Like Ruth said, it's just the modern day version of magick expressed in modern terms.

I prefer the ancient views myself. Particularly the elemental magick of Earth, Air, Fire and Water. For me, they are closer to nature, and have a deeper meaning. I've always been attracted to alchemy anyway.

But I don't think it is necessary for the actual magick. I think the magick comes from three things, emotion, visualization, and intent (intent could also be called 'belief').

You can hardly do magick if you don't believe it's going to work. This is true of the Law of Attraction too. You can go through all the rituals, or actions, but if you don't believe in what you are doing then you may as well be beating your head against the wall.

I've come to the conclusion from my studies that whatever is going on requires emotional involvement. You can't very well become emotionally involved with something that you don't truly believe in.

It also requires visulalization, again this is important because it is via visualization that communication takes place.

And finally, you need to believe that it works, or intend for it to work. Without intent or belief, nothing will manifest. You can have the emotion and visulization in place, but without intent it's like jacking up a car and trying to drive it away with the tires off the ground. The motor and drive train won't do a thing if they aren't in contact with the ground.

For me, the ancient rituals surrounding the elemental alchemy give me a place to find 'traction' in a sense. So I'm really liking this Earth Power book. It's quite elementary, but a perfect place for me to start. Your millage may vary.

I've always been 'scientifically minded' so the alchemy route fits my persona very well.

The Law of attraction is a law. You do not have to believe in the law for it to work. However...

Belief is part of the formula and if you do not believe something is possible it is very difficult to visualize it and you cannot easily convince yourself of it as a possibility.

So where belief comes in is not a belief in the law of attraction but belief in what you are intending.

The difficulty is trying to force yourself to believe that what you desire is possible.

It is possible to change your beliefs because the mind can be programmed. (You will want to be the programmer because if you don't program your own mind, someone else will.)

The rituals are not the force behind magick. They are only aids in helping the inner process of visualization, intention, belief, etc.

People think they do not create their reality but they do. Even if their reality is something they do not want, they have created it.

If you are unhappy, resentful, angry, depressed, feeling hopeless, stuck in a rut, controlled, sick, lonely, or otherwise not in a good frame of mind, you will not be successful in creating what you want in your life or manifesting your reality. Your feelings must change in order to do magick. Bad feelings will keep what you want away from you.

Look to the reason you do the things you do. If you do them with love of others, with love in your heart, you will have the universe doing your bidding.

If you are grateful for what you have and for every good thing that happens in your life, the universe will work behind the scenes to pave the way in your journey towards your goals.

But if you have bad feelings towards others, if you blame others, if you resent others, if you feel sorry for yourself, if you focus on what you don't have or can't do, you will not create what you desire in your life, you will continue to create stress and strife in your life.

Pay attention first to how you feel when you visualize what you want and ask the universe for things. Be grateful first for what you have now. Do everything with love in your heart, and the universe will pave the road in front of you and bring you anything you need to accomplish your goals.

jb

Lol. James you are already a witch. You just don't know it yet.

Exactly, and that's precisely what I meant. It's not the religion or the concept, or the philosophy that is important. What's important is a belief the results can be attained. It doesn't matter who or what we attribute the results to.



Precisely. And that can be difficult if we are trying to do something that we find hard to believe.



Shush up! Your not supposed to tell people this part. If rituals help with the process of visualization, intent, and belief, then they are necessary for the process to unfold.

I need all the help I can get so don't laugh when you see me talking to a tree. The tree will think you're silly if you're laughing at our conversation anyway.



Speak for yourself. I had my reality dumped onto me by society. That's my story and um stick'in to it.



This doesn't sound real hopeful for people who are trying to use magick to get over depression and out of the rut their stuck in.

Oh well.

Should I toss in the towel already? I didn't even finish reading these books yet.

No, don't toss in the towel. Realize that you are in control or can take control of how you feel. The books by Esther and Jerry Hicks will tell you exactly how to climb the ladder from depression to joy in your thinking. You cannot do it in one jump, but it can be done.

You want to start by recognizing the kinds of self defeating thoughts you entertain on a regular basis. Read and reread "The Science of getting rich" by Wallace D. Wattles until it becomes law in your brain and you will begin to recognize your negative thoughts and actions that create what you do not want and you will know how the law works.

This free book alone can change your life and your thinking, but you can't just skim over it and forget it. You would do well to almost memorize it because it has all the keys to the law of attraction.

Ester and Jerry Hicks go into more detail, approaching the subject with examples and suggestions. These books are worth many times what you will pay for them.

JB

while I believe that quantum physics (the science behing the law of attraction) explains magick as best it can, I do not personally believe all the teachings of the proponents of this. Particularly that you creat your own reality 100% of the time and that nothing happens that you did not manifest.

I do agree that ritual is not necessary IF you can get to the point where you can work without it. However, it is the ritual, or the creation of a certain amount of psychodrama, that puts one in the right frame of mind to cast a spell. It also raises energy needed. If you have never done a ritual it is hard to describe the almost electrical energy that flows.

It absolutely can't be true. There's no question about that at all. There's more than one person in the world. If person A envisions one thing and person B envisions something contrary to A, both of these things cannot become manifest simultaneously. So it isn't true at all that we create our own reality 100%. At least not as long as we live in a world with other people.

Children aren't responsible for being born to religious fantatics and brainwashed in ways that aren't healthy. They didn't choose that.

And this is especially true of children who are born into absusive homes. And I personally don't believe that people are necessarily responsible for attracting abusive mates.

I think if I had attracted what I am I would have a really nice wife by now. I don't think the law of attraction works on autopilot necessarily. I think it sure seems to work for some people, but for other people I think it's clear that they aren't attracting either what they want, nor what they are.

I think the law of attraction can work if used methodically. But if it isn't being used methodically I think we could very well just be dust in the wind, where we aren't necessarily attracting anything. We're just bumping into thing randomly (not necessarily attracting them).

So I'm not sold on this idea that we necessarily attracted everything that is currently in our lives. But I do believe that we can methodically change our future. Providing we don't need to depend on someone else to want the same things.

That can be quite problematic if the one thing that you'd really like to have is a companion in life. It's like the one thing you really have no control over.

I mean, you can get dressed up and go out and 'attract' the opposite sex. But there's no guarantee that you'll attract a truly compatible person.

In fact, I think that's one of the hardest things for me to believe in. Attracting a woman is EASY. Attracting a COMPATIBLE woman is a whole different ball game.



I like the rituals. That's the fun part of it.

This is why I choose alchemy. Because for me that's the most fun. Who wants to just sit here and make things happen without the rituals. That would be downright boring.

The rituals and spells also utilize items from nature that are known to generate energy. Crystals, herbs, candles (fire), salt, water....all these things magnify the energy being raised by the witch and help to manifest the spell.

Yes, that's true. There's spirit in all objects. No object is without spirit. I definitely believe that and feel it intuitively as well.

There is also power in symbols. Symbolism is something that the subconscious mind identifies with.

In fact, there are meditation techniques that can be used to help symbols bring out the power of the subconcious. So it is true that ritutuals and objects used in rituals can indeed contribute to the connection to the spiritual source.

Even weather, seasons, and times of day or night can enhance the spiritual power. And the reason for this is quite simple. Those special times stimulate specific emotional states. And EMOTION IS A KEY energy frequency.

"Tuning into an emotion" is like tuning into a particular spiritual energy.

Jeannie should understand that. It's all about being in tune with the right frequencies of emotion. That's what constitutes the "connection".

I know how to do magick intuitively. I've just allowed my spirit to die and I need to rejuvinate it is all.

I'm enjoying reading Scott's books though. I like his presentation and I'm getting ideas for rituals. I've never been one to adhere to the status quo, but I like the food for thought, I've already performed some earth magick.

In fact, I used to garden a lot and I really miss playing in the soil. I've decided to get some potted plants and fill this place with living "earth". I miss her.

I've also just set up four 10-gallon aquariums.

I used to have 25 set up at one time.

I love keeping natural living things.

I'm even thinking about getting some birds. Owl turn this place into a jungle and swing from the vines hanging from the rafters.

Oooo Oooo Oooo Oooo Oooo

I think I'm reverting back to my primitive primate self.

Feels good, doesn't it?

I've always been a naturalist. I've been away from it too long. This is like coming home.

I'm in my second Chimpanzeehood.

I don't know what took me so long. But thanks for starting this thread. Between you and Krimsa and Jeannie and other witches like DKW and Sister Shaman, as well as the pantheists like Artgurl and Jess Lee, I'm coming back home.

And yes, it does feel good.

You wanna buy an alpaca Abra? I will sell you a gelding named Nicolas Copernicus (cooper) He's jet black. Nice fleece for yarn.

Today's witchy tip:

Inscribe a rune of protection into your doorway, or place a rune somewhere behind something, if you want to be secretive. Talismans such as the SATOR Square work well for this.

I'm a naturalist. I sleep naked.

I didn't know that was one of the requirements for being a naturalist.

Sometimes, it seems that in spite of our best intentions and efforts, things just are not running in a positive manner. Often we attribute this to a run of bad luck—but the cycle can be broken. In a small draw-string pouch, place a couple of pinches of each of the following:

angelica root, African ginger, fennel seed, holy thistle, clove, and basil. Add a small piece of citrine and secure the bag. Place the bag on your altar before a white candle. Light the candle and repeat three times:

As these words are spoken, Bad luck is broken.
Bad luck will now flee;
From its influence I am free.
Bad luck goes out the door And troubles me no more.

Leave the bag on the altar until the candle burns out naturally, then carry the bag near your heart for seven days.

I always get carried away with incantations and rituals. But for me they are like prayers to the spirits.

In the Earth Power book I learned a ritual and incantation for love.

It works as follows.

First find a bell, or wind chimes that you personally find pleasing. I have yet to do this part, but I'm sure I will find a nice small wind chime the next time I'm out.

Then hang these chimes in a westerly window where the western winds can chime them. The western winds are the winds of love, among other thigns.

Then speak or chant the following incantation.

Little bell of love, I hang you to whisper my need for love on breezes and winds.

Little bell of love, speak of my need for love to your brothers and sisters.

Little bell of love, I ask you to speak softly and draw to me someone who listens.

I've written a plain chant melody for this incantation, if anyone is interested it can be heard on the following web page:

http://www.csonline.net/designer/ideas/magick.htm

This is my first plain chant and it's not supposed to be Gregorian. It's an Abracadabrian plain chant.

Fishing for the Wind

I had a bit of a dilemma. Wintertime is coming and I need to keep my windows closed. But at the same time I want to hang a wind chime by my westerly window. This window is actually right at the head of my bed. I want to hang the wind chime just next to me on the wall. But I needed a way to give it contact to the power of the wind.

I've though about several different methods of bringing the wind power into the house. Some of them were to have a tube to focus the air right on the wind chime. But that could serve to be a bit drafty during the frigid winter months ahead. Then I thought of actually building a small windmill on the roof to generate electricity that could then operate a small electric motor to shake the wind chime. (high-tech spirituality) What a man won't do for love.

Well, hey, all that's important is that the westerly winds power this chime. Of course it might also be nice if the chime itself could contact the wind. The electric generated and motor might be a bit one-sided. Not to mention a bit of a project for a primitive-minded shaman.

However, I just now solved the problem. I'm going to use fishing line. Owl tie the fishing line around a branch on a tree outside my window, then run it in though a very small hole that I'll drill in the window frame. And then tie it onto the wind chime. When the wind blows it will move the branch which will ring the chime, and the vibrations of the chime will go back up the fishing line and dissipate into the wind. Full two-way communication.

I can hear my love coming.

Ooooo, sound erotic doesn't it.

Behold, I come quickly. Revelation 22:20

Well now we know that Jesus was no Don Juan.