“For many creative people, one of our biggest bugbears is a lack of confidence. Feeling like we’re not good enough, not talented enough, not well connected enough, or too poor. The spirit of self-doubt seduces us away from focused creative time, leading us to hours wasted on Facebook and dropping us in a cesspool of self-loathing. Luckily, in magic, achieving your will depends less on your belief in yourself than in your behavior.”
Legend has it that the celebratory rites of Beltane, an ancient Gaelic holiday usually celebrated on May 1, involved orgies in the woods and fields. Imagine the aboriginal Celts in blue paint, grasping whatever warm body streaked past, consecrating the soil with their ecstatic juices. (And we thought California knew how to party!) More conservative historians […]
If you get the Emperor in a reading, or are frequently noticing emperor-like figures appearing in the world around you, it’s likely that you’re struggling with authority. Emperors are constantly appearing in pop culture: he is the Boss, the General, the President and CEO, he is the King and the Tyrant. He is Barack […]
“By learning, among many other things, to concentrate our attention, to control our thoughts, our desires, and emotions during the reading; to vanquish our laziness, always to finish what we start, not to get upset if the individual for whom we are reading refuses to grasp Consciousness, to do what we are doing the best […]
Our modern science acknowledges a Supreme Power, an Invisible Principle, but denies a Supreme Being, or Personal God. Logically the difference between the two might be questioned; for in this case, the Power and the Being are identical.
Shamans and mystics are important because they are interpreters of microclimates within our communities. Shamans cultivate their own personal relationships with the divine, with the fundamental principles of life. Their ability to find meaning within the mysteries of the universe, rather than through sanctioned books and renowned figures, necessarily destabilizes authoritarian power structures.
When we practice looking closely (and then looking closely again, and then again) at a text, or a painting, or person, we can begin to see beyond the categories we normally ascribe to that object. We start to see its suchness, its uniqueness in all the world. We begin think about its history and context. By looking closely, whole new worlds, both interior and exterior, begin to open up, and we can start to make connections between all things, which is the essence of the psychical project.
Spirit is in everything. The totem is a reminder, a token for the guide. The layered meanings called in through the ambiguous totem lead us through the porthole of the imagination and into the spirit world.
The word magic in English comes from the Greek mageia, where it was used to refer to foreigners from the east, spell casting priests from Babylon. From the very beginning of its contemporary roots, magic was used to refer to the weird and unsettling practices of outsiders.
A good reading should leave you feeling empowered, clear about a course of action, and more in touch with the strength and love that makes up your true nature.