Book of Shadows

Magical Theory

"Imagination is the fuel of magic." -Joshua Khan, Dream Magic.

Magic works by setting a powerful intention and projecting it out into the universe with enough force that it manifests. I know that's a lot to comprehend, but I'll try to break it down — intention + willpower + [divine power] = manifested result.

You want to know a big secret? You don't actually need any tools to do magic. You don't need wands or cauldrons or stones. You don't need chalices or statues or magic bags. You definitely don't need incantations. It's fun to have all those things, and they certainly make magic easier, but you don't really need them. Magic is based on intention. It's not the words and gestures that make the magic happen, it's you and your desire. Your tools just help set the intention more strongly. This is true in most fiction, too, which is why magical powers in fiction typically get stronger if they have an emotional drive behind it. To do magic, you need to pour your intent and desire into whatever your target is. If you start treating spells like following a recipe, or read incantations like you're reciting lines, you're not going to do very much. This is also why spells won't work if you expect them not to. That sends a conflicting message-- do you want it to work, or not to? The less you doubt yourself and the more confident you become, the better! (Easier said than done. Still working on it myself.)

You want to be luckier? Hold a good-luck charm of your choice to your chest and say, Everything goes well for me. (I tend to phrase spells in future tense out of habit, but it's better to use present tense because it's even more effective if you act like you already have what you want.) Say it like you mean it. Attach your intention to be luckier to the charm that you hold. You don't technically need the luck charm, but it's much easier to attach the intention to something physical then to leave it floating out in the Astral world somewhere. Then, put the charm someplace safe where you can forget about it until the spell does its work. You can put it under your pillow, in a magic box, or carry it around with you for a few days. You have to eventually forget about the spell, so you can let it do its work without continuing to influence it. (Note that spells still work within parameters. If you wish for money, you probably won't win the lottery or have a million dollars show up at your doorstep. However, you might get a job offer, or some other opportunity that can provide you with the money you need, and when you see the opportunity, take it!)

Why does this work? To use a simple analogy, imagine that you go into a test at school and you are convinced that you will fail it. You don't understand the material, you haven't done well with it previously, and you definitely don't expect it to turn out too well. One response to that might be, "Not with that attitude." If you go into something with the assumption that you will fail, then you've essentially doomed yourself. You create a self-fulfilling prophecy. If, however, you go into the test with the expectation that you will succeed, you may find that you at least do better than you thought you were going to. If you go into most of your endeavors in life with the expectation that you will succeed, you may find success around every corner, just from having changed your mindset. That's a well-known mental trick. It's right up there with "if you smile more, you'll be happier" or the "growth mindset" philosophy. Making subtle changes to our psychological outlook can change a lot about our lives.

My first rule of magic: See what's there, not what you think is there. This is a simple way of explaining a kind of complicated idea. The truth is, most of reality is based on our perceptions of the world around us, and our perceptions are based around our preconceived notions about ourselves and about what the world is "supposed" to be like. Magic is this same kind of idea, but on a much grander scale. If you perceive that your life is going well, it will! By molding your perceptions, we will be able to mold your reality. That's easier said than done, of course, but I'm constantly learning more and more about how to do that. The first thing to do (and possibly the hardest) is to recognize the difference between perception and reality. If you tell yourself, this test will go horribly, then you're setting yourself up for failure because you went into the test believing you would do poorly. I'm not a naturally optimistic person, so I really struggle with this. The next step, and the magical part, is to actively decide that the test will go well and set the intention to do well. Just shifting your perception does a lot. Actively deciding to get the outcome you desire is the magic part.