Look for the Magical Function of Things

Sometimes an activity, an event, or even an object will have so many different effects or uses in your life that it may be right to consider it to have a magical function.  One example could be in the way you might spend your time. When my children were little we spent a lot of time waiting in doctor's offices.  Ear aches, booster shots, and so on.  I began to keep a bag of crochet needles and yarn with me. This was more calming than hunting for something to read and I could keep a better eye on the girls and even talk with them while I crocheted. That Christmas I had a lot of well appreciated gifts for my family for which I hadn't had to spend much money for, or endure the stress of last minute shopping. I improved my skills at crochet and later was paid to do some crochet therapy for a woman whose psychiatrist wanted her to develop more skills in using her hands.  My daughters became interested in the art and have both made some very interesting and well crafted crocheted rag rugs.  Another time I was going through a stressful period in  my life and I remembered how soothing crochet could be.  Just the making of simple stitches.  I gathered up a lot of odds and ends of yarn and crocheted a serenity afghan.  No particular color, no particular pattern.  I even left the tied-off ends showing.  I only worked on it when I needed to "get a grip", which meant I finished it fairly quickly, actually.  The end result was charming enough, although very folk and rustic, that it was on my couch for years for anyone who felt a chill, or a need of comfort. Crochet had a magical function in my life.
Cause and effect can be amazing.  Multiple results, benefits, or blessings can come from a simple thing.  I have a couple of good friends that I met when my eye was caught by something they were wearing and I mentioned it. One pot of rice can be big enough to be the base for Chinese food, Spanish rice, rice pudding and soup.  Scholarly research might lead to a term paper, good conservation, new avenues of research, and projects for another class.  When a stone skips across a pond multiple ripples are created.  Sometimes you can actually use this to bring magical things into your life.  Other times your life will be better just from noticing the way a little thing, such as a reply to en e-mail or a smile, will bring many good things into your life over and over.  So I suggest to all wise magicians that you open up to a wider world, and look for the magical function of things.  May the spark be with you.

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.

The Magic Of Inner Time

The year I spent every weekend in Boulder, Colorado studying hypnotism and Neurolingistic Programming was a fulfilling year. We would often do a therapeutic induction with the instruction to take all the time the subject needed to fully work out the problem they needed to process, even though it might only be a minute or two or clock time. I learned then and have realized it many times since, that the subconscious does not work on clock time. Sometimes there is a magical flash of insight about a problem that would have taken hours, or even days, to work out by conventional means. Other times the inner self seems to mull over things way too long. Of course at those times it is waiting for more understanding about the problem to occur, or come to you from life events. Clocks have their purpose. But they must not rule. Besides that we, most of us can develop it if we will, have a fairly good sense of clock time. When I had a music studio I did not have to watch the clock, but lessons seemed to tie themselves up and be complete in the half hour that was allotted to them. I have known many people who could set an inner alarm clock to wake up at certain times, either a time duration (such as a half-hour nap) or at a certain time in the morning. So, I suggest to all wise magicians: 'Do not fret about time. Try to get into the flow of due time, in which things happen in the right way at the right time.' Calmness and faith seem to stretch time so that we are able to get done what we need to do. Look instead to 'have the time of your life in living.' May the spark be with you.

The Magic Of Due Time or Proper Delay

When a spell is cast many expect immediate results. But that is not always the best way. You may have a goal in mind but you might not really be ready to be immersed in the fullness of achieving it. There must be a synchronization between what is wanted and what is achieved. A wise magician is willing for magic to be in the realm of the occult or hidden until the proper time for it to be manifest. We discover a purpose or goal. Then we work towards it. In doing so we grow, develop, even flower. Purposeful goals are much more than going to the grocery to buy a loaf of bread. They change us in due time. That is part of why 'instant wish gratification' has such a bad reputation. It deserves to be thought of as the less good way. Magic likes to be drawn out, to be appreciated. Magic also likes to reveal goals more fully as we become involved with achieving them. So if you have desires and wants, as we all do, add the extra zing that is magic by looking at these desires mindfully. Do you need clothing? You deserve well made, beautiful, magical clothing. Let magic help that clothing come to you in due time. Due time can arrive quickly or not so quickly. But it arrives as everything falls into place. So expect your needs and desires to be met. Work toward your goals. But I suggest that, as a wise magician, you set it up or expect to receive these benefits in due time. This is not greedy, grasping time. Nor is it always what you originally wanted. Sometimes it will be better. You deserve to have your needs met. I hope they will come to you 'in due time'. May the spark be with you.

The Use Of Magic to Gain More Time

The biggest wasters of time are: worry, indecision, and repairing mistakes made because of those two distractions. Sometimes slowing down will actually speed things up. People who want to put facts into their memory more rapidly find that if they first listen to music at the metronome speed of 60, or even the ticking of a clock, their mental absorption is increased. Much of the music of the Baroque period, especially the third movements of symphonies by Handel and Haydn will be useful for this purpose, as well as enjoyable. Planning, meditating, setting priorities are all activities meant to give us better control of our time. But remember, magic is the ability to change perception at will. If you perceive a sense of stress about the time you are using, you are losing full use of that time. Do something at that moment to hook into a calmer flow of time. Many people believe the Buddhist chant of: 'Nam-myoho-renge-kyo' will make time work for them. It does have a calming effect and thus prevents mistakes.
Another tool for magical use of time is to be open to synergy and serendipity. If one project can serve two masters, let it do so. If one healing can then go on to be a lustrous pearl, allow that also. Allowing magic to enter your life is the best way to gain time to enjoy a spark of magic.

The Eyes Have It

Open your eyes and let wonderful sights and ideas enter your magical realm. Look up and live.
The eyes are powerful organs and more than just an organ of sight. For instance if your neck is stiff when you turn it, you can unlock those muscles by turning your eyes in the direction you are turning your neck and the range of motion will be increased.
To help yourself go into the alpha state roll your eyes up towards the top of your head as you lean back. Alpha state refers to the rhythm of your brain waves. Beta is the normal state. Alpha is a relaxed state, nearing hypnotic trance. A few days ago I was having some stress but I found my small kaleidoscope right there near my computer. A magical gift in the way and time it manifested itself. I turned to the light coming in through the window in the door and instantly acheived calm.
Lightly touching your face around your eyes, and on the forehead between the eyes, the area of the third eye, is part of the technique known as tapping. This can be very calming as well.
Your eyes can be part of your set of magical tools.

The Magic Clock

Mankind invented clocks and ideas about time. We have to be careful that we don't fall into the idea that we can control others in time. That is: we want others to react a certain way in a certain amount of time. Grass grows at its own speed. Our friends grow towards us at their own speed. A sense of flow, of allowing life to work is needed to live the magical life. They say the watched pot never boils. I say that while you are waiting for one pot to boil you can stir another. I had a friend who said that the way to live life was to have a sense of a moderate waltz going on all the time. 1,2,3. 1,2,3. Graceful and ready for the turns. If we see the special spark in others we are less likely to want to control them, but rather will appreciate them. To look for this spark turn on your senses, listen to their voice, appreciate the way they move, enjoy the color of their hair or their eyes,if they are old look for interesting patterns in their wrinkles. Magic is sensory. Colorful, wonderful sounds, silky textures. Magic abounds but it is more profound than the shallow part of the ego. The ego can be profound but the reactionary part of it can be shallow. Appreciation for and reception of magic comes from our fuller self. May you preceive many good things today.