Wherever
you look today on the web, there is someone on some site trying
to sell you a spell for love, a quick fix for money, or a charm
to bring your long lost canary home. They draw you in with promises
of making your dreams come true the fast and easy way. They have
the cure for what ails you, an oil that saves toil, and a potion
for your notion.
However,
there is a simple truth to the order of the world. You only get
out of it what you put into it. Real magick is just another type
of work. It requires effort as well as an investment of time and
faith. It is not simply something chanted out of a book, or mixed
in a cauldron like a metaphysical cookie dough.
Because
it takes time and effort, there is a limit to how many spells
any true practitioner is going to be able to do for others, regardless
of what they charge. If these miracle workers spent all their
time chanting, praying, or throwing incense on the fire to the
degree needed to accomplish their claims, they'd have no time
left to eat, sleep, or use the little witch's room.
However
the romance of the money spell and the love potion lives on. There
is a strong lure to go out and buy books that teach one how to
do spells, or to find someone to study under. You can't learn
to do spells from books, at least not easily. Or to put it another
way, you can try to do magick from a 'cook book', but it's likely
to turn out in a way you wouldn't feed your dog.
Few
books go through all the exercises and disciplines that must be
learned in order to be effective. A book can not enforce discipline
either. It can not tell you whether you have meditated on a given
Element enough, or whether you've done a proper job of 'clearing'
before a ritual. As well they do not always explain the traps
and pitfalls inherent in doing 'spells'.
Finding
the proper teacher is equally challenging. There is an old saying
'When the student is ready, the teacher appears'. Unfortunately,
today that changes to 'When the wallet's pulled out, everyone's
a Guru.' Not everyone with a towel on their head, or a pentacle
on a chain has actually done the Work. Most of those who have
done the work don't advertise.
Assuming
you find your way into the Art or the Craft your next challenge
is not HOW to do magick, but whether you SHOULD. Just because
you can jump out a fifth story window, it's not always the wisest
way to the ground floor. It may be quick, but you won't be in
shape to do much else after the landing. magick is no different.
For every effect you cause, you cause an effect on yourself. Is
what you're striving for worth what it may cost you?
It's
not my aim to try to teach magick here. A proper teacher teaches
in person. There are a lot of strange, antiquated customs incorporated
into true traditional teachings. Most of them are there to impart
discipline, respect, and a sense of wonder. What I do seek to
achieve is to educate and inform those who truly are interested
in self-improvement, and positive empowerment.
We
will be posting articles on various forms and traditions of magick,
as well as guides to what one should avoid, what is more and less
appropriate, and how to keep the chamber pot of Karma from emptying
on your head.
