The Gift of Magick For the Holidays

Whatever tradition you celebrate during this holiday season, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice or Yule, Las Posadas, or any others, we hope your holidays are full of peace, harmony, and of course magick. Whether you celebrate with traditional physical gifts or just with the spirit of giving, there are many magickal gifts you can pass on to your loved ones or to yourself. Here are some of our magickal gift ideas. If you have any favorites we'd love to hear what they are and add them to our list. Just post them on our Facebook page or leave a comment below.

Online Magickal Gift Shopping
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Other Gifts of Magick
Some of the suggestions below include a physical gift as well as a ritual or non-physical gift. Where we have links to articles describing certain techniques or rituals, feel free to print them off to share with a friend or family member as a gift or send them the link to the article online. Or just send them the link to our website where they can signup for the blog or newsletter and get a magickal gift that keeps giving all year round.

QUIET: Give yourself a day of peace and quiet. In a world of internet, cell phones, TV, and radio, a day of silence or quiet can be a true gift. Turn off the phone and don't invite in other stimuli such as TV. Sit, rest, take walks. Be quiet inside and out. Even half a day of quiet, without talking, can rejuvenate your spirit.

LET GO: Once you've had a chance to unwind, some old issues or problems that have been subconsciously nagging at you may surface. Take the time to let them go in a simple ceremony. Write them down on a sheet paper, appreciate them for the lessons they bring, then burn them. Cleanse yourself by burning some sage or incense afterward. Or you can consult the spirit of Owl and you may want to carry the owl totem figure with you throughout the day as a physical connection to this wise spirit.

CREATE SACRED SPACE: Daily life tends to introduce some junky energies into our living space. Take the time to create some sacred space in every room of your house. Do a regular room cleansing or use a sun candle to create sacred space.

START DOWN A MAGICAL PATH: Make a resolution that the coming year is the year you will start inviting magic into your life. Or if you already have a magical practice, recommit to it by resolving to perform an act of magic or daily ritual each and every day. We have ebooks, Kindle books, or our Everyday Magic Email Course that can help you keep this resolution easily. Or just pick a different article each day from our blog or the special member's library at shamanschool.com to give you ideas of simple magical acts to do daily.

Magick is very real and has existed as a precise science for thousands of years. Every single person can learn to do magick. We were ALL born with the talents and abilities that empower us to do magick. The only reason that magick seems so, well, magickal is that this society no longer teaches the art and science of magick. In the distant past, magickal study was just as important as math, science or the arts. Magick can help you manifest what you want and need in life, change old beliefs, balance your energies for healing and manifestation, defend yourself against physical and psychic attack, find hidden information and see possible futures, psychically communicate with other beings, bring peace and harmony to your life, and much, much more. We wish you a magickal holiday season this year and hope you will pass the magick on to others to help keep these traditions alive.

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Giving Thanks is a Gift to Ourselves

In this society, giving thanks has come to mean something different than it originally did in tribal cultures. Today, when we thank people it's either a perfunctory gesture of politeness, or it implies some sort of obligation.

In the first case, saying "thank you" is just a polite way to end an interaction. In the second case, when someone has done something for us and we thank them, we often walk away with a feeling of obligation. In other words, we keep running mental accounts of who has done what for whom, and what we now owe. Saying "thank you" often goes along with making another mark in the account.

In tribal times the act of giving thanks was much different. Giving thanks was the process of experiencing appreciation within ourselves, and then expressing that appreciation to higher powers and beings. We didn't "owe" those higher powers and beings anything except to recognize their gifts to them and to express our appreciation.

Because higher powers and beings (gods, goddesses, deities, angels, etc.) are by nature "higher" in the spiritual hierarchy than we are, we can't actually "do" anything for them except appreciate them. Their actions on our behalf and our expression of thanks fall under the Law of Reciprocal Maintenance. We are each doing the appropriate part.

Higher powers and beings need us because we are part of the hierarchy, without which they cannot exist. But these beings don't need us to do anything for them, simply acknowledge and appreciate their presence. The Hopis say that our job is to "send a joyous note to Creator's ear."

In this season of giving thanks, you might ask yourself what you have to be thankful for in your life, and how you might sound a joyous note in Creator's ear. When we are joyful and express that joy, higher powers and beings send more of the same good "stuff" into our lives. Appreciation begets more to be appreciative of -- it's a wonderful self-fulfilling cycle.

Here's the other fascinating part of giving thanks: you can actually give thanks for something that you want but don't yet have, and higher powers and beings will send it to you. Giving thanks actually works better before you have what you seek -- it brings what you seek to you even faster.

Now you're ready for Thanksgiving! In addition to feasting on a wondrous dinner, take a little time to sound your note of joy to the Universe. It will come back to you like a boomerang, tenfold!

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Develop Psychic Abilities by Reading People

We get a lot of email asking for ways to help people develop psychic abilities. One thing we recommend is our Psychic Development ebook and here is one of our favorite exercises from that ebook that can help you develop psychic abilities.

The goal of this exercise is to practice using your Spirit abilities instead of just your 5 physical senses to gather information. It involves the practice of reading people that you don't know. This is a good exercise to do anytime you are in a public place and have a little time. If you don't get out often, then you could also turn on your TV, turn the sound off and practice reading the people you see on the TV. Either way, don't get hung up on your results, how correct or incorrect you might be and don't feel that you need to verify your results by consulting with the people you observe. It is merely for practice to get you started tuning in with and using your Spirit abilities. The more you practice using these Spirit abilities, the better you will get at accessing information psychically and the more you will develop psychic abilities.

Exercise to Develop Psychic Abilities

• Go to a public location (or turn on TV with sound off) and have a pen, paper and a watch or timer that you can use. Airports, malls, parks, diners or coffee shops and restaurants are all good places that usually have a lot of different people you can observe.
   
• Sit in a comfortable location where you can write, see people and see your timer.
   
• Pick one person to start with that you will observe.
   
• Watch that person for 30 seconds. Don't think about what you see at this point. Just make observations about the person. Watch how they walk, what they are wearing, who they are with, facial expressions, gestures they use, tones of voice, accents and anything else you can see or impressions you get from them.
   
• Now set your timer for 30 seconds and start writing as fast as you can. Remember you only have 30 seconds. Write anything and everything that comes to you about that person whether it is something you directly observe or not. Don't pause or stop to think about what you are writing; just write. 
   
• It is generally easiest to begin writing those things that you observed with your physical 5 senses as a place to get you started. This would be like hair color, smells you observed, a tone of voice and other similar observations. Once you get going writing these things very fast and not stopping to think, you will find other types of information in your writing, such as certain personality traits, likes and dislikes, family connections and things that you are not able to gather through your physical 5 senses. At this point your Spirit abilities have kicked in and yes you do have them, you just haven't practiced using them.
   
• Getting your mind out of the way helps to open the pathways for your Spirit abilities. There's no mysterious secret, you just need to practice using these types of senses that you have and don't normally use in your everyday life in order to develop psychic abilities.
   
• After you finish writing about the first person you chose for 30 seconds, put that paper away and pick another person to observe and start the same process again.
   
• Repeat the procedure until you have observed 10 people over a 5 minute period.

Here's an example of what you might have written:

"Woman, long hair, stylishly dressed, has children, loves to read, has a sister, works in a professional job, originally from the South or has some type of Southern connection, doesn't spend much time outdoors, very empathetic, around 30 years old, likes country music, has blue eyes, friendly personality but not someone you'd want to be on her bad side, can be very generous with her time but a bit stingy with giving money, likes jewelry especially gold, is confident, likes the color blue and wears it a lot, is an animal lover, has recently lost someone close to her."

You'll see that many of the things written about this woman were observed with the physical 5 senses such as that she is a woman and has long hair, her age, and her eye color. Then there is other information that cannot be observed with the 5 senses such as that she is generous with her time but not her money or that she has recently lost someone close to her. Some of the things in the paragraph above may or may not have been accessed with the physical 5 senses according to the situation and what the woman was doing while you watched her, but you can definitely see that some things slipped in through the Spirit abilities too. The more you practice this exercise, the more things of that nature you will see showing up in your writing.

Again, it doesn't matter if your descriptions are right or wrong, there is no right or wrong in this exercise. It is merely practice at using your Spirit abilities and getting your mind out of the way for these abilities to engage. The more you practice, the better chance you have to develop psychic abilities that you naturally have but haven't exercised. So get practicing and give those psychic abilities a good workout to keep them working strong for you. At some point you will find this type of information very useful and it's a lot of fun finding you have this magical skill.

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Need a Quick Magical Fix? Gotcha Covered!

Life happens... accidents, whoopsies, etc. Luckily for you, the Esoteric School has a no-cost ebook waiting for you along with a special magickal articles library when you register for a free membership. Just go to https://shamanschool.com/ and click the Learn More button at the top. Sign up for our newsletter while you are there for more magical tips and get the ebook, easy as you please! These magical quick fixes can help you with so many everyday irritations from being stuck in traffic to having a headache to just feeling a little down. They are simple and can start immediately helping you explore how magic and rituals can help you in your everyday life. The only trick is remembering to use these magical tips. We are so used to putting up with our life conditions that often we forget we have choices. Magicians and shamans know this however and look for solutions instead of just staying in the problem. Here is just one example of the type of magic you will find in this complimentary ebook.

Magical Rooting
If you have problems with mood or energy swings or with staying in present time, rooting may be a great ritual for you. Do you worry about what has already happened or what is coming in the future? If so, then you are not living in the present. Rooting helps you ground or anchor yourself to stay in present time, get rid of negative energy and balance your energies.
Follow these directions for rooting:

• Place your heels, palms or seat (or all three) on the ground. You can extend roots from more than one body part at once.
• Extend your roots out your palms, heels or the base of your spine. You extend roots with your intention. You don't need to think about it, just do it! 
• Push your roots through the carpet or tile, into the sub floor and down into the earth. If you are in a multi-level building, you will need to go through each level until you reach the earth. If you are wearing shoes with thick soles, you may have to extend the roots out the sides of your shoes.
• Once your roots reach the earth keep extending them down through the topsoil and deeper layers until you reach bedrock.
• When you reach bedrock, lock your roots in.
• With each exhaling breath send any unwanted energies down your roots into the bedrock. The earth is highly receptive and will receive these energies easily.
• With each inhaling breath pull in minerals, fluids and other energies from the earth for nourishment and balancing. You don't have to specify what you're pulling up – your body and your roots will work automatically with the earth to pull up what is needed.
• Once you feel relaxed and nourished pull your roots back up into your body. Always be sure to pull your roots back – if you stand up without doing so you'll feel a slight "popping" sensation and your body will be sore for a few days.

Rooting will make you feel balanced and refreshed and takes only a few minutes to do. It is also an easy technique to do anytime and anywhere with no one else even being aware of what you are doing. No special tools or ingredients needed. So what are you waiting for? Get to www.shamanschool.com and get your copy of the no-cost ebook 10 Quick Magical Fixes to be on your way to using real magic for real change in your life.

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Spirit Guides: What to do if Your Angel Doesn't Deliver

Angel spirit guides are marvelous allies. There is actually an angel available to help you with absolutely anything. And the best part is that these angels are anxious to help. Helping humans is their main job and helping us is the way they are able to evolve. The one catch is that because of Earth's Prime Directive, that no higher being can help humans unless directly asked, they cannot help unless we ask them. We have to invite them into our lives and ask specifically for what we want them to do in order for them to act as our spirit guides.

Once we ask for help from these spirit guides, they rarely ever let us down in fulfilling our requests. There are some reasons though that this could happen or that it may appear it is happening. Some of these reasons could include:

• Something you have already asked for help with contradicts your current request. Priority is being given to the first request.
   
• What you are asking for help with now contradicts a larger aim or goal that you have set for yourself. For example you have set a yearly aim of eating no processed sugar and then ask an angel to find a bakery for you. The angel might find this request a contradiction to your larger goal.
   
• What you are asking for has been answered and fulfilled, but just in a way you haven't recognized.
   
• Your request whether you realize it or not would bring harm to yourself or others. Doing harm interferes with these spirit guides' evolution process so they are reluctant to participate in requests they know will cause harm.

What To Do
If you encounter an occasion in which it appears your request has not been fulfilled, you simply need to ask for clarification or an explanation. Angels are infinitely patient with us and will continue to explain until we understand why the request was not fulfilled or understand that it was, but not in the way we expected. Having these types of conversations can also build a stronger, longer lasting relationship with these spirit guides. So don't feel like you are insulting them or being ungrateful. Go ahead and question until you understand why your request was not fulfilled or until you understand in what way it was. When working with angels, persistence and gratitude are both important tools.

So the next time you find yourself needing anything from a parking place saved, help communicating with someone, healing for yourself or another or just about anything else, let angels be the spirit guides to help you out. You can learn more about working with angels and other types of spirit guides in our Kindle book 1 of our Witchcraft Spell Books series, Learn How To Do Witchcraft Rituals And Spells With Your Bare Hands. And remember you don't have to have a Kindle to read this book. A Smart phone, tablet or computer will work too!

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