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.

The Pop Culture Magic of Lupin

I recently binge watched the first and second seasons of Lupin on Netflix and as always when I watch a TV show, I get fascinated by the history behind that show. I won’t spoil Lupin for you, if you haven’t seen it, but to sum it up, it’s about a gentleman thief, set in modern day Paris, but the store is based on the character of Arsene Lupin. Maurice LeBlanc wrote the stories about the gentleman thief. I haven’t read them yet, but I found the show fascinating enough that I’m going to do some exploration of the original pop culture.

In the show the main character uses the original stories as his inspiration for his own feats of thievery, and at the same time he lives by the code of the original character. This is important because it ties the show back to the original pop culture, even as the show promotes that original pop culture. What’s also fascinating is that the show establishes that the original pop culture has a thriving fan community. A few of the different characters, beyond the main character, really enjoy the original pop culture and in some form or another don’t just read it, but end up making it part of their lives.

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What Stoicism is teaching me

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I’ve recently begun reading the collected works of Seneca. Before that I was reading the books of the modern day Stoic Ryan Holiday. I’m fascinated by what I’m reading, particularly because its providing another lens in which to view my actions, both magical and mundane. I think what I find most fascinating about Stoicism is that there is a profound recognition of the need to achieve a balance within ourselves where we acknowledge our emotions and feelings, but find balance by weighing them against rational perspectives and considerations.

I don’t always agree with the Stoic perspectives. For example, I read something by Seneca where he cautioned against reading on a wide variety of topics at the same time. I definitely could not take that advice because I like to entertain a multiplicity of perspectives and actually find it to be essential to my creative approach to life. Yet if I did not consider perspectives I disagreed with, I couldn’t appreciate why I approach my life the way I do, so even in reading Seneca it caused me to chuckle, disagree, and yet appreciate the perspective gifted to me.

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How I'm using Tarot to curb my impulsiveness

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One of my faults and flaws is that I tend to be an impulsive person. I sometimes make decisions on the fly, in the heat of the moment, without fully considering the ramifications of those decisions. I feel my emotions deeply, and this can be both a good and bad thing. It can be good because of the depth of emotion and the richness that depth brings with it. It can be bad, when those deep emotions take over every other consideration.

Of late, I’ve been feeling my emotions very keenly because of the life transitions I’ve been going through. Trying to find balance with those emotions has been tough, because of how deeply I’m feeling them and I’ve taken this into account by starting a new practice that I’m going to continue for the rest of my life.

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Rediscovering my Identity part 4

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Rediscovering your identity can be a process of trying things and discovering what works and what doesn’t work, as well as being open to the opportunities that present themselves to you. As I also share in this video, it is important to be in touch with what brings you meaning and satisfaction.

Elemental Balancing Ritual Connection and Truth Month 8

5-22-2021 I posted a cartoon on Facebook that essentially had this person find this oracle, which told him that some of his problems were of his own causing and I wrote that the one thing all your problems have in common is you. My friend Colleen pointed something out that I felt was rather appropriate since I’m working with martian energy this month. She pointed out that all your problems having you in common is actually a form of abusive self-dialogue because sometimes other people are the cause of your problems and you aren’t the reason the problem is happening. Her response really got me thinking about how far too often I’ve blamed myself for problems that have happened and taken too much responsibility on when perhaps it really was someone else’s responsibility. It’s definitely something I am going to work with further this month.

I did some more of the wood element workshop. The main focus was on working with the ligaments and it was quite intense work. Naturally some internal stuff came up and I worked through it, releasing grief with each release of the ligaments. It did make me reflect on some realizations I’ve been having around my life and the way people have shown up in the past. Afterwards I meditated with the alchemical substances for Mars and Geburah and worked on releasing judgment of myself and others. Working with Geburah in that way is interesting, because typical it is a rather severe energy to work with, yet, I think sometimes people ignore the more subtle ways to work with a given Sephiroth. In this case, learning how to release judgments of yourself and other can be just as relevant as any other work you might do in that sephiroth.

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Creativity, love, and magic

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One of the books I’m currently reading is Creativity by Robert Fritz (affiliate link). He provides a fascinating definition of love, within the first couple pages which has really stuck with me. He explains that love is at the center of creativity, but that in the context of creativity is an active force, instead of a passive experience. Love as a passive experience, is an experience where love happens to you and you get some type of benefit from it. In contrast, love as an active force is a form of generative process, where you are actively creating something.

This concept of love as an active force reminds me of another book I’m reading by Christopher Alexander which explores the process of generative creation in context to architecture. Both authors have a similar stance in that they opt for an iterative approach to what is created, recognizing that such an approach brings an organic awareness with it that informs how we appreciate the act of creation and the result.

Inner Alchemy of Internal Work is now Available!

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Transform your life with internal work

Some occultists will tell you that internal work isn’t REAL magical work.

What they don’t know is that an unexamined life leads to lots of reactive magic, where you try to solve your problems, only to have those same problems occur again and again.

How do you get out of that cycle of reactive magic?

By learning how to apply internal work to your life…

In Inner Alchemy of Internal Work I introduce you to the processes and methods of internal work and share why internal work can help you take proactive control of your life and lead to better results with your spiritual practice. In this book you will also learn:

  • What internal work actually is, and why its a lot more than just shadow work and psychology.

  • How to apply meditation, pathworking and other magical techniques as forms of internal work that transform your life.

  • How to dissolve and release stress, tension, and emotional reactivity from your life.

  • How to work through trauma using internal work.

If you’re tired of living a reactive life, and you want to go deeper in your magical practice and get better results, this book will show you how to apply internal work to your life.

Rediscovering my Identity part 1

When your identity has been constructed around a relationship, a job, or other structures in your life and something changes, you have the opportunity to rediscover your identity and find out who you are. You also get the opportunity to discover the evolution of your identity. I share my own experiences around identity work and how it’s been transformative for me.

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Ragnarok and the nature of avatars

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I recently binge watched seasons 1 and 2 of Ragnarok. It’s a modern retelling of the Norse myths, but what I found most interesting about the show is how they explored the giants and gods in the modern story. The giants are running the town and eternally cycling from young to old, while the gods end up end up manifesting as avatars that are woken up in order to fight the giants, but what’s interesting is that what is implied is that any person could become a god if they were activated.

It’s a pop culture rendition of the Norse myths and as always I find the pop culture retellings to be fascinating, because in a way a pop culture retelling is also an avatar of a mythology that has been activated to help perpetuate that mythology. Whether the pop culture is a TV show, video game, book, or comic, or some other form of media, when it calls attention to the original mythology, while also doing a retelling of the mythology in a different context, it perpetuates the mythology. This is part of the power of pop culture. It takes old stories and makes them new again.

Why we need to rest and recover

When we’re always trying to do something or be productive at some point we burn out. I discuss why we need to make time to rest and recover in our spiritual and mundane lives and how the right recharge can make us far more productive than always trying to do something. I also explain why we sometimes just need to stay at the bottom, when we hit bottom, so we can catch our breath and figure out what’s next.

Pre-order Inner Alchemy of Internal Work

Judgment and Release part 3

When do we hold onto judgment and what is the power that brings? When we do we recognize our own fallibilities in our judgments and examine how we’ve come to those judgments? These are important questions to ask that can help us with our magical work and our in line with continuing work I’m around the planetary energy of Mars and Geburah.

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Inner Alchemy of Internal Work is available for pre-order!

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3D_Book_Render.png

Transform your life with internal work

Some occultists will tell you that internal work isn’t REAL magical work.

What they don’t know is that an unexamined life leads to lots of reactive magic, where you try to solve your problems, only to have those same problems occur again and again.

How do you get out of that cycle of reactive magic?

By learning how to apply internal work to your life…

In Inner Alchemy of Internal Work I introduce you to the processes and methods of internal work and share why internal work can help you take proactive control of your life and lead to better results with your spiritual practice. In this book you will also learn:

  • What internal work actually is, and why its a lot more than just shadow work and psychology.

  • How to apply meditation, pathworking and other magical techniques as forms of internal work that transform your life.

  • How to dissolve and release stress, tension, and emotional reactivity from your life.

  • How to work through trauma using internal work.

If you’re tired of living a reactive life, and you want to go deeper in your magical practice and get better results, this book will show you how to apply internal work to your life.

How to create multi-layered magical workings

Multi-layered magical working Picture copyright Taylor Ellwood 2021

Multi-layered magical working Picture copyright Taylor Ellwood 2021

Recently I decided to create a new type of magical working, a multi-layered magical working. A multi-layered magical working is a working that is used to address multiple situations for a person in one working. It’s similar to the space/time sigil method I came up with many years ago, but the difference is that instead of creating multiple sigils and linking the manifestation of the possibilities into reality through the realization of one sigil (which pulls the other sigils into reality), the multi-layered working programs all the situations into one magical working and simultaneously addresses each of the situations through that working.

Also you can program the working with elemental, planetary and other types of specific energies you want to bring into play, and exclude other energies. This feature is inspired by the sphere of art work I’ve been doing, where one of the purposes is to create a distinct magical space that excludes unwanted energies and includes wanted energies. I’m basically creating a mobile form of the SOA that can be focused on a specific working and applied. One of the ways this is done is through the application of pentacles (like the planetary ones you see in the picture), but you could take any magical tool and use it for a similar purpose, or incorporate the concept into your working in other ways, like through the art itself. I’ll admit I chose to apply the pentacles as a way of bringing the planetary spirits into play with each of my pictures.

I’ve also set this working up so that I can integrate specific types of energies into the working. In the picture above, we see the second pentacle of the moon (for opening doors), the second pentacle of Mercury (for problem solving) and the fourth pentacle of Jupiter (for manifesting wealth). I did this particular working for a friend to help them address a few different situations, but in particular to help with the manifestation of a desired job. The planetary sigils were applied to open doors and help with the manifestation of the job, while also inspiring intuitive choices on the part of the person.

I did have to do a bit of fine tuning with this working, after it initially looked liked the results weren’t going to manifest. I did a bit of troubleshooting with the help of my spirits, and ended up bringing in Elephant to help clear some obstacles out of the way, as well as applying a bit of writing magic to the matter, to present an alternative perspective that helped open up the situation to a more organic approach. Within two days of making those changes, the desired result came through and the person got the job they wanted.

I take a generative approach to magic, where I’ll do a magical working, such as what I’ve described above, but I won’t treat the working as a static magical working, an isolated event…which is typically how a lot of magicians treat magical workings. Instead I consider the magical working to be generative, which means that I’ll make changes to the programming of the magical working as needed. These changes allow me to quickly adapt the working to whatever is actually happening, instead of having to start over again.

Drawing in picture copyright Taylor Ellwood 2021

Drawing in picture copyright Taylor Ellwood 2021

This is another multi-layered magical working I created, specifically for me, and its a simple version of a multi-layered working. I created this working to help me draw in specific resources and allies to help me as I transitioned from being married to starting over with my life. I created this working within the first week of my life transition and it helped me manifest a friendship/business partnership with a hypnotherapist in Germany, as well as several mentors to help me with becoming a freelance writer. In addition to that I also ended up having a few job opportunities fall into my lap to do work where I’d get paid quite a bit more than what I’d previously been paid.

This is an ongoing working and what’s fascinating is that it’s continuing to attract opportunities to me that will help me achieve my short, mid, and long term financial goals and help me get my life reset, while also setting the way to manifest a long held dream of mine that I’ve been previously been unable to act upon.

Interested in getting a multi-layered magical working done for you?

Imagination made Reality Copyright Taylor Ellwood 2021

Imagination made Reality Copyright Taylor Ellwood 2021

This is my latest layered working. I’ve applied the planetary pentacles I have to the painting, and treated it as an embodiment of myself, with those pentacles being applied for specific purposes that take the possibilities I’ve drawn in, via the previous working, and turning them into manifested realities because of how they become embedded in my identity.

One of those specific possibilities was the manifestation of a job for myself. I had interviewed at a company and didn’t hear back, but after this working was creating, I heard back for a third interview, got the job and found out they actually created the position for me, because they liked me and wanted to bring me on board their time. The bonus for me is that it provides a base level of financial and life stability to I can move to my next steps. There are additional situations being worked through this art magic, which I’ll provide an update on later.

The choice to embody a magical working in painting or writing or other forms of expression is a different approach to magic, because what it draws on is the realization that manifestation of any sort automatically creates a path from the desired possibility to the realization of it as a reality that becomes your life. It’s an approach to magic I’ve always preferred and when you add in layers to address different situations, it becomes a multiplicity of workings contained within and realized through the medium of creation.

I opted to create this working because I had given myself enough time to process recent life changes, and I’ve started figuring out what’s next. Creating this working is my way of saying, it’s time to make what’s next into the reality of my life and start living it. The beauty of a magical working like this is that really does become a declaration of your own readiness to embrace the opportunities that have been presented to you.

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The connection between internal work and Qi Gong

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This last weekend I had the opportunity to take a class on the wood element in Taoism, which specifically focused on learning how to work with the ligaments and tendons of the body. It was an intense class, where we spent a lot of time doing qi gong (moving meditation) around tensing and releasing the ligaments and tendons. What I found most fascinating though was the internal work that happened around these activities.

When I do moving meditation, sometimes the focus is on just doing the movement and fully immersing yourself in the experiences that come up as you do the movement. The focus on movement is essential because you are moving your body in incredibly sophisticated and subtle ways. For example, a slight sensation of kneeling down can involve the tensing and releasing of ligaments in your feet. Likewise, straightening and folding your arms can involve a similar experience of moving the ligaments.

Elemental Balancing Ritual Connection and Truth Month 7

4-22-2021 Today I moved into working with the alchemical aspects of the sun. I feel it’s appropriate because I’m at the dawn of my new life, with the sun beginning to show me the way forward. I don’t know how I’ll get where I’m going yet, but I see some possible ways forward. And I am focused on my connection and truth to lead the way forward.

4-25-2021 The last few days I’ve been doing a lot of door dash, but I’ve also had the opportunity to talk with a friend of mine, S. V.. We ended up talking for a few hours but our respective life changes and other such things and it was good to have such a discussion and also discuss possibilities. Today I took the day off from driving so I could work on some projects, but most importantly I made time to read and paint, and go for a walk. The relaxation is as important as the work, it fuels the work and makes for better manifestation.

I feel a sense of calm and peace pervading my being. Some of that has come from a session with Ingo Komenda, and some of it is my own continual internal work. I haven’t felt this free to just be in quite some time, and it makes me reflect and recognize that as sad as recent changes have been, I think they have been necessary changes. I move forward into the unknown, with anticipation and excitement for what possibilities I’ll discover, what experiences may be had, and enjoy the journey, letting the light of the Sun guide me.