Is Magick too narrow a lens to look through?

A brief Site Announcement before the main show
In case you haven’t noticed there is a new store section to the site. It only has eight items on it for the minute but I am sure this will expand over the coming weeks. For instance, I have found some print versions of my graphic novel FOR SALE, while I was cleaning out some stuff. I would have swore in court that I didn’t have any print versions of any of my comics left – so watch out for that if comics are your thing.

Right now there are right Art Prints available. They come signed and numbered by me and are laminated. There is a bit of a twist with these, as they also serve as really wonderful Altar or Devotional Cards. Each of them come with a suggested magick use. Anyway, if you’d like to support me or the site and get some nifty art prints/altar cards at the same time then head on over to the Shop section.

* * *
Is Magick a talent that only some people have?
Lots of great feedback from the last couple of posts on how successful your Magick practices are. Some people are in the same boat as me, some went through period when their Magick lack any success but emerged from triumphantly from the drought and yet  other people claim to have every single piece of Magick they perform work exactly perfectly each and every time. I ask them what they do and they don’t seem to be doing anything differently than I or others do, so I guess it comes back to that old question of maybe Magick is a talent or a mutant ability that only some people have?

We would like to think that we all can do Magick, but maybe it’s not so easy. Not everyone can sing no matter how hard and long they practice, for instance. That said, people would say that not everyone can draw and yet I would very much suggest that drawing is just spending time, learning some rules and just practice, practice, practice. Given enough time and dedication I think most people could learn to draw to a good standard. Maybe Vocal Coaches would say the same thing? Any Vocal Coaches who read the blog?

Protestant Work Ethic Style Magick
Another good point expressed to me was that a lot of Magick Practice being taught these days seems to stem from a Protestant Work Ethic type thing of – if you do enough work, do it long enough and are very disciplined, only then  will you succeed. It is suggested that you have to put a lot of time and effort into your practice, mostly without any results, before you are able to get anywhere and up until that point. Almost as if you have to prove your worthiness.

An example, of this is The Scole Experiments, where the people involved worked for an entire year before anything happened – and then, boy did it happen (if you choose to believe). Another example of this is the Zen Buddhist/Fight Club idea of making the Student wait outside for three days until they are allowed gain access.

I see the point of this (and I am not saying this is necessarily how it works with regard to Magick) but it still begs the questions how long is too long to wait? Or more importantly, why do some people seem to not have to go through this period. Some people just click and away they go – all the Sigils work from day one and for ever more.

Also, If Thou art god, I am god. All that groks is god -why do we have to prove anything to anyone? Fine if they don’t show up the first time, but no show after months and years – that’s just rude.

Maybe everyone is just lying?
It’s extremely hard to know what is what, as so many people just exaggerate, embellish or just outright lie about the effectiveness of their Magick practice. But, I don’t want to just flip the table and scream “IT’S ALL FUCKING BULLSHIT!!!” as I storm out of the room. What’s the point of that, really?

That said, some people who have told me that all their Magick works or they get amazing results, later post to Facebook about lack of Jobs, lack of money, lack of meaningful relationships, being overweight or a host of other things that you would certainly expect someone who Magick always works wouldn’t have to deal with.

The response usually comes in along the lines of “that’s not what Magick is meant to be used for”. But for me, if Magick can’t help you in the areas of Health, Wealth, Love or Happiness then what actual use is it?

If not for these things, what are you actually Sigilising or Enchanting for? What exactly are you using Magick for? I am sure there are pursuits deemed more Spiritual than my list, but I don’t see a tremendous about of enlightenment going on either. That could just be my circles though – how likely are the Enlightened to found hanging out on online forums such as Reddit or Facebook?

Why do you do Magick if it doesn’t really work for you? 
I get this question a fair bit, and my answer will very much depend on the day you ask me it. For one, I enjoy the history, characters and all the different ideas and outlooks about life from all the different people who have had an opinion on it.

For Two, I do think there is something more going on than the Reductionist Materialist Atheist bunch demand. I just don’t know what it is yet and I am looking for it. But there does seem to be something OTHER going on here. As soon as I find out what that is, I’ll let you know.

Three, any time I try to give up on Spiritual ideas, I always seem to end up back thinking or reading or practising them. Perhaps I am just in some form of New Age or Magick Mind Cult that I can’t escape because I am too invested and emotional attached – I often do think this is the case.

SO, what now?
Since my last post about asking of I am getting actual benefit from my practice, I have dropped most of it. Stopped chanting, stopped the offerings, stopped the prayers and haven’t done a sigil. I took all my idols and icons off my altar too. Lots of sage, lots of Sao Paulo incense. Ganesha remained, cos c’mon – Ganesha rocks! He’s always welcome at my house.

It felts like a MASSIVE weight off my shoulders. Something changed, something good. It felt good.

I still do the daily Meditation. I think, no matter what, I will probably always keep the meditation practice, but for the time being I am going to push back on a lot of the Magick stuff – particularly any kind of worship or devotional stuff. I want to get back to a more general spiritual outlook than my current narrow Magick lens allows. I dug out my Stuart Wilde books and I’m going back to the basics with some stuff. Also looking into Tantra too, because I know so little about it and people have been suggesting it to me.

It feels like now is the time for me to build up my own personal power rather than asking the spirits, demons, the gods or the dead to do stuff for me.

Besides, they mostly said no anyway. 🙂
Until next time.