My magic castle

My magic castle

Sunday, January 29, 2012

A Smile Can Be a Magic Wand

A smile is, like music as mentioned in my last post, something that can be magical but we tend to take it for granted. I would suggest to all wise magicians that you take a moment and think of times when a smile has made your life better. Perhaps you smiled at a stranger who ended up being a dear friend. Perhaps you smiled through tears and managed to more fully experience how much you cherished that which you had lost. Going to that place of love helped ease the pain. Perhaps your smile was a recognition that what you saw as funny was also relief that you had not suffered the pratfall you were watching. As you remember the times a smile has brought goodness to your life I hope you will resolve to engage in this act of creating magic often and long. I also want to suggest that a smile can bring magic to your life when no one else in around. Often it is when we are alone that we feel that bit of angst that makes us want to call up magic. Try this simple exercise to see what I mean. Let your mind take on a slightly blah mood. Now do a slight shake of your head, smile and open your eyes a bit as you look up to the right. I find it hard to continue feeling blah when I do that. Studies in pupillometry have shown that the pupil widens to let in more light when we are paying more attention to something. By widening our eyes in the gesture I just suggested you are letting "light" into your life. Do this a few times and you may find yourself making up all kinds of puns and jokes about what you are doing. I just gave a big "smile" to the neighbor's irritating yappy dogs and thought of ways to laugh instead of snarl when they just won't shut up. A smile can be a tool of courage when you contemplate taking on a big task. A smile has many magical uses. Wield your smile wand well and wisely (meaning any way you so choose). May the spark be with you.

Friday, January 27, 2012

The Magic Of Music

I am amazed that I haven't written about all the ways music bring good things to your life before this. I had a double major in Music and Social Studies when I got my BS. I am a musician. But I suspect I was just taking this wonderful tool for granted. Then I stopped by my e-mail on the way to doing my blog and listened to a song my brother Carl sent me. "I'm Trying". I liked the song. I liked watching it on media player with all the color and patterns. I'm at a period in my life right now when I'm doing a lot of trying and the learning curve is steep. Sometimes I let that stress me out. But reflecting on the earlier conversation with my brother and listening to the song gave me a sense of things being softened and evening out. Then I thought about all the work songs I know, how they helped people get through hard manual labor. Lullabies help sleep come to us. Hymns help us reach towards the sacred. Country and Western songs help us stand back from the dramas of daily life. We use songs to cheer us on. We use songs to learn. The use of music is vast and easy to hook into. Earlier today I was helping a woman learn some things about mathematics and how to take tests more rapidly. She was dumping on herself, calling herself dumb. I told her that learning to walk, talk and feed herself are all more complex than learning a few things about ratios, that she had to be smarter than she realized. She got the point and was able to focus on what I was teaching her. I think that when I see her next week I will suggest she make up a little ditty to help her courage or to help her learn. Music is a great help in learning. If you listen to largo movements of symphonies by musician like Handel just before you study, your mind will absorb more facts and retain them longer. Another wonderful thing about music for working magic in daily life is that it is as close as our voice. Or at least our car radio. So I suggest to all wise magicians, work magic with music. Sing your spells to help them come true. May the spark be with you.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

The Magical Power of Passionate Commitment

Many people have made a commitment to a goal and not been able to achieve it. Simply saying, "I will." is seldom enough. Otherwise fewer marriages would fail. But when that "I will!" is shouted out to the rooftops because both will power and passion are working together the obstacles do not seem as big. Passion, deep, down to the bone passion is what truly drives commitment. If you want to develop passion for a goal you must be able to examine your self, your deepest values, and what you see as your life purpose. It is not blind rigidity that helps a person keep on keeping on. People can be amazingly rigid and stubborn. But, if the stubbornness is misplaced things just aren't going to work all that well. Self sabotage will happen. Or the project may be sabotaged by others, because the rigidity and stubbornness of the person going for the goal has not allowed them to be kind, considerate or realistic about the needs of others. But when a great passion exists for the purpose being chased, the whole universe wants to help. I get an e-newsletter that will often request I sign a petition to support someone's good cause. If I sense a deep caring about this cause I find myself drawn to it. Once you realize you are passionate about a goal you will not be so shaken when you find yourself having fears and worries about the goal. You may be frightened of the journey but, when you know it is right, you know the way will open up. It is a journey worth taking, even if you don't get all the way to the end. I suspect everyone has deep desires to bring about certain changes in the world. I suggest to all wise magicians that you let an awareness of these desires become known. As you discover your passions you will feel the magical power in going forth to express them. May the spark be with you.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

The Magic Of Your Name Or Names

A couple of nights ago I was listening to, actually studying, a two hour video by Tony Robbins, the strategic intervention Guru, among other things. He mentioned archetypes, which are patterns around which people organize their personalities. I had become familiar with the concept, one put forth by the great analyst Carl Jung, years ago when I had studied "The Goddesses In Every Woman" by Jean Sinoda Bolin, MD. A very interesting book. (She also has a book "The Gods In Every Man")
The idea is to find your main pattern by which you live your life then learn to invoke another one when you need that strength. A women who is a strong Hestia, Goddess of Home and Hearth, may need to invoke the parts of her that have the planning and strategy strengths of an Athena. Robbins said we all have the archetypes within our self of warrior, magician, lover and sovereign. He taught that these tend to develop in the sequence in which he listed them. He had been taping the first part of this video as he was conducting a seminar just after the horrific events of 9-11 and was helping people deal with pain, anger and hate. A Muslim and Jew were helped to work through their issues by starting with their warrior self and moving through the stages into their wise sovereign. Both men eventually teamed up to create a worldwide organization to work for peace. But this couldn't have happened had the men not named themselves as kings, or wise and sovereign. Then for me,a day or so later, it was magical when I was able to allow a loved one to go from the name they had for their wild warrior self and name, thereby creating, a sovereign self. I remembered that I had had a dream, decades ago, of myself as The Angel Jeanne, who leads people to creative purposeful happiness. I never really mentioned that name to anyone before now. Then tonight I was reading a blog by Lissa Rankin, of Owning Pink, about her need to divest herself of the label, or name, of The Cosmic Tit, because she had been trying to be all things to all people and was encouraging them to suck her dry. So I suggest to all Wise Magicians that you look to your name. What name do you want to REALIZE- to make more real? Would it be good to have multiple names, so you could invoke them when needed? I think so. Do you need to retire or subdue a name? Are you carrying a label that locks you into toxic behavior just because you say that is your nature? You have the creative freedom to reach out and draw whatever good magic you need to you. One bit could be in how you name yourself. May the spark be with you.

Monday, January 16, 2012

The Magic of Dreams

Today is January 16th, 2012. It is my birthday. It is also Martin Luther King Day, as it is a Monday. Also Dragon Appreciation Day and the day before Benjamin Franklin's birthday. (His birth certificate says Jan 6, 1706 but a calendar change happened in there somewhere) Each day alone would be a time to think about the importance of having a dream, of working for worthy goals, of identifying and following one's passion. When they all come together it must be mandated to look to a higher vision. MLK is famous for his "I Have A Dream" speech, among other things. Dragon is a word that comes from a Greek word 'to see'. I'm up there in years, a time when people tend to look to what good things need to be encouraged to come about. Franklin was a very forward looking man, full of ideas and willing to work to bring forth our nation, among other good works. Surely this is a day when dreams will seem to be possible. Take advantage of this and look to what is unique about you, what your special dream is. What joy, tolerance, clarity will you nurture into being? Today I wish for all wise magicians that they will experience the joy of having a dream, that they will experience the power of standing for a cause. That sense of higher purpose will bring goodness and magic into your life. May the spark be with you.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Somatic Magic

Sometimes we may see a movie or read a story about the use of magic and the magician accomplishes wonders simply by waving a wand and using words. But in the very popular books and movies about Harry Potter the wizards are taught the importance of awareness. They are taught how to concentrate. The point I am trying to get to here is that words can be empty and useless if they are not linked to experience. We do think with words but those words have to stand for something. The sensations of the body are a kind of language from our magical self, our right brain. There are many therapists, such as Peter Levine, Pat Ogden, Allan N. Schore and Ale Duarte that treat PTSD by helping people release the excess energy that developed at the time of the trauma and has become locked in the body. Instead of being frozen in paralysis, or suffering other symptoms the children or other patients learn to accept the sensations of their body bit by bit and heal. Healing by listening to the body is one powerful magical result. But we can also learn to listen to the body to judge situations, to make decisions, to change our behavior. Sometimes we will be bombarded with hyperbole. Especially from salesmen or politicians. Our body will give us warmth around our heart, tighten our gut, clench our jay, turn up the corners of our mouth, widen our eyes to help us judge how to react to all those words. We are often told to watch the body language of other people to truly understand what they are communicating. That can be useful. But I am suggesting to all wise magicians that they learn to listen to the language of their own body. Sometimes this will come as a little song, a picture, or some words. But there will also be many other sensations. It is good to be connected to our body. As we give it love it will become healthier. The first step in giving love is to listen. Love your body and you life will have more magic in it. May the spark be with you.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Magic And Time

"Time is the river I go fishing in.." Henry David Thoreau. It may be that time is neither cyclical, as some cultures hold, nor linear, as seems to be the predominant belief in Western cultures. Perhaps it is there, flowing, but can be dipped into. I have been watching PBS specials lately about new ideas about time and I decided that I couldn't define it at all. Then I began to think about psychological time, and that is a whole other construct. I discovered there are different parts of the brain that are about time, such as nuclei that deal with circadian rhythms and so on. It was a leap but I had a picture of time as something you could visit back and forth, like different points on a river. This then made me aware of the way things happen way back in time in our life but don't seem to matter until much later. Things are foreshadowed or foretold. I came across some things I had written years ago but they seem to have a total different meaning now. I like them better now than I did then. I read a book again and I remembered that the ambiance of the setting had seemed totally different when I had first read it. I was thinking about people from my past and I felt as if I understood and appreciated them better now than I did when they were in my life. I have a cousin who I have no idea of how to contact, but I have always been aware of the stream of warmth towards him. Things come, things go, but they may still be around us. For the wise magician this could mean many things. For me I think of the way there may be many resources available to me to create the world I want. I may have known many people that can be role models for me as I try to develop myself as a speaker. If you want changes in your life the tools to cause that change may be at hand or in your experience. Call forth that which you need. May the spark be with you.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

How Big Is Your Field Of Magic?

I was thinking about the way I often reach into the field of magic that surrounds me to get energy to meet my daily goals. I was thinking about the way I feel that field to be a small intimate and friendly cloak. But I have a problem with that. I am trying to live in a bigger world. My happy world of painting a partridge and fastening it in our pear tree, of working one on one to help people read better, of writing fantasy novels for teens is a comfortable and joyous world. But I
have been feeling a need to have a bigger influence, to spread the word about the inner genius in everyone, to teach people how to hook into their commonsense and their magical self as well. I am wondering, tonight, if the metaphor that I have found to be so useful can be utilized to help me move out into a bigger world. It will still be a world of awakening one genius at a time. I will still care about 'Mother Nature'. I will still believe in the magic of questioning hyperbole. Perhaps my cloak will stretch. Lately I have been getting a good response to every reach-out action I have taken. Any response at all I would consider a benefit. I used to be so shy I couldn't even admit that I liked to write. Perhaps that is the magical learning tonight...the field that surrounds us is as big or as little as it needs to be. Therefore I suggest to every wise magician that if you need to stretch your wings to fly, your field of magic will help you rather than constrain you. May the spark be with you.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

The Magic Of Winter Trees

It's New Years Day and I have been being bombarded for a few days by e-mails about success and growth, all the things to consider at this time of year. I was musing about my own success, or lack thereof, and had to admit I didn't feel very magical. After all, magic is well- formed I am always saying. I judged myself as having too many loose ends. I had made a project list last night, then saw it again this morning, about all the things I am trying to learn and create. I am not that far along on most of them so it seemed like a daunting list. I felt frayed and frazzled in regards to having any hope for "success" this year. I took a deep breath and looked out the window in my office door at the majestic trees outside. Only one is an evergreen so I could see the stark branches reaching out every which way. Suddenly the magic that is all around me made itself known. I may be going in many directions but there is a unity to my growth. I am seeking ways to share with the world the message that they can choose happiness and everyone has an inner genius. I may seem to be branching out 'every which way' but I am reaching for the warmth of the sun. I know how to laugh, how to love and how to be resilient. My success will be in continuing to reach out, to take a stand for love of the Earth, of others and of self. If I am rewarded with financial success, and I am trying to move in that direction, it will be icing on the cake. So I suggest to all wise magicians. Today, if you wonder what you should resolve for the New Year, take a 'leaf' from Mother Nature- be true to yourself and grow in ways that are right for who you are. May the spark be with you.