Thursday, August 27, 2015

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!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader. Or, visit our website for more great resources.

 Image courtesy of  phanlop88 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

The Magic of Flying Blind

The phrase about the blind leading the blind has always been used scornfully to mean that certain people don't know what they are doing. But perversely, from a magical point of view, we often use blindness with purpose, so that we can sharpen our other senses, our spirit senses.

Magic and One Way to Fly Blind
In many self-empowerment workshops you will encounter a very simple exercise that captures the essence of flying blind: it's called the blind date. You partner up with someone and close your eyes. Your partner leads you around by the hand, first at a walk, then perhaps at a jog. You must put your complete trust in your partner not to run you into a wall or other people who are also on a blind date.

If you have ever done this exercise, then you know what happens. After a while, your other senses, like your sense of hearing, smell, or touch, increase to accommodate your temporary lack of sight. The same thing happens in magic. When you deliberately shut off one of your senses, like sight, you have a better chance of improving your spirit senses.

A Very Simple Magic Ritual to Practice Flying Blind
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.

Make sense? Have fun with this. For more fun and practical magic rituals and exercises, check out our ebooks, and our online courses.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader. Or, visit our website for more great resources.

 Image courtesy of   stockimages / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Thursday, August 20, 2015

What Harry Potter Doesn't Know About Magic Tools

In the Harry Potter movies, Harry uses his wand for every type of magical act, from throwing bolts of lightning to using it underwater. Unfortunately, the Wand is an Air tool and is best used for acts such as magical communication, message-sending, and Air-type healings. But not to criticize Harry too much since he is entertaining and we enjoy his stories; even most Tarot decks use Fire colors for Wands and Air Colors for Swords or Athames, which is completely backwards. So what are real magic tools and what elements do they conduct? Here's a short list of the tools for each of the four elements and what types of magical operations you could expect to use each of the magic tools for.

Wand – Air Element Tool
The Wand is the magic tool that is designed to conduct Air element energies. It would be used for:
  • sending messages to others in the Air colors clear, white or sky blue
  • constructing Air element omnils and shields for doors and windows
  • putting up Air element half shields for protection
  • healing techniques including sweeping with Air colors, pulling Air colors and Touch Assist

Athame – Fire Element Tool

The Athame is a magical knife designed to conduct Fire element energies including the colors of Sun Yellow, red-orange, yellow-orange, bright red, red-purple, and electric blue. It would be used for magical operations such as:
  • creating Fire element color door and window shields and omnils that last longer than Air shields
  • putting up Fire element half shields for protection
  • banishing unwanted spirits from a space
  • cutting psychic lines
  • healing with fire energy including sweeping Fire element colors, pulling Fire element colors and using beams of Fire energy to breakup and remove problems (i.e. – kidney stones)

Chalice – Water Element Tool
The Chalice or Cup is the magic tool designed to conduct Water element energies. It would be used for such magical techniques as:
  • Four Element cleansings of an area, person or object
  • Nighttime Blessing ritual
  • throwing bolts of water energy
  • making a standing shield similar to an ominil to capture watchers or archetypes or for protection for small objects to keep negative energies away or for simulacra
  • sending messages that affect others on an emotional level
  • creating a psychic communication link with another
  • healing by flowing water energy to flush something out of the system or dissolve something such as calcification in arthritic joints, and pulling excess water energy from someone

Plate – Earth Element Tool
The plate or pentacle is the magic tool designed to conduct Earth element energies of grass green and earth brown. It can be used for magical operations such as:
  • shielding
  • cutting psychic lines on yourself
  • healing by using beams of Earth energies
  • keying Tarot cards and for use in Tarot readings
  • making a plate and chalice protection

Basically anything you can do with your hands and the elements magically, you can do with tools. The magic tools just help you extend your reach and often give more strength to your technique. You do have to be sure you are using the right tool with its corresponding element however or your results could fail or even worse you could damage your magic tools. If you are ready to move on to using magic tools and learn all the techniques mentioned above and more, our Magic Tool ebooks might be just what you've been looking for. There is an ebook in this series for each of the magic tools that correspond to the four elements as well as for using the Firebowl. Learn how to select or make each tool, key it to your own energies, align its elemental energies, and techniques for using each tool on your own schedule in your own time. It's a great way to extend your magical practice and bring more magic to your life.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader. Or, visit our website for more great resources.

 Image courtesy of  Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Why You Should Never Trust Magic Without an Explanation

Some of the top rated books in the magic, wicca, and similar categories are those that have the reader dive straight into rituals with no explanations, no explanation of the universal rules of magical practice, and no word on precautions. Thumbs down to that because it is one of the best ways to get into trouble. You could break a magical universal rule and have a magical side effect without ever knowing why or how to take it down. We always offer Rules of the Road and explain what the topic is, how to maximize the knowledge, and how to prevent trouble in our ebooks, courses, and Kindle books. If you read any book that doesn't offer you that, beware for your own sake!

Magical Trouble
Here are some examples of the type of trouble we have known people to get into by either not having the right foundation to perform the magical operation they undertook or by not having a good understanding of how the Universe works and its laws. In some cases the operation just didn't seem to bring any results and in other cases results were achieved, but not in a way that was acceptable.

A Financial Disaster
One of our students used a free online money spell and the results were both great and tragic. She got the money she wanted. The only problem was that the money came from her husband's life insurance policy, and he died three weeks after she cast the spell. Powerful spells without limitations (specifying, for instance, that no one die as a result of this spell) can often lead to disaster.

Let It Rain
A man trying to help his community that was suffering from drought set up a spell for it to rain. Unfortunately no rain came to his area. Upon examining his spell we found that there was nothing built into the matrix to specify where and when the rain should happen. It probably did rain somewhere as a result of his spell or it may rain in his area in the future as a result, but without these specifics included in the spell we'll never know and his community did not get the relief he hoped for.

Love Spells
We often hear from people asking about casting a love spell to make a particular man or woman fall in love with them. This is something we never recommend anyone do. This type of love spell has a good chance of backfiring. Love spells of this nature 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.

The good news is that you can cast a love spell that will work to bring you the partner you seek. You just can't name a specific person. If you set the spell up with a list of characteristics you want in a partner, then the Universe will deliver that relationship. It may or may not be the person that you had in mind. It might be someone even better and more perfect for you.

As you can see there can be catastrophic consequences, inconveniences, and loading of karmic debt to yourself by not taking the proper safety precautions in magic. Magic can help you achieve wondrous things in your life, just be sure you understand the operation you are performing and have the basic knowledge you need to perform it safely.


If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader. Or, visit our website for more great resources.

 Image courtesy of   Vlado / FreeDigitalPhotos.net