Before you can perform any magic you must be in a magical state. Another way of putting this is that an altered state of consciousness is required in order to enact magic.
The Altered State
Indigenous cultures are aware of this, hence the dancing and drumming rituals, fasting, ordeals, and psychoactive herbs and other substances used by tribal shamans or magic users prior to divination, healing, ritual, and other magical operations. I think we all intuitively grasp that our mundane, day-to-day state of being is ineffectual for harnessing magical forces.
A distracted, bored mind cannot touch mystical currents. Nor can an overanxious body compel and move potent arcane forces.
We must attain that OTHER state of being. Some call it the flow state or being in the zone, or alpha brain waves, Mushin, Zanshin, fills with the spirit, and so on. This is a condition of mind and body that activates during peak performance for athletes and musicians, and it’s the place artists go when they are consumed by their working.
Many Different Magical States
Shamans, medicine men, athletes, musicians, artists, with or without the aid of chemical agents, all use the altered state to work their craft. Contemplating and embodying any of these archetypes would be a useful tool for learning to cultivate your own magical state.
In truth there are many variant magical states suitable for different magical operations. You will discover and cultivate these as you learn.
Your Basic Magical State
The basic magical state, which you should cultivate in the beginning and refine with time, is a condition of relaxation yet focus, which I characterize by simply calling it a state of ease with and adaptability. From here emerges natural creativity and confidence.
Flow state is the most potent contemporary term to help you relate to the magical state. Look into alpha brain waves or the alpha state as well, for this is a magical state.
From such a condition you can connect telepathically and at the level of your etheric body with the subtle and magical energies and forces that drive magical work. This is how the Art is woven, how magical work functions.
Here is an easy exercise to practice daily. It will take you to a base level magical state and over time enable you to enter such a condition at will wherever you are and whatever he circumstances.
Exercise for Entering a Magical State
Notice how you feel and how the world around you appears. Close your firsts and look at them, then slowly open your hands. Say “I am.”
Let the air from your lungs with a whoosh and imagine pushing out distraction and stale energy. Take in a deep beath and with it imagine magical energy and the spirit of renewal.
Settle into a calm but not forced breathing rhythm. A few inhales and exhales will be enough to set a comfortable rhythm.
Recognize the air moving through your body in the form of your breath is the same as the air outside your body touching your skin. Indeed the air within you is the same as the air a foot or two beyond your skin and the same as the air “out there” in the wide world.
Know this.
Understand also: At a molecular, atomic, and even subatomic level (electrons, protons, et al) you and everything else – EVERYTHING ELSE – are connected, linked by a great field of primal energy that gives birth to the particles that create atoms, molecules, living systems, hard earth, and the soft air that flows into and through you at this time.
On the very next inhale, using your intention and WILLPOWER you will charge the air inside you with the force of magic that lives in the heat energy of your blood and in the electrical currents of your thoughts. Exhale this magical air back out into the world as your gift to the great continuum of life.
As you breathe back in, do so very deeply and, again with your intent to do so and your mighty WILL, absorb from the incoming breath the magical charge inherent to the air around you and the ether from which it emerges. Indeed our reality is host to and offspring of a vast, immeasurable matrix of energetic rivers and causeways, to which you may help yourself at any time.
Now count, silently or aloud “Three. Three. Three.”. Speak slowly and with emphasis. Visualize the number three as you do this.
Next, slowly and in a deep tone: “Two. Two. Two.” See the number two in your mind’s eye as you say its name.
Continue at the same tone and tempo with “One. One. One.” Simultaneously old the image of the number one.
Finally, envision a deep field of black and in a long, deep vibration say “Zero”. It should take you as long to say “zero” as it did to chant the word “one” three times.
Notice How You Feel
Notice how you feel and how the world around you appears. Close your firsts and look at them, then slowly open your hands. Say “I am.”
You might not always notice a stark difference but sometimes you will be amazed by the subtle yet powerful change. Proceed from here to make some magic, and make it good at that, for life is too short for half-hearted spells and weakly rituals!
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