Photo by Drew Geraets on Unsplash
I've been thinking a lot about where I want to go next with magic. When I wrote Magical Identity, I felt like it planted a seed for what I'll term experiential embodiment. But like any seed, some time was needed to let it germinate and flower.
But for the near to intermediate future I'm finished with pop culture magic and I find myself coming back to experiential embodiment, both in the form of the current book I'm writing, and in my magical experimentation in general.
What is experiential embodiment?
I feel that one of the greatest weaknesses of Western magical practice is that for all intents and purposes the body is taken for granted. It's an assumed reality that isn't fully factored in or worked with, and if anything seems to be avoided in favor of trying to achieve "spiritual" states of being.
Yet I've found that the purposeful inclusion of one's body into magic cannot only make your magic much more effective, but can also help with the embodiment of turning a possibility into a reality.
However experiential embodiment isn't just about your body and your relationship to it, but also your relationship to the physical environment around you, both temporally and spatially, and how you navigate those environments using your sensory awareness and your body. It's also about the cultivation of states of consciousness that use the senses to help you experience the states of consciousness.
At the same time, I also think of art, writing, and music as playing an intrinsic role in experiential embodiment, not so much in terms of expressing something to someone else, but rather through the act of expression, and the engagement of your body in that act of expression.
Over the years my magical work has steadily become more body and sensory focused as I've found that to be a rich environment through which to experience the world and universe but also your sense of identity and self awareness. We make ourselves into the axis mundi instead of just participating in it at a distance.
So where are you going next with your magical work?
Great question! Currently I'm working on the Alchemy of Life, which is a book specifically devoted to my work with the body as a magical universe in its own right. But I've also been doing a lot of work with sound and breath and the nature of movement and stillness with the body, so all of those things will play a role in the work to come.
But there's also things I want to do around space and time, design and art, writing and sensory experience. Really there's a lot to mine in experiential embodiment. So I'm pretty excited about this because its something I've put off for a while and I look forward to working on and developing this beyond what I've already shared.