Develop Psychic Abilities: The Power of Changing One Tiny Habit

When you first start working to develop psychic abilities, here's a tip that will pave the way for you. This is just one of the tips and exercises you'll find in our Psychic Development ebook. When you are ready to develop psychic abilities or really anytime you want to get out of mechanical mode, choose one small habit to change. Sound simple? It is, but also very powerful in working towards the goal to develop psychic abilities and developing consciousness.

How It Works
How does such a simple change make such a difference when striving to develop psychic abilities? Well, first there is a Universal Law that says, "A small change in the present will create a larger change in the future". When you change a small life habit now, you pave the way for larger changes in your future. You open yourself to a whole new world of ideas and inspirations when you start by changing your habitual thought patterns. Also small changes keep you from running into the resistance factor.

Changing Habitual Thought Patterns
If you follow the metaphysical teacher Abraham-Hicks (www.abraham-hicks.com), then you've heard that the thoughts and feelings you have right now affect your ability to access certain thoughts and feelings. In other words, if you are happy now, you can access more happy thoughts. If you are sad, you are more likely to access more sad thoughts. By changing where you are in your thoughts and emotions just a degree or two, you make it possible to access new thoughts and feelings. Any tiny change creates a shift in you and in what you think and feel. This is why Abraham says when you are down, to just try reaching for the next happier thought. It is usually too overwhelming to go from really sad to really happy in just one step, but if you take baby steps and just reach over a little in tone to one just a bit higher then you have shifted your internal mood and can keep going up the scale towards happy.

Avoid the Resistance Factor
You'll find as you develop psychic abilities that your mind often gets in your way. It tries to keep control and tell you all sorts of things from that you are just making stuff up to having doubts about receiving information through spirit perceptics. You are making a big change by going from accessing information via your 5 physical senses to accessing information via numerous spirit senses. When you start to work to develop psychic abilities, you are making a big change, so pre-paving the way by making some small changes can help reduce the resistance mind puts up. Think about if your dad who is a pretty conservative type guy with a short regular "Dad" type haircut suddenly walked in with a purple and green Mohawk. Think of the resistance he would encounter to this big change. It would probably affect his job, his standing in the community or church and probably even how his family would react to him. He would probably experience feeling awkward, embarrassed, and the target of unwanted attention. But now imagine he walks in and just has moved his pinkie ring from his right hand to his left hand. Hardly anyone will notice that. Wouldn't be much resistance put up to such a small change as that. But, he will notice it. It will feel different to him and this difference can help shift him to another place inside himself.

Small Changes to Make
When we talk about making these small changes, we are talking about very simple habitual things that you do mechanically. For example, observe yourself when you eat, drink, brush your teeth, remove your shoes, reach for the phone, open the door and hundreds of other simple things we all do every day with our hands. What hand do you use without even thinking about it when you do these simple tasks? Now consciously switch and use your other hand. So if you open the door with your right hand, start making the conscious effort to open it with your left hand. Pick several things to start consciously changing. Don't let this get mechanical though too. Change things up if they start to feel that way and pick another set of tasks to change how you do them.

Other changes could be sitting in a different place at the table, driving a different way to work, wearing socks inside out, get up on the other side of the bed, move your alarm clock to a different place, go a different direction when you start your morning walk, wear your bracelet on the opposite arm, etc.. You get the idea, right? See what things in your life you can use to make these small changes, pick one and get started paving the way to develop psychic abilities in yourself.

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Use This Simple Magical Ritual to Live Your Dreams

There are daily rituals that can help you magically in many ways, but there are some magic rituals that can help you live your dreams by making them come true. We often think that the only way to get what we want in life is by hard work. Magic can help us manifest those things we desire without all the hard work though. In our Daily Rituals to Attract What We Want in Life ebook, you'll learn about all types of magical daily rituals and there's a whole section on daily rituals for manifesting what you want. Here's one of the daily rituals you'll find in this book to help you manifest and live your dreams.

Creating Future Memories
Once we have put out to the Universe what it is we want, the Universe starts working on delivering it. Many manifestations don't appear because either we aren't ready to receive them or we get in the way somehow of them being delivered. Our job is to clearly state exactly what we want to have happen and then it is up to us to let it go and give the Universe room to work its magic and deliver. This is sometimes very difficult for people, especially those movers and shakers that believe they have to "do" something or be in control. One daily ritual you can do to help stay out of the way, build energy and force into what you are manifesting and let you feel like you are still playing a part is creating future memories. We usually think of memories as coming from past experiences, but you can also create memories of future events. By adding specific thoughts, emotions, and physical actions into memories we create, we make them real and create them in our lives. The more energy put into creating these memories, the greater likelihood of them manifesting in our lives.

We sometimes refer to this daily ritual as the "Pack Your Bags" ritual because if you are for example working on manifesting a great vacation for yourself, one of the actions you can do while waiting for the Universe to deliver is to pack your suitcase acting as if your dream vacation is already a reality. For this example, here's how you would do the future memory ritual.

1. Sit in a quiet space relaxing your mind and body.

2. Envision the future situation as if it has come to fruition already. For this example you might see yourself on the beach reclining in a beach chair.

3. See as many details as you can – smell the ocean, feel the sand between your toes, experience the joy of relaxing with a cool drink taking in the spectacular view, and so on.

4. Sit this way for at least 3 minutes a day adding more textures, feelings and sensations each time.

You'll find that the more time you spend creating these type of future memories, the faster they will manifest in your life. You can use this type of ritual for making changes to negative things in your life too. Just start envisioning the goal that you have not been able to accomplish and see yourself changing the actions you do. For example, if you are trying to lose weight, but can't keep away from the cookies, see yourself starting to reach for the cookies and instead reaching for an apple or for the phone to call someone for support or getting up and going for a walk. Add in the sensations, sounds, emotions and as many details into the new memory as you can. Creating future memories gives you a way to influence and help create your own future magically.


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Gratitude as Money

One of the most frequent requests for help that we receive is around the issue of money. There are many different magickal ways to attract money, increase your bank account, or solve monetary problems. Many people find simple candle spells with a well-defined set of Directors and Limiters (what you want and what you don't want) works very well. Many people also like this approach because it seems to tackle the issue directly.

However, many of the same people who use this approach find that they have to use money spells frequently because they often need to solve financial problems. This is usually because some aspect of their lifestyle consistently produces a lack of money.

Another magickal approach to more permanently solving financial problems is to do a simple daily magickal ritual. This ritual is mostly about changing one's view of the world, as well as altering the energy that one puts out into the world.

Money As Energy
When you spend money you can easily see the exchange being made: dollars for goods or services. You can also see the exchange when you work to receive a paycheck: money in exchange for your work effort. But if you look behind all of these transactions, you will see that an energy exchange is at the heart of all of these transactions. When you work for a paycheck, you are being paid for the energy that you expend in different ways. Similarly, when you buy an item, you are ultimately paying for the energy that went into producing that item.

So money is really just a form of energy that we humans trade back and forth many times per day.

If we look at what occurs on the next higher spiritual level, we will see this energy exchange even more clearly. Consider the angels. They help us whenever we ask. So how do angels get paid? Partially by helping us. Angels get "brownie points," if you will, by helping us. These brownie points help angels ascend up their evolutionary ladder. Beyond that though, angels are paid in the spiritual coin of appreciation and gratitude.

If you consider the process we outline for hiring an angel for help from the higher, we recommend that people thank angels when they request help, while waiting for help to arrive, and after the desired result has manifested. When we express our gratitude to our angels before, during, and after the whole process, we are paying angels with the spiritual coin of gratitude. What's more, we are exchanging energy, which is at the heart of the monetary exchange system. Instead of dollars, we use the energy of gratitude and appreciation to pay the angels.

At the end of the day, whether we consider spending and receiving money or doing the same with gratitude and appreciation, we are exchanging energy with beings on the Earth plane as well as beings on higher spiritual planes.

How to Use Gratitude to Increase the Money in Your Life
Using the above idea that gratitude is the spiritual coin we use to barter with higher beings, and considering the idea that all types of money (on Earth and on higher spiritual planes) are simply exchanges of energy, we can come to a radical conclusion. Any form of energy exchange can be profitable. So what does that mean?

Let's say that you have a financial crisis in your life. You have more bills than you have money. In addition, the bills are due and you have no idea where to get the money to pay the bills. Can you use another form of money to pay your bills? Yes... albeit in an indirect way. Instead of getting a second job to pay your bills, how about using spiritual coins to pay your bills?

This is how you can use spiritual coin to attract enough money into your life to pay your bills. For the next 40 days, spend as much spiritual coin as you can. In other words, for the next 40 days feel as much gratitude and appreciation as you can about anything and everything in your life. In addition, spend as much spiritual coin as you can for the next 40 days. That is, express as much gratitude and appreciation to others as you can. When you express gratitude to someone, they are paid in spiritual coin that gives them a spiritual boost. The Universe notices that you have paid someone with spiritual coin that led to a higher state of being for the recipient. According to the Law of Karma, what comes around goes around (or, what you sow so shall you reap). The Universe will then convert that expression of gratitude into something you need: money to pay your bills.

This may sound a little crazy, but if you try this experiment for the next 40 days, you will be amazed at the variety of sources from which your money will come. If you spend the next 40 days noticing every "little joy" in your life, expressing sincere gratitude and appreciation to others (and yourself!), you will be paid tenfold in both physical money and spiritual coin. It is Universal Law. You need only practice this to verify the truth of this law for yourself.

It's a good idea to keep notes about your starting point, the ways you express and feel joy and gratitude and appreciation in your life, and the flow of money and spiritual coin that is returned to you. Keep track of the ways in which you spend your spiritual coin as you would a bank ledger. Then see what changes are reflected in your actual checking account ledger. You will be surprised at how quickly both ledgers fill up on the positive side with credits in abundance.

Gratitude and appreciation require only true sincerity and the willingness to keep an open mind. Spending a little energy each day giving yourself and others a spiritual boost costs so little that the risk and reward ratio is very good. If it doesn't work (but it will), you have lost nothing more than a few kind words that are appreciated by those around you. Learn more about daily rituals and how they can enhance your life and bring magic to your life with our Daily Rituals for Attracting What You Want in Life ebook.

Ready... Set... Spend!

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How to Discover Your Animal Totem

If you're confused about how to discover your animal totem or totems, don't despair. The process can actually be a lot simpler than you think. The first and most important step to discovering your animal totem is to do some research. Animal totems act as guides and sources of inspiration in our lives, and they can also help us manifest certain qualities or characteristics in our lives (such as patience, love, joy, or persistence).

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.

Read About Possible Animal Totems
You can read general books or magazines on animals (National Geographic often has great information) or you can read books that specifically describe animal totems, such as "Medicine Cards" by Carson and Sams. Reading about animals also helps you find out more about animals that either don't live in your local area or are extinct (just because an animal species is no longer in body doesn't mean that its spirit isn't still around to lend energies and help).

Field Research to Discover Your Animal Totem
The other part of researching your animal totem is going out and observing animals in your local area. Choosing an animal native to your local area as a totem is useful in a lot of ways. First, they are already adapted to your local environment, and can teach you a lot about survival and enjoyment of your outdoor area. Second, you'll be more likely to receive physical messages from these totems-in other words, you'll be more likely to see and interact with them on a daily basis. Finally, you'll be able to do more direct research through physical observation of local animals than with exotic ones from faraway places.

To do this kind of field research, just walk through any park or wildlife area and observe the animals. See how they move, how they interact with you and each other, how they rest. Do they move fast? Do they react strongly to your presence or barely notice it at all? How do they express themselves? What qualities are most dominant in their behavior?

For instance, if you were to observe a colony of ants, you would notice that they persist in what they are doing, 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 regardless. If this dogged persistence 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?

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. It's fun, inspiring and educational. So start doing your research today ... you've got nothing to lose and lots to gain!

Want to Know More?
If you want to dive more deeply into the world of animals, you'll want to read Learn How to Talk to Animals – A Practical Guide for a Magical Journey written by Esoteric School Expert Leta Worthington.

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Ritual Magic: Magically Make Hard Decisions Easy

I’m sure we’ve all faced times when we need to make a big life decision and find ourselves unsure, wavering and just not able to make a choice. Typically we resort to asking friends or family or making a pro/con list, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if the right answer would just magically come to us? Guess what, it can! Try out this little ritual magic technique the next time you have a big decision to make. We call it the 3 Day Question.

Using the 3 Day Question brings you guidance from your spirit or your spirit guides. Here’s how to do it:

1. Describe your decision in very precise, concise terms. For example, “Do I take this trip or not?”, “Do I take this job or not?”. Don’t add in a lot of extra information, just state the question you are struggling with.

2. Take around 3-5 minutes to sit in a quiet place and hold the question in your mind.

3. Now ask your question out loud.

4. Forget about the question, the decision and anything to do with the whole issue for the next 3 days. I know that is easier said than done, but strive to switch your attention to something else any time you find yourself starting to think about it.

5. At the end of the 3rd day, ask your question again. Whatever the first answer you hear is the answer for you to accept.

You may hear the answer come from within you as a “voice in your head” or a picture. You may instead hear the answer from outside yourself. This could come in the form of a conversation you overhear, a song, a sign in a window or dozens of other ways. Look for the sign that gives your answer. For example, let’s say your question was, “Do I move to New York or not?”. At the end of the 3 days, you ask your question and maybe you hear the song New York, New York on the radio or maybe you hear someone in a conversation next to you saying they love New York cheesecake. Or you may just very clearly inside yourself hear, “Yes”.

In order for this ritual magic to work, you must not obsess or think about your question during the 3 days period. This interferes with the process and will not give you the desired results. Magic is a precision science and therefore the more precise your question is worded, the more precise your answer will be. Make sure you ask a question that will yield you the exact answer and only that answer which you seek. With this simple, little bit of ritual magic, you can access your own spirit wisdom and that of your spirit guides to turn making big difficult decisions into a much easier and less stressful process.

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Life Going Too Fast? 3 Ways to Slow it Down

Is life going too fast and you need to slow it down? In this year of Magic 2012, many people are experiencing this. On top of regular quick paced routines and daily life responsibilities, many are finding time speeding by this year. If you are finding life going too fast, there are ways to magically slow it down.

3 Ways to Slow it Down
1. Cortothalamic Pause
The Cortothalamic Pause is a way to stretch time by creating a bridge between the thalamus (part of the forebrain) and the cortex allowing us to move from reaction to reason. At the thalamic level you can check your reaction to see how you feel about a situation or interaction, then take that information to the cortex level to reason out the best response.

It takes some practice to become proficient at using the Cortothalamic Pause. You will know you have it down when you feel an actual separation from physical time. Here are the steps to practice:

• To start, pick a small thing that is not something you have a passion for. Don't start with something you know is a pet peeve or "touchy" subject for you.
   
• When someone asks you a question or asks you to do something – STOP. Do not respond right away. Shut your mouth and calm everything inside you as much as you can. This part obviously takes practice too.
   
• Wait 2-3 seconds and don't let your mind race ahead thinking of all the things you could say in response. Just absorb the question and stay quiet.
   
• Take a deep breath and now respond to the question.

Practice these steps several times a day. The more you practice, the better you will get at using this technique to slow it down when life is going too fast.

2. Do An Act of Power
Any intentional act is a magical act as well as an act of power. Any act of power restores personal power and grounds you in your life. Being grounded in life puts you in control and feels less chaotic. When we are in control of our lives, grounded and putting aside chaos, our lives are less hectic. Doing an act of power allows us to slow it down. Here are the steps to performing an act of power.

• Choose a simple act and decide when you will do this act.
  It does need to be a simple act and you do need to specify the time you will do it because a complicated act could be interrupted and a non-specific time nullifies the act of power. An example is to decide you will get up from your desk at noon, go to the kitchen and drink a glass of water. An even simpler one would be that at noon you are going to draw an X on a piece of paper. It doesn't matter what the act is as long as it would be easily accomplished without interruption. 
• When the time you specified comes to do your act of power, do it.
  Let nothing interrupt you before you complete your act. That is why it is important to pick something in the first step that you know you will be able to accomplish in your individual circumstance.
• When your act of power is complete, take a moment to review the act and the fact that you have completed the act. This moment of "appreciation" will help you gain all the power you can from your magic ritual.

You can do this several times a day to increase the anchoring in your life and thus slow it down.

3. Start Your Day Over With the Day Greetings
You can re-start your day at any time and as many times as you need by doing the Day Greeting ritual to the 4 directions, Sky Father and Earth Mother. If you are not familiar with how to do Day Greetings, you can find the directions HERE.

If your life is really going too fast you can use all three of these techniques to help slow it down. After a little practice you will find they are easy to do and will really pay off for you.


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Yoga and Meditation for the Rest of Us

Yoga, meditation, chanting ... mmmm, all great things for your body, mind and spirit. But sometimes, in the hectic rush of everyday life, thinking of bending your body into a pretzel, or even breathing slowly, can be a huge challenge. How can you possibly relax when you have bills to pay, work to do, and life to attend to?

Don't worry. Relaxing is easy. Healing yourself and your life is not as hard as you think. You don't need to read 20 books on self-help or sit at the feet of the guru. Remember, magic, healing, and enjoyment of life are all your natural birthrights as a human being. You just have to remember how!

In fact, did you know that you've already done all 84 poses of yoga before? Fetuses go through all 84 yoga poses before they are born, so we've all done yoga! The real yoga starts, though, when we take our first breath. Breathing is the very first step in yoga.

Just Breathe, Really!
So if you really want to give yourself a huge gift of healing and relaxation during the day, breathe. Set aside three minutes to give yourself this gift. Turn off the phone, close the door, dim the lights, and just breathe. You can either breathe deeply and deliberately, holding inhales and exhales for several counts, or you can relax by just following your breath but exerting no effort.

Breathing not only increases circulation and oxygen in your body, but it nourishes your lungs, which according to Chinese medicine guards your chi or life force. Talk about the "breath of life"-breathing really can bring new energy, vitality, and zest into your life. You'll feel better, think more clearly, and act from greater inspiration.

Adding More to Your Meditation
If you've got more than three minutes to spare, you can add even more layers to this quick "meditation" with some colored candles. Burn a sun yellow candle for more joy, bright red for more energy, light blue for more understanding, grass green for grounding and physical healing or water blue for calming and connection with your Spirit. Candles actually "push" the colors at you, so you absorb those energies without effort.

If you take a few minutes each day to breathe, be present in your body, and be connected to Life, you can say that you do yoga and meditation every day. Quantity isn't all that counts, quality counts too. When you're deeply present, even for a few moments every day, you can take great strides in both your physical and spiritual life!

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Magical Element Water: Working On the Emotional Level

When first beginning to study magic, you learn that almost everything in this Universe is made up of some combination of the four magical elements: Air, Fire, Water and Earth. If you can understand the four elements directly, then you can understand anything in the Universe. In this article, we explore the magical element Water.

About the Magical Element Water
The magical element Water basically deals with emotions and "gut feelings". In many traditions, "gut feelings" are considered to be tools of spirit or communications of spirit. The magical element Water also involves feelings, intuition, compassion, empathy, sympathy, knowing, devotion, quest, aspiration, intention, appreciation, integrity, harmony, beauty, balance, serenity, fluidity, grief, apathy, joy, and love. So anytime you are looking at any of these type aspects you will be working with the magical element Water. An example of this might be if you are feeling depressed. Depression can be a sign that you are out of balance in your energetic Water. It may be dark and/or it may be stuck. If you recognize this as a symptom of your energetic Water being out of balance, then you will know that getting your Water moving can help raise your emotional tone and help you snap out of a funk or depression.

Correspondences for the Magical Element Water
Direction: West

Tool: Chalice or Cup

Elemental Spirit: Ondine or Undine

Colors:

• Physical – Water Blue
• Emotional – Deep Blue
• Spiritual – Blue Black

More about Undines
Undines can be seen in ponds of clear water with seaweed and moss on the bottom. They sometimes move through the seaweed swimming in a zigzag pattern, smoothly or forming a "V" of ripples across a pond. You can also see them in a wide river with mud or sand at the bottom. If you see a whirlpool develop, look for a place in it with no rock or sticks, and you can find an undine in the water above that spot. You may sometimes feel them brush up against you in water.

Shortages and Excesses of the Magical Element Water
Here are a few symptoms that will give you a clue as to whether you have an imbalance in your Water energy. It may be that you have too much of a particular type of Water energy or it could be that you do not have enough of a certain type of Water energy.

Water Shortages:
Water Blue –
-Body feels dry or hot
-Dry wit or humor
-Shy
-Dry skin
-Dry cough
-Nervous or restless

Deep Blue –
-Self-centered
-Narrow minded
-Anti-social
-Experience lack of feelings

Blue Black –
-Lacking empathy
-Not trusting intuition
-Poor self-worth
-Suspicious of others

Water Excesses –
Water Blue –
-Puffiness or swelling
-Watery eyes
-Slow to respond
-Chronic fatigue

Deep Blue –
-Over emotional
-Depression
-Guilt
-Lacking boundaries

Blue Black –
-Obsessive behaviors
-Not being in present time
-Abuse of others
-Self abuse

There are of course many more symptoms for each of these categories, more than can be addressed in this article, but these can give you an idea of what types of things to look for when considering whether your energetic Water needs balancing. We also have included the Blue Black color of spiritual correspondences to see the types of symptoms it can induce, but do not recommend working with this color (for safety reasons) unless you are a very experienced magical practitioner or shaman. If you are interested in learning more about using the magical element Water for healing, divination, psychic communications, balancing emotions and more, then our Magical Element Water Homestudy Short Course may be just what you are looking for.

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Doing Ritual Magic With Your Eyes Closed

We've all heard the saying, I could do it with my eyes closed and when it comes to doing ritual magic, the meaning is a little different, but is a useful way to do some techniques. In the case of some ritual magic, closing your eyes helps sharpen your other senses, specifically the spirit senses.
Have you ever been to a retreat or workshop where they did the exercise of blindfolding you while your partner leads you around? This exercise promotes teamwork and trust. This can work in doing ritual magic too where trusting in the Universe, your guides or the magical process itself can affect the outcome. Closing your eyes also helps sharpen your spirit perceptics or spirit senses. By closing off one of your physical 5 senses, you open the door for these spirit senses to kick in.

Ritual Magic to Practice with Your Eyes Closed
There are many magic rituals where we deliberately close our eyes or use blindfolds, but it is best to start out with a very simple magical exercise. This one can be done anytime you talk on the phone with another person, assuming you are sitting down rather than driving down the road chatting on your cell phone.

As you speak to the person on the other end of the phone, close your eyes. Now visualize what the other person is doing. Are they sitting down? If so, what is their posture? Are they walking around their house? Extend your perceptions. Can you tell what they are thinking or if you can predict what they will say next?

If you have difficulty with visualization, imagine yourself extending your senses through the phone line until they reach the other person. This often helps people get in touch with their spirit senses, which are crucial for most magic rituals.

Jot down any insights, visions, or information that comes to you through your spirit senses. If you like, you can ask the other person a question or two to verify whether your spirit senses are correct. It really doesn't matter whether you are correct in the beginning. The goal is to locate, use, and develop your spirit senses.

Do this exercise for at least 10 phone conversations. You will notice a definite increase in the amount of psychic or spirit-sense information that you receive. If, after doing this exercise 10 times, you don't feel that you have located or used your spirit senses, have 10 more phone conversations with your eyes open. You might be surprised at how much physical sight interferes with your spirit senses. Most people receive far less spirit-sense data when they have their eyes open.

Learn more ways to develop your spirit senses and psychic abilities in our Psychic Development ebook.

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When to Use Magic: Should I Use Magic or Fight on the World Plane?

When a nasty situation crops up in your life, do you fight it or do you use magic? That's a question that many magicians face on a regular basis. On the world plane, taking action to resolve an "unfair" or "bad" situation seems like the right thing to do, but does getting entangled in a negative situation drag the rest of your life downhill?

On the other hand, if you use magic to attempt to resolve a situation without taking physical action, what kind of result will you get? Will the magic be strong enough to stop or change a negative situation that has already manifested physically? What's a magician to do?

When to Use Magic
Well, as a Native American elder once told me when I asked him the same question, "Do all the magic that you can ... and buy insurance." I got a laugh out of that, and I hope you do, too! And the message is clear:

1. Do all the magic that is appropriate to the situation
2. Take any and all physical steps to remedy the situation that do not cause you to feel negative or interfere with your magical work

That's pretty simple, right?

A Few Examples to Illustrate the Use of Magic
Of course, most magical principles sound pretty simple until you actually have to apply them to everyday situations. Reality is never as tidy as we would like it to be. So here are a few parallel examples that might illustrate what I mean.

We live in a farming community in Colorado, and out here in the high desert water is of immense importance: no water, no crops, no farming. People have been killed in Colorado over water issues and water rights. It's a big deal. Here are three examples centered around water rights and the use (or non-use) of magic to illustrate my point.

John's Case
John doesn't practice magic at all because he doesn't know anything about it. He got into a tussle with other members of his homeowner's association over how water was being distributed. Not having any magical means at his disposal, he (along with half of the homeowners) went to court against the other half of the homeowners. Ten thousand dollars and a year later, when the judge finally passed its decision, John wasn't satisfied with the result, and neither were ANY of the other homeowners on either side. Plus, he had a seriously bad taste in his mouth about the whole situation.

Harriet's Case
Harriet is a magical practitioner. Faced with a neighbor on the same ditch who kept taking her water, Harriet first response was to tell off the neighbor. She confronted him three times, to no avail. In fact, on the third go-round, the neighbor pointed out that Harriet's fence line was actually on his property, and that he could force her to move her fence if she kept harassing him about the water. That left Harriet, who has no love of pounding fence posts into the ground, in a bit of a quandary.

But she did have options--magical options. So she did some basic spell work to bring water to her pasture, which was drying up fast. She also did some weather work. The results were fairly neat, if not totally karmic. It rained and it rained. Harriet simply puts her horses on her pasture and doesn't cut hay from it, so the rain was perfect. Her field got watered and the grass grew. The neighbor, on the other hand, had just cut hay so his hay got rained on, which is never a good thing. It was all fairly karmic. The rain also delayed the neighbor's hay-cutting schedule, so there was plenty of water in the ditch for Harriet to use during the ensuing weeks. Pretty neat magical trick.

Our Case
Then there's our case. This year we have three new people on our ditch who are water hogs. We've tried talking to them, but they told us to take a long walk off a short cliff. Having figured out from past experience that no amount of "talking" would create much effect (and any talking immediately made us negative), we turned immediately to magic. In a very nifty turn of events, unexpected money and people showed up. The money came in the form of a check in the mail, literally. The people came in the form of electricians who could and would wire a pump on the back of our property so we could water our fields without bothering the people up the ditch from us. Perfection!

I hope these examples make clear the two principles I outlined above about when to use magic. In our case, we are taking physical action in the form of having a new pump installed ... but only after we had done our magic. In addition, these actions make us feel very positive rather than negative, which means that we won't get in our own way karmically or magically about the water situation. Make sense? Good, then go make some magic!

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Magical Ways to Stop Compulsive Thoughts

If you find yourself getting stuck in compulsive thoughts, you are probably an Air Element personality. This means that the element of Air is the most dominant in your personality and plays a key role in determining how you deal with life issues. It is very common for an Air type of personality to have compulsive thoughts, go round and round in their heads, and get distracted by the new and the novel. They also tend to have birth visions that are mentally-oriented – know, guide or see. On the plus side it also makes you a good communicator, planner, speaker and thinker who is able to think fast on your feet and come up with ideas, solutions and inspirations quickly. If this sounds like you, start being aware of how many times you start a sentence with "I see." That is often one of the personality characteristics of an Air dominant personality.

Even though Air personalities have all these great characteristics that can be very useful in everyday life, they often struggle with having the compulsive thoughts, being distracted by all their ideas, completing tasks and projects and changing their opinions and beliefs quite frequently. Here are a couple of magical solutions for dealing with this type of personality characteristics.

• White Chestnut Flower Essence - This flower essence can help release worry and clear your mind of unwanted thoughts. It can help you develop trust, clear thinking and problem solving. Take whenever repetitive thoughts or worry keep bugging you
   
• Come Back to the Present - Worry and fear are about the past or the future, never in present time. To free yourself of those type thoughts, come back to present time by feeling sensation in your body. You can only have sensation in present time. One good way to do this is to wear a rubberband around your wrist and snap it. The feeling of the rubberband hitting your wrist will bring you back to present time, so just snap the rubberband anytime you are bothered by those kinds of thoughts.

There are lots of advantages to being an Air type of personality. Learning how to cope with the struggles you face can give you even more of an advantage. For an indepth study of the Air Element, check out our Magical Element Air homestudy course. This is a good place for any aspiring student of magic to begin, but for those of you who are Air personalities it is even more important to fully understand this element that dominates your life in so many ways.

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Image courtesy of KROMKRATHOG / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Mixing Up Magic with a Pinch of This and a Dab of That? Not Hardly!

I know magical practitioners who approach the craft with the attitude of, "All it takes is a pinch of this and a dab of that." And certainly if you watch movies like "Harry Potter" or TV shows like "Charmed" you might get the idea that magic works like your grandmother's cooking: no recipe needed, just follow your instincts. Not hardly!

Magic is a Precision Science
From experience I have discovered that magic is a precision science. Using the right words, ingredients, symbols, and tools is very important. For instance, we often teach our students to use invocations to address magical powers and beings. In one, we address "Sky Father" and "Earth Mother." I am always amazed at how many students casually switch the order of these words when doing the invocation, and end up addressing "Father Sky" and "Mother Earth," thinking that they are addressing the same beings as "Sky Father" and "Earth Mother."

Not so at all. Magic is a precision science, and "Sky Father" is an entirely different being than "Father Sky." If you think that the distinction is unimportant, consider your own name. Suppose your name is Adam Johnson. Would it make a difference to you whether I called you Adam or Johnson? Sure it would. In many cultures, addressing a person by their last name can be either a sign of respect or a sign of denigration. It can make a huge difference.

Do Magic as a Precision Science
My teacher and mentor in magic, Reverend George Dew, had a favorite saying about magic: "Take your time, think it through, do it right." That's a great motto to use anytime you want to practice magic. After all, in the case of invoking powers and beings to help you, you want to get the right being. Getting the wrong being can send you down a rabbit hole or through the looking glass!

People often wonder why our magic courses, like Basic Magic, take so long to complete. It's because magic is a precision science, and a person doing magic rituals or practices without understanding the reasons behind them is risking harm. If you want to learn more about practicing the art of magic as a precision science, here are some guidelines to help you.

1. Learn Rules of the Road, the universal laws that we have found true in governing magical practice.

2. If you don't know the reason behind a magical practice or ritual, do some research until you understand, or don't do the ritual at all.

3. Take your time and learn one magical item at a time. When you get in a hurry and want to win the lottery with a spell immediately, you might as well toss your wand in the trash. Fast magic loaded with anxiety won't produce results, ever!

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Make A Magic Ritual Part of Your Morning

Magic is part of life, not something you do separate from your everyday life. If you want to have magic in your life, you have to practice magic all the time. Doing a magic ritual first thing in the morning can get your day off to a good start and become part of your morning routine. I know you are probably busy in the morning and think you don't have time, but even the busiest of people can work in the 3 magic rituals listed here.

My Three Magic Rituals Before Breakfast
I do at least three separate magic rituals every single day before breakfast, and it's no sweat, really. Want to know what they are? Simple.

Magic Ritual 1: Sit
Sitting, or meditating, is one of the best ways to invite magic into your life. I sit every single morning and surround myself with quiet. Burning a sun yellow candle in my sitting area helps clear out junky energies and make it a more peaceful space. I tend to sit in lotus position, because it's a stable position and I like it, but you don't have to. Just sit (or lie down if sitting is too uncomfortable). It doesn't matter whether you sit for 5 minutes for 50 ... just as long as you are quiet for long enough that the magic can slip into your life, between your thoughts as it were. The magic happens in the space between thoughts.

Magic Ritual 2:. Greet the Day
I go out and greet the day using the Navajo Beauty Way Day Greetings every single morning before breakfast. It's my way of making contact with powers and beings, acknowledging their presence, making any special requests for help, and generally getting in touch with my magical allies.

Magic Ritual 3:. Do a Reading
I'm usually reading some esoteric text or other, and I'll spend a few minutes in the morning immersing myself in some good spiritual material. I like readings from Gurdjieff, Abraham-Hicks, Carlos Castaneda, Edgar Cayce, and some more esoteric authors as well. A lot of people like to pull a card from the Medicine Cards or Sacred Path Cards, or flip open an angel book to get an "angel thought" for the day. Whatever floats your boat, pull some spiritual material from somewhere to get your day started on a magical footing.

All three of these little rituals take about 30 minutes total. That's not a whole lot of time to dedicate to living a truly magical life, and that's about all the Universe requires to bring the magic into your life. Pretty simple, huh?

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Why Magic Doesn't Have to Look Like Magic

We almost always offer magical rituals that allow you to practice rituals in public without feeling out of place. Example is the consistency exercise – you can choose anything, like checking your shoelaces and retying them at the same time every day, which prevents you from looking odd. Our Everyday Magic Email Course is full of magic that doesn't have to look like magic. This course gives you one lesson each week for 52 weeks with lots of magical knowledge and basics of how magic works. There are also exercises included that you can try out for yourself. One of the techniques you'll find in this course that lets you use magic right out in the open where no one will suspect is using colors. If you have an understanding of how colors relate to the four elements of Air, Fire, Water, and Earth then you can wear them, decorate with them and surround yourself with the appropriate colors for the purpose.

Elemental Colors
AIR COLORS
White - mental, thinking, planning, good for stimulating intellectual conversation, stimulating thinking.

Clear - physical air, seeing or breathing, hearing, also good for just "clearing the decks" in a situation.

Sky Blue - spiritual air, spiritual understanding, good for stimulating spiritual understanding or awareness.

FIRE COLORS
Sun Yellow (pure yellow, make sure there is no orange) - spirit vitality, lifts one's spirits, increases a spirit's ability to choose life path and direction, enthusiasm.

True Red - pure body metabolism, pure body heat (wear true red to increase your metabolism but be careful that it doesn't introduce too much heat into certain areas of the body, especially in the trunk area). People with a lot of true red "eat like horses" or have redness in cheeks.

Yellow-Orange - Neural activity, for fast reaction time, increased synapse speed (wear this or red-orange to a party to attract attention!), good for improving athletic performance in terms of reaction time, good for waking up when feeling sleepy or apathetic.

Red-Orange - Pain, anger, fever, hyperactivity, can stimulate physical activity when feeling sluggish. If children are already very active, dress them in powder blue or any of the air bands rather than fire bands.

Deep Red or Red Purple - Liquid heat in the body, good for raising the temperature of body fluids such as blood in the case of frostbite.

WATER COLORS
Water Blue - emotions, feelings

EARTH COLORS
Grass Green - living, dynamic earth, healing earth, good for causing things to grow, expand or heal.

Earth Brown - stabilizing earth, receptive earth, good for healing bones or stabilizing situations, good for grounding and solidity.

As you can see by knowing how colors translate you can magically accomplish a goal just by wearing a certain color. For example, if you are dragging, wear some sun yellow to perk up your energy level. Or if you are going through a period of healing, wear grass green. This is one of those times when magic doesn't have to look like magic, but the results will truly be magical.

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Keep Getting Burned by the Same Problems?

If you are predominantly a fire element person then you have personality characteristics of being energetic, full of life, enthusiastic and achievement-oriented. More than likely you are a natural leader, creative and action oriented. Fire personalities tend to have birth visions such as do, achieve, or create. These are all great characteristics of a person, but they can also lead to quickly becoming impatient and irritated when frustrated by a lack of action. People with fire element personality characteristics also often act first and ask questions later which can lead to problems for them.

If the same problems involving impatience, frustration, the slow speed of life, and lack of passion tend to keep showing up and burning you time after time, then chances are high that you are a Fire element personality. If you find yourself in this situation, here are a couple of things that may help those of you dominant in the Fire element.

• Impatiens Flower Essence - This flower essence can be used for emotional cleansing and bringing the body into harmony. It helps with nervousness and anxiety. It can help you relax, have sympathy for a situation or person, help calm you down, and allow you to be more diplomatic. Basically it helps you slow down and keeps you from being so impatient.
   
• Big Burn Ritual – This ritual can help to soothe your Fire element personality characteristic's need for extremes by burning up your frustration or by sending a message to the Universe to speed things up. You can see generally how to do the Big Burn HERE. Specifically for you Fire element people, write on your paper those things that are causing you frustration. Write as fast as you can, everything that is leading to your impatience and making you irritable or angry. Then do the Big Burn. If your frustration is stemming from things moving just too slow for you, as an alternative, you can write on your paper a message to the Universe asking for help in accomplishing something quicker. Then when you do the Big Burn, use your intention by putting it into the smoke as it rises taking your request with it.

Being a Fire element personality can be challenging at times. Understanding the fire element characteristics can help you plan situations, projects, careers, and relationships that will work well for you and those that won't. Our Magical Element Fire homestudy course will give you an in-depth study of the Fire element. With this magical knowledge, Fire element personalities can learn how to be successful and avoid getting burned by the same type of problems over and over.

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3 Magical Ways to Create a Magical Relationship with Money

Who doesn't want to know how to attract money into their lives! No one I know of. There are a variety of magical ways from using formal magic spells to using the principle of the Law of Attraction in which to bring more money into your reality. But there are a few simple tips you can employ to start forming a healthy relationship magically with money that will help pave the way for it to find its way to you.

How to Attract Money: Shift Your Focus
Focus on what money will do for you, not the money itself. Money has a lot negative vibrations, along with oughts, shoulds, and mixed messages from authority figures conflicting with your own desires. One way to short circuit all this is to focus on what you want money to do for you in your life. If you want to do something from your bucket list, for instance, focus on manifesting that instead of the money that will allow you to do so. The money will show up when it needs to.

How to Attract Money: Change Your Thoughts
Stop counting pennies and dollars in your thoughts. In fact, stop all thoughts about quantity as much as possible (i.e., food, calories, money, time). Instead, each time you start thinking that there isn't enough of something, say to yourself "That was then, this is now. There is abundance in my life now." While this seems like a very small change against a lifetime of measurement and feelings of "not enough," magically a small change in the present creates a larger change in the future. Just know that a small change--such as redirecting your thoughts with this mantra will create much larger and different changes/manifestations in the future.

How to Attract Money: Practice Abundance
Act everyday as if you already have what you want (i.e., if you want to go on a trip, start packing your bags regardless of what your bank account says). It's an internal feeling, unrelated to external facts (like how much is in your bank account). Practice feeling like you would at the successful end of your financial journey. Like the mantra, this is a small change that will produce a larger change in the future.

Whatever magical method you use for how to attract money to you, embracing these tips will help you prepare on a mental and spiritual level to be in a place of receiving. The Universe is ready to deliver those things we desire, but we are often our own worst enemies when it comes to actually getting those things. At little shift in focus and re-educating our thoughts will go a long way to getting us ready for what the Universe can help us manifest.

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Touched By An Angel

I have been inspired lately by some of the magical stories submitted by my students to include a few of my own from the past. I teach several classes at the Esoteric School, have been a magical practitioner for about 30 years and am a co-founder of the Esoteric School. Over the years I have personally witnessed so many magical events that I am sure I could fill a very thick book or two with them. This experience though was a very personal one that I have never forgotten. I call it Touched By An Angel.

This story takes place back around 1985. At that time my life was undergoing a period with a lot of stress and emotional turmoil. Among other life stresses, there were problems with my newest relationship in terms of a controlling mother who disapproved and my girlfriend struggling with freeing herself from her mother's grasp. My situation became stressful enough that I felt the need to get away for a while. So I packed up myself and my dog and I began driving west across country to go stay a while with a friend.

I drove all night and finally stopped at a rest area in Nebraska just approaching dawn. The site was empty with no other people in sight. While my dog was exploring the picnic site, I sat down at a table and began meditating just as the sun was rising. I had my eyes shut, was totally relaxed for the first time in quite a while and began to feel like I was coming out of a void and back into life. I sent up a prayer asking for resolution of my stressful situation and suddenly out there totally alone I heard a voice. The voice was very clear and strong. The words I heard were, "Everything will be fine and work out".

At that point I had the most incredible physical sensation that felt like feathers of a huge wing brushing against my face and down the left side of my body. My first thought was that my dog was brushing up against me to offer comfort, but upon opening my eyes I saw the dog a good 12 feet away from me. The feeling that continued to stay with me was one of total peace and healing and I knew at that point I had indeed been touched by an angel.

If you have any magical stories or experiences you'd like to share, leave us a comment on Facebook or on our blog. We love hearing about how magic has enhanced the lives of others and sharing your experiences could have a huge impact of the life of another just as that angel impacted my life so many years ago.

In Magic,
Alan aka RavenWindStar

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Magic Powers: Are Yours Stuck in Park?

One of the most frequent complaints we hear from new students in our online magic school is that they don't feel that their magic powers are increasing fast enough. They definitely see some magical results, but they want to see much more magic, much faster!

Isn't that just human nature? It's never fast enough?

But that's OK. We get it. We, too, have been impatient with the expansion of our own magic powers. We understand the desire for results. So we have 3 simple tips for you if you feel your own magic powers are "stuck in park," so to speak.

Magic Powers: 3 Tips for Getting Up to Speed
Magic is all around us in the Universe, and whenever we ask for the magic to appear in our lives, it rushes to us, regardless of whether we witness the occurrence or not. Believe it or not, there are so few people who actually ask and expect to receive magic, that magical beings are literally thrilled when we ask for their assistance. So magic does happen in our lives, as fast and furious as we could ever expect (but never faster than we can handle).

So how can we see the magic happening in our lives? How do we get out of that metaphysical feeling of being "stuck in park"? Here are three very simple techniques that have worked for hundreds of our students. Try them and see what effect they have on your own magic powers.

Tip #1: Journal about Your Magic Powers
There is magic just in the act of committing thoughts, feelings, emotions, sensations, and experiences to paper. When a non-visible "thing" like a thought is made visible by being written on paper, it becomes more real, more concrete, more manifest. Have you heard the expression, "Thoughts are things, and words have wings"? Well, it's true. A thought is already a thing that exists in the magical world, as are spoken words. And when you put a thought about magic onto paper, it becomes a more real magical item. So there's definitely magic in writing about your experiences with your magical powers ... even the most minor of experiences.

But there's more magic to writing than simply making your thoughts and experiences more real. Journaling is a way to chronicle your magical journey so that you won't forget where you started, and you can re-experience the wonder of any magical doorway or threshold you have crossed simply by reading your journal. For instance, consider the magical path our students normally experience with the Navajo Beauty Way. Here's what usually happens ... Students will:

1. Notice external events, such as a bird flying by or the sun becoming brighter
2. Feel internal shifts, such as mood changes or a new perspective
3. See changes in their lives over time, such as others responding differently
4. Receive the magical gifts they have requested
5. Begin to live a magical life, 24/7, and not simply when practicing a magical ritual

If you don't write your experiences with your magic powers in a journal, you may never notice these five transitions, from newbie to naturally magical. You won't notice that problems that have bugged you in the past no longer appear in your journal entries. You may not be aware that magical rituals that used to have "no effect" are now taken for granted as an effective and necessary part of your life.

If you DO journal, you will notice how the practice of magic moves from the awkwardness of learning new dance steps to a way of life. Magic is no longer something you do, it becomes part of who you are. Journaling is important for awareness. Just ask any healer. Almost any healer will tell you that many patients fail to notice when negative symptoms fall away. Until the healer questions the patient about some negative symptom, such as headaches, the patient may not even notice that she has not experienced any headaches since the last visit. She may simply be focused on the next "problem." The same is true with your magic powers. If you journal, and then re-read your journal on a regular basis, you will realize that your magic powers are always growing and are never stuck in park. It's just a matter of awareness.

Tip #2: Practical Daily Magical Rituals
Of course, for your magic powers to grow you need to keep magic in your life as much as possible. Daily magical rituals are a wonderful way to "walk in magic" throughout your day. Whether your daily dose of magic takes the form of a morning meditation, Day Greetings/Endings to the Winds of the Four Directions, or healing work for yourself and others, the practice of daily rituals keeps you immersed in magic. Need some tips? Check out our free ebook "10 Magical Quick Fixes" you can download at https://shamanschool.com/. You can also check out our Daily Rituals Ebook.

 Tip #3: Ask for a Sign
Asking for a sign is an old standby whenever we feel a little "lost" in our magical world. Any time you need to make a decision and haven't a clue which way to go, ask for a sign. Any time you need guidance for a tricky situation, ask for a sign. And, of course, if you feel your magic powers are stagnant, ask for the Universe to show you that they are not. Use a daily ritual to ask or simply step outside and address any powers and beings with whom you have formed a relationship.

Talk to the Winds of the Four Directions. Hire an angel to bring you a sign (they work for appreciation!). Ask the Universe at large. Write your request and burn it in your Firebowl, letting the smoke carry your request to the Universe. Holding the request in mind at regular points in the day will also do the trick.

And finally, stay open. When you ask for signs and guidance, stay open to messages from the Universe. These messages come in all shapes and sizes. Random bits of conversation, a phrase in a book, a sudden insight, or simply an inner knowing. Be open to the unexpected and you will be pleasantly surprised!

Enjoy the upcoming moment of surprise and the Universe won't disappoint you!

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Daily Rituals as a Doorway to the Higher

If you have a longing to connect with something higher, whether it be your higher self or higher powers and beings, one of the simplest ways to connect is by creating a daily ritual for yourself. Whether you meditate, do yoga, read inspirational books, or just take a walk, doing a daily ritual creates a doorway through which the higher can enter your life.

Most of us are so busy during the day that we have a hard time hearing that quiet, dry voice of higher guidance. Whether we know it or not, our guides, totems, angels, and higher selves are speaking to us all the time-most of the time we just can't hear them over all the noise of cell phones, radio, teleconferences, and gossip. So, we need to set aside some sacred time to connect, and daily rituals are perfect for that.

The Walking Ritual
If you've already got a daily ritual that you use, you're one step ahead. Just make sure and do that ritual with as much consistency as possible. In spiritual circles, people have discovered that the consistency of doing a ritual at the same time every time increases the level and quality of the connection with the higher. If you don't already have a ritual, you can try meditation or you can try this simple walking ritual:

1) Decide what amount of time or what distance you want to walk each day (you can adjust this later).

2) The first half of the walk, you get to talk. Talk to your guides, your totems, your angels or the Universe in general. Talk about what's on your mind, or what's going on in your life, or what you want or need. Talk about anything that's important to you or that you need help with.

3) The second half of the walk, you get to listen. Take in everything your guides or the Universe is trying to express to you. Feel your feelings, feel the sensations in your body, hear the sounds around you, smell the smells, and take in the sights. Become an instrument of listening and absorbing.

If you take this walk daily at about the same time every day, you will have established a consistent connection with the higher. In other words, it's a scheduled appointment between you and your higher helpers. It's a time when you can truly connect, listen and be heard. Your life will increase in richness, depth, and understanding. This and other daily rituals will become like a maypole around which your life revolves with steadiness and strength. Enjoy!

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On the Magic of the "In-Betweens"

Magic lives in the "in-between" moments of our world. Think about it. Do you ever wonder why children can see fairies and angels, but adults usually can't? It's because as adults we have learned to see the concrete fixed objects in our world, not the shadows between the objects. We've learned to focus our attention on the tasks of our day, not the moments between tasks. In other words, we've lost the magic of the "in betweens" in our lives.

Why Magic Happens "In-Between"
If you read a lot of different esoteric authors, you'll find that most of them tell the same message, which is that magic tends to appear in-between things rather than directly. For instance, Carlos Castaneda writes about how Don Juan taught him to view the world in terms of the shadows that were present, instead of seeing the world of light. Other writers talk about the real essence of music is the space between the notes, rather than the notes themselves. Meditation masters strive to lengthen the gap between thoughts, so the magic can slip in and miracles can happen.

So why does magic happen "in-between"? Because by its definition magic is, well, magical. It surprises and astonishes us. It seems miraculous, impossible, and amazing. By definition, none of the things we can see, touch, and move directly in this world meet those criteria. It's not magic if we take a lot of action and achieve something. It is magic if we wish for something but take no action, and our wish becomes manifest.

How to Expand Your "In-Between" for More Magic
There are lots of magical ways to create and expand the "in-between" moments in your life, so magic can sneak up on you and surprise you. Flipping your world on its head is one fun way to do this. How do you flip your world upside down? Easy. Here are three ways to get you started:

1. See the World in Terms of Shadow
This is the exercise Don Juan gave to Carlos Castaneda. With this exercise when you look at a scene, try to see only the shadows, not the objects in the light.

2. Listen for Silence
We are constantly drowning in sound, even though we may not notice it. During the day, see if you can hear the silence instead of any concrete sound. What is the sound of silence? Many people hear it as a low ringing or buzzing in their ears, and some magical practitioners actually use this sound as a magical power source for spell work and other energy work.

3. Create Pauses Between Action and Reaction
Most of the time, we cruise around the world mechanically, and react automatically to any stimulus that hits our senses. When someone says, "Hi!" we automatically respond with a "Hi, how are ya?" We may not even really notice the interaction, or remember it later. To create more in-between times in your day, create a pause between the time a stimulus hits your senses and the time you respond. For instance, when someone says, "Hey, how are ya?" instead of sending back an automatic reply, take a moment to pause, stop, look the person in the eyes, and then reply. This pause can take all of one second, but the deliberate insertion of a pause between input and output creates an "in-between" moment. You can do the same thing when the phone rings. Stop a moment before your reach out to answer the phone ... wait for a couple of rings ... and then answer.

What kinds of magic will creep into these deliberately created moments between things? Only you will know. Magic can be very personal at the level of these exercises, so how it manifests in your life will also be personal. Be on the lookout for the magic, though, because the more "in-betweens" you create, the more magic will show up in your life!

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