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Five Life Lessons I’ve Learned from Doing Magic, by Misha Magdalene

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

In modern magical discourse, we spend a lot of time discussing how practitioners should approach the practice of magic, and these discussions are often framed in terms of two viewpoints, which form the ends of a spectrum. At one end, magic is seen as a purely psychological paradigm, and doing magic (if one "does magic" at all) is about inducing changes in the magician's consciousness, rather than creating any sort of tangible effects here on the material plane where most of us live, move, and have our being. From this end of the spectrum, the idea that magic actually has the ability to change the reality outside our own heads can be seen as possible, if implausible, or as laughable wish-fulfillment. At the other, somewhat more traditional end, magic is solely and only about the ability to effect changes in both spiritual and physical realities through the exertion of one's will in a set of specific ritual acts, and any psychological effects the practitioner experiences are, at best, tangential to the work itself. It's become fashionable in modern occult circles to hold one or the other of these mutually exclusive positions, which are fundamentally positions on the "reality" of magic itself, and to insist that the other end of the spectrum is inherently false and misguided.

Being a bit of a contrarian at heart, I'm here to encourage us all to embrace the power of "and." Magic is definitely psychological…and it's absolutely, tangibly real. I've done magic to achieve outcomes in the so-called "mundane" world, and to help me cope with personal and spiritual issues with which I was struggling, and both kinds of magic have worked. In fact, I've learned over time that sometimes, one sort of issue can masquerade as the other: the troubles I'm having in a relationship might manifest as difficulties at work, and my anxieties about money could stem from physical illness or injury. The point is, I don't think it's ever one thing or the other.

So, in the spirit of bridging the gap between the traditional and psychological views on magic, here are five personal, psychological lessons I've learned about life from doing real, operant magic.

1. Caveat emptor.
   Everything has a price and, at the risk of sounding like one of those spooky warnings you hear in a cheesy horror movie, sometimes that cost isn't what you expect. I don't mean something terrible, à la "The Monkey's Paw" or Pet Sematary, but that it often winds up being the sacrifice of something in which you've invested your time and energy, but that is keeping you from having the thing you want…in other words, something you don't really want to give up, but that you're better off without. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's something to keep in mind. As Laura Tempest Zakroff points out, magic takes the path of least resistance. If the thing that keeps you from becoming the full-time artist you dream of being is your mindless day job, doing a spell to clear the way for you to be an artist might get you into a better job where you have time to do art and enough money to buy materials...or it might do you out of a job altogether, so that you have all the time you could want.
2. Contemplate twice, cast once.
   Magic is hardly safe, but a certain amount of daring leavened with caution and common sense will usually see you through. Going into your magical workings knowing what you want is obviously important (and it really is!) but, remembering our previous example of the aspiring artist, considering the ramifications of what you want is also key to good outcomes. I don't mean you should second-guess yourself into a frenzy of doubt, but you should put some honest thought into what you're actually hoping to gain from doing magic, rather than rushing off on a wing and a prayer. What needs and desires are you trying to fulfill with this spellwork, and to what end?
3. Specificity, but with slack.
   Magic works best given leeway. Conversely, I've found that over-plotted, micro-managed magic tends to peter out or dissipate in a cloud of expectations. In my experience, I get the best results from my magic (or really, from anything else in life) when I have a clear sense of the qualities I want the outcome to have, rather than an overly specific notion of what that outcome should be. When you're doing magic, you should absolutely have a goal in mind—what you want your life to look like afterwards—but work to frame that goal in terms loose enough to give your magic some breathing room to operate. So, instead of doing spellwork or praying for some particular job, house, car, or whatever, focus on getting a better one, and consider the ways in which you want it to be better: higher salary, fewer hours, more bathrooms, better gas mileage, and so on. In other words, once you have a sense of the needs and desires you're doing magic to fulfill, focus on creating an outcome that will meet those needs and desires, rather than on an idealized image of a specific outcome you believe will meet those needs and desires.
4. Just walk away.
   Whether it's a performance, a project, or a relationship, we get attached to things in which we've invested ourselves, and that's right and proper. However, all things have a life cycle: a beginning, a middle, and an end. That's common knowledge, but it's easy to forget. It can be tempting for some of us to extend the time and effort we spend with a working, to fiddle with the details, or to revisit a working and "check up on how it’s doing." These temptations are all essentially attempts to feel like we have some sort of control over the outcome, beyond the work we've already put in. When I find myself doing this, I take a deep breath and utter the first half of a magical phrase I learned from cooking-show auteur Alton Brown: "Just walk away." Once you've done the work, set it aside and let the work play itself out. Trust in the magic you've done, in the gods and spirits you've invoked, and, to quote the second half of Alton Brown's magic phrase, "Your patience will be rewarded."
5. Whenever possible, be kind.
   One needn't be a Buddhist or a Christian to believe that much of human existence is defined by suffering. After all, Thorn Coyle writes in Evolutionary Witchcraft how Victor Anderson, the late grandmaster of the Feri Tradition, taught her that witchcraft was born out of human suffering and human need. If we turn to C. G. Leland's Aradia, we are shown magic as both a weapon against the oppressors of the land and a comfort in times of trouble. Turn to the classical grimoires or to compendiums of folk magic and you'll see spells intended to cure illnesses for people and livestock, to find money and bring about prosperity, to ease suffering and give respite. Perhaps it sounds corny, but it's true: all of us struggle at one time or another, and few of us are at our best when we're struggling. It behooves those of us who would seek to hold and wield power, magically or otherwise, to let kindness be our default setting, especially when dealing with those who have less power than we do. That doesn't mean coddling others' weakness, or letting parasites siphon your time and energy. It also doesn't mean condemning others for being weak or needy. It means being compassionate, understanding, and ethical, even when there are compelling provocations to do otherwise. We can think of it as a kind of noblesse oblige, or as an iteration of the Golden Rule, the one about treating others as we would wish to be treated in their position. Either way, how we use the power given to us is, I think, revelatory. If we want magic to dominate others and do reckless harm, we're the sort of people who, under other circumstances, would use any other kind of force to do the same. On the other hand, if we want magic to improve our lives and the lives of those around us, it suggests we're invested in the world being a better place.

And those, in the end, are the greatest occult secrets I know. Learn to be careful, discerning, mindful, patient, and kind, and you will know far more about both magic and life than any number of would-be master magicians or witches. Moreover, you'll be the sort of person who can master themselves, which is the beginning and the end of all true magic.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2020. All rights reserved.

I read Kajama's advice columns every week, and I'm often struck by the types of questions people pose. A lot of people have relationship problems. While this may sound odd, I would simply LOVE to have a relationship problem, because it would mean I had relationships! Sometimes I have to look in the mirror or pinch myself to remind myself that I exist, because I feel so alone and ignored. I've even been to therapy and been the only one without a "real" problem. Most other people had relationship problems, whereas I just wanted a relationship of any kind just to be able to interact with another human being! Even one close friend would do. Am I inherently bad? It sure feels like I am not good enough to be in this world.

- the lady no one wants

Dreamchaser:

Quantum physics offers scientific proof that we create our realities via what we think. The only name attached to your question was "the lady no one wants." The letters were not even capitalized!

Do you see how statements like that help to create the reality you live in? You have convinced yourself that no one wants you and that you are going to be alone, thus this is the reality that you are creating every day.

In What the Bleep do We Know (a film that everyone should rush out and buy or rent if you haven't seen it already), Dr. Joe Dispenza said, "I wake up in the morning and I consciously create my day the way I want it to happen. Now sometimes because my mind is examining all the things that I need to get done, it takes me a little bit to settle down and get to the point of where I'm actually intentionally creating my day. But here's the thing: When I create my day and out of nowhere little things happen that are so unexplainable, I know that they are the process or the result of my creation. And the more I do that, the more I build a neural net in my brain that I accept that that's possible. (This) gives me the power and the incentive to do it the next day.

"So if we're consciously designing our destiny, and if we're consciously from a spiritual standpoint throwing in with the idea that our thoughts can affect our reality or affect our life - because reality equals life - then I have this little pact that I have when I create my day.

"I say, 'I'm taking this time to create my day and I'm infecting the quantum field. Now if (it) is a fact the observer's watching me the whole time that I'm doing this and there is a spiritual aspect to myself, then show me a sign today that you paid attention to any one of these things that I created, and bring them in a way that I won't expect, so I'm as surprised at my ability to be able to experience these things. And make it so that I have no doubt that it's come from you,' and so I live my life, in a sense, all day long thinking about being a genius or thinking about being the glory and the power of God or thinking about being unconditional love."

Take a really close look at how you react and interact with people who cross your path. Do you go out and actively seek this love you are asking for? Are you taking the risks that are necessary to find love? The truth is that whatever we have going on outside ourselves is a direct reflection of what we think we deserve on the inside.

I wish you new creations.

2517

Astrea:

I'm always stumped when people ask why they don't have love in their lives. You're not bad, you're not ugly, and I'm sure you don't smell awful. I feel that you are, however, very quiet and shy, and that you were badly hurt or disappointed as a child. Thus you are so terrified of being hurt that you won't allow other people access to your emotional world.

You're not the only person who feels this way in the crazy world we live in. There are LOTS of people who are every bit as lonely as you feel right now! Other people have their own problems, so they're not going to just fall into your lap. The Universe can HELP us to a goal, but it won't fulfill our goals for us.

No one is going to try to draw you out. Most people are too self-involved to struggle to get past your self-protective barriers. Don't depend on anyone but yourself to manifest the happiness you desire.

If you want relationships, you have to improve your relationship with YOURSELF first. You're very hard on that lady in the mirror! You don't really think she deserves to have anyone in her life. If you don't feel you are worthy of love, how are you ever going to feel that what you have to offer others is valuable? Since you seem to have had this attitude for many years, nothing is going to happen overnight, but as you improve your relationship with yourself, you'll begin to develop relationships with others.

You have to be able to give love to receive love, and you're hiding from everyone. It sounds like the therapy you tried was group therapy, and you probably would benefit more from personal counseling. Once you determine the deeper reasons you don't have relationships, you can get past it and find all kinds of people who will love to spend time with you. It probably won't take you long, since you already know you don't like what's happening now. When people want change, change happens, and you sound like you're ready for that.

I honestly believe in my heart that when a person gives love unselfishly, real love comes back to that person. Practice gratitude in place of self-pity and see what happens. Every time you feel like you're unloved or unwanted, extend a hand to someone. Volunteer to read to the blind or serve in a soup kitchen. More than any therapy, THAT will open your heart to the truth that you really do have a lot to give and to be thankful for. The feelings you'll get from the good deeds you do will radiate from your aura and draw wonderful relationships of all kinds into your experience.

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.