Many a person has attempted to learn Magick. I talk of this because Druidry is a Magickal tradition. Magick of course is something that most people don't understand, especially after watching movies and television for the most of their lives. TV shows like Charmed, and movies like "The Craft" tend to send a message to young folks that all you have to do is run down to your nearest New Age shoppe, pick up a book on Witchcraft, and it will tell you everything you need to make Magick, and get everything that you want in a twitch of the nose, or opening up a 200 year old Book of Shadows, doing a spell, and everything is cool.
In many of the
differing magickal traditions, there is always some reason and position,
or altar, or circle or something that you have to do to make your
magick. This is for those that follow the faith, and have been written
about by someone usually making up their own way. Many writers of pagan
material have no more idea what they are writing about, yet sell book
after book to unsuspecting people wanting something more out of their
lives. The more they are looking for is the belief that Magick spells
can change what life they are actually living. Usually the life is a sad
one, one with differing problems, no money, no love, no respect, no
happiness, no forgiving, no place to live, and the negative thoughts go
on and on.
The fact that you have
negative thoughts is not going to ultimately make you a magickal being
if you suddenly decide to buy some books and practice some spells.
Spells tend to work when the sorceror has a working knowledge of magick
to begin with. A working knowledge from study, reading, being trained,
and usually, the first magickal workings don't actually mean much. The
first spell for love may not be exactly what you want, the spell to win
the lottery won't even get you a free ticket, much less five white and
one red ball.
Magick is to be learned,
magick is to be lived, and it takes way more than five weeks to learn
it. In ancient Druidry, it took a person up to 20 years to learn, most
of it being a Bard and learning things that taught appreciation for life
before teaching what life was about. A person can't seem to figure out
time anymore, and when asked how long it takes them to get to where they
are in life, they throw out a number, their age, as if it meant
something to them. The number means nothing, and only the thoughts,
images, feelings, highs and lows of emotions, can tell you how LONG it
has taken you to get to a point in life.
The point you arrive at, no matter where it is, has been a long road, and just asking your mother how long it took you to potty train, or how long it's taken to learn Spanish, or Math, puts in perspective, how long you have been alive, and how long it takes to learn something. Many magickal people never quit learning and live to ripe old age.
Once you even learn magick, it is like the "Karate Kid", with Mr. Miyagi teaching his young and restless student of no patience, that just because you don't think you are learning, later something will come up that you will be prepared for, and never even knew it. Learning a lot of dumb facts and figures never seems like it is actually teaching you anything, only to have to rely on those same facts and figures later.
In teaching Magick, many of the students get bored, wondering what the point is. This is the same in school, students wondering why they have to learn something. Why do you have to learn geography, when they graduate school to be a travel agent, and find out why. Why learn math, only to leave school and be a waitress having to keep all of their tickets and tips straight. Why learn biology, when you leave school to become a chef.
The biggest part of learning magick is the growing up and looking at oneself before embarking on this journey. Knowing what a person wants is in the forefront. Wanting to cast spells versus wanting to help someone, wanting to get rid of people versus wanting someone to go away and be happy somewhere else are big points in knowing rather magick is for you. What does magick do and how do you perform it in twenty minutes of free time that you may have, when you should be able to run out and perform a spell in no time and be on your way.
The first question is answered by study. You need to study magick and why it exists before you can actually study magick itself. Magick is an underlying current on this plane that can be tapped when you need it, and make to be your life minute by minute, day by day, year by year.
Magick is really to be lived, not conjured. When you get up in the morning and your first smile goes out to someone else, and you give thanks for them being in your life, and you kiss your dog and give thanks that they are there, this is the beginning of magick, and a magickal day. No spells, no circles, living life in thanks and loving life and receiving magick to you.
If you do a magick rite, will it
work if you don't do a spell, you may ask? Living the magick is the
first part of the "dance with the universe" in which the good that you
live, see, feel and comes to you, is given in love and thanks, and you
feel the love and give thanks for it coming to you. The dance starts by
you being thankful. Thankful for everything, especially the good stuff,
and by being thankful, and feeling it through your body and soul, more
comes to you. The magick is living thankful, or as many authors write,
"through the wonderment of child's eyes".
Looking
at the creation, given to you, in wonder and love, and then giving
thanks for it, is the start of magick. But again, like being in a potty
training program, you will miss, forget, not give thanks, be mad, bring
negativity, forget, and pretty soon, the good magick will be gone, and
you will wonder where it went. So, until you can get yourself to be at a
place where you know where you are, the training process can be a long
and arduous one.
This life of magick is one of vision, and it is not one of living in the past, bringing the past negativity with you. Magickal dances will be just that, if you work from negativity, that is what you will get. If you are out of adjustment with the Divine Spirit, pain of something will slow you down, you will not be able to focus, you will not be able to go forward, until it is the place you are supposed to be. Things that happen to you will not be magickal, and all the circles and candles burned will not help you.
A magickal life can be lived if you find the flow of the Divine Spirit and release your life to it. A life of magick will exist when you and the Divine are on the same path. How you know that you are on the correct path is pretty much up to you. You can decide that the path isn't what you thought it might be, because it isn't happening as fast as you thought. Maybe the things rolling to you weren't coming as fast, or maybe it is just so slow, and so hard, and so hurtful in your life, that you can't see the forest because of all the trees. Maybe, you are so preoccupied with your past, and wanting to break free, or you are frozen in time, waiting, in a vacuum, because you are afraid to take a step, waiting for something to befall you.
Being
afraid is a good thing, but the energy in worrying about it are
fruitless. Let us say that you have to make a decision that could leave
you somewhere you really want to be, but are afraid to make the leap.
This is the place, the life, the path that is set for you, and do you
possibly believe that the Divine Spirit would just let you go jump
without some kind of protection if you weren't supposed to be doing it?
Of course not, and the Divine Spirit will take care of you even if it is
wrong, because you think you are doing what the Divine wants. If it is
wrong, you will know it soon enough. If it is right, everything you
want, or better, will be there for you.
Magick is the process of "The use of energy and a person's own will and intent to cause change. It has a âkâ added to the end to establish it as spiritually unique and to distinguish it as separate from magic tricks." Magick is the intent of the Divine Spirit, coupled with your directing the energy of the Divine towards what needs to be changed. This is what anyone with any word with the Divine will tell you. So, what is the problem with you performing magick you may say?
The same problem you had
with potty training. It takes time to learn. You have to be aware of
the fact that you need to know how to perform magick. You have to be
aware of not only how to perform it, but what it takes to perform it.
You have to understand yourself, and the process, and know inside that
you are actually able to and believe in yourself to perform, and this
takes time. There is something that anyone can do, but it is with trial
and error, perserverance, and time that makes a magickal being magickal.
