Making an offering

When I was eighteen I made an offering to the elemental spirits and every so often I make offerings to different spirits I work with. Sometimes the offering is an exchange of one service for another, but sometimes its just to make an offering, with no strings attached. The reason I make the offerings is to show respect, but it's also sometimes a release of attachment. An offering gives you a chance to give something that has meaning, but also release you from that meaning. The other day I took my old wedding ring and the handfasting cord off the wall and decided to make an offering to the elemental spirits. I no longer felt a sentimental attachment to either object and I realized I needed to let go of them, to let go of whatever lingering emotions there were that were attached to the objects in question. I took a walk with both objects and found a place where I could make my offering to the elements...and I made it.

The release was palpable, as was the response, a surge of energy that shot up my body after the offering was made. A sure sign of approval as any, and also a release for me. They accepted the two objects, accepted the meaning associated with them, and accepted the value of the release of those objects for me.

Weather magic on a dial

When Kat and I were driving back from Bend recently we both focused on doing a bit of weather magic to help us get through Mt. Hood before the weather got cold enough to turn rain into sleet or snow, and wet roads into ice. I made an observation to Kat that it'd be interesting to attach an association link to the cool/heat dial for your car's air conditioning/heating. When you adjusted the dial, you'd metaphysically adjust the weather as well. By creating an association with the dial, you'd also automate part of the process involved in doing weather magic. It was, as I mentioned, an observation, but its those kind of observations that come to me that lead to some kind of experimentation to see if the observation can be implemented into a practical magical working. I'd note that such a dial could not "control" weather per se, but rather would be used to work with specific weather possibilities, such as strengthening the possibility that the weather would stay at a specific temperature or increasing the possibility of rain (or decreasing). Weather magic, much as with magic in general, is all about working with possibilities and influencing the outcome that a specific possibility will become an actual reality.

Book reviews

The Octavo (affiliate link) by Peter Carroll

Reading the Octavo is kind of a rehash of some of Peter Carroll's other ideas, but at the same time is a clear extension of where he has developed those ideas to a level of sophistication that mathematically proves his points. The Octavo isn't an easy read, and I recommend doing some research into the technical jargon that Carroll uses, but underneath the jargon the reader will find a concise explanation of specific magical concepts and how those magical concepts fit into our particular universe. It's worth a read, especially for the magician who is focused on practical magical work.

Four out of five.

Letting Go

Kat and I came back from Pantheacon to one of our cats dying. It's certainly not the homecoming experience we expected to have, and we've been grieving as we've also been getting him ready for his next journey. Something we've both said to him is that it's ok for him to move on. And we both mean it, because we don't want him to suffer. But we also still feel attachment (quite naturally) and so we're also in this process of letting go of him. We don't want to let go of our memories of him, but we want to honor his passage and need to transition. So letting go for us is recognizing that need to let him move on and honor that passage without clinging to him and making him stay longer just because of us.

I've been doing some meditation and breath work on this as I've been letting go of my attachments to Caspian. I'll admit that I've only known him for 8 months, since we first moved him up here, but in that time I've come to love him and consider him one of my furkids. Letting go has involved releasing that energetic connection to him, in part to give him some healing energy to aide in his passing, and in part to give myself closure to his place in my life. With each breath I've allowed myself to grieve and to release, To honor and to know.

In magical work it is urged that a person doesn't become attached to their results. This is wisely done, because when we get attached, we can become obsessive about what we desire. Learning to let go can mean that you also let go of your need to have control and recognize that it can be just as powerful to step back.

I'm letting go of Caspian but I'm not forgetting him or his significance to my life. He'll always be one of my cats, no matter where he goes...just as I'll always be one of his humans. But by letting go of him in this moment, I can help him pass with peace.

What information do you draw on for your magical work?

I recently posted a couple of comments on invocation via Twitter and what I do to do a successful invocation. Someone else responded and mentioned how using Astrological information can be useful. I agree it can be useful, but I also admitted that I never used that information in my workings. Some people will use astrological and planetary information because that's part of what they need for doing magic. And other people will draw on other information. When I do an invocation, I don't always stick with traditional entities. I look for an emotional connection, a feeling of resonance, and attributes and characteristics that I can imitate and adopt. I suppose in some ways that my approach is derived more from observation and a desire to fit what I perceive is the mental and physical state of what I'm going to invoke. I've always found this information to be highly useful and effective for my workings.

The information you draw on for your magical work needs to be information that you understand and resonate with. I don't know a lot about astrology, so drawing on that information wouldn't work, unless I spent some time learning about it and integrating that information into how I do magic. On the other hand, I'm an avid student of human behavior and pop culture and find it easy to work with that information in my magical work.

The ability to personalize your magical workings is essential for really getting the most out of magical practice. This means that while you do make time to learn how others have approached magic, in order to develop a sound foundation, you also experiment with integrating other interests into your magical work, to make it more effective for you.

Book Review: Rebel Buddha (affiliate link) by Dzogchen Ponlop

Rebel Buddha is a guide to finding Buddha within you, as well as exploring the concept of the Rebel Buddha, which is the voice of your waking self reaching out to challenge you. The essays in this book explore Buddhism from a philosophical/lifestyle approach as opposed to a religious approach. I found that I really got a lot out of such an approach, because the author doesn't use a lot of esoteric language. He strips Buddhism down to its core, and in the process asks the reader to do the same with him/herself. This is a book you'll read multiple times and you'll get something new out of it each time.

Bune Business advice

I'm starting a new business that focuses on applying internal work to dissolve blockages in a person's life so s/he can discover his/her true potential. That's the gist anyway. If you want to learn more visit the Inner Alchemy website, follow me on Twitter or Fan my new business on Facebook. I'm mentioning this on here, because while internal work is a passion of mine and something I consider an important part of magical work, I want to focus my posts on here on other aspects of magical work, while using the new website to focus exclusively on internal work.

But there's another reason I'm mentioning it as well. I believe in following one's own passion. It's what you feel passionate about that really makes you live your life as opposed to just letting it pass you by. In October I did a working with Bune and the focus of my working with him was to inspire in how I could bring in more business. I've actually done well this year with my core business. I doubled the amount of business, which is really good, but Bune focused my attention on the internal work and asked me why I wasn't doing anything with those skills. It was a tough and good question to ask.

When you bring in outside consultants (in this case the goetic demon Bune) the reason you do it is for their perspective, which will look at what you're doing with fresh eyes and lots of questions. My working with Bune didn't automatically bring me new business to my existing business (though I did actually get a couple new clients in Nov and Dec), but he did inspire me to look at what my other passions are and asked how I could use them to bring more business. The result is a class on magic, which is starting tomorrow (there's still time to enroll and I offer payment plans) and this new business I'm starting.

I have no doubt as I continue to work with Bune and follow through on his suggestions that he'll offer additional advice. It'll be up to me if I follow it, but my working with him illustrates something I've realized again and again about magic: "You always get what you need, even if you don't always get what you want." I'll admit, I had different ideas as to how Bune would help me, and yet with how matters turned out, I can honestly say I'm much more pleased with the results and looking forward to seeing what the new year will bring.

Happy new year and magical blessings to you.

Magic and Causality

Magic involves taking a possibility and increasing the chances that it will become a reality. There are different processes for making this act occur, but it all boils down to turning possibility into reality. However, for a possibility to become reality, a person has to also already be doing something to realize that possibility. For example, two people I know were doing job hunting. They utilized magic as part of their job hunting effort, but realized that they needed to actually be doing job hunting to make their magical work effective. In one case, the person creating a job hunting entity that would help her network and get interviews for a specific type of job with a specific income range. She was already doing job hunting for this type of job (and had been for four months), but shortly after she created the entity, she landed her first interview. Although she didn't land that job, shortly after she landed a position that allowed her to network with people that would be her potential superiors if another position opened up. Approximately six weeks after the creation of the entity, another similar position opened up and she was interviewed and got the job. Was the magical acts alone responsible for her getting the job? No...but magic increased the possibility that she would get the job she was looking for.

In the second case, another person was also looking for a job due to being notified that he would be laid off. He did a working to Bune,  who gave him advice that essentially told him to get his life, in general, in order. In turn Bune would provide him the job he wanted. This person took Bune's advice and got his life in order both at home and at work, consequently showing his employer why they needed to keep him on. A couple of weeks after the working, He was told that his current employer had decided to keep him on and they would provide him the training he needed. Was the magical act alone responsible for him getting a job? No, but it did motivate him to take some necessary actions and seemed to push a situation more into his favor.

The causal aspects of magic focus on influence...It's like rolling dice, but the difference is the magic weighs the dice in order to improve the manifestation of specific possibilities into reality. That's one way to look at it anyway, but I also think there's something to be said for recognizing how much a person's perspective or belief about a particular situation influences his/her awareness of opportunity in that situation. Magic, if nothing else, is a process for opening a person's perspective and allowing him/her to see and utilize opportunities that s/he was otherwise ignoring.

In different situations in my life, the application of magic has helped bring about specific results that I wanted to obtain. Whether those same results would've occurred without utilizing magic is a moot point, because what I have always found is that when I've utilized magic, the results occurred shortly thereafter, which indicates a causal relationship. Whet6her it's all in my head, or a very real force, the fact that I can obtain results consistently speaks to the efficacy of magic and its role in my life.

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.

Karmic Traces and Dream Work

I've been continuing to do the Tibetan Dream Yoga each night and I've found that I've been more aware of my dreams as a result. In the book I read on Tibetan Dream Yoga the author talked about karmic traces, which are essentially patterns, behaviors, attachments, etc. The karmic traces are something we all have and they show up in our reactions and they also show up in our dreams. The dreams I've been having have been ones where I've been aware I'm dreaming. But what I've also been aware of is he karmic traces that have shown up in my dreams. I've had dreams about prior relationships, or occurrences that happened during the day and throughout the dream I've been aware of how what's really being shown to me is the karmic traces, the attachments to certain outcomes and behaviors. And when I awake with this insight, it's lead to deeper internal work that's helped me continue to dissolve and release the karmic traces.

Consistently doing these practices leads to greater awareness of how you can continue to imprint these karmic traces in your dreams, as well as how your dreams can be used to help you resolve and work through them. In each dream, I've been able to see in the dream how my role in a situation has been sustaining karmic traces in my life. This awareness is helping me to target my internal work so that I can continue to dissolve the karmic traces and change my identity in the process. It is a very freeing process.

What magic's about

I'm working on chapter 5 of the new book today, which deals with neurotransmitters, and neuro-physiology, and how the magician can work with neurotransmitters, cells, etc., in order to induce change in the magician's identity. I recall once a conversation I had at a campfire when I was speaking at Gathering of the Tribes about DNA, cells, and magic. One of the people said that he thought I was making mountains out of molehills, but as I've continued to explore the connection between neuro-chemistry, magic, and now identity, I find that it has opened entirely new vistas to consider, and also a healthier relationship with my body. As we continue to learn more in general about the universe, it behooves us to take that information and apply it meaningfully to our lives. To me, applying it to magical work makes perfect sense, because with magic we can not only learn the information, but actually interact with it, and that's what magic is about.

I know I've written about that before in my blog, but I think its such an important principle of magic: interaction. And I don't think you can really know anything until you've applied it to your life and interacted with it meaningfully. So for me, really understanding neurotransmitters and neuroscience hasn't involved just reading about it, but has involved exploring the soundness of the information via magic.

Don't ever let anyone discourage you from being curious about exploring something you've learned. Over the years I've practiced, I've had a number of people try to discourage me, telling my ideas were fluffy, or that I was overthinking it, or any number of other things. If I had listened to those people I don't think I would've written any of my books or had as many of the experiences I've had. Many people will try to tell you how to do magic, how to live life, and all kinds of other, often unsolicited, advice. Don't listen to them or let them stop you from trying something new, with or without magic. We learn best by experience.

Magic, as a process, and a way of applying information to life, provides each person the opportunity to genuinely learn and explore their own place in the universe. That's the single most important lesson I've learned about magic. So go out and learn and experience and be curious with your magical practice and with your life in general. Make mountains out of molehills, because what you might discover is something other people will overlook in their haste to go where others have already gone.

Magic and the Scientific Method

I was recently asked on Twitter the following question: Can magickal ritual stand up to scrutiny of scientific method? My response was: Not unless science accepts that magic is a subjective experience.

Let's unpack that statement. In my opinion, and from reading a variety of books, it seems that some magicians try to scientifically "prove" the existence of magic, Goetic demons etc., or if they are disillusioned by trying to be a magician, give it up and argue it doesn't exist, or its all in our heads.

While I certainly appreciate that science can offer some criticisms and even principles about magic, I would argue that magic as practice and process isn't as straightforward as science is. People customize magical practices a lot. Certainly I've done that, in part because I've found that sticking with what others have done hasn't worked for me as well as it might for them. I've found that I've been able to achieve consistent results that tell me magic is real, and other people who've tried my  processes have also achieved results. Nonetheless, I've also noted that when those same people customize the process to fit their own understanding of the universe, it seems to be more efficacious, and my thought on that is that what makes magic what it is, has less to do with replicating an overt process, and more to do with understanding the process from an internal perspective. In other words, it's not so much about objective, as it is about subjectivity, and more specifically the subject's relationship with him/herself, others, and the universe at large.

Whereas with science the idea seems to be that you follow a set process in order to replicate results, and if you deviate from that process, it's no longer considered to be science. This isn't to say that some degree of customization and creativity doesn't occur in science, but even when it does, its rigorously tested by many people, doing the same process in order to determine the validity of said process.

It could be argued that ritual provides the same kind of rigor, or that the variety of books written with spells and techniques demonstrates processes that if followed show the "science" of magic. The problem however is that what people look for in this kind of situation is irrefutable, objective proof. So if I do an evocation of a Goetic Demon, but no one sees it, people will argue its not real, that there is no objective proof to demonstrate it's existence. Yet, I don't know that such a criteria really applies to beings that very may well have objective existence, albeit in a different dimension. And more importantly, if we are looking for proof, then the results speak more tangibly than anything else to the efficacy of the process.

In my own work with entities and with magic in general what I've found to be so compelling about magic and why I continue to practice it is that it doesn't just solve some problems or generate results. It provides me an explanation of the universe, my place in it, and how I can utilize magic to make changes to that agreement. And in that sense, what makes it work isn't just a process but a choice, my choice, to believe...

Not very objective and scientific perhaps, but given how often magic has worked in my life, my belief in it works for me, and my understanding of the processes used also works. And I think that's more important than trying to prove it to everyone else.

Update on Bune Working

I'd posted a little while back about a group working with Bune, a Goetic demon. Since working with Bune, it's been interesting to note results that have been achieved. My friend Bill ended up staying hired at his current job, while my partner Kat landed a full time position with a job she wanted. I've been finding inspiration in a new business direction, one that I think will be more authentic for me, while one of the other participants has also been exploring starting a business and finding some creative direction in it, after the working. There are many people I know who've practiced magic in the past and then stopped, disillusioned because they didn't get some kind of result they wanted, but I often wonder how much of that is a reflection on them as opposed to the magic or whatever they were working with. In working with Bune, clear expectations of what actions we needed to take were expressed in order to solicit his help. Not following through on those actions would show our unwillingness to take on any other steps that were more practically oriented toward manifesting our collective desires.

I'm reminded of a saying: "God helps those who helps themselves" Which I translate to this: Declare your intention to the universe and then start making it happen, so that the universe can align your declaration with your actions. Seems pretty simple, but I think some people conceive of magic as a kind of cure-all technology. I'll do the magic and that alone will be enough. But Magic doesn't really work that way. It's a way to communicate with the universe at large, or rather with your place in the universe at large, but communication is just one step of the process for making changes. The mundane actions we undertake are a confirmation of our own willingness to follow through.

In working with Bune, I'm struck also by the simple reality that what makes my work with him so real isn't a physical manifestation of him appearing in all of his glory, but rather a profound recognition that what makes my work with him or any other entity so powerful is my CHOICE to believe in those entities and allow for their objective existence. And my proof is found in working my process and in the results that occur as a result of following through in actions and in belief.

Dream Yoga work

I've recently been integrating into my dream work, dream yoga techniques from Tibetan Buddhism. What I've mainly done for the moment is breathing techniques that you do right before you go to sleep. I like to integrate steps of a new practice gradually. Kat's also doing this practice. Even though we've just started with this first step, we've already noticed that we've been sleeping a lot deeper and that the sleep is more restful.I've also noticed better dream recall and more awareness of the dream. I'll post further reports as I continue to integrate more steps in, but it always fascinates me to see how even doing one step of a process can produce changes, provided you're consistent about doing it. I think that consistency is what makes anything you do effective. You can be a really powerful magician, but if you don't exercise the magical muscle, it won't mean as much as the person who diligently practices and follows through.

Book Review: The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

This book provides what I would consider to be the best practices of lucid dreaming and dream practice. The author doesn't focus on the psychology of dreams, though he does provide some insights on what dreams can reveal about issues you're working on. Instead the focus of this book is on how the techniques can be used to help you release attachment to those issues and achieve a state of connection with the universe, without being drawn back to samsaric existence. It's a very good book to read, but an even better one to do the practices. I've started doing them and already noticed some positive results. I'd recommend this book for anyone interested in learning more about Dzogchen and for anyone who wants to use dream yoga for spiritual and physical well being. You can purchase it at Amazon (Affiliate link) or Powells (Affiliate link)

Arginine and Testosterone - Taylor's Report

Arginine showed up as a red skinned person. I got a symbol of two V's connected by lines. He told me was useful for helping with the circulation of blood and reducing stress, especially for circulation for the internal organs. I've worked with Arginine before, a few years ago, and I did find it useful for lowering stress and developing better circulation. Testosterone showed up as a brash noble, the symbol was a sword (how phallic). The sensation of working with testosterone was centered in the testes and there was a sensation of libido rising as well as the feeling of "maleness" for lack of better word.

Experimental Magic Course

I've been teaching magic to different people for a while now. And I've written some books on magic as well that has touched other people in a meaningful way. It's something I enjoy doing quite a lot. For a while, I've noticed that there are some authors who are really good at not only teaching classes, but also charging for them. And I not only think that's perfectly acceptable, I also think that I'd like to be able to offer my own expertise on magic to people who are interested in taking a class. Thus I've come up with the Experimental Magic Course. It's a year long course you can take from the comfort of your own home. The focus of the course is teaching people a practical process-oriented approach to magic that gets meaningful results in your life. We will not only draw on different magical systems, but also on disciplines outside of magic including social sciences and rhetoric, to name just a couple.

The cost of the course is $200, which comes out to less than $4 per lesson. That price won't stay the same, but I'm charging that amount because this will be the first year I teach the course, and I'll want to iron out the bugs.

Of course this class will also focus on experimentation, specifically teaching participants how to experiment with magic so they can develop their own customized systems of practice. So if you're interested in taking a year long class with me, consider my Experimental Magic Course.

The problem with esoteric terminology

So often one of the problems I notice within occult culture is a tendency to couch problems and situations and everything else into esoteric terminology, as if by doing so, it will somehow make everything seem more cool. As you can probably guess, I'm not a fan of using obscure terminology needlessly. Back in my tech writer days, I found that if you wanted to practically explain how to use a product or technology or program, you had to use language that everyone could understand. You rarely used obscure terminology unless you really needed to. To apply this to magic, I find that relying on esoteric language often just confuses the issue. Sure you can use elemental or different types of energies to handle a situation, but really what does that mean? Don't get me wrong, I work with elemental energies, entities, etc., but at some point I've got to be able to translate all of that to how I live my life and how it effects my life, and doing that usually involves moving away from the esoteric language to the everyday language. For example, instead of coming up with some made up term to describe internal work, I just use the phrase internal work. If people don't get what you are trying to explain, it's probably because you're too invested in using language they could care less about. And how we use language is a magical act sometimes, so if we acknowledge that, it's wise to use language that is going to have the most significant effect on the target audience we want to reach. This applies as much to yourself as it applies to other people, because you are always your audience.

Purification as a magical process

I've been sick recently, which has provided an interesting opportunity to recognize how sickness can be a purifying process for the body. When I think about that and then purification as a magical process, I come up with the following video:

Mind mapping and magic

One of the creative techniques I've appropriated for magical work is mind mapping. If you're not familiar with mind mapping, it involves creating a central idea and then drawing lines to related bubbles with information. It's a useful technique for organizing information and also helping you see where the information fits into your process. One of the resources I've drawn on for mind-mapping is Unstuck Focused and Organized with Mind Mapping (Affiliate link), which is a book that shows you how to keep mind mapping uncomplicated, while also helping you organize it. There also some audio files included where the author interviews successful business people who've used it for their businesses. While mindmapping can be used for business, it can also be used for magical purposes. For example, if you're putting together a ritual, you can use mind mapping to outline the elements of the ritual, assign roles, and organize the process of the ritual. Likewise if you're developing a magical process or technique mind-mapping can be used to discover weak areas in the process you're developing, or it can be used to discover further areas for experimentation.

My spider web sigil technique is partially based off of mind mapping, and I've found it useful for mapping out my life and the people, places, etc., of influence that effect what I'm doing. Mind-mapping in general is just a useful technique for looking at the world, your profession, life, spirituality, etc., in a different way.

Phenylalanine and Epinephrine - Taylor's Report

Phenylalanine: Appeared as an Emperor. He explained that he provides information and instructions to other neurotransmitters. He's one of the more common NT's and can cross the blood-brain barrier. He showed me a network and his role in that network was that of an overseer of sorts. Epinephrine otherwise known as Adrenaline appeared as a yellow cloud with flashing eyes. He explained how he stimulated the body, and how pain and other sensations could activate him and help him activate the body to handle whatever needed to be experienced.

My partner Kat also had some intriguing experiences. She's going to start posting on here as well.

Book Review: Sorcerer's Stone by Dennis Hauck

This is an excellent beginner primer to Western Alchemy and its tenets. The author does a good job of presenting and explaining the symbolism of Western Alchemy, and the relationship of the planetary and elemental energies to alchemy. More importantly, he emphasizes the importance of doing internal work and explains how Western Alchemy can be used for internal work. This is an excellent starter book for anyone who wants to learn about the fundamental basics of alchemy.

You can order the book on Amazon (Affiliate link) or on Powells (affiliate link)

Pattern Recognition and magic in your life

For my birthday, my partner Kat got me this game called Attika. It's a game where you try to build a city from one temple to another temple or just try to build the entire city. You also have "neighbors" trying to build their cities. And what's most interesting is that to get extra turns you have to build the city in the right order. For that matter to get free buildings, building in order is encouraged. It's a fun and challenging game, because it involves looking at the environment you are building in, and recognizing the patterns, spatially, and resource wise that will allow you to successfully build a city. When I think about it, this game describes a lot of how I approach magic now. To me, successful magic is a process, and a form of pattern recognition. Where, why, when, how, what I will do the magic for all fits into the larger pattern of living my life. Just doing magic to get someone or get money or solve some temporary problem is thinking small, too small really, if you can't recognize where that activity fits into the larger pattern of your life, and into the habits you exhibit and/or want to change. What does it mean to put magic into getting a job in the greater pattern of your life. Don't get me wrong, getting a job can be important for survival needs, but when we do a magical act, if we focus only on the short term or basic needs, what else are we missing out on in the pattern of our lives?

When I talk about magic as a process, I'm also talking about how magic takes one's internal reality and translates into the external reality. But along with magic there is also all the demons and dysfunctions as well as virtues that a person has, which is also brought into external reality, and if we ignore all of that, we may find that our magical work proves less effective because we our working against ourselves and against the patterns of our lives. When, instead, we look at the patterns in our lives, and examine where magic can be applied to change those patterns proactively or help us achieve our overall goals, life becomes easier to live. Instead of getting that crappy job that covers the basics, but leaves us miserable and wanting to leave, we find that job that meets our higher needs as well as our basic needs and brings us fulfillment.

While life isn't quite like the board game I mentioned, recognizing the patterns of identity and how we express them and consequently how we manifest our choices is essential to knowing how and where to apply magic in a useful and truly meaningful manner. Instead of reacting, let's look at our environment, both internal and external, and consider carefully what we will do that will meaningfully improve our lives, instead of just going through the motions.

Identity and Time

Each year on my birthday I do an elemental magic switchover to a new element for the next year. Last year I switched from Emptiness to Time. This year, however, I'm not going to switch from Time. Part of it is because astrologically Saturn is a significant influence over the next year and I think I should capitalize on it, but part of it also is because while I did some work with time, I ended up actually working a lot more with the element of Identity. It makes sense actually because when I finished with the element of Emptiness, I felt like my life was a blank slate. And in January of 2010, I was divorced. Needless to say that was also a big change in identity for me, and I felt like much of this year has been an exploration of who I am and what I want and need.

Even getting involved in a new relationship has brought identity changes. I identify myself as childfree, but my partner has children and that's involved some adjustment to how I think about children and my identity in relationship to them. This entire year has been less about time and more about identity, discovering and claiming my identity, as well as claiming boundaries for that identity. I actually think that's one of the more magical acts I've done this year. It's helped me understand the role of identity in magical work, and it's also helped me identify the parts of my identity that I've wanted to change.

This year has been one of the best years of my life. Instead of holding on to the past, I've let go and embraced the present as an opportunity to explore who I can be, and in turn allow that realization to manifest in the universe and in my life. The previous years of internal work have paid off, and my life has come into a lot more focus as I've really reshaped my contractual agreement with the universe into an agreement I can really be behind. And it's going to keep getting better from here.

My work with the element of time is something I'm going to continue with. But today I'm going to celebrate my holy day.

Happy birthday to me