Understanding the craft

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Understanding the craft
By: Moderator / Adept
Post # 1
I felt inspired to write down this thread ,due to my latest observations that people would rather follow instructions blindly than really apply understanding in their magical practices.Understanding the craft is equal to understanding yourself and vice versa .

When it comes to art, expression of any sort should be taken as guidelines only not as laws written on stone.Our art is mirror reflection of our own spirituality and emotions expressed in some physical way. In simple words, Sally may decide that she likes dancing as a way to express(manifest) herself better and Molly may decide that she likes painting better.

Learn to understand yourself, your feelings and ideas.Learn to listen to them,instead of just following someone elses truth.Be aware of your inner world which is in most cases filtered by your mind in the name of the survival .
This thread addresses the craft expressed in more creative way not as rigid series of instructions that supposedly we need to follow in order to succeed.A few common questions will be addressed,too.

- Stop the world and ask yourself a few questions.

Where is my mind ?What is it telling me ?Listen what it says.What are my emotions?What are they telling me ?
Let's say you want to use a money spell in order to have enough money to pay your bills.Did your mind just tell you that all this hocus pocus is stupid and once you are in poverty, you need to face the music and accept it and come in terms with it ?Then your optimistical side will come into play and would say that as long as you do not give up, there is hope .So now which voice is really the one you need to listen to here ?Is it the rigid realistic (pessimistic ) voice or is the spiritual (optimistic ) one ?Confused ?Eventually these aspects of yourself would clash and one of them will be pushed away under the carpet (your spiritual junk field ).Does this situation match the main magical principle - As above so bellow ?No, it does not because your mind and your subcosncious(emotions) did not agree .They may not agree apparently or not so apparently.This will depend on how aware of your aspects you are .

Why my spell (ritual ,chant ,prayer or any other magical working) did not work ?

Your mind(desire) and your emotions must agree or you will be missing one of the ingredients with which you manifest your desires using your magic and will as a bridge between both planes of existence .In same way as two parents are needed for creation of child. Opposite forces and planes put in work together create enough power to manifest and create things.As above so below .
If your mind refused to agree with your emotions, you can manifest only in astral and never to this level; but money is physical object despite the fact it is also something received after investing energy and effort .If your emotions (subconscious ) refuse to collaborate and agree then they will sabotage your working and you will lack the energy desired.Remember magic is working on a few levels at the same time ; never just one .

I did this flying spell and it did not work ?

We have a physical body.Your physical body will always follow the physical laws of the physical plane of existence.You will not be able to fly with your physical body unless the power of gravitation is defied by some other physical force.
Same is valid for all spells that have to do with changing drastically your physical body appearance.In this case, your emotions and spirit may decide to cooperate with your intend ,however your physical body will follow laws of the physical level no matter what.Understanding does not include only understanding on one level such on all levels of existance .

Why do I need to meditate? That is so hard and boring .
Meditation is some sort of inward journey.It helps you to stop the mundane world and to keep the voice of the mind tamed for some time so it is prevented to filter your perception of what reality is.Your mind is reflection of your Ego , also known as The Self .Your Ego acts as anchor that keeps you stable and enough logically presented in the physical world to run when you have to run and to fight when you have to fight for survival.
When you are relaxed -and if you are that means there is not threat for your life- you can concentrate on your spirituality and listening to your subcosncious .You need to shift the focus from the mundane life and the survival on this plane,in order to reach those aspects of you that are spiritual in their nature.This is essential for each and every practicioner ,because if you know what is below and you do not know what is above then you do not know yourself and you cannot use your potential to the fullest. Know yourself and all aspects of your self including the Shadow Self.

Some people do not use sitting meditation to achieve this - they may use moving meditation or yoga ,they also can use dance.So if you find sitting meditation in all its forms boring and you have tried all existing methods, it is time to try moving ones.Find a method that fits your personality and vibrational rate ,rather than give up or lose interest .If you do not know yourself who will know you?If you do not know your limits and your full potential, who will? You need to understand that any of us is a marvelous and unique creature that has come here to unfold his or her full potential ,learn the lessons he/she needs against the odds and help others to do the same.We all have been born wise fools , but by falling out of cliffs and making mistakes we come eventually to realization what life is really all about and what is our true nature .Do not give up on yourself and your uniqueness ,because despite we all are one , we all have things to offer either if this something is bad or good according to our human judgment .Keep journing inwards and outwards seeking your own truth and sharing it with others .

Please, remember those are mainly guidelines that I put together for you in order to help you understand some basic principles of the art/craft of magic and how it applies and relates to us and our aspects .Those are not rigid instructions or rules you must follow and comprehend instantly !Read my point of view ,think over it and decide if what I feel and think is also valid or not for you .If it is not valid for you ,find what is valid for you ,because as long as seek you will find .:)


Special thanks to Harris19 for editing grammatically this thread,so it is more easy for you to read it and understand it .

To be continued ..

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Re: Understanding the craft
By: / Novice
Post # 2

Wonderful post, wonderful advice you're giving out Art! I totally agree with your point of view. For me magick is an art, and Art is about expressing yourself. How are you going to express yourself if you follow instructions blindly and don't add to it? If you don't take it one step further? Books are good, I love reading books, don't blame me but they're not gospels and some people cannot comprehend that fully. Magick is not like,do this do that, add this ,add that, with the exact same order, and poof it's done. The practitioner should understand that he needs to let go and take the ritual a step further, change it as he sees fit. If you don't put yourself into it, if you're not commited to it, if you don't express all your emotions while you're performing a ritual, it's not going to work. If you don't take magick seriously, you won't go far.

You must make it personal, if it doesn't "speak" to you, don't do it. A few years back, I was attempting astral projection. I tried many and I mean maaany different techniques and methods. Eventually I found the one which was right for -me-. Just because you read in a book that you have to set up an altar a specific way, that doesn't mean you really have to do it that way. Personalise your craft , it's -your- Craft after all. We're all different, the way we do all sorts of things is different. Same is for magick.

Like you said Art, before doing something you should ask yourself, why do I want to do this? How can I do this? Can I do this in any other way? Which way? Do I really want it? Work with your intuition, contemplate on something before going ahead and doing it. Ask yourself, what is magick. Do you want to change something in your practice? What is that? How can you change it? Just go ahead and change that which you don't like. A Deity you've been working with for years might not ""speak"" to you anymore.

That's not your fault! Don't panic and remember changes are good. Changing is healthy. The exact opposite is not healthy in fact. What works for me ,might not work for you. Be creative. You can make your own rituals, your own spells, your own...everything just be creative , listen to your spirit and do it! There's no reason to hesitate. And if you messed up, don't worry, because we all do. If you don't make mistakes, how are you supposed to learn? We should all realise that we're all different and we do things differently, and you can't deny that our world would be boring if we were all the same. Be serious, be responsible, be willing to learn, be willing to make mistakes! You will face the consequences, yes, but eventually you're going to learn, you're going to grow and evolve spiritually. Isn't this what you're aiming for? Take a piece of paper and write down your expectations from your practices, write down your expectations from yourself. Magick is a journey, and journey means constant change.

As a side note to that, thank you for this intuitive post, Artindark. You don't read posts like that every day ...

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Re: Understanding the craft
By:
Post # 3
Thanks sister! At last somebody posted this!!!
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