All That Slithers

Sometimes the wisdom of the writers of fairy tales is before me and I fail to understand it. When I do get the message I feel a big AHA! That happened today when I was thinking about some problems I had had yesterday in managing my moods. I thought of the way the blahs had just slithered up on me and suddenly I knew why the "evil" witches put eye of newt and toe of frog in their cauldrons. Their black magic spells are meant to catch their victims unaware, to just slither up on them. I guess I am a wiser magician than I was before. Every attitude, just like a coin, has a head and tails, or obverse and reverse. So I suggest that if you feel the blahs creeping up on you, or if you are feeling the need for the zing of some good magic do not despair...those creepy feeling are a warning that it is time to reach out and hook into the field of magic that surrounds you. Ask questions about what you want, what you need, and what you can do about it. Often just knowing your wants and needs will give you some energy to pursue them. Then mix in a dose of gratitude for what you already have and you may have your magic spell right in your hand. You have more power than you realize and when you start to use it, life improves. So, if you are suffering from a touch of irritation or hopelessness don't let it envelope you. Look at it as an evil spell from elsewhere that you have the magical power to combat. Be specific and get to the root of things then start to chip away at it. May the spark be with you.

Maintaining Your Courage

In epic tales or adventure movies the hero, with great courage, blasts through the problem and succeeds. Then the story is over. Supposedly everyone lives happily ever after. The wise magician knows that in real life situations demanding courage will arise again and again. Chocolate and fattening foods have to be resisted until all of the weight is off. Exercise has to be a daily habit if you want to get fit. A job that isn't perfect has to be worked until you have earned your college tuition or until the house payments are made. Habits that are strongly ingrained have to be replaced by new habits. Courage is a constant need. It must be maintained even when it seems boring or hard to do so. That is when your magical creative self can come to the rescue. I know a man who was dealing with a powerful problem of claustrophobia. He was working at enlarging a crawl space under a house that was being remodeled. He got very creative about congratulating himself on how much bigger he was making the hole hour by hour. He celebrated filling the container with the dirt he had to remove by bringing it into the sunshine as an offering to his eventual success. He constantly found ways to encourage himself with praise for doing his work in spite of his fear. Now he realizes he has inner resources that he can use to deal with other hard situations. By being proud that we are facing and accepting our fears we can keep them from crippling us. We can also challenge the way others try to be fearful for us. This can hold us back. Sometimes we enjoy the way it feels when other worry over us. But watch out. It may be a form of control. It is not good to be without fear at all. Fear is there to help us be careful when we need to be. Courage is there to help us carefully refuse to be crippled by our fears. Reach out to the realm of magical energy that surrounds you to learn how to look at your fears realistically. Then develop and maintain the courage to deal with them. May the spark be with you.

Courage Is Magical

There are several things that help you get where you want to go. To name some: a good environment, good habits, persistence, creativity and courage. I believe the wise magician values courage the most of all of these. With courage you can move to or create a good environment. You can fight your own demons until you have developed good habits. Courage helps you persist until you see results. Everyone is born with creativity but without the courage to nurture and express it creativity can be stifled. So let's examine courage. Courage is fighting your fears, your phobias, your procrastinations, your excuses. It is refusing to buy into the stupidity of others. It takes courage to recognize that something seems overwhelming and then to approach it and break it down into manageable parts. Courage attracts luck and help from others. So don't hide your courage. Don't whine about your struggles, however. A good way to let them be known is by talking about them with a touch of humor. After I came out of the hospital recently people asked me how long I had been in. I told them I figured it was a year as I went in one age and came out another. Then I got a laugh when I mentioned I had spent my birthday there. Unlike the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz we don't have to travel to develop courage. We can decide to and in times of calm strengthen our determination to show courage. Then during the time we are being tested keep reminding ourselves that our actions matter and that we are making a difference. Never try to show courage when it would be stupid to do so. Don't challenge nasty dogs, stupid drivers or men with guns. For some people it takes more courage to tell someone they disagree with them than it takes others to speak in public. Your acts of courage are your own particular bit of magic. Reach out to the magic that surrounds you to see what you need to do. Then do it. May the spark be with you.

Magic Is Mysterious

Sometimes magic seems to work by itself. Your desires are met but you don't know what you did to cause the happy result. One example is what recently happened to me. There is a dear person in my life who, I believe, can benefit from knowing some of my skills. Every time I would try to give him some helpful tips he would get defensive and resist even listening to me. So I backed off and tried to see things his way. Suddenly he changed and showed that he could learn from me and even started applying some of the life lessons I had tried to get across to him. He told me that I had learned how to teach him. Seems like magic to me. You may find articles written about the 'Law of Attraction' in which it is explained that if you focus on your desires it will draw them to you. That seems like a lot of hard work but I do know that years ago I made a list of things and conditions that I desired then put the list away and forgot it. Years later I came across that list and was surprised to find that several of the things I had listed had come into my life in serendipitous ways. For example I had wanted a small round oak dining table and a friend of mine had had a nice one she wanted to sell at a good price and would take installments.
It seems like gratitude for the good already in your life,faith and patience all help to bring magic about. Magic is well formed and likes to be appreciated. Reach out to it. May the spark be with you.

Meeting Magic Halfway

Sometimes you will be overcome by a strong yearning for outside help. You really need a bit of zing, an intervention, magical help. Sometimes you need a figurative Mom to just sweep in and take over. At times like that you can't rush out and grab a bit of magic. You are too overwhelmed. But you can meet magic halfway. I had a bit of writer's block and I just started mulling around the problem. After a bit of picking and shuffling my creativity kicked in and I was doing some good original work. You can pick at any problem and eventually solutions will start to come to you. There is a do-list technique that is old but useful I want to mention here that seems to be kind of magical. It's the do list for your slow helper. Give the helper a name. Admit he is slow. Break down the list in tiny parts. Like (1) find scrap paper for list. (2) see if you have the needed tools for the task. Then, when the list is very large, realize that your slow helper may be insulted by how simple the steps are that you are saving for him. Do the easiest steps while you wait for him. Keep this up until your slow helper has arrived or until the whole task is finished, whichever comes first. It is your creative playful self that is the source of your magic. Do all you can to hook into it. Perhaps you may want to put on a costume before you tackle your overwhelming task. Perhaps you may want to make up a work song. Today is Valentine's Day. Maybe you need to hook into magic today to show your loved ones you care. Color and other sensory experiences help bring the realm of magic to you. Today is a very good day to meet magic halfway. It will sense you are reaching out to it and come rushing towards you. Enjoy the experience. May the spark be with you.

Magic And Movement

One definition of magic is 'the ability to change perception at will'. What better way to do that for yourself than to get a dose of endorphins? Movement is a great way to get your brain to put out endorphins. Movement seems an integral part of the world of magic. Winged horses fly through the air. Wizards wave their wand with great rhythmic joy. Fairies dart hither and yon. Rivers run. The moon rises and sets, waxes and wanes. Movement is very much a part of the world of magic. Try making some movements for yourself and see how it affects your mood. A theatrical swing of your arm will likely put a smile on your face. Reaching up to pat your own back will cause a friendly feeling. Experiment with flowing, flexible movements and see if that doesn't give some flow and flexibility to your life. Think of the way we urge people to change their life :'move on, move up, move out into the world, reach out, touch someone'. You may think of other sayings that have both a physical and psychological connotation. If movement is hard without music, find some music and let it help you move. It will bring health and magic to your life. May the spark be with you.

The Magic Zing

At times all the magic you need is a zing of joy or comfort. Just a bit of a mood change can give you the energy you need to finish a project or make a needed change. The wise magician will have a collection of ways to achieve that zing. Let me make some suggestions of my own. Tactile pleasure is good. All the places I sleep or nap have a cozy something there, either a silky stuffed gorilla or a fleece. I don't have a pet right now but I have things I can stroke. Color is a marvelous source of zing. If your mood is down you may be running "negative tapes" going on in self talk about your troubles. Switch channels by looking up towards something colorful. Try re-inventing the wheel. If a different way of doing something is new to you it will give you a lift. Even if your way isn't the best way, the fact that you invented it or developed it is a bit of magic. Other people can give you a zing. You don't have to be on stage. Just sitting by a friend can add joy to life. Look for contrast. Look for patterns. Experiment with humor. The possibilities are myriad. Breathing deeply and evenly can be soothing and energizing. You don't have to turn to substance to change your mood. There is a field of magic energy that surrounds you and supports you. Reach out to it. Reaching within to your inner resources is also a way of reaching out to the field of magic. Find ways to zing your life into a better place. May the spark be with you.

Magic and Chaos

Life becomes a matter of balancing between order and chaos. Too much order and life is squeezed out of everything. Too much chaos and things are blocked from being manifested. I have often pondered the differing ideas that people put forth to support the importance of chaos or order. I also discovered a few years ago that there are mathematical theories of chaos. This developed from the brewing industry needing to have some control over mixing ingredients in their huge vats. In some readings about magic is seems that order is supremely important, that spells must be done only in a certain way. That is what I call shallow magic, an insecure attempt at over control. Magic is well formed but inventive. It is the part of the mind that creates, that brings order out of chaos. This order may not be the same for all people. Nor should it be. Some adults have trouble letting children learn because their learning activities seem too much like play. Which it is. If you are feeling a need for magic..perhaps you need comfort or a bit of zing in your life..do some letting go of expectations for a bit. Then do something to draw magic to you. It comes more easily when it is not clutched at. Remember, you are the inventor, the creator of your world. You can dip a cup into chaos for your raw material. When I had my cleaning business most of my clients were connected to the arts. One artist said that it seemed like I worked magic in the way his studio was always easier to work in after I was there. Magic is everywhere. Let it happen and appreciate it. May the spark be with you.

The Magic Of The Field

Adults sometimes ask children, "What are you going to be when you grow up?" Sometimes these children reply with a career role which interests them such as 'fireman' or 'doctor'. I would hope, however, that some of those children would answer with "I'll let you know when I get there," or "Myself." Society encourages us to set goals as if they are targets, zeroing in on them with single minded attention. This is all very well for small goals, goals which can be planned out in short amounts of time under controlled circumstances. Going to college allows for that type of goal setting. The student is insulated to some extent from outside life and going to classes is the thing to do. The pressures and needs of outside life do not impinge that much. Then comes real life and all the needs, pressures, desires and influences are at hand. Here 'needs' influence the outcome. In the Newtonian physics view of things life can be calculated and controlled. But now we have discovered quantum mechanics and things do not go in such a straight line. Unseen forces seem to be at work. Mind may have more influence than we knew. To live in a world like this it is necessary to loosen up, let joy abound, be open to new things, let need have its place and remember that magic is well formed. Businesses which go after resources of the Earth in a rapacious manner, not considering the whole environment, including the people who live near those streams that will be polluted etc. are not utilizing magic. Their goals are too narrow. Just as stem cells develop into the organ that is needed, so too should our daily activities fit into a larger pattern of wholeness. Joy is needed. Love and friendship, hope, health, the safety of the environment. These are all part of the field which is magic. Dip into that world, that field of goodness and energy, whenever you can. May the spark be with you.

Magic And Numbers

Many times fortune cookies or horoscopes will list your lucky numbers. In many ways numbers have been linked to magic. Rather than think that certain numbers have power I think the wise magician must look for the magic in the concept of numbers themselves. Numbers arose as a way of keeping track. Keeping track is the very basis of responsibility. There is nothing more magical than being responsible. If a person can't be trusted he is useless, or even dangerous. In my experience as a teacher children who had little concept of their body image also had a lot of trouble learning math. Some of these same children also found it hard to maintain self control with bathroom habits. I am not saying that intuition and numbers can never mix. Once or twice I bought lottery tickets on a hunch and they paid off. But more times than that I lost my money. Shallow magic is for passing time or entertainment. Deep magic is for making life better. Keeping track and being responsible are major factors in the good life. Even fighting fears can be done by keeping track. Fears are often blown up and exaggerated. A realistic record of how often the house blows away when you drop a knife, or some such trigger, will put you in a better spot about controlling your life. They say it is all a numbers game. To some extent it is. Keep track of what works and why, as well as what doesn't work. Then make responsible choices. Your life will seem a lot more magical. May the spark be with you.

The Magic Of Release

Sometimes it is important to stand fast. Other times it is important to let go. Either must be done in tune with your values. Values transcend fads and "the shoulds". It took me a lot of years to finish up my Bachelor's degree. But I never doubted that it was the right thing to do so it wasn't that hard to do. I went to school a lot more after that and things kept working out because I wasn't holding on to any guilt or worry about my path. I had released it all. Now I am at a crossroads again. I must change many of my habits and establish a different lifestyle. It isn't proving as easy as I'd like but I have established a lifelong habit of pursuing worthy goals. So I am persisting, keeping track, and working to release the old ways. I don't feel any resentment or sorrow that fast food is a big no no now. I have released my attachment. I know I may have to do some rituals to strengthen my release of old ways. My hand gesture of turning palms outward and to the sky will continue to help me release old ways. As a wise magician here are some things you may want to release: The good opinion of shallow people, obsessions and compulsions that restrict you, wanting things sooner that is reasonable, taking on too much, ignoring maintenance of your life concerns, wanting things because it sounds good to say you have them. Look around and see what is good for you to release. Let the energy of the magic that surrounds you give you help on finding things you will do well to release, then bless them and let them go. May the spark be with you.