Shamanic Secret: Don't Get Sick... Celebrate Instead!

One shamanic secret of magic that works is to celebrate. We tend to get so busy with our everyday lives that we don't take the time to do as the tribal people of ancient times and celebrate the change of each season. Instead we rush through our obligations, responsibilities and to do lists and end up getting sick. The body, mind and spirit demand down time and if we don't make time for it we are forced into it through illness. In our Everyday Magic Email course, this is one of the topics we cover along with how utilizing the ancient shamanic secret of celebration works to clear out the old and make way for the new.

Celebrating
Ancient celebrations of the changing seasons often incorporated singing, dancing, and ritual. These celebrations often lasted for days clearing the old out of body, mind and spirit to make way for the new. The elders knew new creation could not occur otherwise. We find taking the time to use magic that works, invites magic into our lives and we don't have less time to get the things done that we feel we need to. Instead we find that there is magically enough time to get everything done and manifesting what we want comes easier. In today's times we understand it is hard to find days to have these types of celebrations. The good news is that we don't have to take days of ritual to honor the changing seasons, although if you have that kind of time it is very rewarding. Here are a few ways you might employ this shamanic secret of celebration and get some downtime to nourish your body, mind and spirit:

• Go camping to spend several days out in nature or at least spend several days going to take a long walk in the peace and quiet of the woods or a quiet park.

• Commit to turning off your phone, email and social media for a few days or at least one day.
   
• Perform a small ceremony for yourself or go all out and perform a more formal ritual in a full cast circle.
   
• Take some quiet time alone to write a gratitude list of things that have been in this phase of your life. Take time to read each one and individually express appreciation for each one while focusing on it.
   
• Make a list of those things you wish to let go of or release from your life. Focus your attention on each one as you visualize it moving away from you and then burn the list.
   
• Commit to doing a daily ritual such as the Day Greetings and Day Endings of the Navajo Beauty Way and do it every day for a few weeks. After seeing the results, you may decide to keep this one up all year.
   
• Learn a short yoga routine to do each morning in a quiet space or take that time each morning to doing a 10 minute meditation for a week or two.

These are just a few ideas to get you started thinking about taking some time off at the change of each season. You will become much healthier in body, mind and spirit by doing this and find that by inviting magic into your life in this way, your life will become more magical.

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How to Learn Magic by Asking for a Sign

While discovering how to learn magic, many people find asking for a sign helps get them through the wait time. For example if you are attempting to manifest something and hit an obstacle or unexpected roadblock it can be difficult to keep a positive attitude and really know that what you are creating is coming to you. We talk about this in our Daily Rituals for Attracting What You Want in Life ebook and cover various techniques for getting answers and guidance from higher powers. The Universe is always willing to help us and sometimes a positive sign from the Universe helps keep us upbeat and cheerful and give us the reassurance we need while waiting for our manifestation to appear.

Here is one of the simple techniques covered in the ebook you can do to ask the Universe for a sign.

• First thing in the morning, sit quietly in meditation for a few moments to clear your mind and connect with your spirit.

• Sit and breathe for 3 minutes if you are not comfortable with meditation.
   
• Then ask the Universe to show you a positive sign today that what you desire is coming to you.
   
• State that you'd like the sign to be something you can easily recognize.
   
• Thank the Universe in advance for its help (it is good spiritual practice to give thanks before receiving).

Now go about your day. Be watching for anything that might be the sign, stay alert. The sign might come as a piece of conversation, a gorgeous rainbow, an unexpected source of money, lyrics in a song, an unexpected pleasurable phone call or in thousands of other ways. The sign doesn't have to be big, it just has to mean something positive to you. Once you see something that you recognize as a positive sign, be sure to immediately thank the Universe again for its help.

If at the end of the day you have not recognized a sign, take some time to sit quietly and review the day. Think about events that happened and become very curious about the sign. The Universe never fails to send a sign, but we may fail to consciously recognize it. Since your mind records everything, you may be able to find the sign by going back through your memories of the day.

If you still don't find the sign after going back and reviewing your day, thank the Universe for sending a sign and ask for another sign tomorrow. Ask this time that the Universe make it even clearer. Keep this process going until you receive your sign. We've never seen it take longer than 3 days for someone to get a sign that they are able to recognize.

This simple ritual is often full of surprises and a great one to add to your exercises for how to learn magic. It starts you communicating with the Universe and higher powers, helps you establish a relationship with higher powers, gives you insight on your awareness and perceptions, is a great way to make decisions or give indications of directions to take in your life, and many other skills that are useful to a magical practitioner. This ritual is definitely one that can show you how magic not only has a practical application in life and can give you greater insight into yourself, but also is lots of fun.

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How To Choose Even When You Have No Choice

When we look at our lives many of us often feel like we have very little choice. We have to work, meet family obligations, and attend to the daily chores of "making a living." This lack of choice often makes us feel helpless and disempowered. We feel that we are not in control of our own lives.

The good news is that there's a simple way to regain our personal power. It's called "choosing even when you have no choice." Consider going to work, for instance. Most of us have to work to earn an income for basic needs, and while we might have the freedom to change jobs, we don't really have the choice to not work. So how can we choose in this situation where we have no choice?

Pick a segment of your day at work (could be as little as 15 minutes and no more than one hour) during which you will experiment with choices and personal power. Now make a choice about something for that segment. If you have some freedom in your work, choose what you will do during that segment. Decide precisely when you will start, exactly what you will achieve, and when you will stop. When the time comes, start your chosen work and end whenever you've chosen. It's important to end at the chosen time--the ending is just as important as the starting point.

If you don't have the freedom to choose what you'll do, then choose something internal to focus on. For instance, you might choose to focus only on thoughts that put a smile on your face or work with a smile on your face. You might choose to be aware of the sensations in your right hand while you work. You might choose to see how much work you can complete in 15 minutes. You might choose to take off one earring or one sock during that segment. It doesn't matter what you choose or how trivial it might seem. The key is that YOU'VE chosen it.

Why does choosing in a situation where you have no choice make a difference? Because any intentional choice is an act of personal power, and will increase your personal power. The more acts of power you do, the more personal power you will gain. The more personal power you have, the less you'll feel trapped by daily life. Just remember that you can do acts of power in any situation, no matter how little freedom you appear to have.

Enjoy!

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How to Meditate with Animals

Meditating with Animals

We all know that watching fish swim, chickens peck, or cats stretch can be very relaxing, but did you know that you can actually extend the art of animal watching to a meditation that can offer you deep insights into the wisdom of animals?

One of our favorite teachers, Abraham-Hicks, likes to say that whenever you want to attract something into your life, feel the desire for that thing and then pet the cat. Why should you pet the cat? Because almost by osmosis you get that relaxed, go-with-the-flow, allowing feeling that cats automatically exude, and Abraham teaches that allowing is the key to manifestation.

Animals, by their very nature, are more in touch with Spirit than we are, and tend to be connected to all that is higher. If you want to relax, get back in touch with Spirit, and connect with the higher, try this simple animal meditation.

1) Get into a comfortable position where you can see the animal you want to meditate with. Make sure the animal you've chosen is in a relaxed state of being. You can choose a cat, dog, horse, cow… any animal that seems to have the spiritual energy you're looking for.

2) Observe the animal closely. Notice the color of their coat or skin, the way the light catches different parts of their body. Notice anything that comes to you about the animal's appearance. Keep this level of observation for a minute or two.

3) Next, begin to mimic the animal's breathing. Match the animal breath for breath. Now extend that mimicry to include the animal's expression and focus of attention. Are the eyes open or closed? Where is the animal's attention? What is he or she looking at? Is the animal's attention inwardly or outwardly focused? Stay focused on this aspect of the meditation for a few minutes, until you really begin to feel that you are being "breathed" by the animal's rhythm.

4) Finally, if you want, mimic the animal's action. If a cat is twitching its tail, imagine you have a tail, then twitch it in the same rhythm. If the horse you are watching is chewing grass, move your jaw in the same motion. How does that feel? Stay with the meditation as long as you wish, or until you get the connection you're looking for.

If you've chosen an animal that is truly in a connected state of being, and you mimic that animal's actions, expressions, breathing and attention, you will begin to feel the same sort of spiritual connection that most animals feel all the time. Plus, it will give you a lot of insight into how your animal perceives the world.

This exercise works because of the law of "as above, so below." When you physically mimic your chosen animal, your mind and spirit will also mimic the animal's mental and spiritual state. In fact, some horseback riding trainers encourage their (human) students to follow their horses around for an entire day, mimicking everything they do. This gives the students an opportunity to really understand the world from the horse's point of view.

Animals have so much wisdom and connection to share with us, and we often miss their special gifts because we don't take the time to really "be" with them. To learn more about how to communicate directly with animals, check out Leta Worthington's beginning animal communication ebook.

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Making Graceful Life Transitions

I recently was gifted with the experience of observing a friend go through a fairly major life transition that affected every member of her family. While this process is happening all the time to at least a certain population of the planet, what made this experience so special was experiencing the grace, intention, and determination with which she walked through this transition.
Because of the beauty of this experience I began reflecting that many of us face transitions and change with resistance (if not downright horror!), which causes the transitions to be choppy and filled with stops and starts rather than smooth and graceful. I then reflected on the many steps my friend took to ease the way for her transition, and how those steps were rituals that kept her path straight and narrow.
I’d like to share some of the rituals and remedies that she used to make her life transition a joyful one filled with gifts, along with a few of my own.
Flower Essences
Flower essences are generally taken 4 drops, 4 times as day. Rescue Remedy can be taken as often as needed.

• Walnut: Excellent for all kinds of life transitions, clears old habit patterns, helps you find your direction free from the influence of others.
• Cherry Plum: Trust in the intuitive guidance of life, also called the “letting go and letting God” essence
• Rescue Remedy: A five flower essence created by Bach that helps in all traumatic and trying situations.

Colors

• Sun Yellow: Burning a sun yellow candle for 30 minutes or more will nourish your spirit vitality and help you make clear, birth-vision oriented choices.
• Sky Blue: Surrounding yourself with sky blue or wearing sky blue will connect you with spirit and free you from mind’s chatter.

Angels

• Hire an Angel: There is an angel for everything you need. To hire an angel, just say, “I’d like to hire an angel specializing in [state your desire].” Wait a few seconds, then make your request, which might go something like this: “Angel of [your desire], I request your help in walking with me through this life transition so that I see all the gifts and beauty that are part of this process. Thank you in advance.” Then, at the end of the day or throughout the experience, thank your angel again. Appreciation is necessary in working with angels!

Rituals

• Pendulum: If a particular life transition seems to be dragging on too long, you can spin a pendulum clockwise until it stops, with the intention that the pendulum is clearing any stagnant energies associated with the situations.
• Walk in the Rain: Walking in the rain, especially by running water, helps to clear out old energies and bring fresh insights into a life transition. The running water carries away the old and the rain brings in the new!

There are hundreds of different steps you can take to smooth any life transition – these are just a few of my favorites. To learn more about these steps, get copies of these two ebooks:
Energy Healing for Self and Others

Daily Rituals for Attracting What You Want in Life


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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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Accepting the Here and Now

One of the questions we get most often in our email inbox is, "How do I create what I want in life?" We get reams of email from people who feel stuck in life, who feel like they are standing still rather than moving toward their preferred future. They want to know why they are stuck treading water-and how to get unstuck.

The Answer: Part I
The answer to this question comes in two parts. First, why do we get stuck on a certain square in our life, unable to get going? Inevitably we get stuck because we don't accept where we are in the here and now. Think about it.

If you don't like certain aspects of your life situation very much, what happens when you think about your life? You either get a deep sense of dissatisfaction when you ponder what you don't like or you try to avoid thinking about those unfavorable aspects. Both dislike and avoidance will keep you stuck in the same life situation forever because both are negative emotions that don't possess a high enough vibration to attract what you really want in life.

If you stop to really think about it, when you hate where you stand in life, you are fighting a war with yourself. One part of you understands where you stand. The other part hates where you stand. Until you can bring the two together-that is, until you can stop fighting your internal war-you can't move off your square. So how do you stop the war?

The Answer: Part II
That brings us to the second part of the answer, which is simple. If you want to stop the war and get off your square, simply accept where you are here and now. Look at your life situation, warts and all, and accept that this is where you stand at this moment in time and space. Don't judge it, don't fight it, just accept it.

Now why is this so difficult to do? Acceptance of a less-than-desirable life situation is difficult because we live in a progress-oriented society. We are taught to keep moving forward and always keep our eyes on our dream. But unfortunately we can't ever reach our dreams unless we first acknowledge the starting line, the place where we currently stand. The journey to our dreams is a path from here and now to there and then. To start the journey, we have to accept where we stand today. Until we feel comfortable with our current life situation, we will always be fighting an internal battle with a script that keeps saying something like, "You should be further along in life by now."

Practice Enjoying the Here and Now
So stop the tape and practice accepting your life as it is today. In fact, go even further and practice enjoying your life. Realize that your "responsibility" in life is not to reach your goals today. Today your primary responsibility is to accept where you are.

Note that acceptance is different from tolerance. Tolerance means bearing your life but not liking it. Acceptance means seeing and not disliking any part of your life, even enjoying every part of your life.

Sound too difficult? Then just start with a single aspect of your life that you either avoid or dislike. Try to see it with new eyes. Find something good about it, anything. Tomorrow, find something else good or at least neutral about it. Keep going until that part of your life becomes acceptable. Then find another aspect of your life and start over again. Enjoy the journey and you will find yourself at your destination sooner than you know.

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Magical Knowledge: Get Your Piece of the Pie!

How Can You Get Your Piece of the Magical Pie?

Did you know that knowledge, especially magical knowledge, is actually a material substance? Contrary to popular opinion, knowledge is not a concept or idea but actually a thing. At any given time on this planet there is a limited amount of knowledge, and the more knowledge you have the more useful it becomes.

The accumulation of magical knowledge allows people (that’s you!) to live in the miraculous. For instance, yogis, monks, fakirs, and certain teachers and ascended beings have spent decades carefully accumulating their store of knowledge. This knowledge gives them penetrating insight into the drivers in this world, as well as the ability to perform apparently miraculous deeds such as walking through walls.

People Don't Want Magical Knowledge = More for You
So how can you get your share of magical knowledge? It’s not as hard as you think. Here’s the catch: most people don’t want their share of knowledge! Most people are so engrossed in the daily dramas of life that they aren’t even aware of the knowledge that’s available to them. In fact, G. I. Gurdjieff, a teacher and metaphysicians, taught that during times of mass madness such as war, tremendous amounts of knowledge are released. He said:

“The majority of people don’t want any knowledge whatever…this is particularly evident during times of mass madness…when men suddenly seem to lose even the small amount of common sense they had and turn into complete automatons…even losing the instinct of self-preservation.” (from “In Search of the Miraculous,” P. D. Ouspensky)

Doesn’t that quote resemble our current planetary situation? During these times it is the work of esoteric and mystery schools to carefully collect the knowledge that is released and making it available to those who desire it.

Ready to step off the wheel of pain and struggle? Want to take a break from recession, war, and madness? Start accumulating your knowledge - check out the Basic Magic Course to see if it’s right for you. A strong community of like-minded people ready to accept and use the ancient knowledge of this planet is waiting online for you.

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Shrink Your Limitations Magically

According to a number of esoteric texts and spiritual guides (including one of our favorites, Paxton Robey), Earth is a school. More importantly, Earth is a fairly rugged and difficult school designed to help beings learn life and spiritual lessons very quickly!

As you've probably noticed, one of the most frequently used teaching techniques in our Earth school is limitation. Most of us seem to experience limitation of one sort or another in one of the three basic areas: health, money/career, or love/relationships. Some of us don't have enough money while others don't have enough love. Some are limited in career growth, and still others lack health. And some of us find lack in all three areas at once!

How to Deal with Limitation Magically
So what can we do about our limitations? How can we learn from them and move on to a life of greater freedom? Magically, we can turn to the Law of Octaves to help us shrink our limitations. The Law of Octaves says that anything that exists does so on one of many octaves. Some octaves are huge (on the scale of solar systems) and others are tiny (on the scale of our personal lives).

We can use the Law of Octaves to shrink our limitations by moving them to smaller octaves that occupy less space in our lives. For instance, suppose you have difficulty finishing projects in your life – you seem to flit from project to project never completing a single one. You've probably tried all kinds of ways to motivate yourself to finish these projects with little success. The whole situation can seem daunting. But you can use the Law of Octaves to bring your limitation down to a smaller scale where you can more easily deal with it.

Start Small
One way would be to find a tiny area of your life where you have trouble with completion and seek to correct the problem there. You may, for example, be careless about screwing caps onto bottles all the way or you might forget to check whether you turned off the stove after cooking dinner. Find just one little area that represents the larger problem on a smaller scale. Then, focus all of your attention on being conscious in that smaller octave. Take the time to screw the lids onto jars or to check the stove after cooking dinner. You'll be surprised at how dealing with your limitation on this smaller scale will apply the correction to the big areas of your life.

Be creative in how you apply the Law of Octaves and have fun with it! If you find that you're too inflexible in life, don't try to correct the problem changing everything at once. Try, for instance, to shrink to octave down to one joint in your body. If you can make your hand or wrist more flexible, then you'll become more flexible in life. Or you could become more flexible in your choice of music by listening to a new radio station every day on your way to work (for just five minutes if nothing else). It's whatever works for you as long as you confine and work on your area of limitation on a teeny-tiny octave. Enjoy!

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Online Magic: Which Magical Type are You?

When students enter our online magic school, we can usually identify their magical element type right away. Even when we only have email or phone contact with our students, people are usually quite obvious when it comes to the magical elements and their personality type. The four magical elements of Air, Fire, Water, and Earth, when interpreted as a personality type, can be translated with the following types:

- TALK: This is the Air personality type. Other descriptors include communicate, think, plan, translate, enlightenment (on the Spirit level)

- DO: This is the Fire personality type. Other words to describe this personality type include kinetic energy, movement, action, power

- FEEL: This is the Water personality type. People with this personality type are also described as emotional, strongly connected to Spirit (emotion is the language in Spirit), psychic, receptive

- BE: This is the Earth personality type. Earth personality types are also described as serene, stable, steady, strong, anchored

So which type are you? You might be a combination of two types, but usually one of the magical elements dominates your personality type.

Why is it important to know your personality type in terms of the four magical elements? Because as magicians and shamans the more we know about ourselves, the better practitioners we become. We can use this knowledge to compensate for our weaknesses, and capitalize on our strengths.

If you are still not sure about your personality type in terms of the magical elements, consider downloading and taking our online no-cost test.


Have fun learning about yourself magically in terms of the four magical elements. Know thyself!

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Spirit Guides: Guardian Angel Prayer

Some people ask us for a specific guardian angel prayer when they need help from spirit guides. There are certainly many "fixed" guardian angel prayers out there, but we find a conversation or specific request to fit a specific situation works better when it comes to guardian angels or working with any angels. Guardian angels are those special angels that we have a more personal relationship with and that we can have a more lasting relationship with. But when it comes to working with angels, lengthy relationships aren't required- you can hire one on the spot.

Spirit Guides: Asking for Help
In this society we are taught early and often that we need to "make" things happen. We learn from an early age that we have to physically create everything we want in life - with no help from angels, the Universe, or other powers and beings. While this attitude makes us motivated movers and shakers in the world, it also prevents us from accessing all the help that's available to us. If we feel we have to do everything ourselves, we won't ever ask for help. But what a waste if we don't.

Did you know that there is an angel helper for just about everything in life? Whether you want a new job, a new mate, to know how much salt you should put in your food, to save you a parking space at the mall, get that promotion you've been looking for, or just help you with a shift in your life, there is a Universal being just waiting to help you. Then there are your own personal guardian angels and guides that can help you and give you guidance. All you have to do is ask.

Spirit Guides: Working with Angels and Guides
Here are a few things to keep in mind as you start working with angels:

• You can be, do, and have everything and anything you want.
• The Universe in general, and angels specifically, are friendly, on your side and will help you succeed
• Be grateful first - you'll then receive

When working with angels you need to also remember the same rule that applies when asking for help from the Universe. It delivers whatever you put your attention toward- what you think and feel. It can't go against that. If you've asked for something that isn't coming to you, ask for help shifting your energy into a more allowing and receiving mode. Don't try too hard - relax. The more relaxed and joyful you are, the faster the things you want will come to you.

Part of an angel's job is to help us - they can't move on to the next level of their evolution unless they help us and they can't help us unless we ask. So there are groups of angels just waiting anxiously for us to ask them for their help. Do not take them for granted. Be sincere in your appreciation of them.

Also they can't go against your will unless you ask for that specifically. For instance, suppose you ask for an angel to help you get a job. If you are repeating negative thoughts in your head over and over about how you can't possibly get a job then the angel can't override that energy. However, you can request that one angel help you stop thinking so negatively about whether you will get a job and another angel to help you line up a job.

Most of us are so busy during the day that we have a hard time hearing the quiet dry voices of higher guidance. Whether we know it or not, these guides are speaking to us all the time. They are willing and eager to help us manifest what we want in life, but most of the time we just can't hear them over all the noise of cell phones, radio, television, and gossip.

Spirit Guides: How to Ask for Help
If you need the help of a guardian angel, here is a way to start the conversation and request help:

• Acknowledge they exist
• Let them know specifically what you need
• Wait for a response (which may sound like your own voice in your head or a song, or a phrase you hear or read...)
• Ask for the help you need (such as looking after your car on a long trip - be specific, such as no damage, no need to have maintenance on your car during the trip, always finding gas stations when you need it, etc.)
• Thank in advance
• Keep track of correspondence
• Record results as they happen

Spirit Guides: Who Are My Guides and Guardian Angels?
If you are not sure who your guardian angels or principle guides are, here is a meditation to help you find your principle guide. You may want to have someone read it aloud to you.

• To begin, first hold the idea, "I want to meet my principle guide and I ask him or her to appear." 
• Put yourself in the place of inner silence, letting go of your analytical mind. As you begin to count backward from ten to one, allow yourself to slide from your habitual state of awareness down into an altered state of higher Spirit awareness.
• Ten, nine, eight ... feel sensation flowing strongly throughout your arms and legs.
• Seven, six, five ... feel your breathing become even, slow, and deep.
• Four, three, two ... notice your thoughts drifting away like the retreating surf follows a breaking wave.
• One ... become aware of your complete relaxation and notice that you are in a state of deep tranquility.
• Now become aware as your principle guide comes up behind you and stands very close. He or she bends down to whisper his or her name in your ear.
• When you hear the name of your guide, nod your head in acknowledgement. Let "You are welcome" be your only thought. Now invite your guide to appear before you, revealing his or her identity and resemblance.
• Allow yourself to be filled with appreciation for this presence who will always be available whenever you call.
• Finally, let go so that you may return to the world of form. Count upwards from one to five, becoming fully alert and active at the count of five. One, two, three, four, five. Now open your eyes and enter the present world of thought, material, mass, space, and time. Your experience of your guide will remain with you. Know that you are never alone except by choice.

There is so much help available to us through our guides, angels, guardian angels, the Universe itself and a host of other higher powers and beings. You don't have to do it all by yourself. Just ask, put yourself in receiving mode and the help you need will be there.


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Protection Magic: How to Create Fireballs

No doubt you have seen fantasy magic shows with witches or wizards using fireballs as protection magic and obliterating the enemy. Well when it comes to protection magic, fireballs are real, but they don't quite work that exact way. In our Magical Self Defense Homestudy course, we do cover 3 methods of constructing fireballs, how to properly and safely dispose of them, and how they can be used. In this article we will give you directions to use one of these methods to practice yourself. Before using any self-defense technique for protection magic, you want to make sure you are following the laws that govern their use. If you are not familiar with these laws then you can find them in this article.

What is a Fireball?
Fireballs are self-cohesive energy forms that can actually be made from any of the 4 elements, not just the Fire element. According to what you are building a fireball for will determine which element you may want to use in constructing it. Energy made into a ball form has a high energy punch and will exist indefinitely if not used or properly disposed of. This is one reason you want to be careful with these forms and not just leave them lying around for someone to get hurt with. This is a perfect form for protection magic and for sending messages that can protect you. You can throw the ball at someone who is physically attacking you to stun them, back them off or even cause more permanent damage. If you use a fireball in this way, be sure you are within your rights according the laws that govern magical practice and magical self-defense or there can be ramifications for you. How the attacker is affected will depend on what element you have used to build the fireball and what part of the body you throw it at. For example, if you construct a fireball of white air energy and throw it at the head, you will cause the person to become disoriented or spacey which may give you time to run away. If you throw any of the fire colors made into a fireball at the head you can cause seizures or damage to the brain.

Snowball Method
This is one of the three methods of building a fireball that we present in our Magical Self Defense Online Course. Be sure before you begin that you read all the directions and follow them exactly as altered procedures create altered results. Also read the section on properly disposing of the fireball so when you finish building one for practice, you will know how to safely get rid of it.

1. Decide on the type of energy you want to have in your fireball. You will need to pick which element and which elemental color you will use, then find a source for that particular energy. An object of the appropriate color will work.
2. Stand so that the source is placed to where you can pull the energy in through your shoulders from behind you.
3. Hold your hands in front of you 5 to 6 inches apart, with the palms facing each other and fingers slightly curled, thumbs touching each other (as if you were holding a small ball)
4. Pull the energy from the source you selected in through your shoulders from behind, and down each arm.
5. Push the energy from your left arm out through your left palm, into the center of the ball shape. 
6. Push the energy from your right arm out through your right thumb, into your left thumb, then out of your left palm. Directing the energy this way sets up a clockwise spin in the ball, which is what makes the ball self-sustaining. 
7. Keep flowing the energy until you feel a springy pressure or sensation against your palms.
8. You now have a self-contained ball.

How to Dispose of Fireballs
The proper and safe way to dispose of a fireball is to throw the ball at the appropriate ground for the element you are using. This means for Fire energy into an electrical ground like an outlet, large electrical appliance such as a refrigerator or if you are outside then into a powerline tower. For a fireball made of Air, Water or Earth you can throw it into the earth.

Fireball messages
Sending messages using a fireball can also be a good technique in protection magic. You can convince an attacker to leave you alone or get them to walk away using fireball messages. You can also send messages that help protect you in cases where there is no attack. For example, if someone owes you money and has not paid it back for quite a long time, a fireball message can help you collect. Here are some examples of colors and elements you might use in particular situations to make your fireball messages most effective.

Sky Blue Air – send to someone who is mentally busy and likely to ignore messages

Water Blue – these affect the subliminal or subconscious mind

Deep Blue Water – be careful if using these by making sure you are in accordance with magical self-defense laws as these create compulsive messages. These could be used to get back a stolen item from someone or collect long due debt

White Air – affects the conscious mind and may have to be repeated several times before recipient takes action

Consider the time of day when you are sending the message also. Pick a time of day that you think is not so busy, noisy or hectic for the person you are sending the message to so they will be more likely to hear it. Once you decide the element and the color to use, construct the fireball as per above instructions, then:

1. See the person's face or their name if you don't know what they look like in the ball
2. Add your message in the ball by speaking it or seeing it in electric white neon letters. Keep your message short and to the point.
3. Throw the ball and it will go to the person it has been programmed to seek out.

Fireballs are a great technique to use for protection magic of all kinds including sending messages. As with all magical techniques, the constructing of fireballs needs to be practiced for you to become proficient at it. You have the instructions now, and if this is an area of interest to you, go ahead and get started trying out fireballs for yourself. If you find you want to learn more, check out the homestudy course.

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Ritual Magic: A Daily Ritual of Fire Magic to Release the Unwanted

If the New Year has brought about awareness of something you would like to release from your life (something that's been bothering you or something no longer needed), a simple daily ritual of fire magic can help.

Ritual Magic: Finding a Firebowl
First you will need a firebowl and firebowl ingredients. When choosing a firebowl, look for one that is made of brass, cast-iron, ceramic or a hard hardwood. It should be 4-6 inches in diameter and 4-5 inches deep. It should also be a shape that is easily held with one or both hands and light enough to carry in one hand if necessary. Make sure your firebowl is of a shape that will be stable when placed on a flat surface. The shape of the bowl should also be curved-in and flared back out at the top rim to promote "columning" of incense or smoke.

Ritual Magic: Firebowl Ingredients
Fire Clay
To use your firebowl you will need to fill it with ground fire clay or clean, fine sand. Non-scented cat litter (which is ground clay) works well as long as it does not have chemicals or deodorants in it. Put 1-2 inches in the bottom of your firebowl as an insulator to protect the firebowl itself, your hands and any surfaces from the heat.

Charcoal Disks
You will also need some self-starting charcoal disks. These can be purchased from religious supply stores or online (we have them in our school store too). Round charcoals with bowl-shaped depressions in the middle are the best to use. There is a kind with pie shaped depressions, but we find these do not work as well.

Matches
You will need wooden or paper matches to light your charcoal. The scent and energetic side-bands associated with butane and other petroleum products change the fire-band you are working with so don't use lighters to light the charcoal disk.

Other Ingredients
You will need to collect or purchase pine resin to burn on the charcoal disk as well as finely ground or rubbed sage. If you collect sage, you can grind it in a blender or coffee grinder. You also need to collect some finely chopped or shaved wood chips or tree bark. This is used to insulate the charcoal from the pine resin or incense that you burn in the firebowl and to facilitate the burning of the materials you use in your firebowl. You will sprinkle the shavings on the charcoal and then put the pine resin and sage on top of it. The last thing you will need for this exercise is a Sun Yellow utility candle. Make sure it is pure sun yellow  colored without any orange tones to it. An unscented candle is best to use.

Ritual Magic: Charging the Firebowl
Charging your firebowl programs it for a specific purpose. Since magic is a precision science, charging your firebowl for certain operations makes it more effective by stating the intended purpose and programming that into the tool. Charging is not an invocation or prayer to spirit-beings or deities, just a program. Here is how to charge your firebowl.

1. Stand or sit in the South facing North with your firebowl and materials in front of you.

2. Light your Sun Yellow utility candle with a wooden or paper match.

3. Light another wooden or paper match from your candle flame and use this to light the charcoal disk. The disk will begin to spark within seconds. If the charcoal is old or damp, you may need to use metal tongs to hold it over the flame for several minutes or light the top of it in the center of the bowl-shaped depression. Most of you will realize that once the disk is lit, you don't touch it with your hands, but for beginners who have never used one before we like to add this word of caution – It is hot, just like a charcoal on a BBQ grill.

4. Once the charcoal sitting in your firebowl is lit, pull Sun Yellow energy from your utility candle into yourself and blow it out onto the disk.

5. Add the wood shavings onto the charcoal, then the pine resin and finally the sage.

6. Wait for it to produce a good column of smoke and add more sage or resin if needed.

7. A voice of command should be used when saying the charge verse. The verse will vary according to what you are programming the firebowl for. Here is a basic firebowl charge verse (used for a house cleansing) and then some substitutions you may want to use in creating a verse specifically for this exercise depending on what you are releasing from your life.

"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!"

This charge verse is obviously for doing a cleansing of a room, house, ritual magic circle or some other space. Some substitutions you can make to suit your purpose include:

• Cleanse these tools and cleanse their space (instead of Cleanse these walls...)
• Cleanse these people and cleanse their space (when clearing negative energy from yourself or others)
• In place of "spell" or "adverse" or "baneful" you can substitute anger, grief, trauma or any other applicable term. For example lines could be changed to "Let no fear nor sickness last" or "Far from here send cancerous trace". Just be sure when applying substitutions of words that you do not disturb the rhythm of the original verse.

Ritual Magic: Fire Magic Daily Ritual
Now that you have your firebowl and know how to charge it, you are ready to begin the fire magic daily ritual to release what it is that is bothering you or that you find no longer serves you. Everyday write on a small piece of paper what you want to release. Charge the firebowl, and then burn the paper in the firebowl. This works because "Thoughts are things and words have wings." In other words, writing things down makes them more material, more real. Burning the paper changes the unwanted item into simple fire magic, fire energy, with no negative charge. Sometimes you may have to repeat this ritual for 3, 7, or 11 days before you see change. Be sure to record results in your Book of Shadows to ensure you notice any changes. Magic often happens but we sometimes fail to see the changes.

The firebowl is just one of the magical tools that can help you bring ritual magic into your life for a variety of purposes. You can learn more about using magical tools in our online Basic Magic Class or specifically more uses for the firebowl in our Firebowl - Cleansing Tool Ebook.

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Throw Your Troubles Away Magically

Throw Your Troubles Away Magically

At a seminar on healing we once heard a woman tell of an exercise that relieved her of her troubles. She said she walked around a large park with a canvas sack. For every problem in her life, she picked up a big rock, associated it with the problem, and put the rock in her sack. She said that by the time she had finished putting all the rocks in her sack, she could hardly carry or drag it around--that's how many problems she had been carrying around with her.

When she was done, she dragged her sack over to a lake in the park. She then took each rock out of the sack one by one and, saying goodbye, heaved each rock as far as she could into the lake. At the end of the entire process, she left the park with an empty sack and a very light heart.

Does Her Method Have a Magical Basis?
Her story was so inspiring and wonderful that we began thinking about the magical basis for her method--and discovered that it was actually valid and useful. Her method falls under the category of simulacra magic, in which physical objects are used to represent person, place, or thing in life. It's also known as voodoo or Vodun magic. Once you correlate the physical object to the person, place, or thing in life, what you do to the object you also do to the person, place, or thing.

What the woman did with her rocks was to create a correlation or psychic connection between a rock and a problem in her life. When she threw each rock into the lake, she severed her physical connection to the rock and, by the laws of simulacra magic, also her connection to her problem.

Taking Care with Simulacra Magic
Now you obviously want to be careful with this approach because it's powerful. You don't want to associate a person with a rock, and then throw the rock into the lake--you would drown the person (and be subject to quite a bit of negative Universal feedback according to Rules of the Road). What you can do is connect your resentments, fears, angers, and other negative emotions to rocks and then throw them into the lake. You can also bury the rocks and allow Mother Earth to cleanse them for you (leave them buried for at least one moon cycle). It's a great way to unload! What's fascinating is that if you look at almost any tradition or method like this, you can find the magical operational laws at work in the process!

You can also channel unwanted thoughts and emotions into specular hematite stones, which can absorb a lot of them. These stones can move those emotions out of you and into a safe place. Many magical practitioners carry these stones around in their pockets for just this purpose. They cleanse them every month or so by smudging them with sage and pine resin to keep them clean.

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Why Ditching New Year's Resolutions is Magickal!

Everywhere around the globe, during the last part of the year people make New Year's resolutions of what they are going to do (or not going to do) in the coming year. Whether the resolution is to lose weight, stop smoking, be kinder, or spend more time with the family, most people make resolutions. Sadly, most people also fail to achieve those resolutions by February 1 of the new year (82% of people fail according to some research).

Since New Year's resolutions don't seem to work for most people, why bother? If you want your life to change, you will probably find that you gain better results with a magickal yearly aim. While a magickal yearly aim sounds very much like a New Year's resolution, a yearly aim is actually quite different. While a New Year's resolution is about "things" and "doing" or "not doing," a magickal yearly aim is about improving everything in your life by raising the level of your Being through the use of magick. Why would you want to raise the level of your Being? According to Gurdjieff and other metaphysical teachers:

"The level of your Being attracts the level of your life."

Thus the fastest way to change your life is to raise your level of Being. The higher your level of Being, the higher will be the things you attract into your life: a higher salary, a higher caliber of people around you, a better level of health, a higher feeling of satisfaction with your life. Instead of just trying to change one thing in your life with a New Year's resolution, wouldn't it be so much more fun to play with a magickal yearly aim that requires less work and produces better results in every area of your life?

What's a Magickal Yearly Aim?
A magickal yearly aim is a magickal exercise of your choosing that you practice all year long. The goal of this magickal yearly aim is to identify and dissolve the resistance in your Being that causes you to think, act, and do in ways that detract from your life. For instance, suppose you find that the people around you at work are not as kind, giving, warm, and caring as you might like. In fact, suppose that you find these people downright mean or overly competitive. This kind of cutthroat behavior may just be part of the company culture. That culture existed before you were hired, and has never changed since you've been an employee. What if you could use a teeny-tiny magkical yearly aim to change the way people around you behave?

An Example of a Magickal Yearly Aim
One of our students made that very change with a magickal yearly aim that was so simple as to be absurd. His aim was to remind himself daily of this fact: "Gratitude is free." Then he would find some way to express his gratitude or caring, no matter how tiny that expression. Since he was uncomfortable, at first, with changing his behavior at work, fearing that people would find his behavior odd and suspicious, he began with something less obvious. Each day, he would remind himself that gratitude was free, and then he would do a kind act for a stranger. More importantly, he would tell no one of his kind act. Some of his kind acts included:

• helping someone load groceries into their car 
• smiling at a person sitting on a bus bench and telling them to have a great day
• paying for a taco for the person behind him at the taco truck
• allowing a car into traffic in a crowded intersection
• placing an extra roll of toilet paper near the toilet before the current roll ran out

As you can see, these acts ran from the obvious to the "pay it forward variety." All these acts centered around the fact that he was grateful for all he had in life (though he still wished for more, such as a caring work environment), and he wished to share it with his fellow humans. After our student practiced his free gratitude on strangers for a few months, he was able to gradually practice his yearly magickal aim at work. Again, his gratitude was expressed simply. He would:

• model happiness whenever possible with a happy demeanor
• thank people whenever possible for their efforts, even if those efforts were part of the job
• bring an extra cup of coffee from the coffee cart to a random fellow employee once a week
• thank his boss when he could for any praise
• praise his boss whenever he could

As he began modeling gratitude, slowly he began to feel happier regardless of how the people around him acted. Even in the face of overly-competitive behavior, he offered gratitude. This gratitude in no way reduced his level of performance or his steps towards his goals at work, but all of his work was done with a smile and a feeling of warmth. Eventually, over a period of nine months or so, his co-workers began to change. A little at a time, the people around him smiled more. He sometimes was the recipient of a free cup of coffee. His workload became easier to bear, and his yearly reviews were much less of a trial. His promotion also came sooner than he had thought possible.

Gratitude is a Higher Level of Being
Some scientists have studied the various parts of our physical body, such as blood pressure and heart rate, and found that people who are happier are also healthier. Studies also show that emotions such as gratitude, love, caring, and faith have a higher vibrational frequency than emotions such as sadness, depression, hatred, and fear. While this may seem self-evident, many of us don't make use of this knowledge. But since we know that New Year's resolutions quickly fail for most people, wouldn't it be so much easier to use a simple exercise that helps us practice a magickal yearly aim? If you could raise every aspect of your life just by doing one kind act for a stranger each day, wouldn't it be worth it?

As with our student, you can identify a part of your Being or your life that has a great deal of resistance. Then create a simple magickal exercise as part of your yearly aim to address that resistance. The exercise should be small, simple, and easy to remember. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Workaholics: Hire more angels to do the heavy lifting so you can work less
• Depressed People: Make Sun Yellow a primary color in your life for a year (and try the Sun Yellow Candle Blessing daily)
• Feeling Lost: Practice getting information from the Universe daily to realize you are never lost
• Stuck in a Rut: Move your body to move out of the rut (try cross crawling to get unstuck)

Sounds simple enough, right? This year, why not ditch the New Year's resolutions and try a magickal yearly aim? Need help? Ask us on our Facebook page... or post your magickal yearly aim and inspire others!

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