The Magic of Finding Cracks

To climb a mountain you look for every handhold and every protrusion you can.  You don't expect to easily walk to the top.  It is the same in life.  You want to progress but the way may not be immediately apparent.  But there will be cracks.  Sometimes you may have to enlarge them.  The plant will find cracks in the wall or stone and then push them a bit by the swelling of the growth.  The mountain climber will drive in a tool to get a firm support.  After a bit you will get a sense of where the cracks are.  You will be able to spot them and take advantage of them.  One way to spot the weaknesses in a situation is to look for anomalies.  Even a weakness in yourself can be turned to your advantage.  Instead of a defect you may find it is good to treat it as symbol of your uniqueness.  It is important to persist and hang in there until you succeed.  The cracks you find will help you to do that if you use them well.  A crack is an indication of a little change that may become a bigger one.  Magic is meant to bring good things to life.  Looking for cracks can help you do that.  May the spark be with you.

Nag to Zen, Vulture to Peacock

I remembered that I had read a definition of magic as the ability to change perception at will. I was really feeling in need of a bit of magic to help me walk more. But all I could do was nag myself about it and feel guilty. I felt like there was an ugly vulture sitting above my shoulder. Then I remembered that I could change perception at will. I knew about the alpha state that is part of the Zen consciousness. So I aligned my body in a better way and began to walk in a Zen way. It was much easier. The doctors say it is very important that I get a lot more movement into my life. Now I have learned that when I am feeling nagged I can change that to an opportunity for a Zen experience. The ubiquitous vulture can become a bird that hangs around just as much but is more beautiful, a peacock. If you have a situation in your life when you are nagging yourself see if you can find a way to re-experience. Maybe paying bills is something you hate to do even when you know you have plenty of money for it. Rethink the whole thing. Maybe each check you write can be a statement of your abundance, a celebration of your ability to maintain and even improve your lifestyle. They say that if you have a rock sitting on your chest it makes it hard to breathe. But if you lift the rock up and down you find that your are developing good muscles that help you in your life and the rock is no longer impeding your breath.
So look for those little nagging feelings as a way to gain a higher type of experience and improve your life. Reach out to the magic that surrounds you and improve your life. May the spark be with you.

The Magic Of Organization

Some people may have trouble with this title. Let me explain why I chose it. I know that we often think of the right hemisphere as the magical side of the brain and that the left side is the logical or organizational side. However, both sides need to work together for true magic to happen. If you still don't like the term 'organization' what about 'making right'? Things need to be where we can find them and where they please us. We can find things if they are in neat piles. But for them to feel 'magical' there needs to be an aesthetic feel to the way things are stored. That's why baskets, shelves and containers are so often made to be pleasing. Don't organize, make things 'right'. So I probably should have titled this blog 'Organization and Magic'. What do you think? When you go to organize things let your magical self participate. Look to make things retrievable, pleasant, interesting and sensible as well as just out of the way. Put magic in all parts of your life. Put the zing, the charm, the rightness of how you arrange and create things. Food tastes better. Clothes are more fun to wear. Organize you life in such a way that it is a smooth and workable existence. Then you have more energy to also make it transcendent and meaningful. Put your style on things. That is your magic. May the spark be with you.

The Magic of Mistakes

As scary as it might seem at times, we do learn by doing and that means taking a chance on making mistakes. But mistakes have two benefits. The obvious one is that a mistake alerts us that we have strayed from the path and we get back to where we were headed. The other benefit is that a mistake can open up new doors. Silly putty, chewing gum, rubber, penicillin were all mistakes that actually turned the developers into new directions. So, maybe you failed to do something on time. Don't beat up on yourself. Maybe you have a chance and a motivation to start a business such as a reminder service for other people. There is a lot of magic energy out there and some of it is clustered around your mistakes. Maybe they can be a trigger for a funny dinner time story. Maybe new clothing items need to be invented. I believe that big chested women would often be better off wearing lacy ruffles at the neck, a sort of elegant bib or popcorn catcher. A mistake is also a wonderful chance to stop and nurture yourself. Maybe you didn't realize you needed to stop and give yourself a hug or a pat on the back. Stories are boring if mistakes are not made along the way as the hero tries to make needed changes in a life situation. So let go of your fear of mistakes. Reach out to the magic energy that surrounds you and improve your life. May the spark be with you.

The Magic of the Circle

Many times we may come across, in our reading of fairy tales, the drawing of a circle by a wizard or sorcerer. How can we apply this ancient practice to our modern lives? Many ideas occur. When we look around us to see what we can show gratitude for or what we need to change we tend to cast our attention outward in a circle. Squares have unhandy corners for personal attention. When we say we are 'boxed' in we are not saying that in a good way. But when we are encircled it is usually by a family's love or by our successes. One of the magical things we can bring into our life is a good circle of friends. These friends will support us, guide us, enlighten us and entertain us. Sometimes two people can be in dialog and the communication is so rich that it feels like being in a magic circle. Another use of the circle is to mark what is within and without the circle. You may have a lot of stressful things on your mind. Draw a circle to decide which of those things are allowed to have your attention and effort and which must be relegated to some other time or place or even the land of never never. When you are trying to solve a problem you can visualize yourself circling around it, looking for the weak (parts you can easily do) parts of your opponent. Like a predator you can circle around, taking out a chunk here and there until the problem is totally at your mercy. There are all kinds of uses for the idea of the circle. Magic encircles you. Reach out to that energy to improve your life. May the spark be with you.

Invocation

A powerful part of any spell is the invocation, or calling forth. That takes you from half-formed wish to sureness of result. Whether it is a physical healing that is needed or a change in life circumstances you must call forth the desired result. You must do it so strongly that your inner self and all the universe feels the urge for such to happen. In the book "The Goddess In Every Woman" by Jean Sinoda Bolin, woman are taught how to invoke aspects of different goddesses that are within themselves. Perhaps they need the wisdom of Athena. Then they call that forth. People who participate in running marathons learn how to call forth that extra bit of endurance they need to finish the race. If we learn well the uses of the tools of magic we will find that we are invoking many things we would have ignored previously. New ideas, knowledge, opportunities, friendships and chances to grow and learn will come to us constantly. Recognize your wishes. Choose which ones are worthy of pursuit. Then call forth their fulfillment. As Captain Picard, of the Starship Enterprise, says, "Make it so." You can also call forth favorable responses or behaviors from other people. As they say, in sales, 'You don't ask you don't get'. So call forth that which you need and deserve, remembering that magic is well formed. For it to work right the aim must be worthy. Tales abound of wishes gone wrong, as in the story of King Midas. But if you are tune with the energy of magic that is around you will be able to invoke good things for yourself. May the spark be with you.

The Magic Of Modeling

Magic is often brought in to our life to dress up the small things. But sometimes we need to make a really big change. We need to think and act on a grand scale. That is not easy for everybody. I, myself, fight shyness at times. But I do know that the field of Neurolingistic Programing has a lot to offer about learning new things. They talk about modeling as a good way to learn. Modeling is one way to pick up new behaviors and knowledge. You find another person who knows what you need to know and you copy what they do, basically. Some of the people in my writer's group are much better at reaching out to publishers than I am. But being around them has broken down some of my barriers. Parents know the importance of modeling, they see the way their children copy them. But adults can also learn from modeling. Don't be afraid to use this technique to work magic in your life. Find a way to be around people that have the success you want to have and before you know it, you will be learning from them without even much of a struggle. That might be why television and movies are so popular. People like to see new ways of doing things, perhaps things they would like to do. So, go ahead and dream or think on a grand scale. Then if the new ideas call to you reach out for them you will find many ways of working towards these new goals. Modeling could very well be one of your strategies. May the spark be with you.

The Magic Of I Will

I am. I can. I will. The time will come for a wise magician when he comes out of the fog and confusion induced by fearfulness and he is ready to go forward with a purposeful life. Then it is easy to say 'I will." and work for worthy goals. These goals will have integrity and not be full of wishes to put down other groups or people or to deny anything to anybody. The question is how to arrive at that state of clarity. A lot of soul searching is probably the key. Knowing what you value and want to have in your ideal world tells you what is worth working for. You can go back over your life and look at patterns, successes and failures. You may find that what you thought of as failures were really valuable learning situations. When your stomach loosens up and your heart feels at peace you have discovered what you need to know to start on this journey. If you can not yet articulate it try talking with different friends. That will help to make your goal a little more well-formed. Being true to yourself and following your bliss are not different things. Sometimes people think of 'following your bliss' as a way to become wealthy and can't seem to find the right connection to get on that path. Wealth is a relative term. Money is necessary and nice but feeling at peace and true to oneself is greater than mere wealth. So reach out to discover your deeper self. That will bring the realm of magic forward to help you. May the spark be with you.

The Magic Of The Soul

Soul is a term that means different things to different people. So I must start off by telling you what soul means to me. It is that part of your inner self that is always trying to guide you to something transcendent, something better. Once, a long time ago, I sampled a certain substance. I thought to myself, "How smart this makes me feel." It was my soul that came on strong and gave me the thought, "But I am smart. I don't need something else to make me feel that way." I was never tempted to try anything like that again. The inner strength that our ancestors showed in coming to America, crossing the plains, building railroads and cities was not easy. It demanded a lot of inner resources, of faith in their ability to solve problems. There is magic in turning to yourself and your community to solve problems. They get solved. Whether the problem is a matter to be dealt with on a personal, community or national level the wise magician believes that a good outcome is possible and should be searched out. We have to option of operating from love or fear. If we love our fellow man we will try to help them. If we fear them we will try to protect ourselves from them and control them. Money is often used to influence fear based outcomes, as in when large sums are thrown into the political arena to give certain groups power (and tax breaks). If you become aware of your inner resources you are more able to stop running around mindlessly and begin to build a satisfying and purposeful life. Every one has strong resources. Not everyone knows that or has learned how to use them. The field of magic that surrounds you is there to help you discover and use your resources. Reach out. 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.

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.

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 Big Projects

I was wondering about the lore of magic and what it had to say about accomplishing big projects. I know that some stories have castles appearing overnight and marvelous feats are accomplished by
the hero of the story. These are the lessons I derived from the stories. (1) No matter how anything comes into being it must be well formed to be more than an illusion. Shabby work is not to be tolerated. So if you are building a castle you must make sure that all the stones are well carved and in their proper place. (2) Big quests are important and are not to be feared. So don't hold back from taking on important endeavors. (3) Help will appear to meet those big quests. So go forward with courage and look for help when you need it. (4) Start out as you mean to go on. Don't start out to build a hut just because it is easy and you really want a castle, or a college degree or a good job. (5) Big projects are meant to fill a certain purpose. In some stories big projects may impress others but if they don't fulfill a real purpose they don't last. (6) Big projects are to help the hero and usually accomplished by him or her. (7) The purpose of big projects are a better life for the hero or people important to the hero. (8) There are obstacles in the way of big accomplishments but they can and will be overcome.
I think the fairies tales have a lot of important lessons for us. So I suggest you hook into a mind set of learning from the lore of magic. Take on a big project without too much fear. May the spark be with you.

Your Book Of Spells

In many movies, stories and TV shows in which magic is involved there is a book of spells that is used. It may have various names but it is a record of what has been done and what has worked. Your own journal can do the same for you. What are you trying to do, what is working and what needs to be better understood? There is magic in documentation. We do not hold everything in our head, nor is the telling of what we do remember always clear to others. I am going through some health challenges right now and I am trying to develop some drastically new habits. When I feel that I will never be able to make the changes I need I often look at the log I am keeping. Then I can see that I have managed some good behaviors during the day. Since I am also trying to make other life changes such as developing some public speaking opportunities I tend to feel that I am climbing an impossibly steep hill. But I am also keeping a log on this endeavor and I can refer to it to see where I am, what is working and what I need to do. Remember that magic is well formed and expects results. So take up one of the tools of magic, a book of spells, title it what ever fits and document your actions towards the goals you deserve to achieve. It can be goals, ideas, resources, actions, plans and worries. The shape of your book of spells is dictated by your own magical and unique personality. But I suggest you start one for each dream. May the spark be with you.

Creating Magic

At times we may think that magic is only connected to the "need" for change, to help in times of stress or trouble. But we can have a mind set of creating magic that will prevent some stress and make our lives more enjoyable. My oldest daughter has a way of adding a touch of beauty or fun wherever she is. A wind chime in the garden, a tee shirt that matches the cup she is using for tea, a wreathe on the front door. She seems to do this automatically throughout the day. My second daughter does the same thing with ideas, always looking for ways to make the teaching she does as a physical therapist easier for her patients, or finding cute names for friends. It gave me a laugh to be called 'Momma Doodles' on my birthday. If you have a mind set that you can make the small changes for fun, beauty, efficiency and so on, it will lead to you being more able and willing to take on the bigger changes that you may face. The important thing is that you, as a wise magician, are an agent of change. A little touch here, a little touch there and soon your magic kingdom will start to appear. Give yourself and others the gift of enjoyment and comfort and it will energize you for living a fuller life. May the spark be with you.

Magic and The Monsters Under The Bed

I had a friend that told me he had met his demons. I observed his life and saw that his demons had met him as well and overcome him. I had another friend who told me he had met his demons but this friend seemed to be more of a wise magician. He seemed to be able to use certain magic principles by instinct to keep himself going. That made me think about magic enough that I even stuffed some of my demons successfully out of the closet and into the cold. What principles did we use? Let's look at the ways magic and demons cannot co-exist. 1) Magic is well formed. Fears and anxieties are not. When the light of magic shines on baseless or overinflated anxieties they are seen to be the mere shadows they are. 2) Magic is created from your own rich inner resources. There is nothing stronger than that. As long as you maintain control of your self-power no demon can take it from you. 3) Magic is the ability to change perception. Look at how many writers, film makers etc have made a fortune from putting form to monsters. Shrek is a movie that made money for the producers enough they had to make sequels. One man's monster is another man's chance to laugh. 4) Magic teaches that tools are there to use and that anything you can think of can be a tool. Monsters are helpless against good tools. Like self-nurturing and forming good relationships. A good friendship can get you through many a dark time. 5) Magic teaches you to protect yourself, with a cloak, athane, wand or whatever when needed. Being prepared for an encounter is a wonderful protection. You can create your own protections. 6) Magic teaches you to retire and heal or strengthen when needed. 7) Magic teaches the importance of enjoyment. Good sights, good food, warm fires, love, laughter, and satisfaction with a challenge well met are all things that will make the monsters under your bed curl up and blow away with the dust bunnies. Because seven has been thought to be a magical number I will stop the list there. But magic teaches more than I have listed. It teaches whatever you, as a wise magician, can discover. Go forth and battle your demons. Then fan them away for the dust they are with a swish of your magic cloak. May the spark be with you.