Working with living spirits and magic successfully begins inside ones own mind. That is the starting point. The foundation to success. This is not a new idea. This is not MY idea. "Know thyself" is age old. Techniques for cultivating an authentic healthy relationship with oneself exists in psychology and many religions. Anyone may dive into this further from whichever side of the subject pool they please on their own time. My goal is to get to the bones of how this inner work translates into authentic relationships with Spirits and magic.
Our spirit relationship dynamics and interactions mirror our individual inner worlds. We are the creators of our inner world and ourselves. Nothing and no one may manipulate us unless we allow it in lack of awareness, lack of action, or lack of care.
The relationships we manifest in the physical world are a decent barometer for what we are manifesting, mirroring in ourselves and our spiritual court.
If we do not know ourselves how can we hope to know others (including Spirits)?
If we do not know how to care for ourselves how will we know how to care for others (including Spirits)?
If we do not have self-control how will we cultivate control with our environment (action and manifestation) and others (boundaries and self restraint) and Spirits (authority when needed)?
If we are not honest with ourselves, how will we be honest with anything outside of ourselves? Not just others and Spirits, but Reality? And if we are not honest with ourselves and our physical reality we are creating around us, then how will we avoid fooling ourselves into losing touch with Reality?
This danger is thwarted by practicing awareness and honesty. What's practiced in the external reality leads back into the internal reality, like rope running through a cave. Be honest with yourself and others. Say what you mean and mean what you say, in your mind and with others.
If you are going to be a liar, be sure at least in your own mind and heart you know the truth, you have restraint, you have personal boundaries, and discretion.
Lying is like a magic cheat code. It's a tool of parasitic behavior. Cheating leads to more cheating. It's easy corner cutting, low quality technique to creating what we want fast, and so it can easily become addictive.
Dishonesty in the physical world and with oneself will eventually mirror into manifestation with one's Spiritual Court. Fast relationships created with corner cutting also fall apart fast. Authentic, honest, time forged relationships are stable and strong even in awful disasters and through genuine mistakes.
With practicing honesty and introspection we develop a more unbiased detached picture of our own character.
Do I love myself? What do I love? What do I dislike? Would I do business with me? Would I be in a relationship with me? Would I be friends with me?
Do I behave the way I like others to behave? Do I carry my weight at work and in partnerships? If one does not hold up their half of the sky in their physical world dealings how will one hold up their half of the sky with their magic and their Spirits? We have to meet the magic and the Spirits half-way… work as a team… do our physical share of the labor.
Am I unreasonable? Impatient? If so, that is fine. Am I prepared for my Spiritual Court to develop into likewise being unreasonable and impatient with me? Often the answer is no. This is double standards. It takes honesty and self-awareness to recognize and correct it.
Do I care more about others business than my own? Sweep around your own doorsteps! Worrying too much about others results in neglecting ones own ongoing business and character maintenance. This feeds growth of double standards.
Feelings are for feeling, not for thinking! Truth is beauty. Beauty is not truth. Knowledge is power. Power is not knowledge. Emotions are innately chaotic and unreasonable. Logic is for reasoning. Keep logic and emotions in their proper sequence. Emotion dominating a person's mind will make their magical manifestation as turbulent as a stormy ocean, and often their lives complicated, confusing, and difficult… Feelings are not the medium for the decision making and actions. They are for feeling, consideration, intuition, and energy (fuel)… Logic and reason should make the final decisions and actions, not the emotions.
It's powerful to build the proper emotion on command for a ritual or ceremony. This cannot be done at best and will be out of control at worst if emotion rules the head. This is a huge part of self-control and establishing a healthy relationship with oneself. You are not your emotions. You rule over you. Your emotions do not rule you. You do. Say it to yourself, "I am not my emotions." That takes away their power ruling over your head the more you say it, until you're able to think clearly without being yanked around.
Never stop working on character. The spirits are like water and they may maintain their essence but fill each container uniquely. Our character is the container we provide and vastly influences our experiences and results. Keep an authentic and quality container.
We are not trees. If we realize we need to change something about ourself, we can move! Where we end up in the end may have reasons, but reasons are not excuses. To work magic is to be a creator, and means we must take full accountability for what we create. It always leads back to oneself and oneself alone. Accountability lacking means we delivered our destiny into others hands, and cut off our own magic, stopped creating, even if temporarily. Take accountability. Forgive yourself. Own it all. Mistakes are fine. We can always try again.
