spirits, Magic
Taylor Ellwood
The relationship between sacred kingship and ...

One of the books I’m reading lately is King, Warrior, Magician, Lover by Robert Moore and Doug Gillette. It’s a fascinating book that explores the archetypes of the mature and sacred masculine. This is currently part of the spiritual work that I’m engaged in as I explore my own relationship with masculinity and heal the ancestoral and contemporary wounds that I’m becoming aware of as it relates to how masculinity is treated and perceived in modern times.

One of the aspects I’m exploring in particular is related to sacred kingship and the land. I am in the process of exploring the new city and surrounding areas that I live in. While I’ve lived here for a year, I didn’t have much opportunity until recently to really begin exploring the area and developing a relationship with the land. I find it fitting and useful that part of the process has also involved cultivating a relationship with the land, particularly on the basis of the relationship has with their home and how that relationship plays out in sacromagical work one does in connecting with the land.

Book Reviews March 2021

Book Review: The Great Unknown by Marcus Du Sautoy (Affiliate link)

In this book the author explores the frontiers of science and shares what we know and more importantly what we don’t know about those frontiers. It’s a fascinating book that explores the frontiers of physics, math, biology and more. I found it to be an interesting book if not quite as engaging as some of his works on mathematics. Nonetheless its a good introduction to the frontiers of science.

Book Review: Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday (Affiliate link)

This is a must read book for anyone because it explores how our egos get in the way of our work. The author provides historical examples of people who’ve either managed to avoid letting their ego get the best of them or have allowed their ego to cause them to fall. The examples help to illustrate the principles of this book, but even without them you only have to look at your own life to see where sometimes you’ve fallen off the right path because of your ego. This book has been a transformative read in my life and is one I will come back to frequently.

Book Review: The Phenomenon of Life by Christopher Alexander (Affiliate link)

This is as fascinating book that explores how life shows up in building design. The author presents a holistic and dare I say spiritual approach to building design that is eye-opening. The various examples and case studies illustrate the principles he discusses. What I found really helpful was how this book helped me further revise my own understanding and experience of space and how we live in space.

Book Review: The Inner Life of the Earth edited by Paul O’Leary (Affiliate link)

This is a collection of articles that focuses on elemental magic and the alchemy of the Earth. Mixed in with these articles is a focus on Christian mysticism. Some of the articles are useful and others less so. As with any anthology the articles are a mixed bag. I did find the collection interesting and would recommend it if you’re wanting to explore Christian mysticism and elemental magic.

Book Review: Emergent Magick by Threskiornis and Zentra El (Affiliate link)

Emergent Magick is essentially a recruitment manual for a magical organization. The book provides a foundational definition of magic as well as the specific practices that are done within this organization as well as how sub-communities are organized. The book also attempts to present what’ shared as a new paradigm, but it doesn’t strike me as significantly different from other magical organizations or currents of thought and practice. With that said, if you’re looking for a model of a magical community, this is a good model to draw upon. I don’t agree with all the perspectives shared on magic in this book, but if nothing else it may provide you consideration of what you’d like to see in your own magical group.

Book Review: Nature Spirits & Elemental Beings by Marko Pogacnik (Affiliate link)

This is an intriguing book about elemental magic and nature spirits. It’s an earlier book, with some commentary provided at a later date, which makes for a fascinating read because you get to contrast the earlier perspectives with the later awareness of the author. I also like that the author shares drawings of the elemental spirits. About the only thing I don’t care for is the tendency to link Christian mythos with the interactions he has, but I recognize that some of what the author is sharing is filtered through the spiritual path he walks, so I recognize in turn that informs his writing and experiences of the spirits. Overall its a fascinating exploration of elemental magic.

Book Review: The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris (Affiliate link)

This is a must read book for anyone who struggles with feeling their emotions and compartmentalizes their experiences. I found that reading this book and practicing the exercises within it helped me immensely when it came to working with difficult emotions. Just as importantly I’ve learned tools for communicating with my partner about my emotions, as well as being more present when my partner shares their emotions. This book is a life changer and since I started reading it and implementing it I’ve felt a deeper level of contentment than I’ve ever felt before and been more in touch with my emotions than I previously was.

Book Review: GPT-3 Techgnosis by Alley Wurds (affiliate link)

This is a grimoire of sorts, where the author has written the book with an AI and treated the AI as an entity. It’s a fascinating experiment with writing and magic, and the author does explain how they edited the AI response in order to focus the content of the book. At times the content is scattered and it doesn’t read like a typical magical book. With that said there are some gems in the book and if you’re someone interesting in writing magic, it may be a fascinating book for you to explore.

How to recover from spiritual burnout

I have a confession to make. On occasion I feel burned out with my spiritual practice. I don’t think I’m alone in feeling this way, but confessing that you’re feeling burned out on your spiritual/magical practice can bring up a whole host of questions and doubts that makes you wonder if you’re doing it wrong or if there is something wrong with you because you’re feeling burned out. Add in a practical magic component and you may find yourself even questioning what the point is of practicing magic, especially when you don’t really seem to be feeling it.

Up until a week ago, I have felt burned out with my magical/spiritual practice. The burnout happened during the summer, when my life blew up because of a variety of both good and bad situations that occurred. Actually, scratch that…it probably started earlier, because of something we’ve all been dealing with in the last year: namely the pandemic. I think in one form or another all of us have been dealing with some form of burnout. My burnout just happened to culminate in August, shortly after I quit my job to go full time writing.

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The benefits spirits get from working with us

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When you work with spirits you get the benefit of their knowledge and expertise and their help with manifesting results. You might also develop an ongoing relationship with the spirit. But what do spirits get out of the relationships with us? What are the benefits they receive? I share my thoughts on this topic in the video below.

If you want to learn more about working with spirits, check out my book Walking with Spirits

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Magical Experiments podcast: Magical Group work with Luxa Strata

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I interview Luxa Strata about the magical group work she is doing with the Green Mushroom project. We discuss the importance of group work, especially during the pandemic and how working in a group remotely can still bring you together with people. We also discuss the value of a beginner’s mindset and how this can help you learn more about magic.

To connect with Luxa visit her instagram

Check out the Lux Occult podcast

Elemental Balancing Ritual Connection and Truth Month 4

1-22-2021 I switched over to working with the alchemical substances for the moon. I’ve also figured out how to integrate Bua Gua into this work as well as some work with elemental spirits. I’m feeling rather excited at the possibilities of what could be done with this work and the evolution of my work with the sphere of art as well. I also ended up doing some dream work, which was appropriate with working with the moon. That dream work helped me have a pivotal realization around my own sense of worth and how I’ve let that be compromised sometimes. That realization will help me make better choices with how I take care of myself and with the people I allow into my life on a personal level.

1-25-2021 In the Happiness Trap the author makes an important point: We aren’t good or bad people and the arbitrary value judgments we place on ourselves creates a tension within ourselves when we feel a need to label ourselves as good or bad. This got me thinking about how I’ve labeled myself in the past, and how those labels have shaped my identity in ways that have ultimately been more harmful than helpful. So I’m giving myself space NOT to label myself as good or bad, but simply to be and to allow myself to let go of those values judgments of my identity and instead recognize that I’m simply a person who has made choices, and instead of even defining those choices as good or bad, I’ve simply acknowledged that those choices have had consequences and impacts that should be noted and considered carefully. It’ a different way of looking at things, but its helpful.

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The Magic of working with your emotions

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When you think about your emotions, perhaps the last thing you might consider is that there is a magical aspect to your emotions, or that emotions should even be worked with magically. After all, emotions seem to fall in the domain of psychology and while you can do shadow work around emotions that isn’t always considered “real” magical work. Yet in my own experiences and in observing other magicians, I think there’s a real need to work with the emotions and to do so in a way that is healthy, while also recognizing the role emotions can play in magical work.

What I’ve discovered in my own magical practice, and from observing other practitioners is that while magic can solve some problems, it can also exacerbate other issues, and this can include issues around the emotions. Certainly when I look back at my younger self, I see recognize times when I was reactive with my magical practice because of the emotions I was feeling at the time. I let those emotions take over my identity in the moment. As I began doing internal work aka shadow work around my emotions, it also changed my magical practice. I became less reactive in my usage of magic to resolve problems and started to carefully consider the impact.

Why doesn't Magic always work?

Sometimes you do a magical working and the magic doesn’t seem to work. Why? You’ve gotten all the required resources, done all the steps, but despite doing all of that work the result you wanted didn’t manifest. I share some thoughts on why magic doesn’t always seem to work as well as how to troubleshoot your magical work.

Get How To Troubleshoot your Magic

Take the class on how to troubleshoot your magic

Why consistency matters in your magical practice

One of the most important lessons I learned in my magical work is the lesson of consistency, specifically the need to be consistent with a given practice of magic, especially when you’re learning that practice. From the very beginning of my magical practice to now I’ve applied a consistent approach to what I’ve learned in a few different ways. That consistent practice has instilled a level of discipline with me that has helped me become a better practitioner of magic, and helped in other venues of my life, such as with my writing.

When you aren’t consistent with your magical practice it is hard to create a truly sustainable practice, because you’re not giving yourself the benefit of sticking with that practice. Instead when you jump from one magical practice to another you only the barest taste of what that practice can provide you.

So how do you develop a consistent practice of magic?

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Magical Experiments Podcast: Tarot and Spell casting with Elise Oursa

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In this episode Elise Oursa and I discuss how to mediate and work with spirits, how to work with Tarot and the finer pragmatic details of creating change in your life with spells.

Elise's Website is http://www.eliseoursa.com

and her facebook group is: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cardsncoffee

Elise's new tarot deck Blood and Ink will be available for pre-order soon!

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When to use short term or long term magic workings

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When I think about applying practical magic to my life to effect change and get results, there’s usually two purposes that such workings are applied to. The first purpose is to solve a problem that has come up in your life. You need a solution, and magic is a means of obtaining that solution and resolving the problem. The second purpose is that you’re trying to design your life and you’ve decided to apply magic to that life design in order to help you achieve it. I also consider this to be short term vs. long term magical workings.

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The Ethics and Pragmatics of Love Magic

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Should you do magic to find your ideal romantic partner? And if you do love magic should you try and get a specific person to love you or should you take a more generalized approach? I answer these questions and explore the topic of love in general and share my own pragmatic approach to handling love and love magic.

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Why pop culture magic isn't limited to the latest pop culture

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Lately I’ve been watching the 2004 remake of Battlestar Galatica. I’m really enjoying re-watching the series because of the different themes that are interwoven into the story. Yes there’s the SF theme of space battles, but there’s also the exploration of mystical and spiritual themes, such as some of the characters interacting with spirits. However what really interested me about the show was the Hybrid character that pilots the basestars and how they live in a state of being that can be described as non-linear. When they tell the ship to jump, I think of that as having some potential to be worked with in terms of space/time magic.

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Elemental Balancing Ritual Connection and Truth Month 3

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12-22-2020 Today I started integrating the Sphere of Art work with the Qi gong work I’m doing. I did the sphere of art ritual and then worked with the alchemical substances for the underworld. Then I did the qi gong work and followed up with meditation, where I also mediated the alchemical substances for the underworld. It was an interesting experience because this time I felt the underworld energies mesh with the qi I had cultivated during the qi gong work. There didn’t seem to be any conflict with the connection of the energies, but of course I’ll test this carefully.

I’ve been reading the 48 laws of Power and what strikes me about this book is that I learned these laws from my dad. I doubt he ever read the book, but so far the laws discussed fit his behavior. He knew how to create an air of mystery, when to keep his mouth shut, but also when to make a scene. He was a cypher and I learned a lot of this from observing him. Of course I’ve also learned some of these laws just from my own experiences, but its fascinating to read this book and recognize my missteps (where I didn’t execute the laws successfully) as well as my successes with those same laws. I’m only part way through the book but it is quite illuminating, especially when you are already putting some of those laws in to action.

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Magical Experiments podcast: Experimenting with Ancient Magic

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In this episode Alison Chicosky talk about her magical work with Greek Papyri and pentacles. We discuss how to experiment and reconstruct ancient magical workings as well as how spirits can help with this kind of work.

Visit Practical Occult

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How to recognize Humanocentric limitations in our spiritual work

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The other day, in the magical experiments Facebook group, a really good question was asked about what people consider a deity to be, versus what a spirit being is. One of the respondents noted that non-physical entities really don’t care about labels attached to them, and that the labels are mainly used for the convenience of humans, as a way of providing context and categorization for them. when working with spirits. The person went on to note that such categorizations are subjective. I agreed with the person’s response to the question, because in a very real sense the categorizations that occur with spirits are rooted in a humanocentric perspective.

A humanocentric perspective is a perspective rooted in the human experience. It brings with it set expectations around how spirits are encountered and worked with. For example, one such expectation is the expectation that a spirit will appear before a person in a form that makes sense to the person and speak in a language that the person understands. Such an expectation is based around the human need to control and label the experiences we have as much as possible.

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Goals vs Experiential Data in Magical Workings

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Have you ever done a magical working and had experiences that went counter to the established goals and progress you were going for in that working?

Today I explain why its important to pay attention to the experiential data and how that data is different from the goals we might establish in magical working. I also discuss how that data can still be used to help us meet our goals in our magical workings.

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Spirit relationships and the magic of writing with Stephanie Connolly

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In this interview Stephanie and I discuss how spirit relationships based on respect and how to work with spirits. We also discuss writing about magic and what goes into writing a book, and how books speak to us.

Learn more about stephanie and her books at http://sjreisner.com

Learn more about Demonolatry at http://www.demonolatry.org

Learn how magic works: https://magical-experiments.teachable.com/p/home

Get free e-books: http://www.magicalexperiments.com/free-books

Become my patron: https://www.patreon.com/TaylorEllwood?fan_landing=true

How to create and sustain a consistent meditation practice

One of the questions I get asked is how to create and sustain a consistent meditation practice. It’s a good question to ask, because it can be a challenge to make time to meditate, especially when you’re working a full time job, have kids, and other responsibilities that can eat up your time. And maybe you have none of those things. Maybe your challenge is simply around the act of meditating and you struggle to make any progress with meditating. Regardless of what the reason is, it doesn’t have to be hard to develop a consistent meditation practice.

The first thing that needs to be realized is that there’s no idealized state of being that says your meditating. A lot of people get caught up in the idea that they have to empty their minds in order to successfully meditate. While a state of no-mind is one example of a state of meditation, you can also be meditating in other states of mind. For example, I regularly do Taoist meditation, which among other things includes the dissolving of internal tensions and blockages. Sometimes thoughts and emotions come up during that process and then I’m working through them in meditation. That is still a viable state of meditation.