A Wealth Magic Myth

I'm reading Draja Mickaharic's A Spiritual Worker's Spellbook. He offers an interesting explanation called the sphere of availability:

This principle relates directly to the amount of economic support that the universe is willing to provide any particular individual at any given time in their life. The sphere of availability for each person is variable, in that it may either expand or contract by the thoughts, actions, and beliefs of the person themselves. The more sincerely grateful that a person is, and the more truly charitable they are, the greater this sphere of availability becomes. On the other hand, the more greedy that a person is for material things, and the more they turn from properly relating to their fellow man in a charitable way, the more their sphere of availability contracts.

He goes onto argue that anonymously giving out small sums is more spiritually productive than giving out large sums to charities. It's a nice sentiment, but I'm not convinced of it, much as I'm not convinced of the new age law of attraction, which is a similar derivative of what's mentioned above. Speaking as a business owner I can say that the majority of people I've met who are financially successful are very focused on making money. They have developed a relationship to money that makes them very comfortable with asking for what they feel is their due. At the same time, I can't say that these people are charitable in the way Draja suggests a person should be. They are willing to make donations to charitable causes, partially because they believe in the charitable cause and partially because they know they can get a tax deduction and being financially aware entrepreneurs they plan accordingly. Anonymous donations aren't really what they do, and they'd likely argue that however spiritually productive it might be to donate the way Draja does, it wouldn't be as beneficial in their minds to society or to themselves.

The majority of magicians I know aren't wealthy. Most of them don't care to be wealthy and that's fine, but if you are serious about being wealthy you've got to be willing to devote time to learning about money and wealth and this includes learning how money works in the system it exists in. Money, in and of itself isn't bad and neither is learning how money works. I tend to think of concepts such as the sphere of availability and law of attraction as wishful thinking for the most part. It's nice to wishfully think of what it would feel like if you had more money, but if you aren't willing to earn it or work the system you are in, that wishful thinking won't get you far.

Of course it is important to be aware of your attitude about money. The truth is that people are adept at sabotaging themselves with limiting beliefs about money. And working on those limiting beliefs can be very helpful because it allows you to approach your relationship with money with a perspective that is unburdened by limiting beliefs learned from your family and environment, or at least to be aware of those beliefs. But truly working with money on a practical and/or spiritual level involves understanding how money works, the way it moves and prefers to move, as well as how people who are successful with money work with it and use it.

Draja's principle of the sphere of availability is an interesting principle and he rightly notes that people who have an entitled perspective that money should just come to them won't get very far, and will in fact find themselves in hard circumstances fairly quickly, but giving all your money away anonymously doesn't suddenly make you more receptive to money. Donating it to a charitable cause allows you to take a deduction, while working the system that money operates in. And I'd argue that there is spiritual productivity in choosing a charity and making a donation to support a cause you genuinely believe in. You are helping to advance that cause by giving of your own efforts to support it. Granted there are people who choose to donate money mainly for the tax break, and in that case, I think it isn't spiritually productive, but the majority of people who choose to donate are likely doing it because they genuinely believe in the cause they are supporting. They know they'll get a tax deduction, but the deduction isn't the motivating factor. The motivating factor is to contribute something of their effort to a cause that is believed in, while letting their money move, which is ultimately what money as a force prefers.

Excitatory Actions and Magic

Excitatory actions are the second basic type of action that a magician can use to induce an altered state of mind. Excitatory actions involve hyperstimulating yourself through activity. A runner's high is an example of an excitatory action. The adrenalin caused by the running helps to stimulate euphoric state for the runner, which in turn can allow him/her to ignore more pain and tiredness. The benefit of doing excitatory actions is that they can help you achieve an altered state of mind in a relatively quick and easy fashion. However, it's also worth noting that some excitatory activities don't leave you with as much control. For some people that can be preferable, but it also has its own dangers. Below are some examples of Excitatory Actions: Running, Weight Lifting, & other Exercises: I mentioned the example of the runner's high earlier, but you can also experience such a high with other exercises. Exercising long enough will push the person into an altered state of mind that can be used to focus on a magical activity. I used to do a series of exercises that I would use for my daily practice, to help me exercise my body, while also using the exercise as a purging/purification from whatever issues I was dealing with at the time. It was definitely effective in both regards.

Dancing: Dancing, especially combined with some kind of repetitive, rhythmic music can be used to induce an altered state of mind. I've also witnessed cases where a person would wear an animal skin and do a dance to the animal in order to create a trance state where she connected with the animal spirit. Dancing is particularly effective as a way to invoke the spirit, allowing it to possess your body and move it through dance. A person can just let themselves go in the movement and then invoke the spirit to allow it to take over.

Entheogens: Entheogens are foreign substances used for the purpose of inducing an altered state of conscious. Alcohol is an entheogen as are drugs, both legal and illegal. While these substances definitely work, it's worthwhile to be cautious in employing them, both in terms of avoiding addiction and also avoiding overreliance on them for achieving altered states of consciousness. If you are going to use them, make sure you have someone on hand who can watch over you and keep notes.

Video Games: I include video games, because of the sensory stimulation, and also because played long enough they can cause altered states of consciousness. I've used video games for sigil work and know of one case where a person used a game to help him coordinate his physical exercise. He created a character that represented him and used that character to model the changes he wanted to accomplish with his exercise. It seemed to work rather well. Video games can be addictive, so it's important to employ some caution in utilizing them for magical work. There are cases, particularly in South Korea, where people have killed themselves because they focused on playing games to the exclusion of anything else.

Yoga, Tai Chi, etc: Yoga, Tai Chi, and related activities uses specific postures and motions to achieve an altered state of consciousness. Some movement is slow, some fast, all of it is used to create a hyper aware state of the movement. Moving meditation is an example of a hyper aware state. The focus is on doing the movements and using them to meditate in the process. This kind of movement is different from dancing, because the movement is far more controlled and focused. Moving meditation can be quite useful for both internal and external magical work. The movements can be thought of as aligning the magician with a particular goal or purpose, with each movement directing the magician toward that goal. The focus on movement is ideal for also focusing on the goal, and incorporating the purposeful movement into the achievement of the goal is useful because the movements condition the magician to pursue actions that will bring the goal about. Doing the moving meditation every day conditions the mind and body of the magician to achieve the goals s/he invests into the movements.

BDSM: BDSM involves using pain, either physical or emotional, to create an altered state of mind. It can also involve using sensuality and arousal for the same purposes. For some people a need to submit or dominate will also be part of what puts them into an altered state of mind. In BDSM, you can encounter cases where some use of sensory deprivation is involved, but it's usually done for the purposes of enhancing other senses. The end goal is to create an altered state, which along with the ritualistic aspects of BDSM, makes it ideal for magical workings.

Sex: Sex has been used for magical purposes for a long time. Tantra and Taoism include sexual practices that can be used for magical purposes, and Western magical traditions also have sex magic practices. Whether a person is masturbating or is have sex with a partner or partners, sex can be used as an excitatory action. It does take some discipline and focused will to effectively use sex for magical purposes, and many people who think they are doing sex magic usually aren't, especially if they end up focusing on the pleasure to the exclusion of the specific purpose they are supposed to be focused on.

Excitatory actions are useful for achieving an altered state of consciousness quickly. A person can get caught up in the feeling and sensations and use that to put them into the proper mental space to pursue magical work. But the magician shouldn't focus solely on using these types of activities. A good balance of inhibitory and excitatory actions is wise to cultivate. I've known people who tend to rely exclusively on excitatory actions for their magical work, and what I've found is they tend to be more strung out and find it hard to do meaningful internal work. That said, excitatory actions are especially useful for doing magical work that is focused on the world around the magician. Since such actions already involve raising energy, the magician can easily direct that raised energy toward the specific problem or goal that s/he is using magic to achieve. As I mentioned above with moving meditation, the magician can imprint on him/herself specific goals s/he wants to achieve by using excitatory actions. The actions will reinforce what the magician wants to achieve by fully conditioning both the body and mind to seek to achieve those goals.

Anything I missed? What would you include or add to this information?

Book Review: Practice of Magic (Affiliate Link) by Draja Mickaharic

This is an excellent book for both beginners and advanced practitioners. I was impressed by the clarity of thought and focus, as well as the author's definition of magic. I was also impressed by his willingness to critique Crowley's thoughts and ideas, which is always refreshing to see. The author also provides some useful exercises that can help the magician enhance his/her own practice. What is most evident from reading this book is that the author has done the work.

5 out of 5

Radio show and book review

On Sunday at 4:30pm PST - 7:30 EST, I'll be doing the sex magic radio show with a guest co-host. We'll be discussing the practical aspects of sex magic, but also examining the balance between pleasure and practicality. Review of Spiritual Cleansing by Draja Mickaharic

This book isn't explicitly for the magical practitioner, so much as its for a lay person, but nonetheless I was impressed by the thorough attention to detail and focus that the author provided. The author covered a variety of techniques and its fair to say that even experienced magicians could get a lot out of this book. What I liked the most was that it was very easy to follow the instructions provided. I'd recommend this book to any practitioner as a resource guide for magical and psychic cleansing techniques.

5 out of 5

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Update on experimental work

I've been continuing to integrate Laban into my morning daily moving meditation. The body movements take up the focus of the thoughts, and a rhythm is created, out of time, out of the tightly monitored world, into a place where all that matters is the rhythm of movement and the stretching of the body. My spatial and kinesthetic awareness of my body and how it moves has changed in what I would consider to be subtle ways. There's more awareness of my core and how each movement comes from the core than there was before. The benefit, beyond feeling healthier, is a sense of being more in touch with my body, and more able to connect with it for that deeper meditative work. I've also been continuing to work with the time strand editing technique, using it edit different connections to places, people, and situations and I'm seeing some changes in that direction, with the connections I have. I haven't applied it as much as I could to business interactions, but I will give it a try and see what happens.

Review of Magical Techniques by Draja Mickaharic

I just discovered this author's works recently and already I'm impressed by the depth and breadth of his writing as well as his attention to detail. Magical Techniques provides information on lesser known magical practices and tools that can be used by the magician to aid and enhance his/her workings. From his chapter on how to make chalk, to how to use feathers, to magic with orgone accumulators, there's something for everyone. He also provides some good anecdotes, both his own and of other people and how they used the different tools he discussed. This book is a definite must for the practical magician.

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5 out of 5