These may or may not be your first acts of magic, depending on your experience before finding this course. Some students are brand-spankin’ newbies while others have been tinkering with magic anywhere from a few months to a couple of years. The magical acts below are, at least, the first official acts assigned through this material. I hope they serve you well, and furthermore I hope you enjoy the process.

Learning Your Initial Magical Acts

I believe strongly in both pre-requisite and streamlined learning. Pre-requisite learning simply means a system is built upon foundational methods which must be learned before moving into the basics, which are needed prior to attempting anything intermediary, and so on. Makes sense, right? Crawl before you walk kind of thing. This ensures the learner is getting a very solid A-B-C, all bases covered education*. It follows that any learning within such a system will automatically be somewhat streamlined, meaning whatever a student is learning today is made easier by what they learned yesterday. Understanding this ahead of time, a teacher can enhance the streamlining effect by tweaking and tuning each lesson set so that it amplifies future info and practice in the best possible manner. Be patient and diligent, taking your own pace through the material and making the effort to really absorb the concepts (at least in principle, or generally) before rushing ahead.

* There is no way I can offer you a complete education in magic through an online crash course. Such an accomplishment may take years, or for the slower among us a lifetime. I simply mean to give you a thorough instruction on the basics as covered herein.

That last sentence bears repeating:

“Be patient and diligent, taking your own pace through the material and making the effort to really absorb the concepts (at least in principle, or generally) before rushing ahead.“

For many, this emphasis has been the end of our time together and the death of their interest in magic. Too often magic is perceived as and promoted to be some sort of easy-way-out or cheat sheet for life on earth. It (magic) can make life easier at times, but it can also create more difficulty and in various ways. Such can be said of any serious and worthwhile pursuit. One thing is for certain, the ability to perform effective magic (and why bother with any other kind??) requires time, focus, effort, and energy!

There’s no way around the latter claim. Anyone telling or selling you a different tale is lying for whatever reason.

Remember: You’ll Need Someplace Special to Practice

If you missed or avoided my prior recommendations regarding sacred space for study and practice, no worries just check here before continuing.

Requirements for the Performance of Magical Acts

You Must Enter the Magical State

As stated more than once, your first priority in magical execution is to achieve a magical state. This is a type of altered consciousness that is especially conducive to the biorhythms and psychological/emotive conditions that allow for the flow of magical energies and attitudes.

Refer to Lesson 1 and/or check this sticky post for a quick description of the magical state plus a semi-guided exercise to help you attain said state quickly. Once the magician has reached his or her satisfactory magical state, the following criteria are also paramount for success.

Skills Needed for Working within a Magical State

or…

Best Practices to Sustain During any Magical Act

The shortlist is:

• Stay in the present moment to the best of your ability and focus on what your are doing here and now.
  • Unless the magic calls for you to be elsewhere, i.e. calling on a memory or visualizing the future, for instance.
    • In the case of remembering or visualizing, etc. get good at really putting yourself into that reality, seeing and hearing that environment, especially feeling the necessary emotions, and generally immersing yourself in that past or future moment as vividly as possible.
• Exercise emotional awareness throughout the work, knowing where you are on the needle between happy or content to sad, angry, afraid, or whatever the case may be. Be honest with yourself, and yet…
  • Be prepared to shift, even if by force, into any emotive state called for by the work you are engaged with. Money spells require exuberance, healing calls for love & charity, and revenge needs anger and wrath. Like an actor you must learn to perform as if the Emmy is on the line during each ritual or spell. Your results will thrill or disappoint you often in direct proportion to the intensity of your emotional performance during the operation.
• Remain free and adaptable, so that you can shift with new developments or move with inspiration.
• At the same time, practice attention to detail and a commitment to excellence of form.
• Like a martial artist or musician on stage, maintain a bearing of poise, or readiness from a relaxed frame of mind, relatively low heartrate, and so forth. This is confidence manifest in action and will come in time.
• Keep an overall or underlying (as you wish!) sense of playful creativity. Not all magic is fun, but even the most miserable, heartbroken and starving artist is caught playing and enjoying the occasional brush stroke. So too must you maintain some access to the flow of the artist or performer.

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The above list represents potentially years of practice, if you aim to master each skill. An entire lifetime could be spent thusly, with improvement continuing to manifest until the end of that life.

 

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The best way to develop and refine skills is, of course, to practice those skills or engage in repetitive activity that builds proficiency in the basic movements that make up the skill or skills targeted. One of the many possible daily or regular routines of magical conditioning that I like can be found here. These exercises (which themselves are magical techniques, and in some cases more than one) will develop and hone the best practices needed for sound magical acting.

Today’s Magical Acts

My recommendation for the following section is twofold:

1. Read through each act completely at least once before working the exercise.
2. Perform both of the acts below.

Magical Acts can be Performed Anywhere, Anytime

Magical Act #1 Project a Ray of Subtle Energy

As I will state repeatedly throughout the course: YOU will act as the conduit, or channel, through which your magic shall pass from the unseen realms into the manifest world. Your energy bodies, aura, and physical body, all will channel various energies, gross (“normal”) and subtle (“paranormal”). The technique of projection or projecting energy is a good exercise for acclimating the mind and conditioning the rest of you for this process of transfer.

Furthermore, projection is a necessary skill for all kinds of magical operations. Whether using a wand that you point at a target you visualize or simply using your mind to direct forces during ritual, pushing specific energies outward or sending them to a specific when & where are obvious basics for magical practice.

Basic projection involves:

1. Identifying the source of energy.
2. Harnessing the energy.
3. Channeling the energy.
4. Directing, or projecting, the energy.

Much of the time, these steps will be equivalent to one seamless or two very fluid movements. More complex situations and detail-oriented magicians may require each step to be carefully rendered. This motion can be bodily through steps or gestures, mainly imaginary, i.e., concentration and intention, or (most often) a combination of mental and physical movement.

Here’s the unpack of the four steps followed with specific projection techniques for you to practice.

Identify Energy Source

This could be anything from a crystal or plant to an angel or ancestor. Specific techniques and ethical considerations tend to be needed for sources of the aforementioned nature, so we’ll mainly stick to the most common sources from psychism and natural magic* for this lesson.  

* Not to be confused with the type of magic or applied magic by the same name, Natural magic here means channeling energy from the surroundings to fuel your work.

Terminology and Trivia

By Psychism I mean the latent psychic/magical energy and capabilities emerging from your body and mind. Many of these you are born with but must cultivate and others can possibly be acquired with training. Natural Magic, at least in this context, refers to the practice of tapping into and utilizing energy currents and forces that exist in the world around us. Some of this available energy is the life force of nature or her elements. Other currents and pools that can be tapped into include the etheric and astral substances. As usual both the known and unknown worlds can be brought into play, so to speak. These two concepts are part of my broader ideology of the Three Treasures of the Initiate. Check this article for a more detailed description of this notion.

 

The two common sources alluded to above are in fact:

1. You, as in your physical body, mind, and etheric body (called body-mind-spirit by many). I refer to this complex elsewhere as the Personal Energy Matrix.
2. The area and environment about you, whether seen or unseen. This includes subtle energy like the ether and the astral plane as well as gross energy such as heat, wind, etc. This system of interconnected energies I call the Universal Energy Matrix.

You will either know your specific source ahead of time from your preparation and study or you will likely have one or more go to sources for quick magical working. Appropriate sources will be identified in the exercises to follow.

Harness the Energy

To harness means to take hold of and direct. This begins through simple intention to do so and awareness, actual or imagined, of the energy in question. You might visualize the energy to be harnessed as forming itself into a sphere at your command and spinning rapidly, feeling your connection to the energy increase with each rotation until you are ready to do something with the gathered force.

Channel or Beginning to Direct the Energy

Where is the subtle energy you have amassed for your work going? Perhaps up your spine and into your third eye, if the plan is to look into tomorrow. Or you may be sending energy to a loved one you wish to heal. Some future time and space where you will envision the success of your magic may also be the target.

Set your “channel” to receive and direct the energy as needed. This may be mental at first but develop into etheric movements as your skill increases.

Direct Energy

Everything prior to now has, of course, led to this moment of action. With clear focus and forceful Will send your energy along its channel and to or into the target.

Some magicians tense their muscles for this step. Others raise and ride emotional currents. Still others use vividly imagined scenes to get the energy where it is needed. I combine many methods of projection and I recommend you explore several yourself to find methods that fit your personality and energetic structure.

Energy Projection Exercise A: Inner Flame and Aura Fire

You will create an active power source within your body plus charge your aura with protective and proactive force. You may have thought about projection only in linear terms or sending energy from here to there. This exercise is an example of how projection can actually encompass much more than “from point a to point b” measures.

Your initial sources will be your own vital or life energy and solar plexus chakra. Notice your solar plexus region and feel for a warm area within its center. (Identify & Harness)

Form this area into a red sphere of subtle fire. (Harness) Chant the sound KA (k-ah!) to increase the energy of this fire. (Channel) As you inhale, see the sphere glow brighter like the embers of a fire when they are blown on with a bellow. As you exhale see steam and smoke rush outward from your center. (Direct) Gradually at first (and quickly if you like in later sessions of the same exercise) extend red energy from this central area into your hands, fingers, and eyes. (Direct)

While this fire is within you and the red energy is on your hands and eyes, you are primed with magical power to execute and improve any magical operations you like. When you are done with your work, watch the red subside into your center and see the fire go out.

A great use for this inner flame and red power is for cleansing and sealing the aura. Do this by directing the fire to explode outward into a larger sphere that extends three feet beyond your skin in all directions. Inhale to see the fire glow brighter and expand to six feet. Exhale and watch the fire shimmer and ripple. One more breath in to raise and push the fire out to nine feet. One more exhale to re-harness the full power you have raised.

You may channel and direct this aura fire however you like. Use it to cleanse the aura, to shield from outside influences, even to launch other energies from your being into the cosmos during magical operations. When done with the fire, watch it fade and allow the red energy and spherical flame in your solar plexus to do the same.

Energy Projection Exercise B: Raise a Basic Magic Circle

The magic circle is both simple and complex, a paradox in that regard and one of the most often-used devices in the repertoire of the serious magician. The Circle deserves and shall have its own full lesson to cover the range of nuance and applications involved, but today you’ll get a brief and useable introduction to the theme.

In simplest terms the magic circle is of twofold value:

1. It protects the magician from undesirable energies, forces, and powers which often originate from the unseen world but can sometimes be local events or phenomena.
2. It separates the magician within it from the world outside, allowing work to be performed outside the constraints of time and space and defining a sacred space where magic can flow at optimal levels and be directed or commanded with total confidence.

Terminology and Trivia

I’m sure energy, force, and power are common terms familiar to most readers. However, when a word is used in magical context, it will generally carry a slightly to entirely different meaning from its mundane, or ordinary usage. Below are the correct magical or metaphysical definitions for each word. Energy is a quality or set of qualities inherent in a specified field or frequency, also a measure, or quantity of work that could be performed by the individual or object in possession of or attachment to the field or frequency being considered. Force is the manner in which energy acts upon another energy and can also reference one or more energies organized for a specific purpose or act. Force, of course, can also be the use of energy to compel or cause a predictable action. Power is the magnitude or severity with which energy is applied and may also refer to a sphere of influence in charge of one or more energies, or to the agents of a hierarchical system that utilizes energy/energies to further its purpose.

Your circle will restrain unhelpful and hostile entities from the astral plane who may be attracted to the signature of your magic when you initiate an operation. The human being lights up like a neon sign to creatures on the astral once magic is engaged and some such residents are problematic to say the least.

The sacred space aspect of your circle is the essence of the statement: “As within, so without!” The magic you perform within your encircled space can be made perfectly, without rush or disturbance, results visualized pristinely, and then unleashed into the causal planes where it begins the process of creation, destruction, or protection that will manifest in our material world.

You may use a wand, a crystal, ceremonial dagger, or the index or pointing finger of your dominant hand (normally the hand you write with) to raise or cast a circle. This index finger is often called “the wand finger” in modern literature.

For this exercise, please use the wand finger.

Your source of energy for circle casting can be a chakra, the earth beneath you, the blowing wind, a patron angel, a gemstone in your pocket, or one of many other options. For this lesson we will first use the energy created with each breath you take as your mind and body convert ether from the air you breathe into vital force to sustain and empower your being. We will further draw on the subtle energy present in your local setting. Even if you can’t yet sense or feel the energy, believe it exists and direct it with authority; over time and through practice you will develop a sense for these unseen currents.

Natural Breathing Pace

Begin inhaling evenly through the nose and, after a brief and comfortable pause, exhaling through your mouth. Each breath (inhale or exhale) should be relatively long but still comfortable. I must emphasize you should not feel like you have to force the air in or out. Once you set the pace – if you do so correctly – your lungs will move with ease and a feeling of being both energized and relaxed or rested will settle upon you. Settle into this natural breathing rhythm and recheck your shoulders and hips for tension, letting go of any you find there.

I will refer back to this rhythmic breathing sequence throughout the course as it is a great precursor to the magical state and any other acts or operations.

We’ve identified the energy source already, and via this breathing method you are harnessing the energy from within yourself.

Stand in with good posture and feet shoulder width apart in the center of your work area. Find a spot on the floor or ground three feet in front of you.

Point your index finger to this chosen spot. As you inhale, visualize energy pulsing and heating up in your solar plexus region. Exhale and move a stream of this energy into your arm and then your hand, allowing the stream to funnel into your index finger. You can breathe in and out while holding attention on the finger, noticing the warm or just active pool of energy in the solar plexus and watching the continuous stream running from there out to the tip of your pointing finger.

At this point you are channeling (choosing the channel by which the energy shall flow) your energy and beginning to direct it.

During this exercise you should alternate between allowing the current to build up like this before projecting and immediately pushing the energy out and into the spot on the floor in front of you. Both approaches are useful in different ways so be sure to play with each of them.

Having chosen a starting point on the floor and now aiming at said spot with built up charge of subtle energy, imagine a bright white or blue beam as you now direct energy out of your wand finger and to, into, and through the point you have been focused upon. Bring the beam back slightly so it just touches the floor surface and, stepping or rotating on your heels as you proceed, trace a complete circle around yourself in the clockwise direction. Like a paint sprayer, your beam lays down a shimmering circle of the same color and composition as the beam itself. Remember the circumference of your magical shape will extend three feet out from your position in every direction.

Be with the energy of and in your circle, noting that it is different from the energy outside its boundary. Feel magical. Allow and notice magical energy to flow through your entire body and permeate your aura.

Specific circles may be set for various operations. For example you might cast a planetary circle for the moon, or an elemental circle of water. In such cases you would use your Will and various components of correspondence, or items/objects placed in and around the circle, to create the mood and draw forth the energy appropriate to the “theme” of your circle. This could include visualizing a different color beam and circle, such as purple for the moon and turquoise for water, etc.

Return to your natural breathinpace. After a few breaths inhale with the intent to expand your circle, then exhale and push the ring of light in the floor out to 6 feet in all directions. Repeat this and push the circle out once more to 9 feet. Practice also inhaling and pulling the circle back to 6 and then 3 feet. Throughout this process take time to notice that reality inside the circle is somehow different from that without the circle.

Same Process, Different Energy Source

Repeat the above process, only this time choose to source and harness energy from the earth beneath your feet (and if you’re inside, even in a high-rise apartment

If you have a quartz, amethyst, or other crystal you may use it to draw energy from during repeat exercises. Do so by holding the stone or crystal in your receptive hand (opposite from your writing hand) and soaking its subtle energy into your body and aura, then recycling this current and pushing it out through your wand finger.

Whenever you are finished with work inside of a magical circle, you can untrace the circle by pointing at it and turning in the direction opposite from the direction you originally traced the circle. Or you may simply walk across the circle or extend your arm over the border line with intent to dissipate the magical circle space.

Make certain you add journal notes about any experiences or questions you have during these exercises.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: This model of circle is good for many types of operation but is not suitable for circles of protection used against spirits and beings that are fully evoked or conjured onto the astral or physical planes to participate in your magic. Communicating with spirits from within a projected circle may be fine, but if you ever intend to actually summon an entity into your presence or onto the near astral you will need both a formal and complete drawn circle (as in paint, chalk, etc. on the floor space) and a circle cut into the air around you, using a ritual knife.

That’s more than enough content for most readers, and if you’ve made it this far congratulations on some real discipline. Future lessons will never be this long. Feel free to spend some time reviewing this material as it will be another three days before another course email arrives.

I still have more to say, however, for those who are still eager to learn and work some magic! CLICK HERE to check out the Supplemental Lesson: Magical Act #2!