Name: WitchGirl77
Birthday: Jul 19 2004
Gender: Female
Last Seen: Tue, 07 Nov 2017
Membership: Member
Personal Bio
Hello! I am new to this site and to spells! I really like coming to this site whenever I need a little break from life. I dont know my path or religion right now but I dont think its a problem. Add me or message me if you like!
~Thanks for stopping by!!~
What are the basics? The basics, as they are known on
this site, are the building blocks of
magical practice. They are neither
truly al that basic nor so dramatically
necessary to the practice of magick
as most people on this site will tell you. Stemming from a wide range of
cultures, they provide the stepping
stones that offer many eclectic
magical practitioner the beginning
to their path into deeper study of
the mystic traditions. Many magical traditions call them by different
names and offer different routes to
them through different concepts.
First and foremost for the new
practitioner, I recommend the
extensive study of the many and varied traditions of magical practice
and their origins. From this study,
one will often find a deep
understanding of any such
beginning steps to practicing on
one's own without the need for any such guide. However, as always,
many would prefer to neglect
history in favor of leaping into
"magic." What is magic? So then what is magic? First and
foremost, it is not the stuff of
Hollywood that so many come here,
and to other stores of magical
knowledge, seeking. Magic, as a
practice of the mind, spirit, and body, can certainly influence the
physical world. It can alter and stir
emotion and the perception of
others, and to one extent or
another it can influence the world
around us. This does not mean, however, that you will be able to
control flame and summon wind. It
does not mean that the ripples you
observe in water are the result of
the exertion of your willpower. It
does not mean that you can otherwise master and manipulate
the elements more than any other
man or woman. Why? Magick, though extraordinary and
largely unexplored by modern
science, is still rooted within the
physics of the world around us.
Sure, it may bend some of the rules
that most people take for granted. That is merely because of our
understanding of these rules is not
absolute. Magick may offer slight
changes on all levels, but at its core
are the simple concepts of inertia
and energy. All things forces have an equal and opposite force. Energy
cannot be destroyed or otherwise
eliminated, it can only change form.
This means that to lift an object
through telekinesis or manipulate
flame through elemental magick or "pyrokinesis" you must somehow
supply the same amount of energy
such a feat would require in the
physical world. Can you lift a car?
Imagine how exhausted you'd be if
you channeled enough energy to do so merely through willpower. And
why bother with smaller objects?
You can simply get up and move
them yourself, by hand. Even where
the development of such wonderful-
sounding super powers was possible, it sounds a lot easier, more
practical, and even wiser to me to
simply do things through a little bit
of elbow grease and intelligence. No, magic is far more than this,
despite seeming less at the surface
to the beginner. Magic is the art of
the subconscious mind melding with
the conscious. In the lowest,
practical sense, it can help you to achieve your goals and better your
life through this subtle influence
upon the world around you. In a
higher sense, it offers you a deeper
understanding of the world around
you, and the very fabric that composes all of creation -
something that I find to be a far
more stimulating pursuit than simply
hoping to get that girl you saw in
class or on the subway, or put a
little extra cash in your pocket. Meditation Often the first thing suggested
within the public chat and forums,
the urging of more experienced
practitioners to first explore
meditation can feel like a broken
record. And indeed, meditation is often stressed as a solution to
complex matters in answer to the
common request for spells. But why? On this site and within most magical
practice meditation is commonly
regarded as one of the "basics" to
learn. Most frequently the view is
that through meditative exploration
one will develop focus, willpower, and perhaps open pathways to
magical power. All of these facets
are true, and important to one's
magical studies. They are all also
detailed repeatedly elsewhere, with
many different views on the examination of chakras, energy
flows, and other such methods of
mystical and spiritual exploration. What often gets left behind, in my
opinion, is the examination of both
the internal and the external. What I
mean by this is that meditation
offers not only an opportunity to
examine and improve the flow of energy, but to examine and
analytically explore the world
outside of yourself as well as the
world within yourself. Within magic, there are many forces
at play that can readily alter your
state of mind. There are forces at
play that will affect emotion and
personality. These range from spirits
that will intentionally seek to get you riled up, upset, or afraid, to energies
that leave you unnaturally content,
to those that will leave you numb.
But they also encompass the
individual psychology of "mastering
the forces of nature." Often it will lead to an arrogant, almost
megalomaniacal view of one's own
ability and power. This is often
found within the stages of
development where one truly first
taps into the energies of the world, and realizes most fully how to
manipulate them with one's will and
prior to understanding one's true
place within those energies, and the
subtleties involved within seeking
balanced growth (both within and without). Using meditation to explore
"within," or the world within
yourself, will help you better
understand your own psychological
process. It can help you understand
the difference between that surge of anger and frustration or fear and
anxiety that negative energies might
invoke and the true, underlying
emotions that are at your core.
Knowing your true self will provide
you with the confidence and understanding of nature to
eventually realize and progress
down your path within the world
around you without either delusion
of grandeur or fear of inadequacy. Using meditation to explore
"without" will similarly allow you to
interpret better the world at large.
It will help you discover and develop
your intuition and otherwise unlock
the unconscious senses that eventually result in the ability to
"see" and otherwise sense auras,
energies, and so forth. It will aid you
in exploring the true mind and
emotion of others, and therefore
see through falsehoods of situation, people, and spirits. It also allows
you to see through your own desire
to succeed within magic, and know
the difference between
circumstantial evidence of magic
(the flicker of a candle flame being your will... or the breeze created
from the natural air currents created
by your house's heating system) and
the true result of spiritual
enlightenment. In an addition to a deeper
understanding of creation (all that
surrounds us and is within us),
meditation opens the gateway to
exercises in energy manipulation,
visualization, and many, many techniques that stem from a wide
array of traditions within magical
practice. Humility and Courtesy While not often mentioned as key
concepts within "The Basics," I feel
that humility and courtesy are crucial
to the development of any magical
practice. While frequently regarded
as simple virtues of the physical world which, unfortunately, seem to
be widely disregarded in this day
and age, it is my opinion that both
have rich heritage within
metaphysical tradition. Humility, born of looking "inward"
through meditation and
contemplation, is the result of an
honest view of one's self. It is the
realization that while you really know
a great deal, you are likely ignorant to just as much. It is the true
assessment of your own strengths
and the honest ability to admit
when you are wrong. Obviously,
this has many positive social
implications. But the implications in magic are just as great; true humility
provides you with the honest ability
to learn, grow, find balance, and
honestly interpret all that you sense. Similarly, viewing everything
without through meditation
cultivates a sense of respect for all
things that exist, as everything has
its necessary place within the
balance of the multiverse. Good requires evil. Light requires
darkness. Creation requires
destruction. Chaos requires Law.
And so on. The result is courtesy...
A standard in etiquette that you will
discover to be most profoundly useful in the dealings of all intelligent
forces. Men and women respond
more favorably to please and thank
you than they do to "give me now."
A dog will instinctively react with
anger or fear to hostile intentions and overt lack of respect. A spirit,
in turn, will see you as fair game if
you cannot treat it with calm
courtesy. The examination of
without brings us, through
necessity, to the realize that it is far better (and easier) to simply
cooperate and work with the world
and entities around us than it is to
force it all to our will. This is
courtesy. As such, these concepts, I feel, are
vastly important to the young
magician, witch, or spiritual
practitioner. They are far more
valuable than any semantics in color
magic or any exploration of herbalism, chakras, or spellcraft.
These concepts, at the core of
mystical study, provide you with a
solid foundation upon which to build
spiritually. And perhaps possessing
an equal value, they provide you with a firm foundation for
developing your role among all that
lives and currently exists. The Chakras While some may argue with my point
of view on this, it is my contention
that in many cases the exploration
of the chakras is over emphasized.
Too many new practitioners appear
to be overly concerned with the degree to which they can open one
chakra or another, for one reason
they read about or another. The Chakras, as I have come to
understand them, are a metaphor
for the flows of energy through the
body that originates within Indian
mystical tradition. Many consider
them deeply important to magical practice as they provide for us a
rather clear understanding of both
our physical, mental, and spiritual
state of well being as well as the
manner in which we interact with
the world on all three of these levels. Their contemplation allows us
to not only monitor these
interactions and energetic flows to
help maintain a degree of health, but
also come to a deeper
understanding as to how we work on all levels, and, through this, how
the world around us works. If you take time to simply meditate
upon the chakras, observing them
within your practice as you go
through daily life, you will observe
changes within the flow of your
energy rooted within your mood, physical state of being, as well as
with how open, aware, and
receptive you have become to all
things. For example, the heart
chakra might flutter open when love
blossoms between you and another, or it may grow dark with negativity
after you have been hurt or had
your heart broken. Similarly, the
third eye chakra may open as you
become more aware and
understanding of the energies that exist around you. You will note too, that you need not
stress about these things. Indeed,
struggling, and generally trying too
hard to develop your chakras in any
way will only cause more harm than
good. The goal is harmony and understanding, within and without,
and to rush the development of
anyone chakra simply because you
wish to attain a new experience will
only leave you inhibited further
down the road. Balance within the chakras, as is
often sought out, or imbalance if
that is particularly looked after, can
always be achieved through the
activities one pursuits. Healthy mind
and body will often be reflected in a healthy energy flow. Similarly,
seeking enlightenment and
understanding will result in such
things as the opening of the third
eye, and so forth. The Elements Much as The Chakras, the Elements
are the next thing that all new
comers gravitate to. They seek to
immediately answer the question
"What is my element?", to which
they are lured through misconception and curiosity, often
believing that in having a personal
element they will gain greater ability
within magic, regarding that
element, or otherwise possess
fantastic powers that (as we have discussed above) are simply not
attainable. Well, the answer to "What is my
element?" is simply: All of them. You
are all of the elements at once, even
as you embody none of them. Water
is the glue that holds you together.
It flows through every cell, tissue, and organ, and helps sustain you
with all of the nutrients you need.
Earth gives you substance and
form. It is what defines you, what
makes you solid and stable. Fire
gives you passion and the spark of life. It is the pure warmth of the
living. Air is whim, creativity,
thought. It is the vapors of your
longs and the vapor of your mind.
You are all of these things. What then, of spirit you ask? You
have read of the fifth element, as it
is sometimes called. Traditionally,
Spirit is not an element at all. The
elements cling to the physical. They
define matter and all that exists in this world. Spirit is the touch of the
divine. It is your soul, it is good and
evil. And what then of the other sub
groups that some modern practices
teach of? Lightning, smoke, light,
darkness, ice and so forth? These
are unnecessary. They are but
aspects of the four base elements, which encompass all. Smoke is air
given form, a coupling of air and
earth. Ice is water deprived of fire.
Darkness is the absence of fire's
light. Lightning? Fire and air,
striking briefly. You need not seek to be any one of
these. You are not just one. Sure,
you may possess a kinship or a
familiarity with the aspects of a
single element above all others. In
this case, begin your studies with this one. Allow it to help you
understand the rhythms and flow of
nature as you expand your study of
the elements to all others. If you pin
yourself to one, you only hinder
yourself. If you seek a deeper understanding
of the spiritual relationship of the
elements, I suggest exploring
Agrippa's concepts within "The
Three Books of Occult
Philosophies." His exploration of the elements, though brief, offers a
keen understanding of each force's
properties. Similarly, if you'd like to
explore them in more depth, Eliphas
Levi wrote a great work offering
detailed pathworking exercises in coming to understand each in turn. Energy Energy, as it is so frequently called,
is not necessarily a separate force
from any other within the physical
world or the spiritual. It is a part of
everything, and yet nothing. It
abides by all of the laws of physics, and yet possesses no true physical
form over which physics can
govern it. Now, that mess of contradictions
will leave a lot of people scratching
their heads. What do I mean?
Energy is creation. Energy is magic.
Energy is the core of our spirits, the
core of all demons, angels, spirits, and so forth. Energy is the essence
of magic. It is the essence of the
mundane. Energy is our will turned
into action. Through the art of
magic, we learn to influence energy
and achieve the results that we seek by translating conscious desire into
subconscious thought and other
subtle influences. Will Will, willpower, etc. is that which we
use to make magic happen. Many
arts instruct that through the use of
various magical tools we can
enhance this, and certainly such aids
are helpful but they aren't strictly necessary, either. Whatever path
you end up finding for yourself, the
bottom line is that the goal is to
control your conscious whim,
thought, desire, etc. utterly, melding
it with your subconscious to help exert an influence upon yourself, or
the world around you. Will therefore
is the effort through which we craft
magic. Visualization Deceptively comparable to simply
"imagining," Visualization is the
process through which we visually
transform our will into the magic we
wish to manifest. Utilizing this
process, we more or less imagine what we wish the impact of our
magic to be, mingling this visual
image with all of our intense, desire,
and emotion, as well as the force of
our will, to aid us in achieving the
desired results. Conclusion By no means the end-all-be-all, this
guide touches upon many of the
terms and concepts that you will see
many more experienced folks
discussing in chatter and in forums.
Hopefully it will provide you with an understanding and reference point
for your future research. Don't be
afraid to borrow, purchase,
download or otherwise explore all
of the books on the topic you can.
And certainly don't hesitate to use Google or other search engines to
find more opinions and options as
well. Good luck!
