Thursday, August 31, 2017

Magic: Why Bad Effects Are Almost as Good as Good Effects

Why Bad is Sometimes Good

Sometimes the people who "have the worst luck" are in the best place to use magic to the greatest effect. It's odd, but people who always seem to have a black cloud hanging over their heads are more magically powerful than the people who have smooth-running lives with very few problems.

The reason people who appear to have "bad luck" are inherently more powerful magicians than people with average luck is because the bad luck people already know how to create an effect in the world.

Think about it. There are many ways to measure a person's magical ability, and one measure of magical power is how strong an effect the person creates in the world. People with bad luck often wreak a path of destruction wherever they go. They create a lot of effect. Their effect isn't, per se, "good," but it is strong.

Having said that, people who create a strong negative effect in the world also tend to have trouble using their magical abilities. In other words, if they had learned to channel their abilities they wouldn't be living under such a black cloud. But, when and if they ever do learn to channel their abilities to create effects they actually wanted, they are fairly unstoppable.

Good News About Bad Magical Effects

1. If you are a person chronically living under a black cloud, you have powerful magic. You just haven't learned how to use it.

2. If you are living a good life with no black cloud, it doesn't mean you can't develop your magical abilities, but you may not need them if life is good.

Powerful magical practitioners tend to be fairly extreme in some ways. You will rarely find a practicing magician, good at the craft, who has a milk toast personality.

The $64,000 Question
Now for the $64,000 question. If you are one of those black cloud people, how do you channel your power so that it produces useful rather than chaotic effects in your life? The answer is that you have to start small. If you are one of these people, you probably have a strong will and a strong personality. Going head-to-head against that personality won't do anything but you give a flatter head.

Instead, start using your abilities in areas where you don't have a lot of significance, where things don't matter so much. Start attracting little things into your life. For instance, every morning when you wake up, think of something insignificant you want to bring into your life. Pick anything that doesn't matter, ranging from jello to the color green to a poker chip. Spend a minute or two calling that item to you, whether you speak a little prayer out loud or you envision it showing up. Then, during your day, look for it to come to you. Wait for it. Expect it. When you get it, celebrate. If it doesn't show up, either you didn't recognize it or it didn't happen to come. No big deal. That's why you pick something that doesn't matter to you.

As your ability to bring small items into your life improves, your ability to channel your magical power will, too. As long as you stick with things that don't matter to you, you'll keep the energy light and joyful. If you find yourself "caring" too much about whether you succeed with this exercise, move on to a different exercise, like some baby steps.

Baby Steps
Cloud Magic: Just send an email to info@shamanschool.com with CLOUDS in the subject line and we’ll reply with instructions on how to move clouds. Yup, it’s baby steps for weather working and more!
Daily Rituals Ebook
Over 40 beginner level rituals to help you start game playing with magic.

Energy Healing for Self and Others
Basic magical healing techniques that are safe and effective for anyone.
Four Element Courses
The four elements of air, fire, water and earth are the building blocks of our universe. Learning to work with these elements allows you to work with anything in the universe. Look for the Basic Magic Home Study Course in our store.

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Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Awaken Your Native Wisdom by Hiring an Angel

What do you get when you cross an obsession with self-improvement with an expert culture? People obsessed with expert opinions - and people who have lost their native wisdom! As a society we have become so accustomed to seeking expert opinions that we no longer know how to access our own intuition and knowing.

In ancient tribal times people didn't run to the medicine man or shaman for every ailment or life problem - they had spiritual tools for solving their own problems. They knew how to handle elemental energies of air, fire, water and earth to create healing, abundance, harmony in relationships and much more. They knew how to work with weather spirits, devas and other beings in the hierarchy. And they used their inner wisdom and guidance to make both everyday and major decisions.

The good news is that you have that very same wisdom and connection to higher powers and beings - all you have to do is awaken it. How? With practice, of course! No, we can't tell you how to do the equivalent of spiritual jumping jacks but we can give you exercises that will help you develop and exercise your spirit abilities.

Hire a Parking Angel
Ready to stop snoozing and start using your native wisdom? Try this little exercise of hiring a Parking Angel to help you find a parking spot in a busy lot.

1. Say out loud or in your mind, "I would like to a request a parking angel of sun yellow, grass green, and powder blue."

2. Wait a few moments until you feel a presence, or, if just wait a few moments. They don't take long to get there.

3. Say, "Parking angel of sun yellow, grass green, and powder blue, I would like to request your help in getting me a parking spot [specify where and when]. Thank you in advance for your help." When you receive that which you have asked for, then thank the angel again. It is VERY IMPORTANT to thank angels so they will be willing to help you later.

There are angels for EVERYTHING, from dealing with particular people to telling you how much salt to put on your food. You can ask their help in absolutely anything. Part of their job is to help us - they can't move on to the next level of their evolution unless they help us, and they can't help us unless we ask for help. So there are groups of angels just waiting, begging, for us to ask

Fun, right? Also, check out Everyday Magic, a weekly email course that offers you simple ways to awaken all of your magical, psychic and shamanic abilities!

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Thursday, August 24, 2017

Protection Symbols in Magic

Acorns, Elk, Earth Squares, and More
When it comes to magical protection symbols the variety is endless, depending on the magical or shamanic tradition with which you work. For instance, according to the Druids, the symbol of an acorn is said to bring protection into a Druidic symbol. Certain Native American tribes use the symbol of the Elk as protection against psychic spirits. Earth religionists often reply upon the Earth Square (a cross within a square) to draw on protection energies from the four directions of the earth. Needless to say, when it comes to picking protection symbols the variety can seem overwhelming.

Guidelines for Choosing Symbols

It's not possible to review every magical symbol out there but here are a few guidelines you can follow when choosing protection symbols to use in your magical practice.

1. The protection symbols should come from a fully-working and complete system that has a history of success, such as the Tarot deck (we use the Waite-Rider deck), the Futhark Runes, or a specific tribal tradition.

2. Your chosen protection symbols should relate to the areas you want to protect. For instance, if you want to protect something large and physical, such as your property, you would want to choose a protection symbol like the Disc (a star surrounded by a circle) or the symbol of three mountains. Both of these symbols relate to anything on the physical plane. If you wanted to protect and nourish your Spirit, you would want to choose a symbol like the Sun from the Tarot. In the Tarot the Sun card nourishes and protects the Spirit.

3. Put your protection symbols where they can do their job. For personal protection, many people wear their protection symbols as amulets, rings, or earrings. For protecting your property, your can put the symbol up around your property or just at the entry points, such as over the doors. For protecting people far away, you can put the person's picture on a keyed plate and put the protection symbol on the plate with the picture.

Choosing protection symbols to use for various magical purposes can take some real thought and research. If you are not sure whether a protection symbol is right for your needs you can always use your pendulum to test it. If you are trying to choose between different protection symbols, you can lay them all out in front of you on a keyed plate and let your pendulum show you which ones will be the best for your needs. Last, but not least, if you start using some protection symbols and they don't seem to be working, go back and do some research and choose some different ones to try. Remember, magic is always an experiment in progress. While you may not get everything right the first time around, remember that you can always go back and fix something that is not working.

See talismans and amulets we have in our online store.


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Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Daily Magic for Everyday People

Can everyday people do magic or do you have to be descended from some line of witches and wizards to do magic? Balderdash! Anyone who wants can do magic. Magic is, in fact, the birthright of every planetary citizen, and that means you! If you're new to magic or you want to learn more about the magical arts, one of the best ways to get started is to do daily magic. Daily magic is the practice of simple rituals everyday to enhance your life. It can easily become a part of your daily routine, like doing yoga or drinking coffee.

Here are three simple rituals to get you started on your daily magic practice.

** 1. Need Some Info? Ask Owl! **
If you need some information in your life that you can't find on Google, such as some spiritual insight, you might check in with the Spirit of Owl. The Owl totem has all of the best qualities of physical owls: they can see extremely well, can hear extremely well, can turn their heads 180 (eyes in the back of their heads), are wise and are excellent hunters. If you need someone to hunt down some information for you, Owl is the one to turn to. Here's how you work with Owl in doing daily magic.

- Say aloud or in your mind, "Spirit of Owl, I request your help."

- Wait a few moments until you feel the presence of Owl (no more than a few seconds).

- State your request. For instance, if you need help seeing what's causing the relationship issues in your life, you might say, "Owl, please come with me today and show me what is causing these accidents in my life. Please show me in a way that I can clearly understand. Thank you in advance for your help." As always, when you ask for spiritual help appreciation is important.

- Stay open to what Owl will show you. Owl may bring up old memories, send you a phrase from the mouth of a stranger, or bring a chance meeting with another person. Owl will use any and every device to help you see. The more you contact Owl in your daily magic practice the faster these insights will come.

** 2. Need Energy? Burn a Sun Candle. **
One of the easiest daily magic techniques is the use of the Sun Candle. Create your own energy source by burning Sun Candles as often as you can. Carve a sun face into a candle and burn it, or just buy a bright sun yellow candle. Did you know that the color sun yellow (bright yellow with no orange) actually nourishes and refreshes your Spirit? If you're feeling groggy, grumpy or grouchy, sit in front of a lit sun yellow candle for a few minutes. It will refresh you and give you happy, joyful energy. Be sure to light the candle with paper or wooden matches since cigarette lighters have butane, which causes unwanted side effects.

** 3. Swing Your Worries Away **
Sometimes a little action is called for in your daily magic practice. If you're in a sticky situation and you can't find an exit, use your pendulum to clear the air. Find a quiet place and sit in the south facing north. Focus on the situation you want to clear and begin swinging your pendulum in a clockwise direction. Allow the pendulum to continue swinging until it stops naturally - it will stop swinging your situation has cleared. Then see what changes now that the situation has been cleared by your pendulum.

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Thursday, August 17, 2017

The Magic of the Long Moment

Time travel, or the manipulation of time, has long been a shaman's tool for healing or research. For instance, a shaman might take a person back into a past life event so that person can understand what happened, or a shaman might travel into the future to explore possible what-ifs. For shamans and magicians time is elastic: it can be stretched like taffy, compressed like cotton, or frozen like ice.

One of the simplest ways to begin playing with time magically is to practice the art of the long moment. The art of the long moment is simply the ability to slow our perception of certain events so that we can really see what is happening in present time. It's also called the Cortothalamic Pause. Why do we need such a pause? Because we normally rush headlong through life events at the speed of sound, which doesn't give us optimum time to respond appropriately.

3 Steps to Instant Reaction
Here's the 3 step process that normally happens in any life event:
  1. We receive an incoming perception: A person speaks loudly to us
  2. The perception is immediately routed by our flow of associations to a certain place in our memory: In this or a past life, we have memories of loud voices and anger.
  3. The perception is assigned a meaning: The person is angry with us.
These three steps happen in less than a second. Less than one second after we receive an incoming impression, we have assigned a meaning to the perception and are already beginning to react. We will assume that the person is angry with us regardless of what the person is actually feeling.

In the regular course of things, our time is compressed in this way. There's no time to really evaluate the incoming perception and respond appropriately. Do you ever overreact in the heat of the moment and wonder why? It's because you had no Cortothalamic Pause. You reacted based on memory. In other words, most of us are interacting with life using mechanical reactions from memory -- we are hardly ever in the "now."

The Magic of the Long Moment
This is where the long moment comes in. If you can slow yourself at the moment you receive an incoming piece of data then you can stretch time. In this long moment you give yourself the power to evaluate the information you have received and give a true response.

How can you practice the art of the long moment? It's not hard. Twice a day practice the Cortothalamic Pause. When someone asks you a question or asks you to do something, stop everything inside yourself for 2 seconds. Stop all thought and consideration. Get quiet. Then respond to the person. For a long time you won't actually be able to stop your internal thoughts, but you will be able to see all the mechanical reactions and thoughts that immediately spring up. You'll be truly surprised at the massive and often chaotic activity that happens inside yourself. It will give you true insight into the way you interact with life.

Flower Essences for the Long Moment
To enhance the probability of having a long moment, you can include these flower essences as part of your daily regimen:

- Lavender and Chamomile for calming
- White Chestnut for reducing repetitive thoughts
- Thyme for helping to manipulate Time

Explore the Long Moment and More
Want to explore more flower essence remedies and other techniques for self-healing and self-exploration? Check this out:

Energy Healing for Self and Others (ebook)



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Thursday, August 10, 2017

Magic Rituals: This One is Very Cool

Here's the magic question of the day for you:

What's the difference between a ceremony and a ritual?

The answer may vary according to the tradition in which you study, but based on my review of multiple tribal traditions (along with my own observations and experiences), a ceremony is a reenactment of some past event and is meant to bring that event (and its meaning) into present time. For instance, certain dervish sacred dances are ceremonies that reenact past events. A ritual, on the other hand, is a magical act that has an intended magical effect, and therefore must be suitable to the here and now, even if that means adapting it for modern times.

Just a little magical tidbit to think about.

And while you are pondering the possible implications of that, here's something else to play with. Recently we had some of the more advanced students in our school design their own magic rituals as part of their original research. One student came up with what I thought was a fabulously fitting ritual, very in keeping not only with the here and now, but also with the effect that he wished to create.

The Very Cool Magical Ritual
So here was his situation: he had just moved into a new neighborhood and had had some less-than-positive encounters with his new neighbors. Wishing to restore harmony, both within himself and in his relations with his neighbors, he used an ordinary landscaping task to create a powerful ritual.

He needed to trim an olive tree that day. As he approached the tree, he realized that olive branches are the traditional symbols of extending peace to another party. Perfect. As he trimmed the olive tree, he used the Navajo Beauty Way Walking Litany to create a sacred space around himself, the tree, and the entire area surrounding the tree.

Then, to expand the circle of sacred space and restore harmony, he carried an olive branch to each border of his property, saying the Walking Litany as he went. Those of you who have used the Walking Litany know that this form of the Beauty Way is actually a spell in motion. By saying the Walking Litany as he carried and placed each of the olive branches, he was in effect putting up a magical spell matrix around his property and in contact with his neighbors.

He reported that he felt appreciative of his neighbors' efforts to beautify their yards after performing his self-created ritual to extend peace to his neighbors. Prior to the ritual, his emotions ranged between anger and scorn toward those neighbors, especially when the neighbor's yard improvement projects overlapped with his own.

The external results have yet to be fully played out, but without a doubt the ritual created an internal effect. Because an internal change in us always leads to an external change in the world, this student is bound to soon see the positive physical effects of his personal ritual.

Pretty cool, huh? I think so.

Daily Magic Rituals for You
You can learn more about daily magic rituals in our "Daily Rituals for Attracting What You Want in Life Ebook" ebook. This ebook features numerous magical rituals that you can easily incorporate as a part of your everyday life, plus teaches you the process of creating your own magic rituals.

Check out the ebook here:

Daily Rituals for Attracting What You Want Ebook

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Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Magical Self-Defense: When to Use It

When to Use Magical Self-Defense

As magicians, it's important to study the area of self-defense carefully since we have considerable power and force. The inappropriate use of that power and force can cause Universal backlash. We must be especially careful to control our tempers and not use our abilities reactively.

According to Western magical practice, "You have a right to be here and follow your own path so long as you hinder no one else in doing likewise." This foundational principle asserts our right to exist and follow our own path and by extension, our right to defend ourselves against those who might seek to prevent us from walking our path.

As you grow in magical ability, you will inevitably attract beings on different levels that seek to interfere with your path in some way. Writer Clarissa Estes, author of Women Who Run With the Wolves, so accurately states, "If you have beauty in your life, know that it will attract the dark as well as the light. Don't be surprised. Be prepared."

Here's a good rule of thumb to use when it comes to self-defense:

"In cases of direct and violent personal harm you are entitled to defend yourself by any means available, provided you did nothing to encourage or provoke the attack."

For a more in-depth look at when to use magic for self-defense and some techniques to use for magical self-defense, take a look at these articles:
Magical Aikido for Self Defense: What to Do if Someone Grabs You
What You Probably Don't Know About Magical Self-Defense
OR
Learn Magical Self Defense at home with our online course.

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Thursday, August 3, 2017

Don't Fix Your Life! Live a Magical Life Instead

We get a lot of emails each week from people asking for techniques, spells and advice to fix their lives. We always we respond, but for the most part we aren't able to send the "magical cure" over email.

Why is this? Because even if we were to fix the current "problem" in a person's life, another problem would soon appear. That person's consciousness created the first problem, and will create another and another and another.

So what does this tell us? It tells us that there's a big difference between trying to fix your life and learning to live a magical life. The first is a temporary solution at best, while the second produces a permanent, positive transformation in your life.

The bottom line is that you can't fix your life. You cannot successfully and permanently apply magical principles to temporary life situations. Those situations exist simply to tell you that something is awry in your life, and that you need to pay attention. What you can do is change your consciousness and your intention with magic.

How Magic Works to Improve Your Life

Magic is the study of fundamental Universal laws and principles. When you don't understand these laws, life appears chaotic, whimsical, without reason and often perverse. The same was true in earlier times, when people did not understand the basics of weather and thought that willful deities were punishing them with drought or famine.

When you begin to understand the basic laws of the Universe (and of this Earth school), you begin to see the rhyme and reason that moves through your life and everyone else's life. Magic gives you levers with which to leverage the forces in your life toward your goals and aims. With these levers you will have greater control over you attention, your behaviors, your compulsions and your desires. You'll understand the roots of all these facets of yourself, and know how to direct them in your favor.

Learning spells and exercises without understanding the basic principles behind them can get you only so far. Why? Because when you don't understand the reasons behind those exercises, you don't get much use out of them. The study of basic magical principles teaches you the skills to design your own spells, exercises and techniques that work in YOUR life - because you designed them! Using spells and exercises that work in someone else's life rarely creates permanent change in yours.

So roll your sleeves up, really get down and dirty - and personal - in your study of magic. Your life is not like your car - you cannot take your life to a shaman and have them fix it in 3 days. You can, however, learn the art of magic and your life will fix itself (magically). Got it? Good!

If you want to know more about the art and study of magic or learn basic Universal principles, check out these courses:

Home Study Courses

Magic Ebooks

Magic Email Course

Magic Kindle Books

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