Lesson 2: The Path of the Magician

This lesson will cover the stages I have personally observed and experienced journeying on the path. You should be traveling through them as well as we progress through this course. In preparing for this course, I spoke with other magicians and elders of various magickal/religious traditions; they verified this information as being an accurate reflection of their own experiences.

I wrote this a long time ago, not much of it has changed. I will expand on the original thoughts as I come to them, trying to make it as seamless as possible. The original paper is located at http://davensjournal.com/TPotM.xhtml.

THE PATH OF THE MAGICIAN

Many people have asked me to teach them spells. My response is always the same. "No," a qualified "no" but still a no. In my experience, the person asking is usually seeking a "quick fix" for problems in their life, without learning the principals needed to actually make a change. ("Oh if I had more money, was thinner, prettier, more athletic, popular my life would be perfect!") Most "spell beggars" tend to be young kids who want to be able to wiggle their nose and have the world change. They don't realize that magick is a double-edged sword with both good, positive aspects and negative as well. Many, if not all, have not learned self-discipline. It is the single most important thing that any magician, warrior or Martial Artist can gift himself or herself with.

There are many things and skills they have to have before speaking their first incantation or chant. It is analogous to giving someone a loaded pistol, without him or her first learning basic safety, how to aim, maintenance of the weapon, or even what to do. This is precisely what magic is, a loaded weapon. The skills laid out here are just as important as learning which end of the pistol to hold when attempting to fire it.

This is the journey that a prospective magician will tread when starting to learn spells:

1. Self-discovery. Finding out why you tick the way you do.

This is the most important the most basic part of the journey. Through meditation and constant questioning of "why" you will get a sense of yourself and your motivations for most everything. But you must be honest. If you know why, don't say, "I don't know". Lying to yourself is a sure way to get you into trouble. The more you are honest with yourself at this stage, the more you will be able to learn and understand later.

If you have not gone through parental grilling recently, or are not in the habit of self-examination, start watching your actions, and questioning them. Keep notes, a diary and start proposing reasons for your actions. You will know if they are the truth quickly. As the habit of self-examination grows, you will need to do it less and less consciously and you may find some rather amazing things out about yourself.

Self-discovery comes first in any magickal discipline. Very occasionally a truly exceptional student can define him/herself through the process of learning, but most times you HAVE to learn about yourself first. While I am sure you are exceptional, that very quality should show you why knowing yourself is indeed critical to the process. During this process you should find out what triggers make you behave the way you do. With those triggers known you can start learning the discipline needed to bring magick into your life. Accomplish this and you can start living a magickal existence.

For example, many entities on other planes of existence routinely use your fears against you. If you come into conflict with them and you are afraid of small spaces and do not know it, or have not over come it, you may perceive yourself as suddenly being trapped in a small narrow space. This can paralyze you with fear, sapping your will to do anything to defend yourself, unable to move, caught in a fit of blind, helpless panic. This is an extremely common tactic.

Self-knowledge allows the practitioner to utilize the most powerful tool available. It is not in a spell book, it cannot be bought, although it can be "sold", it is Will. How can Will be sold? Easy, drink or eat to excess, take drugs, do anything that weakens the disciplined life you must lead to be a true magician. When you know yourself, you can use your will to very potent effect.

Unless you truly understand what drives you, you will never develop the Will to use Magick effectively. Let me repeat this as it is a most critical point, unless you truly understand what drives you, you will NEVER develop the Will to use Magick effectively. Will is the key to magick. Knowing yourself is the key to Will. Control of the mind becomes easy when these techniques are applied. The mind is not used to discipline. Teaching it is a long process. It takes years. Once applied, the discipline will become second nature. You will gain confidence, self-control, and be able to apply lessons in a useful manner for the rest of your life.

If what drives you is selfish that is all right, 90% of the accomplishment in the world are done for selfish purposes. Including the "altruistic" ones. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are doing something for someone else’s benefit when your true motive is to get noticed/praised/patted on the back/revenge/one up a rival/ well, you get the point. What is the pleasure/ benefit you receive from your actions? This is knowing yourself, your motives. This is your True Will. Every spell or process you do in accordance with your True Will will be much more powerful and likely to succeed. Doing these spells for any reason aside from your True Will dooms it to failure.

In "Empire Strikes Back" Yoda says to Luke at one point that he must learn control. This is what you will be, in essence, doing. You will learn to control your mind so that you will not be distracted from what you are trying to learn, and practice.

Know the totality of thyself, for no one else can.

The actual phases that you will go through during this stage follow:

a) Fear of probing the hidden areas of your soul. Bringing the Dark up to the Light and making it visible to you again. Learning all about that area. Many people bury the dark stinking parts of their soul and never think about it again. This is wrong. In order to be a whole person, you must come to a working partnership with that dark area. Dark thrives on lack of light. It grows stronger. That is why so many people in our society have problems with trauma and self-destruction. They bury the negative and forget it or hide from it, fearing it and themselves. But that part has not forgotten you. If you learn to use it, it can be a powerful tool. You have to recognize the times and places when it is appropriate to use that part of you. Soldiers and the police are a perfect example of this kind of mindset. In many cases, they have come to a partnership with their negative side. This allows them to know when an application of force is necessary and when it's proper to be kind and gentle.

b) There will be Trauma in re-living some of the memories and in re-experiencing the actions that caused problems in the first place, but sometimes the only way to heal a deep penetrating wound is to cut it open and let it heal from the inside out instead of outside in.

This is a dangerous stage. Many loose their nerve here and go never to return, either into insanity or away from this path altogether. This is not from the study of dark areas of magick, but from remembering past traumas, such as abuse, molestation, and other things.

THIS IS A NECESSARY STEP in order to know yourself. It cannot be avoided. During this time it is advisable to have someone to help you through the trauma associated with these memories. This person can be a concerned friend, a psychologist or a loved one or lover. My wife was my stability just as I was hers. Whomever you choose, they can commiserate with you as you try to deal with different traumas, slap you when you are too self-indulgent and self-pitying and so on. Your "guard" must to be someone you know and trust implicitly. They must also know you well enough not to let you fall into any self-deluding or self-pitying traps. Make no mistake, they will happen. People want to exculpate themselves from blame.

You will also find areas of your psyche dedicated to the destruction of your ego wants, desires, hopes and needs. Many times, as you progress, these tendencies will develop into archetypal representations of negative people and things in your life. It is now your job to acknowledge the tendencies to self-destruct, accept them as part of yourself and nullify their negative influence on you. The impulses don't care that they will destroy themselves by destroying you, which is their function after all.

One note, this is generally a stage that many never finish. I had thought at one point that I was done with this phase, but it turns out that I still have traumas that I have not dealt with in addition to traumas I thought I had dealt with that are still causing reflexive habits. I am dealing with them now, and my outlook is changing again to reflect that.

c) Acceptance of that dark side.

Most never get here. "Better buried than stinking again," is the attitude many use to keep from getting here. Learn to live with the scars. Don’t glory in them, but acknowledge that they have taught you something.

In "Star Trek V, The Undiscovered Country", Captain Kirk utters the following line: "I need my pain. The Pain has made me who I am. I won't let you take that away." This is one of the truest statements ever made. We are the sum of all our experiences. All of us are affected by what we have experienced, and nothing can or should change that. Even people who bury memories of living through different ordeals are still affected by that memory.

Coming to terms with your own personal dark side is important. It cannot be ignored. Dealing with the trauma that happened caused by things that happened is something else entirely. Different people deal with memories and trauma in different ways, but you need to learn to recognize when a bad experience is affecting your judgment or actions so that you can break out of that cycle. Until you break out of a particular cycle of behavior, it will continues to affect you in many ways, most notably by setting up the circumstances of your own destruction. An example of this is a person who is married and lying to their spouse about having affairs. The pattern of behavior can be due to an unresolved problem of the past where the cheater learned that this behavior is "ok". Another instance is the person who has learned not to trust anyone to be reasonable or worthy of trust as the result of mistreatment as a child.

d) Doubt of yourself, your environment your family and even the Gods. The belief that "I am not really doing this... It's all in my imagination."

This is NORMAL. Self-doubt is a good tool to keep from becoming another Napoleon or Hitler. It teaches us. And while self-confidence is a good thing, too much leads to hubris.

With two exceptions*, all of us have been trained by society to disbelieve anything that we cannot verify with our five primary senses . While many are willing to acknowledge that there may be other senses we possess, few are ready to come out and say "Yes, I can see into other worlds and interact with the beings there." Society would brand them as a freak and do it's best to destroy that person for non-conformity. Since few people are brave enough to withstand ridicule or societal destruction, we learn to ignore those things we can't rationally explain. Remember, while this stage is normal, it is critical that the prospective magus advance beyond this stage.

Again, a percentage of people will get this far and give up. Part of coming to terms with your self is to look at your confidence problems. Many of us who are attracted to this kind of work have very vivid imaginations. It is only natural that some of us may decide we are crazy and nothing we are experiencing could have happened on this plane of reality. Please, remember, "As you believe, so will it be". If you believe that you are imagining it all, then you will be.

The good news is that as you progress through these stages, you will come to know just which destructive tendencies are originating within your psyche and which are external attacks. The parts that are you and not you will become very clear. That is why you need to know yourself so well.

e) Trust that what you are doing affects things outside of you.

You must know beyond doubt that your abilities are making a difference that the Gods do care. When you have found a teacher that meets your criteria, have faith in your teacher. Again, trust that when you operate with pure intention what occurs is normal and positive in this arena. Without this trust, no further advancement is possible. This stage is what I call the "Shot in the arm" stage. It is confidence yet too frequently it is tinged with doubt. As time passes though, as you continue to believe, examine and correct, it moves into the next stage.

This confidence is built by people telling you that the result you desired is happening, that you are effecting things. The concrete results of your work in your day-to-day life will build your self-esteem. Getting that job you cast the success spell for and knowing that YOU did it does wonders for your belief in yourself.

f) Megalomania and hubris are next. The scales must balance between doubt and this condition, tipping in neither direction. These emotions can grow naturally out of the previous stage. It is related to knowing that YOU did something that was good and right, that you made a difference and that YOUR spell changed the world in some way that you CAN see. With that knowledge, the immediate reaction is usually, "OH BOY! I can do anything I want to do because this stuff REALLY does work!"

This is a dangerous stage. The problem here is "I have some training, I can do anything I want and no one can stop me." Kind of like a beginning student in Martial Arts who is getting an inflated ego. Usually the Master will have to knock them down a few notches to get them to understand that there are bigger and badder things out there.

There are any number of examples that can be used to show this, but let me use an example from the Military. In Basic Training, one of the goals of the Drill Sergeants is to break down the identity of the individual and make them a part of the group. While doing this, the group is given several successes that make it easier to bond with each other. One of the side effects of this is the individual starts to believe that they can do without the group. Usually when they start believing that, the Sergeant will completely humiliate the individual so that they see they cannot exist outside the group. This includes humiliating the individual in front of their peers so that peer pressure brings the individual back into line.

However, the prospective magickian does not have a group to stay in line with, so their otherworld tutors will do this. Occasionally, the hubris will bring entities to combat the magickian. The entities will hurt the practitioner or their allies in such a way that this lesson is brought home. The lesson is that there are other things out there that can and will hurt the practitioner, despite the knowledge they have. This is also known as the Satchel Paige effect. The great pitcher’s motto was "don’t look back, someone might be gaining on you".

I went through this stage and it taught me a lot about who I am. I looked at myself and thought that there was no one out there that was a good as I was. I had Will, the tools, the knowledge and other things I thought I needed to win in any conflict I engaged in. No one could match me in my chosen arena. Then I watched as a creature I had conjured critically injured most of my allies while I was trying to banish it. It was a very serious, dangerous close call that scared the living daylights out of me. I never made that mistake again.

This can be a really humbling experience and it can temper a lot of psychic crap out of you. It is one more necessary step that must be taken.

g) Doubt assails you once again.

After the hubris phase, and the concomitant things that it brings, doubt comes along once more. Doubt in your own strength and your own abilities. You have had a rude awakening and now there is a problem with how you see yourself relating with the world. Once again, a percentage will arrive at this phase and give up Magick completely since it is "too dangerous and cannot be used by Mankind safely". Some will start seeing phantasms and mental creations to release tension and insure that their fears verify themselves, reinforcing the need to stop immediately.

In the movie "Top Gun", the very best Navy pilots are chosen for additional training. To be considered the best, a pilot must have an ego the size and strength of the aircraft carrier he flies from. In the movie, after his RIO dies Maverick needs to go on with his life. He's not as cocky afterward.

In this phase, you should compel yourself to try to figure out what happened so that the hard won lesson can be used, not to the detriment of your peace of mind and your confidence but to the understanding of your limits.

This is usually the shortest stage. Many people who go through this, come out the other side a better person. They can now realize, and move to the last stage. The key to survival and progress is to keep going and trying to grow. It can also be the longest phase if the practitioner gives up.

h) Peaceful Acceptance, of the Dark, and the Light.

Inner Peace is a stillness of soul that many would call "steady". Acceptance of yourself and the wisdom to over come in this area. The concept is self-explanatory.

Generally, this is the goal of all magickal systems, in which the practitioner finds him/herself and accepts him/herself as s/he is. Because of that acceptance the magician is now self-actualized, at peace and able to love everyone because s/he is no longer dependant upon others for his/her happiness. Able to discover new worlds of connection to everything within him/herself, this is the "gold" that the Alchemists were after.

i) I am no longer a mere mortal, I feel so Olympian and distant from humanity.

This is one final phase that some magickal practitioners have spoken to me about, and that is disconnectedness with normal people. While it is normal to pity most of humanity and the fact that they do not understand things as you do, and that they MUST live in a world ruled by sorrow and misery instead of in a world of joy and wonder, one must not ever think they are less than us.

I say this because when you reach stage H, there will be the temptation to look at others and wonder why they are so sad all the time, after all, you aren't. You will want to share your knowledge and joy with them, show them what it feels like to be happy most times instead of miserable. You will put your words on the Internet, in books, in pamphlets and any other way you can think of to change life here. This is good, but don't lapse into bitterness and disillusionment if and when people rebuff you.

One thing I have learned in these several years on the Internet is that many people are not ready to have misery removed from their life. In many ways, I think Smith on the movie "The Matrix" is correct in saying that humanity must measure their life in misery. It will be wonderful if you can share with others, but don't define yourself by who learns what you have to say.

Also, there are billions of non-magickally aware people out there; many more than there are of us who do understand the construction of the Universe. It is one thing to protect them; it is something else altogether to try to change their fundamental nature. It is also something else to fail to feel for them. Yes, you can and should seek partners who can understand the same truths you found, but DO NOT think that you cannot be happy without one. I have heard about practitioners who had romantic lives that were ecstatic with those who did not understand or participate in their magickal practices.

What I'm trying to say is that you will have changed, not anyone else. Share what you know, but don't loose your connection to normal humanity and their wants and desires. Understand them and love them, try to make their lives better, but don't think that you are no longer human yourself.

In many ways the practitioners see themselves so far beyond normal humanity that they see themselves as a different species from the group they were born into. Many different Science Fiction works have been written about this phenomenon, as well as most heroic comic books. Usually the "hero" is super-powered and unless they are very careful, they no longer understand the drives and motivations of the normal populace they are taking care of. They then see these "normals" as fodder or slaves, put in place to serve the "super" since the super is obviously better than the rest, or as simple minded sheep, too stupid to make a move without him/her, OR the "super freak" will withdraw completely from their "flock" either on this planet or more typically in the comics by flying off to uncharted realms of the cosmos.

2) Learning and how to learn: Actual study of materials from various sources.

Below you will find the pros and cons of various methods of learning.
Book knowledge is always an excellent source.
A book doesn't have a job it has to be to tomorrow.
A book can cover more material than a person can.
Other books fill in gaps in knowledge.
A book can spend more time with you than a person usually can.
Books offer self-paced teaching.
You can always go back and get the same information again and again.
It is possible to extract good information from the most negative sources.

Drawbacks to solitary study in books

There is only one way to do things, if it doesn't work for you too bad.
A book can be in depth, but there can be holes in the information.
A book can't directly answer the questions it can raise in you.
It’s not really as good as someone who is right there with you.
It gives you no real-world knowledge or experience, just someone else's interpretation.
Some books contain nothing but falsehood and incorrect factual errors, and you might never know. (See below)

Individual tutoring by someone who has "Been there, done that, got the T-shirt"

You can receive custom lessons.
The pacing is different than yours.
Good teachers answer questions when asked.
A teacher can offer alternative techniques.
A teacher can help you through traumatic events and offer counseling.
Hopefully the teacher will have a large body of experience.
Direct teaching offers more give and take, more effective learning.
You paid for it, so you will respect it even more.

Drawbacks to tutoring:

Teachers are human they don't know everything.
The teacher hasn't necessarily had the same problem(s) you will experience.
Personality conflicts with an authority figure.
A teacher can only speak from his/her own experience or those s/he has witnessed first hand.
S/he could pass on incorrect or invalid information.
An egomani ... uh teacher could demand that you absolutely believe him/her and not give any references.

Instruction in a group setting

There can be a freer exchange of ideas.
The environment is more fluid, lessons can depart radically from the schedule as need arises.
Everyone taking the class is at same stage.
Some people learn better with competition.
A group can bond and as feelings about each other intensify, strong bonds can form.

Group Study Drawbacks:

Who needs the personality conflicts that crop up ad-nauseam?
As per reason 6 in personal tutoring negatives, this could be cult recruitment. (personality, religious)
The lessons are Non-customized lessons to your interests and needs.
"Lowest common denominator" the teacher must move at a pace that insures everyone understands the information offered. Repeated over and over until everyone gets it.
There is not much flexibility unless the class is extremely good.
When lectures are followed by Q&A, you might forget a Question you have.
You have to take notes, and if your handwriting is slow or sloppy you may miss information you wanted or needed.
Just how happy were you in High School or College classes? Remember Why?

While discovery is best, there are many, many drawbacks.

You personally customize the knowledge you need, and are interested in.
You will learn in the manner best suited to you. Some people hear knowledge better, some can read and learn and some read a little, do a little.
You can insure LOTS of practice for yourself.
You can discover things others said couldn't be done because you don't know it can't be done that way.

Drawbacks to doing it all on your own.

You may miss many pieces of information.
It can cause you to take many baby steps as a result.
You may not know simple techniques because of that.
Can't find out "what happens if" unless you do it.
You have NO ONE else's experience to draw on.
You can't get out of a bad spot with another's help, you can only do it on your own.

To expand on the reasons above, I feel that learning from various sources is necessary. Without learning, no growth is possible. While it is perfectly acceptable to learn what you need on your own, there is a fundamental problem with it, you may not be able to see what it is you need to study or learn simply because you are too close to the situation.

Regarding learning through books: I have read Douglas Monroe's book "21 Lessons of Merlyn" as part of my studies for Druidism. All I can say is that it's one of the worst books on the market right now. The reader of this book would be well advised to take his books with a pan of salt and double check the references he makes. I have a review of it on my site, taken from another site, but it says it all. http://davensjournal.com/21LoM.xhtml is where you will find it.

The student would be well advised to read a few reviews of a book that he is thinking of purchasing before getting it, simply to see what those who have read it have to say. Read the bad reviews as well as the good, and look at them objectively and see what the bias and dislikes the author of the review as well as the book’s author exhibit and what is genuine bad information.

I say all this because many people who have read the 21 LoM have contacted me and I want to refute the information in it. If Monroe has magickal information in there (which I didn't see) it is tainted by his inaccurate information in all the rest of the book.

I will try to make this class as customized to the individual as possible. There are a number of resources we can use, and if there is enough interest expressed I can set up a list for chatting, questions and clarifications. We will use this list for lessons and assignments. Because we currently have 500+ students who are taking this class I ask you all to remember that I am only one person, it may take some time for me to respond, but I will.

3) Practice: The first steps in casting and using magick.

Initially these should be simple things for knowledge, i.e., divinations, invocations of the deities, spells to help you remember what happened in a former life. Many of these spells are learned by initiates on whatever magickal path they are on, be it Cabala, Wicca, Satanism, or whatever. The reason? These are as basic as it can get. Crawling is crawling after all. They are pretty much "shoot yourself in the foot" proof. By the time you get to actually learning spells, you will have the knowledge to be able to protect yourself as well as the ability to write your own spells, and know why you do this and such.

I cannot stress enough that this is the critical portion of this study. You can have all the theory and knowledge in the world, but if you never put that into practice, actually DO the spells you have been writing and learning, you will not be able to progress further.

There is a difference between KNOWING the path and WALKING the path. Without actually putting the knowledge into practice, nothing will ever happen.

Below you will find MY list of exercises to practice and the order to practice them in for maximum results. I tried to organize these from the "most safe" to "most risky". While I feel that I have clarified why, if there is something that is unclear, I will be happy to explain further.

a.) Integrating dark with light. Acknowledging your darker traits and realizing that there is a time and a place to use that aggression and hate, yet not letting it dominate you. In this area of "The Empire Strikes Back" Yoda was wrong. Just because you use the negative aggressive tendencies does not mean that you will become irrevocably evil. Using is not the same as being. The aggressive tendencies will always be easier, but you don't have to be dominated by them.

Have you ever met a cop, and known that this man would keep his calm under the most stressful circumstances? He is someone who has learned to integrate that dark side with himself. He is "Centered" or "Balanced". One of my greatest friends has that same aura of calm. He is the gentlest of people, but don't cross him. He will remain calm no matter the provocation he is enduring; yet he will not shed a tear about having to hurt you, if that is what it takes.

b) Protective magicks are some of the easiest things to do, and very hard to mess up. Learning these is very good practice for what will come later. Shields, wards, and the "Tai-Chi of Magick" all fall in this category. Many Earth-based religions teach these, but there can be many holes in the teaching of differing paths, so keep looking. The "Tai-chi" reference I made is using your opponent's energy against him/herself. It is working with natural flows, and cycles of nature.

Once again, it is hard to muff a spell of this type. The worst that can happen is that the protection does not take, and you won't know that until you are under fire. Eventually you should be able to look at any shielding you have placed any where and see any weakness.

c) Offensive magicks are next. Intentionally hurting someone is a last resort, but sometimes it is the only one left. No shame in it. Especially if that person is intent on hurting or killing you or someone you love. Naturally there is a greater risk here though, since it can be turned against you. Offence includes hexes and curses along with esoteric things like Levin bolts.

Make no mistake, these spells you need caution for. Most of these can and will come back to zap you if you don't do everything just right. Practicing them going slowly through the steps can give you the mastery of these kinds of spells.

Let me say now for the record, my core philosophies are Wiccan, but I am also a Guardian. I do not advocate violence but I will use it if there is no other way to accomplish my goal. I will not use it to kill, unless there is no other choice. I am always cognizant of the Law of Three, and as such I make damned sure that I am in the right before proceeding to this stage. The Rede is not a death pact. It is a moral code, unfortunately, sometimes you have to ignore that code to accomplish a greater goal. Just be willing to pay the consequences if you prove to be wrong.

d) Healing is a dangerous skill. In order to heal someone, you must first know how to harm him or her as well. THIS IS NOT FOR BEGINNERS. You are mucking around with someone else's body, mind, or soul. You can do PERMANENT harm to them unless you know exactly what you are doing and why.

I say "mind" and "soul" because these are as valid a healing as any done for the body. Psychologists and Priests do this kind of healing all the time. Why can't magick be used to do these same things? I am a Spiritual healer. I have some knowledge of physical healing, simply because of my studies, and I find great satisfaction in being able to help someone's soul to be healed of the darker areas that they live with. Healing may leave you with a scar, one that helps to make you a better person altogether. The technique used the majority of the time is listening.

I have had my share of failures and near misses. It was a question of not listening when I should have. Blind luck is all that saved my patient and I from something terrible. The patient was almost changed irretrievably into someone different someone she had not agreed to become. It is the basis of my cautionary warnings.

Spiritual healing can be very dangerous for a number of reasons. True, you won't be physically hurt, but there is still the insidious little thought that you could have done more, cared a little differently, or tried something else. Some day ask a doctor who’s lost a patient how s/he deals with it.

e) Finding allies is also in the category of very dangerous to you.

Prospective enemies can come to you in the guise of allies. How better to defeat a budding magician than to know what they are planning? YOU MUST KNOW WHAT EVIL LOOKS LIKE TO BE SAFE. By that I mean what the soul looks like. This is one reason you must know yourself so well.

This involves looking around for potential friends or companions. DO NOT OFFER YOUR SERVICES TO ANYONE. This seems a bit harsh, but there is an old saying that goes "when the student is ready, the teacher will appear". I have found this statement to be true in more ways than one. Applied to this, it is even truer. When you are ready to have someone in your life to help you, someone who wants to help, and who is willing to believe will come along. You simply have to be prepared to accept them and protect them, and analyze what they can offer you in the context of what you need. It may be that they cannot give you very much, but you can still be friends.

A note of caution is in order. Be careful about getting too involved in established covens or working groups. You can be seen as an outsider an invader to their established pecking order. If you choose to enter such a group, insure that each and every individual within it accepts you enthusiastically as possible. This should not constitute a problem but you never know. I feel that politics is the worst problem we as a community have. I include in that community Wiccans, Americans, Office and every other kind of group that one can belong to.

f) Working with other beings can have the same level of danger as finding allies.

Many extra-planar beings are malevolent and waiting for a chance to reduce the forces of good. This is where your Will comes into play. On other planes, the one with the stronger Will is in control and will win. You can be attacked from any direction, especially internally through your fears. You must know those fears so well that they no longer have control over you.

It is critical that you understand the inherent danger. Many things that are ironclad here on the physical plane are fluid on the Astral plane. Up is not necessarily up anymore. Hitting someone is more likely to hurt you than any one else. There can be many, many problems. I highly advise putting off this kind of spell until you get greater experience by traveling there. At that point, you will be a known quantity to those who dwell there. Thy will not immediately perceive you as a threat.

On the plus side, as your skills in Magick increase, so too will your skill in OOBE**. In my experience, skill in one equals skill in the other.

4) Honing skills:

Once all these basics are mastered, you are ready to take on the TRULY dangerous and important things that you were born to do. Don't worry; if you make it to this level, you will have more than enough experience and knowledge to make your hardest problem that of not having enough hours in each day to do everything.

I say this with tongue firmly in cheek, but I a quite serious. You will know yourself and your environment, and more importantly, you will know your limitations. Most of the magickal courses of study I have seen are designed to get you to this level.

Power HAS to be paid for. You will pay this price again and again in blood and sweat, sacrificing your resources in endeavors you choose. You will know how to apportion your Power for the most advantageous use. You will know how to husband your resources and how to use the environment and any tool that comes to your hands.

You should also know how to pick your battles, one of the most important skills. This is one of those skills that cannot be done without once you "graduate" from your chosen course of study. It makes no sense to jump into a situation and use most if not all your resources if the situation is simple justice and the "victim" is getting what is deserved.

The following paths I have personally traveled at one time or another. Again, I must emphasize one thing; you do not have to loose your connection with Humanity. Some think that by being a Magician, that you must loose your "humanness" or your connection to people. This is not so. If you do loose that connection, then you are in danger of becoming a menace to magicians and more importantly to society in general. Keep those ties with your family and friends. Understand that if they do not see the same things as you do, and it is not your place to look down upon them for their difference. It is your job to take care of them.

a. Defending the defenseless.

Think about this one carefully. You will be a trouble magnet. You don’t even have to go looking for fights, but like the wise warrior you will be, you will pick your own time and place to strike a blow for justice. (Sounds like Superman. Not far off. You will be doing just about everything he did. And all without the thanks he got.)

For me this is taking care of problems on the Astral Plane. Taking care of troublemakers on the other worlds before they become a threat to us here I what I do best. You may find you are taking care of irresponsible people here and now who are messing with Magick that they don't know how to use. Doing things like this would make one a "Guardian" in many ways, and if you feel a call to this work, know that while the "way to go’s" may be few and far between, you are needed and appreciated.

b) Healing Earth:

Hugging trees is all well and good, but getting corporations to stop taking what they think they need is much better. Honoring means stopping the madness before Gaia is dead, then fixing it. This is a long and process, it is one that needs to be done. Sometimes it can feel like an impossible job, heartbreakingly fruitless. If no one is involved and fighting, one day we will wake up with no air, a sun that gives third-degree burns with two seconds exposure and most of all life dead. This is environmental activism in a positive, pro-active format. This does not mean one should spike trees, or become and eco-terrorist, it means volunteering with the Sierra Club, petitioning the community on a topic of concern.

There are magickal actions that can be done to help. Things like astrally traveling to the Amazon Rainforest and casting spells to stop the fires from burning, to heal the spirits that lives there. Similar activities can be done everywhere as well, like casting shields over endangered areas, forcing poisons from the Earth and so on.

c) Why are you doing these things?

This may be one of the most frustrating parts of your life. You will wake up in the middle of the night and know you HAVE to do a ritual RIGHT NOW. Yet you may never be told why you had to. Get used to it. It’s part of the job.

Many times, this is simply a matter of something happening that you don't know about which requires your help or energy. Let me give you an example from my own experience.

At one point I lived in an apartment complex right next door to soccer field. Normally this would not be very noteworthy, but this field was in regular use from the children's league soccer groups. The children did not know how to shield themselves nor did they realize that it had been used in the past as a worship area for those who had less than ethical intentions. Several times, after games, I would be wakened in the middle of the night, summoned down to that field in the dark of the night. I would be told to cast a Circle and wait. I would wait for upwards to two hours for something to happen and it never would.

Investigating these incidents later, I found that the emotional content of the games was wearing away the "buffer" between the worlds, and potentially other entities could come through to THIS world. My presence there prevented that. But no one told me that at the time.

d) Moving to the will of the Gods.

Also frustrating, but at least you can see the results of your labor. In the process of self-knowledge you will acquire a sense of who is speaking to your thoughts and what is going on. You will labor and sweat, but you will have a concrete result. You still may not know WHY you had to do that, but "you knew the job was dangerous when you took it."

This is can also include the teacher phase of metaphysics in which you train the next generation and make sure they know how to do it right, rather than messing with things they don't know how to handle. In addition, it's a good way to prove you learned it.

As a safety valve, try to find someone who is experienced in this work and stay in touch with him or her. Mental, emotional, and spiritual fatigues are very real in this kind of work. You will need support when things get to be too much for you just as they do. A good support structure is critical in order to cope. Ideally this should be someone who has done this for a while and who can talk you down from the stress this will place in your life.

It is only sensible to have this kind of support, if only to swap stories with, to vent to. One day, you will have to do this duty for another. Who heals the healer? Another healer of course.

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Footnotes:

* Figured it out yet? Love and God, Goddess, Gods and Goddesses, what ever your particular religious belief. In the case of atheists, "there can be only one". back

**Out Of Body Excursion or Astral Projection. back

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Assignment:

This will be a standard of a kind for you. These assignments. Right now, I'm going to assign a permanent assignment, one that I want you to do every day and week. I will ask you for progress reports from time to time, so this is kind of important.

Get a notebook (Yes, we teachers DO get a kickback from the office supply industry). I don't care what type it is, nor do I care where you keep it. What goes into the notebook is what is important to you and your progress. It can even be on the computer, and you can take notes on a micro-casette recorder. But this is so you can track your progress.

To do: Start meditating daily. The time is not important, just make sure you are consistant with this meditation. Start with 10 minutes, and gradually increase it over the next two months until you are at 1/2 hour. I usually do mine at night, just before I sleep.

I want you to do this because the gnosis part of Magick will happen, and I want you to know what that feels like. Don't try to do anything, just stay inside your head and let your thoughts flow by themselves. Think of problems you have been having, dificulties you need to overcome, etc. What you will start seeing is a pattern of behavior.

It is this pattern of behavior that concerns us. Look at the situations you find yourself in and start looking for patterns of behavior. Spotting these patterns are the first step to correcting them as stated in the first five or six pages of this lesson. Write these impressions down in your notebook and any flashes of insight you may have. Those flashes of insight are the beginnings of gnosis, that connection to all.

I am tempted to tell you to start working on fixing those patterns of behavior, turning those negative things you are doing to positive things, such as avoiding situations where your loud mouth (as an example) will get you in trouble. However, if you feel that you can be introspective and spot those patterns of behavior, then start working on them. HOWEVER, if you have not done the introspection thing yet, or do not know how to do this, only look for those patterns.

(It would be helpful to me if I could see your journals once in a while, but I can't think of any device that would allow me to ask for your notebooks and be able to read them while this class is online. We may set up a message board to do this at a later date, but that is a maybe.)

I also want you to start a simple exercise. During your meditation, I want you to see the Moon in your mind. I then want you to see a connection to the moon going from your heart to the moon, and I want you to see the moon's light flowing down that connection to your heart. I want you to take in as much of that energy as you can, and then I want you to disconnect yourself from the moon, and feed all that energy to a piece of jewelry you own. This will be your primary metaphysical battery. This will be the place you ground any excess energy you have into. I suggest you start this phase one week after you start the meditations above, and start it on a weekend, this may mess up your sleep schedule.

Those of you who practice Reiki already recognized what I asked everyone to do, and I bet you know why I asked them to do it as well. This is basic energy manipulation. This should give you the basics of what energy feels like when it is flowing through you, it will show you 1) how to visualize, 2) how to ground to an object rather than to the Earth 3) how to draw energy from other sources 4) how to charge a battery and 5) give you confidence in Magick. Make no mistake about this, it is as real as the air you breathe. You HAVE to have confidence in this energy and get used to treating it exactly the way you would if you had a bottle of gasoline in front of you.

When you do start experimenting with this energy manipulation, put those down into the notebook as well. List what you felt, what you saw, what kind of things happened to you while you did this and so on. Anything and everything that deals with these meditations, I want you to put down into your book. This will become important later.

So, here are the assignments in order:

Now: Start meditating and put down everything you experience into your notebook. One week from now: Increase your time spent meditating to 15 minutes or so. One week from now on a weekend: Practice drawing and grounding that energy into a piece of jewelry (bracelet, watch, necklace, earring, ring, etc) that you want to become your primary metaphysical battery. Two weeks from now: Increase your time meditating to 20 minutes.

To turn in: I want to see a synopsis of what you put into your journal over the past two weeks. Only put in things that are odd, unusual, eerie, you don't understand, things you find disconcerting, things you need to check with me or the list. Flashes of insight are good. I also want to see where you think you fit in the above "path" based on your meditations. I will find it highly unlikely that many people are telling me "Stage H" for their placement, because if you are at that level, you will already understand everything I'm going to be teaching here. Be honest. No one is grading you on where you are at, and no one will judge you. The reason I ask for it is so you have to figure it out and determine what level you are at.

To Print out: If you can, print this lesson and the previous one. Many libraries have printing services available. At the very least, save this lesson off onto disk, and I will have archives available for anyone who requests them. You will probably be referring back to these multiple times in the coming months and years, so you need to have it handy.

To read: If you feel like it, and this is by NO means manditory, take a look at the original of this lesson, and the reveiws I have on my site. There is a lot of good information there, if I do say so myself.... I also have a review of "Teen Witch" up there as well as some of the more popular recent books from Llewellyn. It's the button to the left labeled "Reviews".

Daven

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