The Magic Of People

A magician often works alone. You may not realize that you have just a touch of low grade loneliness. But if you bother to get a dose of company you will find yourself functioning on a higher level. When we are super lonely we know it. That is the time to reach out to loved ones or try to create relationships. But there are days when you need to go shopping and bother to ask the clerks to show you where something is or to find other opportunities to chat. Sometimes even bothering to check your e-mail will be all it takes. Low grade loneliness can cause us to be less decisive and less productive. The reason I am bothering to make such a simple suggestion is because it is so easy to forget to take a "dose of socialability" as often as would be good for us. In working magic it is often the little things that have the biggest impact. Self care helps us to be more able to care for others. Take the time to speak and visit enough that you don't get a layer of loneliness wrapped around you. Nurture all your relationships whether they are with close friends or business acquaintances. Solitude is good. In solitude you are in communion with that which is greater. Loneliness is not so great. There is not even good communion with yourself when you are lonely. So reach out to the magic that surrounds you to help you get away from too much loneliness. May the spark be with you.

The Importance Of The Listener

Having a good listener in you life can work magic for you. You will understand yourself and your dreams and aspirations better. You will become more accepting of yourself. When you are validated by a good listener you have more energy to live your best life. So if you don't have a listener do what you can to bring one into your life. If you do have a listener do all you can to show them gratitude, respect and honor. Important to the communication process is making sure that what you say is understood in the same way by the listener. A good listener will ask you to clarify or explain. A good listener will do part of the work of getting your ideas across. Good listeners are not plentiful. But you still do need to show respect to any listener. The meaning of a message is in how it is received. This is a radical idea to some. They think that what they say is holy no matter what the other person perceives. But in reality it is silly to speak unless you do want to be understood. You would not speak French to a Greek who did not understand French, would you? Try to find words that will be understood the way you want them to be understood when you speak. Friendships and love relationships are built on being able to understand each other. The friend or lover becomes a good listener, each for the other. This doesn't happen overnight. The wise magician works to make sure her spells have a chance to work. She chooses her words with care because those words go outward and inward. That's why it isn't always a good idea to speak when you are angry, other than to communicate that you are angry. Reach out to the magic that surrounds you to find the strength and energy to find a good listener for yourself. It is also a good idea to become a good listener to yourself. May the spark be with you.

The Magic Of Due Time

In the Bible and other places it is mentioned that there is a special time for all things. Due time is not really calender time but organic time; things are ripe when they are ripe. Ideas come when they are ready and challenges occur to us when we are ready enough for them that we can grow into them. The practical magician can use this property of time, that it can be subjective, to help make life better. In Neurolinguistic Programming practitioners are taught many time use techniques. One is that of 'change history'. If a person has a personal history that is interfering with their success they are taught to do some vivid imaginings of a personal history that would lead to success. When they are in a growth inducing trance they are told they can process what they are going through by taking all the time they need, even though it may only be a minute or two of clock time. If there is something you need to be able to do but it is almost too hard at the moment, you can cause the readiness or 'due time for it' to come around by continuing to think about doing it. This thinking should not be worrying or nagging thinking but musing about how you are going to be able to approach and accomplish this challenge. You will become more and more able to do this task until one day you will discover that due time for it is here, you now have the needed courage and know you can get the skills. Reach out for ways to improve your life. It is due time for you to do so. May the spark be with you.

The Magic Of Daring Your Shoulds

"Shoulds" can be bullies. Things should be this way or that. People should do this or that. You will be much more in control of your life if you play 'dare base' with your "shoulds." That is the children's game in which you run towards the base of the other team, daring them to come out and get you. Ultimately that team is so busy daring your base they don't guard it well and you can take over their base. If you cower in the safety of your own base you have no chance of winning. You have to get out there and engage the other side. It is the same with rigid ideas. Question your "shoulds". It is easy to be enslaved by your ideas. People have been burned at the stake because others thought they should act and speak a certain way. (Also, it was done to get the wealth of the victims-if they were guilty of witchcraft or such their money was forfeit.) When people are debating certain political ideas anger based on incomplete understanding and communication often colors the situation. Violence may erupt. I know I have said that anger is your friend, alerting you to awareness of a change that needs to be made. When you are thinking about the change that needs to be made don't go for a negative, cruel poorly formed change. There are an awful lot of things in life that will not hurt you as much as you may want to think they will. Terrorists and bigots are busy hurting people, full of righteous anger about the way things "should" be. Judgmental attitudes rip at the field of magic that surrounds us all. In order to hook into that helpful energy it is good to question your "shoulds" when they come at you, daring you to be stupid, to lose your balance and control. Let your life be well balanced and good. May the spark be with you.

The Magic Of Happy Ideas

There are many ideas that can not necessarily be proved to be true. But holding these ideas seems to make people happy and more productive, so the benefit of holding them shows that they have a certain kind of truth to them. The idea I use in this blog, that we live in an aura of energy that we can hook into for help to improve our lives, is one of those happy ideas. Other happy ideas are; good will prevail, the good you do will come back to you with a three or seven-fold increase, miracles happen, love is out there waiting for you, every problem has a solution, and love makes the world go 'round. Happy ideas are different from xenophobic ideas. These kind of ideas lead to false feelings of superiority by putting other groups down and to hate and discrimination. They must be countered with the happy idea that there is enough abundance for everyone and that all are equal. 'You can do it' is another wonderful happy idea. I suggest that a wonderful way for you to bring success into your life is to take time to identify and cherish the happy ideas you have or want to have. It is a wide open field. Just make sure they are happy ideas, not ones contaminated by anger of resentment. A way around that is the happy idea 'I am happy that my anger helps me identify a situation that must be changed. I am happy that I have the resources to work for that change in a positive manner.'
Life does challenge us. But rising to that challenge lets us become our own hero, which is a wonderful thing. Reach out for your own happy ideas. They can be your personal ideas even if someone else also likes them. Enjoy the benefits of them. May the spark be with you.

The Magic Of Movement

The times we most need magic are when we are stuck, when we can not move forward, or even sideways, but are stuck in a putrid stagnant place. Physical movement can help us make mental progress and vice-versa. Many times a brisk walk can clear our minds and help us know what we need to do in order to move forwards. One thing to remember about movement of any kind is that it is usually sequential. Little steps lead to big strides. Some of the people I have been observing this year who can't seem to get anywhere in their life won't take sequential steps towards their goals. They won't identify the steps to take or the obstacles to overcome. Some of them seem to think that words alone will create the movement needed. Words can be powerful, I agree. But they are not the only tool that is needed to gain achievements. It seems obvious that certain actions are needed but some people will not walk, or move, toward their desires. They will hop like grasshoppers in several directions, then hop in other directions. Then they will say they have changed their goals. The essential dream does not change. The way of expressing it may. The hoppers don't notice this. They just say, "I'm gonna do this, or no, I'm gonna do that." If you want to succeed at anything, find a way to move towards that dream. Some of the time your movement will have to be towards getting information. But let the energy of the magic that is around you help you clarify your goals. That will draw you forwards. Monitor your movement. Get others to help you. Those are both important. Purposeful movement is in your power. May the spark be with you.

The Magic Of Asking For Help

There are myriad ways of asking for help, from prayer, to dialing 911, to writing your congressman. You can also reach down and ask your inner self for help and get quite good results sometimes. But the times when you feel trapped in a whirlpool, an eddy that seems to pull you down relentlessly it is good to reach out. Just the act of clarifying your thoughts enough to say what it is you want can work wonders. So if you feel like you are going round and round in circles do grab onto a spark of the magic that surrounds you and ask for help. The entire problem may not immediately be solved by an outside presence. But the important thing is that you have acted for yourself on your own behalf. That is what a magician does. As long as you feel like you are trapped in a loop keep asking for help. You may want to vary your requests in the way you ask, what you ask for and where you address your requests. But don't give up. It is important that you pay attention to the results of your asking. What changes do you feel within? What advice would you give yourself now that you are more clear about your needs? How much of an answer have you received? If you are very careful about this you will get more help than you expected. It is the over-reactors who claim they have gotten no help at all. The sun shone on you another day so you could continue your requests. The breath in your body continued another day. The universe is on your side. The goal is to get out of that loop of despair. As long as you can hook into the magic around you there is hope. May the spark be with you.

The Magic Of Energizing Ideas

Sometimes you need to give yourself just a bit more energy to finish that last bit of a run, a project or your workday. There are a variety of physical things you can do such as cupping your hands over your mouth and nose so that you breathe in your own carbon dioxide for a second. This will cause the brain to open up blood vessels in order to get more oxygen and thus you will have a bit more energy. There are mental things you can do as well, just as reminding yourself that you are nearly through. That seems to give one a burst of energy. Another way to energize yourself is to go away from that which you are enduring for a moment and get an exciting idea. That might seem to be easier said than done, but it is actually easy. If you are feeling a lack of energy an idea of any kind is a vacation or a shot in the arm. Plan a fun dish for supper, think of a happy surprise for a loved one, perhaps another place to look for something you have lost or are researching can occur to you now. It doesn't have to be a patentable idea. Just an idea that takes you away from the dullness that you are enduring at the moment. Maybe you can even think of how you can exaggerate your suffering of the moment and use it in a dinner table conversation. Even if the idea is not to be used later, the excitement of having it will have served a good purpose. It has made you life better for the moment. Let it spark you for that brief time or longer if you want it to. It was brief magic that helped you. May the spark be with you.

The Magic Of Joy

Follow the spark. That is a good mantra. Joy is a needed spice that can easily be sprinkled into your life to lighten it up when you've been doing something intense like creating or change work. Of course when joy is a gift from the Universe I hope you will welcome and accept it. Other times you may have to reach out for it. I recently did a visualization on the idea of following the spark. That is a concept that could have so many interpretations it would take a while to use them all up. I visualized a spark of fire that led me to a cozy scene of a fireplace and so on. Eventually I was visiting rainbows over waterfalls because the light play on the drops of water had a magical spark to them. To free associate seeking out joy was very relaxing and ultimately joyous. I would recommend it to you. If visualizing is difficult for you do not despair. You can improve at it with practice. Start by looking at something near you. Then close your eyes and try to remember it. Open your eyes and check on what you remembered. Try this several times, refining the picture each time. With practice you will develop a visual channel on which you can run your own videos that you create. This is a great tool for creativity, for stress management, planning and achieving goals. Reach out for joy today. It will help your life. May the spark be with you.

The Magic Of Recognizing Panic

Panic, and it's little cousin anxiety, is prevalent and ubiquitous. It is also insidious and powerful. We must fight it long term and short term. I remember times I have read something wrong because of an anxious mind set. Later when I looked at it again I was amazed at my mistake. Knowing how much panic can influence us can be a magical tool in recognizing and fighting it. All the things about deep breathing, taking a break and so on are true for the short term battle. Another technique is to 'change the channel'. If you are feeling panic you are sending yourself disaster messages in one or another of your senses. You may be experiencing fear of heights by picturing a fall as you cross a bridge. Switch the channel, jam the visual by singing or tightening and relaxing muscles. You may be running an aural tape, chattering away with negative voices. Jam that channel by looking up towards the sky and get into the visual channel. Panic comes from a combination of experience and interpretation of that experience and is a misuse of our time. If you can work to make the "I AM" decision, knowing that every second you are an individual of worth just by being alive, you can work to destroy your time-traveling panic tapes. It will take work but is not beyond the dedicated self loving person. Paying attention to sensory input helps you center and stay in the moment. Panic doesn't belong in that moment. If there was real danger you would be acting to avoid it, not nattering away to yourself about imagined hurts or such. So reach out for the energy from the spark of magic when you feel the physical sensations of negativity. Calm down. Get in the moment. All panic does is mess you up. There may need to be changes made. But it takes a clear head to decide what the good empowering change should be. So recognize panic and take away its power over you. You have yourself to help you. And the spark. May the spark be with you.

The Magic Of Experience

I have been studying people a very long time. I have found that lip service does nothing to bring about change. I have known people who have been given good mental health concepts and believe that they have learned them. A thousand classes or therapy sessions will do no good if the concepts are not truly learned. Learning must be experienced in order to actually take place. Words can cause a barrier between hearing and being. Think of someone you love or have loved. There may be words there but there are also strong memories of sensual experience, the smell of that child's skin, the warmth around your heart at the joy of seeing that person, the sensation around your eyes as you wanted to smile in remembrance of that dear one. In planning and bringing about change in yourself you must call in your ability to experience a behavior in the same way you experienced your memory of a dear one. I wrote about a fairy child crying because her brother said she looked funny when she put jewelry in her hair. To shield herself from hurt she could have imagined words coming at her and herself deflecting them or turning them into different messages. Leora could have thanked her brother for noticing her hair. A lot of change work is done in solitary times, when we have the good sense and grace to visit with ourselves. To love ourselves is to work to give ourselves a good life. If we are burdened by needing the approval of others or thinking we need labels to have self worth we will have trouble gaining the peace and joy we deserve. Take inventory to see what changes you need to bring about. Reach out for the spark of magic that abounds to give you energy and courage. Then begin a series of visualizations, bringing in as many other senses as you can, about making the change you need. I need to become more active. I will picture myself walking in a variety of situations as vividly as I can. I will do this frequently. I will also "experience" myself after I have accomplished the goals I set for myself and enjoy the sense of achievement I feel. I will let the spark be with me. May you also find ways to experience the changes you need to make. May the spark be with you.

Putting On Fairy Armor

The world of Thimblewyck is the world I write about the most. The most courageous fairy there is the one who rescued Lina from being consumed by fire before she was even born. I suspect that Lord Windom should dub him Sir Marus and confer knighthood on him. If someone were to ask Marus how he protects himself, if he puts on armor, this is what I suspect he would say. "Fairies are very small creatures and they can get out of the way and hide from danger a lot of the time. It is unlikely I would ever want to wear metal armor to protect me because it would be so heavy I couldn't fly. Fairies really need to soar. It makes their soul happy. I find that the things that are the most dangerous to me are the negative thoughts and ideas that are sent my way from humans. So when I am going to spend a lot of time around humans I have a ritual of putting on my protection, or fairy armor. First I shield my eyes. If I see someone frown I do not need to take it personally. I can instead use my eyes to appreciate the color or their hair or the shape of their head, or perhaps the tone of their skin color. Then I put fairy armor on my ears. If I hear them being negative or being stupid I can choose to hear the way their voice might sound if they were singing or laughing instead. If they say something to try and insult me or hurt me I know they are just mortals. I know best about what I am like down inside. What they say is no more important than loose wind. Sometimes I listen to the hurt that causes the negative words and later I may say something to bring healing to them, if I choose. I shield my mind. I will not cause myself pain by another person's words. The same with my heart. I put a spell on my tongue so that I don't slip and cause pain to another. Then I glorify my wings and my feet. That way I can blithely skip or fly away from negative words or ideas. Then I put a healing spell in my pouch. That is to do this: take a good fact and turn it into a good experience. Let that heal the little wounds. Then milk it enough that some of that experience can seep down into your heart to heal old wounds. This is the magic armor I sometimes wear." May you follow the example of the fairy Marus. Reach out for the spark of magic to put on your fairy armor when needed. May the spark be with you.

The Magic Of Getting Out Of Your Head

Yesterday a dear young friend was telling me about her reasons for journaling. Seems that at times she has a lot of chatter going on in her head as she tries to come up with solutions to life problems. She told me "when I figure something out then I write it down to get it out of my head and into my mind." I was so impressed with her insight I requested permission to share it. To live a mindful life is an art that more people aspire to than are able to achieve. I was impressed with the way this young girl knew how thoughts can rattle around in mindless circles in one's head, becoming less and less valid as thinking tools. But to get them into the realm of wisdom, into the mind was something that could be done. It is marvelous the way the human mind can work, when people will master and develop thinking skills. Instead of stopping with saying to yourself,"what burdens must I deal with today?" why not go on and ask "what joys or adventures can I have today?". The mindset of joy versus burdens would change the direction of you life. Asking questions is another good way to get 'out of your head'. When a question is asked the thinker is less lost in their lonely dungeon of fear and weakness because the question suggests there is another consciousness out there that cares about the answer. So reach out for that spark of magic that will pull you out of mindless circles in your head and have some joy and satisfaction. May the spark be with you.

The Magic Of Suspending Judgment

Today I saw evidence several times of the way some people cannot think things over without going down erratic paths. Their own vulnerabilities were so strong that when each person thought they were being disrespected or things weren't going their way they had to become verbally abusive towards others. Neither person had developed, or were able to use at that moment, the ability to ask themselves if the thought they were thinking was actually true, or if it actually mattered. It was sad to think of each of them on the wet clay slope sliding into the abyss of rage and blocked communication. I hope that sometime in their life they are able to heed the admonition of "don't even go there." Being aware of the quick conclusions these people made had an effect on me. I resolved to work harder to train myself to do more than ask if my thoughts were true but to also ask if my thoughts were empowering.
I have been reading a lot lately about research into positive attitudes and the way people can change their life for the better. The very idea of empowerment sounds like magic. The spark is there for me to grab and use the energy to find a happy world. I don't know what I can do but I bet it is more than I have done. The way to find the truth of that is to try. May the spark of magic bring empowerment to us all.

The Light Needs It's Shadow

It's a wonderful thing to get jolted out of one's ruts from time to time. Perhaps you can try this for yourself. As you go along, day to day, in the old mundane way, look for the contrary view. Say "No" with a ring. Turn things around. Hang a picture upside down. If you are traditionally wild and free try being prim and proper. Too much wild and free and be boring, just as can too much prim and proper. Experiment with "Why?" and "What if?" Trying this will let light into the shadows.
There may be all kind of riches hidden in those shadows. If you can't do it out loud, you can do it quietly, in the kingdom of your inner self. If this seems unsafe to you, let me give you a reason on the side of safety for doing this pushing-at- your-walls. Life is going to push at your walls. If you have already peered outside of your safe little world, the jolt when the surprises come will not be so big. But I don't advocate it just for that reason. It's a way to make your world more fun, richer, more magical.

Language and Magic

Language is a tool that can be effective or dangerous. Sometimes a short phrase can give one a world or insight. For example: Don't make a big deal of something, deal with it. That conveys the difference between over-reacting or being pro-active. Another is: I see the glass as half full rather than half empty. There you have a optimistic versus a pessimistic mind set. Some linguists say we speak on two levels, that our meta language conveys much about our state of mind to the person who is willing to listen to it. Affirmations are phrases that are crafted for repetitious use to give a message to our sub-conscious to induce change. Begin to sharpen you use of and awareness of language by watching as you listen, see the colors that play across the face of the speaker, the positions of the arms, the shoulders, the whole body. As you speak you may find that you are saying things you don't mean by feeling tightness in your stomach or some other signal. The ancients knew this property of language, to influence, and that was the origin of spells. The Washington Post invites readers to create new words to say old things in better ways. Language changes means two things: words take on different meanings and words change people. Dare to improve your use of this tool by being more aware of its use.

The Magical Kingdom of Whimsy

If you hear yourself going around saying, "I need a vacation," you may be forgetting that you are a citizen of the Kingdom of Whimsy and that you need to affirm your citizenship once in a while.
The summer I was finishing up my Master's I was under stress and realized it when I noticed that I had a constant headache, all day, all night. One night I woke up from a dream, laughing in delight at the visual display of swirling colored lights I was seeing. The headache was gone. I decided that my inner self had decided that no matter how serious I was about finishing the degree, mothering my two children and getting a job for the school year to come, I had to let in a bit of whimsy to get through it all.
I have a friend who will do more than simply forward the funny e-mails she gets. She will compose and label funny pictures and send them to me. She really belongs to the Sisterhood of Whimsy. A successful professional woman, who knows how to take a moment here and there to lighten up.
Don't wait for a vacation, or the week-end when the "fun" you give yourself is sometimes more trouble or expense than it's worth. Play whenever you will, whenever you need to. That is a good way to keep stress at bay.
Do you have a shrine to whimsy in your car or home? You may have without realizing it. If not perhaps you may want to create one.
The Kingdom of Whimsy is not for long term living. But to dip into it, visit there briefly from time to time, is to live on a higher plane.

Moon Magic

Last night was said to be the best full moon of all of 2010, because it was both a time of being most near to the earth and a full moon. I hope you were able to enjoy it. Ideas about the moon abound in folklore. I was even told that I would go crazy if I looked at it too long, as a child. I believe this is a good time to utilize certain metaphors to gain growth. Reflection: the moon reflects the light of the sun. We can reflect on our actions, dreams, desires, and values and gain immeasurable growth, with growth we gain power. Latency: The moon has stood for the feminine principle, for the shadow, for change that is not obvious. That too can be a positive idea. Often we give a problem over to our right brain, our subconscious, to develop. When the understanding is ready for us, it comes forth. The night I decided to challenge the idea that I would go crazy from staring at the moon was a good night. I often slept outside in the summer. That night I fell asleep staring at the moon. I woke refreshed and sane. I knew that ideas of darkness could be rumors rather than truth. It took the reflecting time of the night to learn that I could make decisions for myself. Action and reflection must go together for true power. Let last night's wonderful moon encourage you to take time to reflect more often, and give yourself a spark of magic in your life.