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Using magic: Balance between changing circumstances and changing your inner person.

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    Using magic: Balance between changing circumstances and changing your inner person.

    Bit of back story: Today I went to antenatal clinic to see a Dr because Baby Boy is a few days overdue. I've been booked in for an induction next week. I don't really want to be induced because I've heard it can make labour last a lot longer and be more painful, but I know that carrying a baby past term has its own risks as well. Baby Boy now has an eviction notice!

    Up until this point, I have never really been interested or seen much of a benefit in using magic to change my circumstance. I am interested in the processes other people use to achieve an end through magic, but I always felt it more important for me to adapt to a circumstance rather than try to change it. Now I'm beginning to see why people would want to use magic in such a way.

    Now moving on to general stuff/approaches to spirituality....

    I felt that to attempt to change my circumstances might interfere too greatly with the process of shaping. I believe that circumstances are both shaped and in turn shape the character of each of us, and that there's an interplay between all of us that helps create a whole. A bit like the movie 'the Butterfly Effect' I guess you could say except wider than just human interaction. To mess with circumstances in one area may lead to greater problems down the track affecting more than just my own life. I can't see the end result, and therefore I can't really know if something that seems bad for me at the time will turn out truly so later on. I thought it better to work on inner changes and accept circumstances rather than try to bring about outward changes through metaphysical means. Then I would become the kind of person that attracts blessing (sorry can't think of a universal word there) rather than have to work hard at creating it for myself and possibly creating a huge mess that I couldn't fix. There's no insurance policy when it comes to magic, you wear the blame if something goes wrong. If I were really honest, I'd say it seems a lot less effort and much, much safer to trust the will of a higher power than to take responsibility for my own judgement calls.

    After reading articles and threads and talking with a few people here, I can see that to be successful in the practise of magic, you do need to have gone through some kind of personal development routine. The power isn't in the ritual, it's in the self. The practise of magic doesn't seem that different in principle to prayer. It's just the method that's different. As some of you cast spells for healing and provision, I would probably find myself in a similar state of mind engaging in prayer for it. The main difference that I can see is that in prayer I'm trusting my will to God, while in magic people are putting their trust in their own skill and judgement (?). If my prayers aren't met the way I expect, I search for the will of God in the circumstance and/or try again and apply what I've learned. Perhaps if your spells aren't effective, you may just put it down to lack of potency and try again in a different way? In both instances, we are changed and pushed beyond our current limits, but in different directions.

    I'm not saying that one way is better than the other. I'm opening to the idea that I need to start making room for some middle-ground in my faith. Rather than being passive all the time, I've got to recognise my right to claim spiritual benefits that manifest in the physical and find a way to make that happen.

    To make a simplistic analogy, I'm viewing this change similarly to how a garden is managed. There are some things you do pre-emptively to avoid bad outcomes and actually have a garden like watering/planting/pruning. There's some things you do to maintain quality, like weeding and fertilizing. And then there are some things you do in response to threats like disease or infestations to protect your harvest. I guess I have been doing a lot of pre-emptive and maintenance work but not much responding to threats, all the while hoping that I would have a garden impervious to bad stuff. It has been sufficient, but I see now it's not really the whole picture.

    I'm meant to develop past passivity. It's time to trust myself and claim the things I believe are right. If I make a mistake, I know I have an awesome spiritual guide, good teachers, and enough self-awareness to choose a way that fits. I never want to miss out on a single thing God has for me or my family because of laziness or timidity. I don't think I'll ever do a spell or anything like that, it will always be some form of prayer just more aggressive than the 'God, if this is in your will then please...' approach I had been taking.

    How about you? Tell me about the development of your practise and attitudes towards your spiritual work? How has it developed you as a person? Do you see yourself as good at magic and spiritually strong? One or the other?

    #2
    Re: Using magic: Balance between changing circumstances and changing your inner pers

    I don't do a lot of spell work or magic.

    I feel much as you describe that it's not up to me to alter the machinations of the Universe to do what I think should happen. That is not my place. It may well be the task of others, but that is not what I feel called to.

    I have not been given the insight or drive to do so.

    When people ask for prayers, I pray for them this way...by comending them to their god/higher power, that which they put faith in and pay homage to. Each of us have our own contract with the Universe.

    In my own life, of course I have fears, wishes, dreams and desires and am inclined to "ask" that things go my way. Where and when this occurs gives me some valuable insight into my relationship with the Universe AND my contract with it. When I do spell work it is an intentional ritual for me to understand more deeply my contract with the Universe.

    Magic can manifest in different ways. The fact that there is now technology that can address the complications of pregnancy and childbirth and bring a safer outcome is an answer to many many hopes, wishes and dreams of thousands of generations of humans.

    I can choose to tap into that magic, be part of that manifestation, be a link in that chain, adding my experience and the knowledge gained from it into the power of that collective spell. Or I can bow out.

    I make choices about this all the time. Traffic rules and signals are a collective spell I choose to be part of. I think it is amazingly magical that we tacitly agree to follow these rules for a collective benefit.

    I am human, and my relationship with the Universe IS a human one and I do not need to apologize for that or try to not be human. If, in a situation I feel that sudden deep overwhelming need to cry out "THIS is what I want and Need"...that's fine, that's human and honest.

    In the end, I find things go more smoothy when I am honest about what I want and need and desire, but stay open and teachable.

    My contract with the Universe in not one that is focused on me being comfortable. That may not be the case with other's contracts with the Universe. We all have our function and agreement. It would not be honest for me to work much magic, because that is not my place or role.

    Part of this is that I don't want to take responsibility for things that occur down the line as the result of my magical manifestation. I will own my decisions and responsibilities, my role, but I am not willing or comfortable to own whatever dominoes fall as the result of my short sightedness.

    That is mostly semantics, because whether I cause something via magic or via my more mundane choices and actions, I am still influencing things and still cannot control the results, but it feels different to me. Perhaps it's intention.

    Best to you and your baby!

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      #3
      Re: Using magic: Balance between changing circumstances and changing your inner pers

      Originally posted by Threshold View Post
      Magic can manifest in different ways. The fact that there is now technology that can address the complications of pregnancy and childbirth and bring a safer outcome is an answer to many many hopes, wishes and dreams of thousands of generations of humans.

      I can choose to tap into that magic, be part of that manifestation, be a link in that chain, adding my experience and the knowledge gained from it into the power of that collective spell. Or I can bow out.
      It never occurred to me think this way. Thank you I loved all of your reply and if I weren't so sleepy from painkillers I'd be more responsive. As it is, I've read through your post more than once with intent to respond, but I tend to get diverted. New baby.. who is doing wonderfully, thank you.
      Thanks for being candid in your response and expanding my thinking.

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