There’s this minimalist trend going around right now thanks to Marie Kondo’s show on Netflix titled “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo”, and it’s gotten me thinking about this in a spiritual context. This idea of questioning whether or not things bring you joy is pertinent in mundane matters, but it also matters insofar as magical and spiritual efforts are concerned.   In both, it’s easy to get bogged down by too many things, focusing less on experiences and growth and more on the hallmarks of whatever success you’re chasing. As such, it’s important to consider the ramifications of what these projects and processes entail. 

How many altars do you have? How many talismans? How many ongoing works? How many decks of tarot cards, sets of runes, etc.? It’s a pretty unfortunate thing to take in, but much of magic has been commercialized by the lowest common denominator. There are those who are incredibly powerful & talented, and there are those who simply aren’t....we live in the day and age where the best-marketed product wins out over the better-quality product. 

Knowing this, how much of this baggage have you brought home to roost? How is that affecting your home, your goals, your life, your magic? This might just seem like a trendy way to insert myself into the discussion (and it is is), but this really is an extremely important topic to be considering. 

I, for instance, have loads of books about magical practice. I use them for inspiration, and sometimes as a means of getting a different viewpoint. I can count, however, on one hand how many of them have actually been useful or illuminating. Among them, the most beneficial have been texts like the Bible, the Qu’ran, the Rig Veda, and the Tao Te Ching. Otherwise, most of them are a dime a dozen. Every once in a while I’ll see a phenomenal book that’s entirely worthwhile....that’s pretty rare though. 

As I write this, you can bet that I’m taking stock of what I have on hand and what I actually use. To be honest, the ratio isn’t that good, and I’m a professional sorcerer by trade. For those of you shaking your heads right now, GOOD. That’s the point! If I’ve fallen prey to this, you sure as hell have too!

This isn’t a criticism, it’s a matter of being real and bringing us all back to brass tacks. For every amazing piece of inspiration, literature, or profoundly potent magical tooling, there’s at least a dozen polished turds & space-wasters. To use Alton Brown’s assessment, if it’s a “unitasker”, you need to consider whether or not it’s being used often enough to be worth the space and effort. 

Sometimes they are. More often than not, they aren’t. 

If you make this assessment and decide that various items are not for you, you should dispose of them properly. I’ve included below a ritual to do so, and this will work for most items. 

*note: books can always be traded in or donated. Do not treat them in the way I’ve described below, for they are a sacred thing.*

​Hey folks, this is a life hack and a useful tip towards success. When you find yourself stuck and frustrated, without an end in sight, find a way to win. You’re not going to walk into all situations and walk out victorious, so when that doesn’t happen, find a way to create a benefit from that situation. 

If you’re getting fired from your job, use it as an opportunity to gain the support of coworkers & as a means of finding greener pastures somewhere else. 

If your wife is leaving you and there’s no remedy in sight, make your peace with it and use it as an opportunity to learn a lesson or three. Then, when you’ve hit the gym and redefined yourself and your standards, let that new person come to you. If you play your cards right, you’ll end up with an upgrade. 

The same goes for any other kind of trouble. There’s always an “out”, but it’s up to you to find one. If you become too mired to see that exit strategy, talk to someone who can help you find your way. 

I don’t expect people to enjoy terribly this post. It’s a life lesson and it’s not meant to be pleasant. When magic cannot achieve your aims, it’s clear that you are making the wrong choices in life. Don’t make the mistake of falling in love with potential. Instead, take the memo your guides are dropping for you and move forward with your life. 

Don’t let your pride or insistence become your undoing. 

Blessings,
SE

The importance of divination really can't be overstated, but for whatever reason, in the occult community folks tend to forget to do it.  This might be out of laziness or out of ineptitude on their part, but without divination, we are more or less adrift with no insight into why things are occurring the way they are. We've no way of telling whether or not someone is telling the truth or just being an attention whore, barring the existence of available evidence.

That being the case, its a practice that the Ancients took seriously, so why don't we?

If you don't feel that you have the skills to figure it out yourself, you should be talking to someone who does know what they're doing and won't blow smoke up your arse by telling you what you want to hear.  You want someone honest, direct, and, let's face it, blunt. Sugar-coating things obscures the seemingly hard edge of relative truth and waters it down, and that's really not helpful in the long run.

If you're a witch, sorcerer, magician, etc/whatever, neglecting the practice will get you into hot water.  If instead of checking to see if conjuring [X] to do [Y] will get you the result you seek, you just charge in unawares, you may well do irreparable damage to the person(s) you seek to help, oust yourself from your job, or dork up the relationship you're trying to mend. You might just be setting yourself up for failure, so running blind is really just a terrible idea.

Rant aside, there are a great many methods that one can use to sort things out.  You've got the staples of modern magical practice, such as tarot, runes, ogham, geomancy, and i-ching, and then the more obscure practices of hydromancy, divining by pendulum, necromanteia, reading wax, divining by spilled liquid, tea leaves, and so forth, so the toolbox you can pick from isn't exactly tiny, and you can combine various methods to get at the truth. For every method I've mentioned, there are at least thrice-fold more, and many of those methods can be taught by spirits such as Vassago, Bune, Freyja, Wotan, Rudra, and so forth. Many spirits have their own methods, in fact, as do many clans of spirits. Point is that so long as you aren't lazy about it, there's a lot of ways to get it done.

When in doubt, invoke or evoke a spirit that you trust to help you figure things out. There are plenty of examples of folks doing this in the mythical texts, and many deities will have their own interesting insights into the way to read the cards/runes/i-ching/etc.

For example, if I were trying to figure out how to help a male client seduce someone and I didn't understand the runes, I'd invoke Oðin, explain my intentions, then get His input.  For a female, I'd talk to Freyja, Frigga, or Idun, depending on the disposition of the client in question.  If looking to hunt down a client's competition, Skaði'd be my go-to-girl. For matters of fertility and abundance, Thor and Freyjr are likely best.

Involving different spirits at different times can help you to get a different vantage point on the situation, so its a useful pastime when in doubt.

Happy Divining, you lot! ;)

SE

Over the past month or two, I've been noticing a rather irritating trend that bears mentioning: no one wants to take responsibility for their own actions.  The pattern of narcissistic blame-gaming that leaves no one accountable is getting worse, and its to the point where its toxic.

Just yesterday, I was watching an episode of a TV show, and something happened that caught my attention.  One of the characters in the show was going through a rough time, and he finally blurted out the question "Why is God punishing me?!" in front of a Rabbi.  The Rabbi, who had hitherto bit his tongue, simply turned to the man and said (paraphrased) "All God ever did to you was give you a body, a brain, and a soul.  Everything else is on you, so why don't you use that brain that God gave you an figure out which of your actions led you to this experience." Its a simple, short conversation, but it has a lot of merit.  We are all responsible for what we experience, and blaming others for the shitstorm at our doorstep and in our homes doesn't remedy the issue.

The food we eat, the people we interact with, the music we listen to, the shows we watch, the books we read, the places we go, what we think, how we choose to feel, and everything else that we do or don't do is a decision. Every decision changes who we are inside and out, binding us to our fate and changing our course and tying us further to it. That's life, and understanding this immeasurably important fact is the first step towards attaining sovereignty over ourselves and our lives.

Attitude is everything, so the moment you stop blaming others and become accountable for your own actions is the very moment you start realizing what you need to do to fix things.  When you accept what you've done, you can realistically chart a course that'll help you to remedy things.

As a case in point, a friend of a friend recently found out that he has cancer.  He went from being a cheery bloke with a great sense of humor to a shadow of what he was...all overnight. The cancer hadn't changed him, but what did hit him is that all of the chewing tobacco and cigars he had adored up until that point had poisoned him. Now, despite knowing that, he's all but given up. In giving up, he's chosen not to fight the cancer in his body and overcome it; instead, he will be consumed by it. This choice will kill him, but no one can convince him otherwise because he hasn't chosen to do something about it.

Knowing this, be mindful. Go out, pay attention to what you're doing, and then enjoy what you do.  Live a little.

Blessings and warm regards,

SE