Friday, June 20, 2014

VOWS OF MAGIC (How to get started on your own path to magical practice.)



Many close friends and acquaintances have asked me how they should begin to develop their psychic skills or how to develop magical skills. (I whole heartedly believe that both of them should be developed if your desire is to become a practitioner of magic.) My question is before you undertake this adventure in to the unknown, what is your motivation? Why do you want to be psychic? Why do you want to work magic? Is it a calling? Or is it to empower your ego? Is it the search for self-knowledge that compels you or is it the thirst for power, control over others and other dark intentions? I was born into all things psychic and magical and am a natural. I had a spiritual teacher that was not. He became a priest in the afro-Latin religion known as Santeria by paying High Priests of that religion to perform the ritual that made him a Santero (A Santero is a Priest of Santeria). He bought his way in to the world of magic. He had no reverence for the dead, the living, the ancestors and the Orixas. (Pronounced “Oh-ree-shaws”. They are the African Gods / Ancestors of the Yoruba African people who hid them within the Saints during the times of Slavery and coming to the “New World.) He was always seen as less because he was gay and wanted a means of counteracting the disdain, cruelty and violence he was always a victim to by becoming feared. His heart wasn’t pure. He entered the world of magic with fear, anger and hate. So the power that was given to him by his initiation was corrupted. Though I was a natural, he cunningly managed to convince me to allow him to initiate me and my family into the mysteries of Santeria.


As it turned out, he wanted me to be his servant. To bow to him in public and to worship him as an Orixa. He initiated many other people who had natural gifts so he could use them for his own personal agendas. He was creating an army. Long story short, I refused to bow. I refused to kill, I refused to work black magic on his behalf and I refused to be his student. I rebelled and we fought to a stalemate. His power and my mine equal only because I didn’t have to invoke the Orixas power. I had my own. Where he served the Orixas I worked with them. They are not my Gods but my family and ancestors. There are three initiations in Santeria. I was only given two. This was my indoctrination in to Santeria. I was told because I am gay, I would never be able to be a priest in that or any religion my heart feels an affinity with. I was told that I should not work with the Orixas of Santeria, The Loas of Voodoo, and the Nkisi of Palo Mayombe because my homosexuality would be considered an affront to them. This was a lie. A lie to keep the female and male energies within me that not only make me who I am but that also empowers me that much more than those who seek to control and deny the Ancestors contact with ALL of their children. Now I realize why my teacher paid for his initiation. 


So, I decided to flip the script and become witchdoctor or brujo I naturally was meant to be. I decided to let the Ancestors initiate me instead of a priest or high priest who was corrupted by greed and standard homophobia that all orthodox religions are ripe with. I would take from any and all paths in order to build my own. This works for me and I have been blessed and able to help many people, learn many lessons and live a magical adventure that has become my life. I have learned forgiveness though I admittedly am still learning this to this day.


I share this with you the reader because if you wish to embark on your own magical adventure, YOU become your teacher. Avoid hierarchies and grades and ranks. YOU be your OWN high Priest or priestess. Take responsibility for your spiritual path and indoctrination into the mysteries. It’s as simple as this:


1      1)  If you decide to work magic? Pick your own Pantheon. The Gods are symbols, Principles, emanations or personifications of creation and the creator. The Universe communicates with light, cause and effect and symbols. Choose to work with god forms that make you feel the most comfortable or which you have a kinship with. The Universe will communicate with you using them.   


         2) Meditate often. Keeping your mind clear is of the utmost importance. Meditation is not just a practice but a vehicle to other states of being and dimensions. It is a means of exercising you psychic abilities and gaining control over your own mind, spirit and life.

3        3) Be clear as to your intentions. Know yourself. Why you do things to others and to yourself as well as what you want form others and yourself.

     4) Become familiar with your fears so they do not control you.

     5) Know the god forms you invoke and those god forms that come to you.

     6) Ask your guardians to guide, protect and teach you. Always.

    7)  Learn the basics, the four elements, Candle magic, how to create spells and rituals, herbs and crystals. Create your own ceremonies and perform them regularly. I would start by researching the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram.

   8)  Study one path at a time. As you get more proficient you will be able to see similarities in magical traditions and paths. Only then can you meld and combine them.

     9) Remember to always let it happen as opposed to making things happen.

1     10) Get a tarot pack commit the definitions to memory and get started reading and writing down your readings. This will help you develop your psychic abilities.

1     11) Nurture a ravenous appetite for researching, studying and learning about the magical traditions, pantheons, languages, spells, incantations, sympathetic magic, rituals and psychic abilities. Be just as diligent in reading, writing in a journal which will become your spell book or Book of Shadows, as you should be in your faith. Faith and belief in yourself, your path, your idea in a creator (if you have one) and your intentions which should be for the benefit of yourself as much as for the world around you.


This is a good start. This way you become a solitary practitioner and you answer to no one but yourself and the forces you work with. Don’t just work magic. Become it.

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