I’ve been reading about magick, and discussed magick, and I’ve finally found a few explanations that helps me understand how to do magick.
Understanding magick in theory isn’t so hard, it’s how to do it in practice I’ve been struggling with understanding.
Many things I’ve read about magick, and discussions, have been about energy. Which isn’t helpful when you can’t sense energy.
Some think my problem is faith or belief, but that’s wrong. Of course I can do magick, or Loki wouldn’t be pushing me so much about doing it. I know I can do a few types of magick already, but spellworkings has had me stumped.
I’ve been told to just have fun and experiment and find out what works for me. I just don’t understand how I’m supposed to be able to do that, when I can’t sense anything happening at all. If I try a dozen different spells, then for all I know and can sense, I’m just doing live action roleplaying pretending to be a magician/witch.
I’ve been told that you’re supposed to just know that a spell works. That you’re supposed to see it or feel it with your heart/gut/intuition/whatever. That just makes me go: Bwuh? Do what with the what now? “See with the heart”, is that the same as “feel it in your heart”? What does that even mean? Sense something in my heart chakra??
One of the problems I’ve had with spellworkings and spells is: if I am to practise doing magick each day, does that mean that I have to come up with a new spell each day? How can I manage to come up with an endless stream of spells?
I define spells as a very specific and narrow type of magickal workings. To me spells are like those I’ve seen in movies, on the telly and read about in Fantasy novels; the kind that are written down in a grimoire, which magick users chant aloud, and preferably the spell should rhyme and sound old-fashioned. Or spells that are drawn as sigils
The spells I’ve seen when I’ve googled, is always about wanting something, usually money, sex, love, and mundane power. I just don’t have a lot of wants, at least not concrete one like that. And wouldn’t casting spells to get something you want, every day, be very greedy?
On Saturday I tried my first spellworking, a candle spell.
I focused on what I wanted to happen, the goal of the spell.
I carved a sigil I’ve come up with for this spell into the candle, and a rune. Then I bloodied both the sigil and the rune. Maybe that will give the spell a bit extra power, I thought.
Then I used some scented oil I’ve made for Loki and used a finger to put some on the candle, while slowly chanting the simple phrase of the spell.
Then I lit the candle, and let it burn for an hour. I’m supposed to light it at the same time each night, and let it burn for an hour, until it’s burned down.
I wonder if I might’ve picked a too big candle? Maybe I should’ve used a standard, slim one? It’s going to take a very long time before it’s burned down. Oh, well.
Oh, one interesting thing: I didn’t realise until the next evening, that I had chosen to light the candle at nine o’clock, and nine is a sacred number in the old faith. Heh.
Yesterday I tried another type of spell. I sat down in front of Loki’s altar, and lit a candle. Then I wrote a spell down on a piece of paper, while focusing on what I was doing and on my intention. I held the note and read the spell aloud, slowly and being as focused as possible, three times. I folded the note, while chanting the spell another three times. Then I burned the note in the candle flame.
The spell was about asking the Universe/the Divine to give me new understanding of and knowledge about magick and spellworkings.
Some hours later I suddenly began to wonder if I have misunderstood what Loki wants me to do. When He’s said that He wants me to practise doing spells, did He really mean just spells? That’s a very narrow type of magick. Then I thought, I’ve experienced before that Loki has a very different definition of some terms than I have, so maybe He means something else with “spells” than I do. After all, Loki is a witch/magician and a great initiator of witches, wouldn’t it make more sense if He wanted me to do magick and not just spells?
This morning I talked to Loki, and used my pendulum to clarify what I was hearing.
And Loki has indeed a different, far wider definition of spellworkings.
And He wants me to practise doing magick, not just one limited type of it.
That makes things so much more understandable!
I know a couple of Feri excercises, which I can repeat and do every day.
I found a website that explains Feri and some exercises in a very simple and easily understandable way: Vicia and the Anderson Feri tradition
A type of magick I like, is Chaos Magick, which Goat-Willow explained this way:
“To me, magic of any sort involves using whatever works at that moment–or whatever I *believe* works at that moment–no matter how ridiculous it might seem, or whether or not it will ever work again.”
Columbine explained magick in a simple and understandable way:
“You needn’t understand the mechanics of everything yet (or ever, for that matter), nor do you need to see or sense energy in any capacity. Magick can be summed up thusly: It is simply thought made manifest. If you can think and concentrate on a goal for a period of time, if you can fuel that thought with emotion, and (this is the most important part) if you can let it go after the working is complete, then your magick will be successful 99% of the time. Everything else, is just props.”
Today I stumbled over this:
“1 Lesson Correspondence Course” in “Rob’s Magick Blog”
“Right now the important thing isn’t results. Right now the important thing is to be doing magic. Even if it doesn’t work, it’s still a first step on the journey to becoming an adept, and even a horribly bad novice magician is still a magician […].”
YES! THANK YOU!
I’ve been completely focused on results, when what I should be focused on as a n00b novice is training.
I think I’m getting an understanding about how to do magick in practise now.
Took you long enough…
“No thanks to you Loki…”
I wanted you to figure out things on your own.
“Mrrrglblrrrgl…”
Fire and Ink 
Huzzah! I’m so glad to hear you’re making progress!
I’ve had a similar problme myself with deciding what spells to do to practise, I have a similar perspective that you do. One of my local pagans said “Then create talismans for protection, use a spell to help your plants grow. Use it to help you gain discipline and such.” It made sense but I’ve still done… Nada. XD
But I’m glad to see you achieved a break through, I really am. is the book helping at all?
It really helped to figure out that Loki wants me to do different types of magick, and not just traditional spells.
Energywork is also magick, for example, and I’ve found a couple of Feri exercises about simple energywork.
I haven’t got further with the book than put it on my Amazon wishlist. ^_^
Yeah, that reeeeeaaally would’ve helped. Damn tricksters.
I know a few other methods I’m starting to play with. Potions is one I’ve just written about. Maybe your should try tinkering with those? 🙂
Huzzah! But did the pdf not work?
Huh, I could _swear_ I had replied to this…
I think I’ll try out the very simple and basic stuff for now. 🙂
Yes, the pdf worked. I had forgotten I had it… (Absent-minded, who, me?)
Huzzah!
I think you may be interpreting energy in a way that might be too advanced right now because some of the very basic energies are very visible to everyone. Look at how wind works and can be directed. Look at how water works and can be guided. Watch how a flame eats a piece of paper and how you can move that paper so the fire burns it the way you want. And move some earth with your hands and see how what hole you dig or what mound you make changes the way you walk on it.
Then moving on to spirit, see how happiness is spread and how other less fun emotions can be spread and see what it takes to stop them from spreading. Observe at a park children playing. One falls and cries, another falls on purpose and laughs and that makes the first one stop crying.
These kinds of energies frequently have analogous relationships to the energies in other things because these are the foundations and while it gets more complex as you move into different forms, at some level, they start with how things work that you can see. But you have to be patient and observe. Practicing magic is doing that, IMO.
As far as seeing with other parts of the body, IME, this involves getting the body and mind in sync in a meditative kind of way and then doing visualization. Imagine how the room looks from your belly button for example. But seeing with the heart is more seeing with emotion. These are connected but of you focus on the perspective of your own body parts, it might make it easier to then later use different emotions to see different perspectives. I think it valuable to have those kinds of analogies in your head as it allows for a more complete understanding of perspective. That can be very handy when considering that magic takes the path of least resistance. If you can see from as many perspectives as possible, then you may be able to determine that least resistent path.
I think a spell a day is kind of strange but only if you consider a spell something formal. But if you consider you interactions with different things like plant, animal or mineral and asking them or letting them inform you, then that’s magic and it might be a spell too. How to do that would be to maybe hold a stone and give it time. Roll it around in your hands and fingers. Roll it around your skin to see how it feels. Try seeing it with your other body parts. Play. Having a clear mind and focus but being open to let your mind roam, might allow images to come to you and those in turn might tie to feelings. You may find you own associations with the rock. Once you do, then you will have another energy to work with. But it takes a while to get those visions, insights etc. And it’s no use beating yourself up over it. Instead do a little each day.
Nobody is going to know everything, so why not focus on that which you can know? That which is at hand already.
I do think sometimes things are props, but some things I think are magical too. For example, spirits and energies, even the regular ones, exist with or without you and your guiding them the way you want dosen’t even involve props really. The magic is in the work it took to get to the point where you understand how to set things in motion on different levels.
Merchants sell spell candles in a lot of places. They are about four inches in length and about a half inch thick and they burn down in an hour or so. They are great for focus intent, lighting and then purposefully putting it out f your mind and letting it burn down. And there is less risk of setting things on fire. Setting fires is generally not so great to do, eh. 😀
A great way to feel your own energy is to hold your hands facing each other but cupped. Like you are hold and invisible ball just a few inches apart. Focus there on the spot in between. Your eyes may focus and refocus on the spot between and the background, but keep coming back to the spot and let your eyes relax. Like scrying, your eyes can do some pretty amazing visual tricks, while you’re waiting for energy to build, observe how those visual tricks work. It’s almost like dream state. Then after about say, 3-5 minutes. Take your hands away and put one about 2-3 inches over your arm. You will feel a heat as if you had just rubbed or clapped your hands radiating onto the skin of your arm. You did not exert effort to rub or clap, but you did through distance create enough heat to transfer it else where. This is your personal energy and it is measurable. It comes from the blood pumping through your body. Your being alive. There’s science behind that, but you do not have to know it to be able to use it. And you can use on another too. And then their energy will help continue the heat in that distance and before you know it, you can, without ever touching a person, give them a heat massage.
Sorry for going on, but it seemed like you might want some basic ideas about the foundations of some forms of magic. Of course everybody has their own ways (except in some circumstances like high magic where the methods are pretty precise and regular), and finding your own vibe is going to be special unto you.
A note about making thought manifest magic. This works sometimes but requires a shit ton of focus and the ability to do that can be learned through things like mediation. That’s a skill that is not easy to do at first. Not in this extremely overstimulated world, but it is so worth the effort to do it. Emptying the mind allows for control about how and what you open it up to, like intent. And it also make it easier to let go of intent when you need to. And that is also an important part IME.
If all of this is moot already for you, I apologize. I remember getting frustrated with terminology and I still do sometimes. And I wanted just to have some practical things I could do to learn. And I think, at least for me, starting with practical has made much difference. I do not do spells often, not formal ones. But when I do I tend to have success. Except that lottery one. Ha! But I live magic because everything I experience, examine and observe builds my internal grimoire.
That was very helpful! Thank you!
Yes, as a total n00b, I need things explained with simple words, and terminology, too.
I’ve asked several people about magick, and asked in online forums. People try t be helpful, but some of their suggestions are adept level stuff, and many explanations go straight over my head.
I mean, you don’t just tell someone who has got a computer for the first time in their life something like “Program not responding? You just run task manager and end the process”. When I did user support, I discovered to my surprise that many users thought that the “computer” was the monitor on their desk. You can’t just assume that the other person has your own level of knowledge and understanding.
I _thought_ Loki wanted me to do spells every day, but it turns out He wants me to do _magick_. So I don’t need to worry about doing 365 different spell for the next year. ^_^
Loki said about me to someone else: “[She] is trying to see with [her] eyes when [she] should be seeing with [her] heart’s balance.”
I have no idea what that means in practise. Any ideas?
You said: “But seeing with the heart is more seeing with emotion.”
_How_ does one see with emotion??
Example for seeing with emotions: Take a very simple circumstance.. We’ll use a pencil that keeps breaking right after you sharpen it. How would you see that with anger? What would you call the pencil? “Fucking pencil!” If you saw it through depression it might be more like: “This is the way the world is for me. It doesn’t want me to go anywhere or do anything. I can’t even write my name.” See it through humor (a lighter shade of joy), “Well, I suppose everyone is safe from being stabbed now.” Look at it from as many emotional perspectives as you can.
Doing that can help you get in touch with spirit. The next step is to see how each one is received by more than just the person feeling it. Deep depression receives cheer often with sadness. Cheer receives anger with confusion frequently. There are many emotions and interactions, but if you observe how they work you can use that information for magic. Healing magic can use this information as well as formulating certain spells.
I read and was glad he let you off the hook for the spell a day.
The heart’s balance can be many things. You’ll have to try them on to know which fits. Dispassion is often a balance to the heart. When you see through emotions, you are doing it with dispassion in pat of y our head because your purpose is observing. So the heart’s balance is the lack of emotion and the presence of reason, and it is the best way to see how emotions work in others clearly. That def is also good for seeing natures of things. You have to step back from some events emotionally to understand how to use the learning from observation. I saw a snake eating a cute mouse. The mouse was screaming. I could have stopped it but it was not for me to intervene. I had to swallow my heart and see how it worked through reason only.
But there are other possible meanings and a trickster God might mean something very practical. You’re heart is on one side of your body. What is the physical balance that keeps us all from tipping to one side? Is the inner ear involved? IDK. There could be a very straightforward meaning or there could be a riddle. I wish you good luck finding out!
Thank you for explaining. 🙂
“I read and was glad he let you off the hook for the spell a day.”
LOL, no, that wasn’t a demand from Loki, that was me misunderstanding what he wanted me to do, and thinking I had to do a spell a day, which had me completely stumped for _months_. ^_^
I think you’re really on to something about “seeing with the heart’s balance” meaning to take a step back and look at things in an objective, dispassionate manner.
I’m too sensitive and emotional and my emotions tend to run off with me when something makes me upset/angry/hurt/sad. Loki has said that he wants me to learn to surf on my emotions instead of being dragged under and overwhelmed by them.
Putting my two cents in – I hope you don’t mind. Is it possible that Loki means you are trying to approach spellcrafting relying with your logical side, when instead you should go about relying more on the instinctual and intuitive side? To quote Terry Pratchett ( I occasionally wonder if he is a witch, because his view on magical stuff can make perilous sense) witchcraft can be about learning what is already in your bones.
Anyway, I tend to think the first step to get aquainted with spells is manipulating and sensing energy. You learn that, you have more faith in what you are doing, which helps in doing spells that work or work better. Feri related excercises as the ones you linked at are good practice – I used them a lot myself back in the day. I would give a look over to the Ha Prayer as preparatory work (it help to be more energy sensitive beside its cleansing effects) and if you feel like, I once reviewed a book that might be helpful : http://seastruckbythecrossroads.wordpress.com/2012/06/15/book-review-energy-essentials-for-witches-and-spellcasters-by-mya-om/
I had also came over to say I quoted a comment of yours in this blog post of mine:
http://seastruckbythecrossroads.wordpress.com/2012/08/25/god-sex/#comments
I didn’t think you would mind.
I don’t mind – any suggestions might help. ^_^
” Is it possible that Loki means you are trying to approach spellcrafting relying with your logical side, when instead you should go about relying more on the instinctual and intuitive side?”
That is very possible.
Maybe that is what He meant when He said that I was seeing with my eyes, when I should be seeing with my heart’s balance?
I can understand if “see with your heart” is about instinct, intuition and magickal insight. But what on Earth does a heart’s _balance_ mean?
No, I don’t mind being quoted. 🙂
Mmmm, the issue with finding a working esoteric practice that is tailored on your gut-feelings is that you must learn to tell apart the stuff you know because you know it in your bones, and the stuff you know because some part of you wants results the easy way. Sometimies energy work is easier than you made it to be in your head, other times you might convince yourself that you can do the easy way something that requires harder work. The line is often blurry and in the end is the results that tell you the difference.
In a way, I think, energy must be approached with an impartial heart – to listen to your istincts and sense the right way to go about it, you need to shut your personal opinions and feelings out and just focus on the listening inward (or outward, if a spirit or deity is lending tips).
Not sure if I expressed myself clearly or just rambled, but you have my take on it. 😉
My instincts/gut-feeling and such is practically non-existant when it comes to magick, because it’s something completely new to me.
So, “heart’s balance” is the same as an “impartial heart”?
For me, it is.
Thank you for this.
This post clarified some things for me. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, and a bit Of your journey here.
Hiya Darkamber – I was just going to say, I have the same issues with needing to understand exactly what it is I am looking at, when it comes to magic etc – and I do appreciate a very straightforward and almost scientific approach when it comes to these esoteric topics. I see you found Rob’s Magic Blog – which I was going to suggest to you. Also, The Witch of Forest Grove has a lot of kind-of ‘how to’s; for spells and other work that I have found to be helpful.
And – I was wondering what type of magic are you supposed to be doing? ie: you could be studying a hermetic path, in which case, there is tons to be done every day because there is so much to be learned in the way of symbology and ritual and specific language to be used etc.
Then – there’s just working with intention and projecting your will at a situation. I found this guy who suggest doing this every day – which I found to be great way to practice focus:
http://www.alexstark.com/articles/howto-dailypractice.html
It seems to me that doing anything creative, or meditative, aimed at increasing your skills at projecting your will and focusing your intention around any given situation is the key. We manifest our own reality, in other words. That is, for spells in particular.
But – isn’t magic also: divination, astral work, shamanic journeying and meditation, trance-work and creative visualization etc? It seems form your blog that you already do a bunch of that stuff
; )
cheers,
Skye
“And – I was wondering what type of magic are you supposed to be doing?”
Magick… 😛 Loki hasn’t specified, so I guess it’s anything and everything, whatever I think/feel will work for me.
Any kind of formal spell/magick stuff really doesn’t appeal to me – like fixed rituals, use of props or specific languages.
I rather like chaos/freestyle magick. Improv magick; whatever you think/feel will work in the moment, works in that moment.
“But – isn’t magic also: divination, astral work, shamanic journeying and meditation, trance-work and creative visualization etc?”
Yes, it is. Well, at least divination, astral work/Journeying, trance-work.
Don’t know if meditation and creative visualisation is magick, though.
I’ve done/do divination. I’ve done meditation visualisations where I imagined meeting Loki in an imaginary place – that was astral work and meeting Loki on a demi-plane. Now I’m trying exercises to sense my own energy.