Recently I shared a friend’s memetic flowchart about cursing and how to evaluate the effectiveness of that curse, based on the curser’s happiness, success, and whether or not they have their lives in order. I saw another friend share some thoughts which may or may not have been in response to the memetic flowchart. He essentially made the point that a person doesn’t have to have their lives in order or be happy and successful in order to practice effective magic and that using such metrics to assume the effectiveness of a person’s magic or lack thereof is faulty. He makes a good point and this leads me to ask an important question.
Is success and happiness (and for that matter having your life in order) integral to getting results in magic?
On the surface, the answer is an easy no. People can practice magic and get results and not have their lives together or be happy and successful. And these same people can curse other people. I should know because I’ve been cursed a few times by people that didn’t have their act together and aren’t happy or successful people in any sense of the word and for a short time the curses worked until I figured out what was going on and took appropriate action to remedy the situation.
But I’m going to give a more nuanced answer here, based on my own experiences. I want to be clear this isn’t a commentary on other peoples’ lives or magical practice per se, but simply an illustrative example of my own life and where happiness, success, and having my life together fits into my magical practice.
The proof of your success
The proof of your success is found in your daily choice to live by your principles and live on your schedule. Your principles are your values and beliefs, and you choice to follow them may not always get approval from others, but should always get approval from yourself.
Living on your own schedule doesn't mean you don't work at a job. It means you're choosing to live life on your terms, right up to and including how you choose to make a living.
Achieving success involves takes risks to gain what you value. But they should always be calculated risks, ones thought over, and planned out.
Don't compromise what you believe or or how you live your life because of someone else's self-righteous judgment. Your only judge is yourself, and the standards you set yourself.
Taking responsibility for your actions means you choose to change because you recognize the value in changing. Apologizing for a choice isn't enough; You need to follow through and make changes for what you genuinely feel remorse for.