you clasp your hands, such as "Connect" or "Guide Me." Choose what works for you.

Finally, secrecy can add an element of magical power to your ritual. It is tempting to get all excited about your life magic ritual and want to tell everyone about it. Don't. Be silent. Be secret. Be magical. If you are able to practice your life magic ritual for at least 40 days in a row without talking about or having it noticed by others, you will feel an extra burst of magical force with your ritual. Try it and see. Chefs like to say that the secret is in the sauce, but magical practitioners like to say that the secret is in the secrecy!

Want to learn more about using daily rituals? Our Daily Rituals for Attracting What You Want in Life ebook will give you lots of rituals to get you started.



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Is Your Magic Wand Bent?

After using your magic wand, do you experience any of these symptoms?

- dizziness
- watery eyes
- rituals gone awry
- crooked magical shielding

These are just a few of the things that can go wrong when you use a magic wand. More specifically, this is what can happen if you use a wand that is not very straight. In other words, a bent magic wand.

What's Up With a Bent Wand?
How do you end up with a bent magic wand? It's really no mystery. The magic wand, being a tool of the element Air, is usually made out of wood, usually a lightweight and light-colored wood, such as white pine, birch, peeled willow, aspen or yucca-stalk. The wood for a wand is usually a limb cut from a live tree.

If you happen to select a limb that's got a few too many twists and bends in it, then you end up with a crooked wand. For instance, cutting a wand from a corkscrew willow (pictured here) will bring you nothing but trouble. You need to start with a tree with relatively straight limbs. Sometimes it can be difficult to tell whether a limb is straight enough to use a wand, since you usually don't use the entire length of the limb. You just need a straight piece of wood that measures from your elbow to the end of your middle finger. So sometimes even a bent limb will work as long as you can cut a straight piece from it.

Some magical practitioners work well with wands that are slightly bent. The way you know whether your wand is too bent is by trying it out. If you experience any of the symptoms listed above, your wand is probably too far bent. In these cases, it is best to find a new limb and make a new wand.

Why Bent Wands Don't Work
The reason bent wands don't work is because they don't direct energy in a straight line. For instance, if you try to put up an energetic shield using a bent wand, chances are the lines that form your shield will be crooked. A crooked omnil, or circular personal shield, will make you feel dizzy. A psychic message sent with a bent wand won't reach its intended target. Ditto for any healing work you do with a crooked wand.

Tip: If you wand rituals, shields, and healing work have been a little "off" lately, check the straightness of your wand. You may need to make a new one.

For more hints on using a magic wand, check out our Wand Ebook.
Or, for the complete course on wands, magical tools, spellwork, tarot and more, check out the online Basic Magic course.

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Photo credit: Corkscrew Willow Tree - Winter Patterns

Spirit Guides: What is a Spirit Guide and Where Are Yours?

Are you in contact and take guidance from your spirit guides and do you even know what is a Spirit Guide? We are all planetary citizens with multiple past lives, and as such we all have spirit guides. Spirit Guides may take on many forms, including angels, animal totems, loved ones from our past, and forms not recognized on this planet. Should you be worried if you don't seem to have any? Nope, you do, you just may not have made contact with them yet.

Spirit Guides: Making Contact
How do you achieve spirit guide contact? An easy way is to start each day with a simple 5 minute meditation. Get comfortable, sit quietly and breathe. When your mind is quiet:

1. Say out loud or in your mind, your wish that you want spirit guide contact. 

2. State that the contact should be achieved in a way that you can easily recognize and handle.

3. Thank your spirit guide in advance. This is a very important step in making a connection with your guide.

Now just go about your day and look for signs. These could come in the form of a conversation you overhear or are part of, animal appearances, a sign in any book you open, thoughts in your head, odd sights and sounds, or various other ways during the day. Be alert and open to a sign that will have meaning to you. If you get to the end of the day and have not seen a sign, just ask again and this time ask for clarification. Don't get discouraged or frustrated if it takes a few tries. If you haven't had contact with your guides before, it may take a little more time to establish a communication link or for you to become accustomed to the type of communications to expect. Also, it is easy to get distracted by everyday life tasks and miss a sign. Keep asking and you will finally recognize the signs at some point. When you do, you will find it was totally worth the wait and that your guides will be there to help you with a multitude of situations.

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Ask Alan - Do Love Spells Work?

Dear Alan,

I am in love with a particular man and I really want him to love me back. He is a friend of mine but I'm pretty sure that he thinks of me as "just a friend." I was looking through a book of spells and came across several love spells, one of which is guaranteed to make someone love you. I've heard that love spells work but also that they can backfire on you. Do love spells work and should I try this one to make this man fall in love with me?

-Loveless, Chicago, OH

Dear Loveless,

I wish I could give you the answer that you want to hear, which is that you can cast a love spell and have the person of your dreams fall in love with you. Unfortunately I can't. From my years of magical practice, I know that the type of love spell you want to cast, to make a specific person fall in love with you, has a good chance of backfiring.

The reason that love spells don't work is because they break one of the fundamental rules of magical practice, rule #2 in Rules of the Road, which says:

Don't bind another being unless you are willing to be likewise bound. This applies to many love spells and some kinds of healing rituals.

It's kind of like the Golden Rule: don't do unto others what you wouldn't want them to do unto you. Think about this: would you want someone that you don't really love to bind you and make them fall in love with you? Probably not. The same holds true in your situation. If the man of your dreams doesn't love you, then binding him with a love spell may cause him to pay attention to you in the short term, but the long-term backlash could get ugly. The problem is that you'll have a hard time predicting what kind of karmic backlash would result from this kind of spell.

The good news is that you can still cast a love spell - you just need one of a different flavor. While you can't cast a spell to make a specific guy fall for you, you can cast a spell to bring a man of your dreams into your life. To start this spell, you need to first write directors and limiters, which tell your spell what you want the spell to do (directors) and what you don't want the spell to do (limiters). For instance, your directors may say that you want to attract a man who:

- is between the ages of 30 and 40
- lives within 100 miles of you
- has a steady job and earns between $x and $y
- shares similar interests as you (you might want to get specific here)
- has a certain kind of personality
- has any other desired characteristics

Your limiters may state that the man:

- does not have any pre-existing health issues
- does not have any children from previous marriages
- any other limiters you do not want to bring into a new relationship

Obviously you may not be able to think of everything to put on your list of directors and limiters, but just try to focus on the most important factors. For instance, you may find a kind temperament (with no tendencies toward violence) to be of great importance. If so, add that to your list. Also, be sure to make any numbers in your list ranges, such as "earns an income between $x and $y." This gives the spell more room to work.

One other crucial point: the more specific your list of directors and limiters the more force it will take to bring the love of your life to you. If you already feel a lot of resistance in the love-life department, you may want to start with a more general list and place fewer "demands" on your spell in the beginning. As the spell begins to attract men into your life, you can always go back and "tweak" the list until it brings you the exact right person. Love, like everything else in life, is sometimes a process. As our teacher Abraham-Hicks says, "You'll never get it done and you'll never get it wrong."

And, of course, the most important detail. What do you do once you have your list? How do you cast a safe spell? The simplest way is to use candle magic. You'll need a plate, a sun-yellow candle (preferably in glass), and your list of directors and limiters. Place your list of directors and limiters on the plate and put the candle over the list. Each day, stand in the south facing north with the candle, plate, and list in front of you. From this position light the candle with a paper or wooden match and let it burn for 30 minutes. This will "launch" your spell into the Universe so it can begin attracting your desired love. Keep following this process until you see some results, then go back and adjust the list as needed.

Want to learn more about attracting love into your life? Check out the L Is For Love Magick Kindle book; part of the Kitchen Table Magick series.

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Spirit Guides: When Animal Spirit Guides Show Themselves to You

When animal spirit guides are ready to enter your life, they will repeatedly show themselves to you – in reality, in dreams, in books, in conversations you overhear or take part in, in a TV documentary, etc... They'll pop up in all sorts of situations. The key is awareness. Magic is happening all the time but most of us miss it through lack of awareness.

Finding Your Animal Spirit Guides
Alternately, you can find your animal spirit guides yourself. There are two basic aspects to researching your animal totem: book research and field research. Reading about animals and their characteristics gives you a good idea of what kinds of energies those animal totems might bring into your life. For instance, hummingbirds bring joy, enthusiasm, and lots of energies, while ravens bring mystery and a deep sense of humor. Field research lets you become familiar with animals that live in your local area and that you will be able to interact with on a more personal level.

Spirit Guides: Book Research
Look for books, journals, magazines or online articles about animals. You can also read books specifically about animal totems, such as "Medicine Cards" by Carson and Sams. This kind of research is particularly good for exploring animals that do not live in your area or that are extinct. Yes, you can have animal totems that are an extinct species physically. The spirit can be around to give guidance and energies even if it no longer has a physical body.

Spirit Guides: Field Research
The second way to get information for choosing an animal spirit guide is to actually go out and observe animals that live in your area. These animals can be useful for you to choose as a totem because they are already adapted to your local environment, and can teach you about survival and enjoyment of your area. You will also be more likely to receive physical messages from these totems because you will be more likely to see and interact with them on a daily basis. Since these animals already exist in your physical area you will be able to do more direct research by physically observing them.

When observing watch for things such as how the animal moves, how they interact with you and other animals of the same and different species, how they express themselves, and what qualities are most dominant in their behavior. This type of information will give you an idea of the characteristics of the animal so that you'll know when you are looking for assistance which animal has the traits that you seek. For example, take a colony of ants. Notice that they keep on task no matter how much interference they encounter. If you scoop up an ant on a piece of paper, carry it 10 feet away and set it back down again, it will continue in the same direction it was headed, as if it had never been scooped up. It will persist in completing its task. If this type of persistence and staying on task is what you need in your life, then the ant might be an excellent totem for you. If you want to be more outgoing and gregarious, consider the raven or the magpie. Or what about the spider for sheer creativity and art?

Whether you choose a totem or it chooses you, always be sure to thank the animal spirit guides for their efforts and do everything you can to find out what the totem animal is about and why they are showing up in your life at this time. Animals are all around us and we have so much to learn from them! Choosing a specific animal to be your totem personalizes your relationship with that animal species, and brings their particular personalities and energies into your life. Doing this kind of research is the first step to developing that kind of personal relationship. Also increase your awareness and watch for any particular animals showing up repeatedly in your life. This could be a totem picking you because higher powers are aware of something you need help or guidance on that that particular animal can help with. Learning more about and working with animal spirit guides is fun, inspiring, educational and another way to add magic to your everyday life.


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