Walking a path magical

What is it that drives the desire in you to become a magical person, whether that be through Wicca, Paganism, or any formalised religion?

Understanding this question is paramount to your success or failure in achieving excellence in your practice. Applying that understanding can be a long and tortuous route that at first seems to bear no fruit. But, just like a newly planted fruit tree, it takes time to develop the strength of character that will enable you to bear the fruit of your own desire.

In this discussion I am omitting the practices of the shaman, as this calling is very different originating, as it does, in the world of spirit and not the land of choice.

Paganism, animism and witchery have been with us since humans first developed the awareness of being aware. The moment we could ponder upon the situation we found ourselves in created a new dawn in defining our creation. Choice was ours. In the observation of our early ancestors much was seen that had no reference, indeed, there is a statement of magic which says ‘in the naming of something is both control and power’; and so it was that we named what we saw.

Those things that baffled us became gods, goddesses and their associated servants; spirits of wood, air, water and fire. Heed me well though, I am not saying these things are figments only of the mind and of ignorance; for in the soul of our ancestors was a connection and knowledge far deeper than we know today with our shrink wrapped lives. Human are fascinating in that they can happily disassociate themselves from what they truly are, and name themselves something else – human beings.

Remembering that names have power let us ask the primary question, human being what?

You, the core ‘self’, are not human; you are spirit and so let us name your condition correctly for you are spirit-being-human. Now we have the start of power over form. Understand that statement because the lack of understanding leads to the incorrect naming of events in your life. Here’s a simple example – ‘my spirit went astral travelling last night’. Sound right?

In the simple statement above we create a condition within the ego that says ‘I am not a spirit, I am a physical body with a spirit’; bad call! Denial of self is denial of the connection to All, and denial of All disconnects us from the stream of spirit that is our home. So we see the importance of ‘naming’ and understand the value of correctly identifying our viewpoint here as a spirit being human; then we can begin.

There are two major considerations in starting your journey, ego and archetypes; lets deal with archetypes first. An archetype is defined as the ‘first of something’ and as such it is the ‘power’ of a thing. Let us meander a little to find clarity.

The Ford model ‘T’ was not the first car, but it was the first production line car and came in black. Since then all production line cars are based upon it; generally a wheel at each corner, steering wheel and obnoxious internal combustion engines. Never really moved away from the archetype, and one can argue that the reason is functionality, but to be honest, that is a lame excuse at best.

Much of our world is as it was, and much is different; we create new archetypes every day now. Velcro, Teflon, spacecraft etc. The ‘pattern’ of each one goes into the collective mind and as a result you have a ‘library’ of archetypal patterns already existing in your head. One pattern for one thing, millions of them; some physical, some emotional, some spiritual and some that are just screwed up.

From birth you began naming things, and the first encounter with anything became your archetype of it, and it is unique to you. It is your power relation to that thing, rightly or wrongly, and it will determine your reaction for a long time. Example again please! OK.

Two children lie in the buggies in the park, moms are chatting. A blackbird comes and sits on the first child’s buggy and sings, the child is smiling. The blackbird then goes to the next child but startles it, which in turn causes the bird to panic. Now child #1 has an archetype that defines that bird as a sweet messenger perhaps; whilst child #2 see blackbirds as frightening. So years later, they both get some animal cards and they both pull blackbird; and that archetype will kick in subconsciously and affect their reading of the card. Understood?

So, whilst cards are great, the explanations that come with them are just someone’s view and may not be your archetypal experience of that thing. Guess who’s view is more important, yep, yours. So you have a library, a dictionary of your archetypes; and trust me, mom, dad, brother and all are in there.

As you progress through life you add to the dictionary like so –

mother (PARENT) noun [C] a female parent: My mother was 21 when she got married. All the mothers and fathers had been invited to the end-of-term concert. The little kittens and their mother were all curled up asleep in the same basket. [as form of address] FORMAL OR OLD-FASHIONED May I borrow your car, Mother?

mother verb [T] OFTEN DISAPPROVING to treat a person with great kindness and affection and to try to protect them from anything dangerous or difficult: Stop mothering her - she's 40 years old and can take care of herself.

That’s how your head is right now. The importance of archetypes is often overlooked in the practice of magic, and yet they form the very fabric of your power. Go and read Jung’s interpretation or anything by Joseph Cambell on archetypes and myth, for myth is the world of the archetype. We come now to ego, that great misunderstood being that resides in our human form and is seen as the dragon which must be slain. Nonsense, bah humbug, and other derisory comments!

The ego is your friend and foe, yes; but it is not your job to slay it, only to understand and tame it. Make it your friend and helper for the ego is part of the Logos, the trickster coyote that cannot be undone but can be out done. Humanity is, by nature, egocentric; we are driven by three basic needs – personal survival, food and procreation. Everything else is spirit.

The biggest battle you must take on is that of the ego, because it dominates why you choose to do what you do; and you can hide behind all sorts of wispy flim flam, it is still there. So you had better get to know it, understand its needs and desires and temper them to your spiritual growth or you will fall at the first hurdle of self aggrandisement.

You believe in your own self importance to the detriment of your spiritual well being. Don’t believe me; take a look around at the current market. The ego lets you fall, why? Because it only cares about three things and it wants them promoted above all else.

Having just realised how long this ‘note’ is going on for I should summarise.

Beginning your magical path requires planning and dedication, along with research and understanding that will lead to action and effect. Study what is necessary, the deep stuff of mind and how it is ‘made up’. Get to know your archetypes personally; it’s no good having a dolphin as a power animal if you’ve never spent time with one because you have no true archetype for it. Then go somewhere and play with your ego for a long while.

When you’ve done that you’re ready to begin the hard bit!

Hugs and blessings to you all! Harrison Kyng