Yeah, I guess you had to be there…

So what does this have to do with magick? Well, recently I’ve been contacted by a man who wants to study the Tarot a specific and very advanced way. He is interested in exclusively using the Golden Dawn astrological associations with the cards. When you get to the Minor Arcana, relating the given meanings of the cards to their astrological associations isn’t as simple as A+B=C. It’s more like A+µ=∑. For some people this may be obvious. For others, it’s not. You have to understand the Tarot, some astrology, and then meditate on their relationships for it to make sense. And then, after it becomes clear to you, it may not be clear to other people. That doesn’t mean your way of relating the astrology to the Tarot is wrong, it just means it’s uniquely yours.

Anyway, this gentleman liked the way my thoughts led to equating the given meaning with the astrology of the cards. He doesn’t like the way some other people present it. What I want to stress, however, is that merely because this gentleman agrees with my presentation doesn’t make me right and all the other people wrong. It merely means that my personal approach matches his needs. The other people aren’t covering up their lack of knowledge or “yanking his chain.” They’re presenting things the best way they can. The real difference is that they say, “potato” and I say “potahto,” nothing more.

I think it is very important for students of occultism to understand this. If you come to believe that one teacher or book is right and the others are wrong, you run the risk of moving from student to hero worshiper. I think Dion Fortune recognized this when she wrote that there is no room for authority in occultism. No single teacher or book should be free from question, debate, or challenge. When I give workshops I usually begin by saying, “Think for yourself. Question authority.”

Because there is (or should be) no single authority for magick and occultism, I think it’s absolutely great when there are several books that cover the same material. I happen to be very proud of the books I’ve written. I wouldn’t want them out there if I didn’t think they were the best in their field. But I’m also glad that there are other books that deal with the same topics. First, because if they’re good it makes me want to do even better. For example, I think that Modern Magick is the best introduction to magick, especially ceremonial magick, available. But there are other good books out there. When the new third edition comes out later this year, I think it will extend my leadership.

But even though I think my writing is the best, that’s still subjective. Other people may find different books they prefer. Perhaps the approach of the other authors meets their needs more than my writing. And that’s okay with me. In fact, I encourage people to read books by other authors. Perhaps, because of your needs, something will make more sense to you.

Although the competition for me to do better is valuable, I don’t worry about other people’s writings competing in the marketplace with my writings for a simple reason: Nobody buys just one occult book. If they prefer something by another author to start, I hope they’ll end up reading my works. And if people start with my books, I hope they’ll find other people to read, too.

So I don’t mind seeing lots of books for beginners. If one book doesn’t appeal, perhaps another will. And I don’t mind seeing books on the same topics I cover. Read one of those and maybe you’ll eventually read one of mine.

The source of the name, however, is from a book entitled The Magician by Somerset Maugham, author of such books as Of Human Bondage, The Moon and Sixpence, and my personal favorite, The Razor’s Edge.

Maugham had met Crowley in Paris, and supposedly didn’t like him. Yet, he modeled the antagonist of his 1908 book The Magician, Oliver Haddo, after Crowley. According Richard Kaczynski, Crowley read the book and recognized himself as Haddo. He recognized things he, himself, had said…and a lot more. Crowley wrote a review of the book using the pen name Oliver Haddo. Published in the famed magazine “Vanity Fair,” it accused Maugham of extensive plagiarism, copying from books by Eliphas Levi, McGregor Mathers, and even from “The Island of Dr. Moreau” as well as from others. I guess that was another reason for Maugham to dislike Crowley.

Movie poster for The Magician (1926)

In 1926, Rex Ingram (a famous film director who made “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” that made Rudolph Valentino a star) made a film version of “The Magician.” Starring in the role of Oliver Haddo was the German actor and director Paul Wegener (his only Hollywood role), now famous for his earlier movie, “The Golem.”

Last night, the Turner Classic Movie (TCM) channel, for the first time ever, showed Ingram’s film. Wegener was a large, barrel-chested man with odd, almond-shaped eyes. He was both repelling and alluring, qualities some people have attributed to Crowley. The plot has Crowley Haddo as a combination wizard, alchemist, and mad (literally) scientist attempting (for no stated reason) to create life. Unfortunately, this required the blood from the heart of a “maiden.” With this background, the plot becomes obvious. Happy woman is seduced away from her fiance by Haddo. Fiance searches for her, finds her during the final magickal rite, kills Haddo and saves his love.

According to Kaczynski, when the film was about to premier, Crowley tried to get an injunction to stop it. He claimed he should receive compensation as the model for Haddo. “Crowley’s plan was to block the film’s showing in order to get a contract to make a series of educational films about magick. When the studio’s representatives contacted him and offered a financial settlement, Crowley refused the offer.” Unfortunately, there was no movie deal, the premier was held on schedule, and Crowley got nothing.

Well, that’s the story of Crowley, Maugham, and Oliver Haddo. Currently, TCM shows a silent film each Sunday evening, so you might want to watch their schedule to see when it’s showing again. Although the movie was filmed in black an white, as was actually common of films in that period, the film was tinted in various places (blue, red, sepia) to help add to the emotions of the film. If you’re used to seeing old films in just black and white, this will give you an idea of what people seeing the original would have seen. Of course, it’s a silent film, but they’ve added a music score. The original music is fine, but at times they use rather obvious, overly well-known classical melodies and music to amplify a scene. I found this rather clichéd.

Kaczynski adds that James Whale, director of the original Frankenstein and Dracula films, viewed The Magician repeatedly, and there are several similarities in those films. Certain views of Haddo match the filming of certain shots of Bela Lugosi as Dracula. The tower where Haddo has his headquarters is almost the same as that in Frankenstein. Haddo’s assistant, like Dr. Frankenstein’s, is a hunchback. And finally, the destruction of the tower at the end of Whale’s Bride of Frankenstein looks almost identical to the destruction of Haddo’s tower headquarters.

I looked at the TCM website and didn’t see that this film was for sale, but since it had a new copyright added to it, I’m going to assume that it will become available to film buffs and Crowley fans.

Did you see it? What did you think of it?

Theft, according to my dictionary, is “the action or crime of stealing.”

And by posting that, I just committed a theft. What?

Somewhere, an individual or group of individuals spent their time to come up with that definition. Somewhere, an editor made sure grammar and appearance were accurate. Somewhere, a typesetter entered that information. Somewhere, another editor looked over everything and gave a final “ok.” Somewhere, a manager oversaw the entire project. Somewhere, a printing company took ink and paper and turned all of that information into a book. Somewhere, a shipping company had people involved in sending those books to bookstores. Somewhere, bookstores sold that book to individuals. Literally dozens of people were involved with this process, and many of them have families to support. And because I copied the hard work they went through and posted those words above, some of you reading this might not buy the dictionary I used. That takes money away from all of these people who did all of this work.

And that is stealing, isn’t it?

Okay. I have to admit that I’m grossly exaggerating. I doubt if anyone is going to lose any money because I posted six words.

But many much larger thefts like this go on. There is almost an “unwritten rule” that if something appears on the internet—even if there are all sorts of notices saying “don’t copy this without permission”—it’s free to copy and post everywhere. I’m a moderator for an on-line forum dedicated to hypnosis, and one of the things I’ve had to do is delete posts from people who simply repost other material that’s under copyright.

And yet, this type of posting goes on all over the internet. Most of the time it’s from people who simply don’t know any better. “Someone else posted it so why can’t I?” But sometimes, the theft is far more clear.

Ideas Can’t Get a Copyright. Words Can.

You can’t get a copyright on an idea, but according to law, as soon as you express those ideas in words, the words are under copyright. Nobody has the right to steal your words and publish them somewhere without your permission. That’s theft. For example, I can’t copyright The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram. However, the words I used to describe the ritual are under copyright. Several years ago a magickal order copied the words I wrote and sold them to their members. I asked them to either stop or credit me. The head of the order wrote to me saying it was a mistake and not meant to be put out that way, and that they have reworded the entire piece.

But that’s just a small section of my Modern Magick. What about the entire book?

Today I received the notice that someone had gone to the trouble of digitizing some of my books (as well as those of other authors on occultism) and were making them available for download. I know there are a couple of organizations that give space for people to make books available (while denying any responsibility for theft). I also know that my publisher will make sure that my books (and others that they publish) are removed from that illegal distribution.

Email Help

Even since Modern Magick was published, I’ve received thousands of requests for information and assistance. Sometimes it takes awhile for me to respond, but I do respond. I know the same is true for many other authors. Often, I receive letters and email from people who haven’t bought any of my books, but who have seen something I wrote for a magazine, or online, or thumbing through pages of one of m books in a bookstore, and have a question for me. I try to help.

Recently, though, I received an email from a person who had downloaded my book and had a question about it. I thought about how to reply to this person who had essentially stolen my work and not paid money that helped support me and the editors, artists, printers, bookstores, etc., who worked together to create the book. I finally explained to him that I willingly help people who have purchased my works and who have not purchased my works, but I’m going to draw the line and not help people who have stolen my work. His response was snarky, essentially saying that he was going to cancel his plans to buy a copy. Frankly, I doubt if he would buy a copy at all so his attempt to say that I was being stupid over this and was losing out was a failure.

This Doesn’t Make Sense

Curiously, the publishers of some authors have given away digital copies of an author’s books. More than one author has discovered to his or her surprise that giving away books in this way resulted in increased sales of actual copies of their books. Logically, that doesn’t make sense. If I give you a book, why would you go out and buy a copy? I can think of two reasons. First, the announcement of the give away advertises the books and it may be that the advertising results in increased sales. Second, people may find that they like the book but don’t like the digital format, so they get a traditional version of the book.

So are the thieves who are stealing the hard work of authors actually increasing sales?

Of course, the big difference is that in one instance someone not associated with the author or a book’s publisher have chosen to steal the book without permission and give it out in a digital form while in the other instance the publisher and author decide to do so.

I have to admit I’m worried that if my works are available for free, nobody will want to buy them. This shows, however, that in a secretive way they have been available for free, yet thankfully, they are still selling.

I don’t know what the future of copyright and theft of books and writing will be in the era of the internet, an era where people think that if something is posted to the internet, it should be theirs, free, to make available wherever they want.

What do you think?

This particular post is strictly about Western understandings. There are far more Eastern techniques and I’ll look at some of them in a future post.

Upper Chest Breathing

The easiest way to tell if you are chest breathing is to simply observe yourself. If your chest is expanding and contracting with each breath, chances are you are doing Upper Chest Breathing. Another sign of UCB is that your shoulders move up and down with each breath. The mechanics of this consist of your neck muscles and chest muscles lifting the breast bone and upper ribs. However, the breast bone can’t just come up, it also comes forward, taking the ribs with it. This opens space around the upper lobes of the lungs, allowing them to fill with air.

Contrary to common belief, in some situations this is a great way to breathe. For example, in dangerous situations it will allow you to tense the muscles of the abdomen, protecting the internal organs. The organs of the chest are protected by the ribs. Chest breathing may also be good for appealing to the opposite gender. In both sexes it allows you to contract your stomach muscles, giving the impression of a smaller waist. In men, it allows a male to show a broader chest, similar to the way a peacock displays its tail. In women it allows the breasts to be presented to attractive males. This is usually done on an unconscious level, if at all.

UCB also has some strong negatives. It does not provide for the full use of the lungs down to the bottom of the lower lobes. This allows pollutants to sit in the lungs—possibly harming the lungs or entering the bloodstream—rather than being expelled. It doesn’t make full use of the lungs. Years ago, when wearing tight corsets was common for women, the clothes literally enforced this type of breathing. As it prevented getting a full breath, some women would actually pass out as a result of not getting enough oxygen. Rather than simply end the clothing style, designers came up with special “fainting couches” for the women who would pass out.

While UCB can be good at times, using this type of breath as your regular breathing mode is generally not a good idea. Take a finger, press it deeply between two ribs, and move it back and forth in that space. If you detect a soreness, those small chest muscles (known as the intercostals) are doing work they’re not designed for.

Belly Breathing

You may have heard that you should be breathing from the belly. Unfortunately, this, at best, is only partially true. You can tell if you’re belly breathing if your stomach moves in and out but your lower ribs don’t move much and the upper chest doesn’t move at all. Belly breathing gives a fuller breath than UCB. It allows partial use of the lung’s upper lobes and fuller use of the lower ones. It helps the blood become more fully oxygenated and allows the lungs to flush out any pollutants that have sunk to the bottom area. It also has the effect of massaging the stomach’s organs and can help with digestion. With regular use it may actually help with problems like indigestion, constipation, heartburn, etc.

But belly breathing is not perfect. First, because it doesn’t open the upper ribs, it doesn’t make full use of the upper lobes of the lungs. Second, it doesn’t center on the one muscle designed to work your lungs, the diaphragm. It pushes down on the abdominal organs. They have to go somewhere, so they push the stomach out, usually to the front and sides. This can actually give rise to a “middle-age spread” long before middle age, or to a “beer belly” even though you don’t drink beer. Still, this is a particularly good way to build up that “fire in the belly,” and strengthen the feeling of courageousness.

Diaphragmatic Breathing

The diaphragm is the largest muscle in the body, looking like the top of an umbrella, separating the chest (under the ribs) from the abdomen. With diaphragmatic breathing this muscle contracts below the lungs as the lower ribs expand to the sides and the muscles open up the lower back. This results in a slight vacuum within the lungs, causing air to rush in. To exhale, the lower ribs and muscles (including the diaphragm) contract, pushing the air out of the lungs.

This allows the lower part of the lungs to fill fully with air without pushing the abdominal organs out of place. It’s great for doing certain types of breathwork, including yoga, because to be successful with it requires a straight back. You really can’t do this hunched over. It’s good for posture and for clearing the mind. It cleans out the lungs, allows you to get a fuller breath, and massages the abdominal organs in place. Classically trained singers often use this type of breathing or do a modification of it called “full body breathing.” In this type of breathing you actually do diaphragmatic breathing, but imagine that you are breathing all the way down to the toes. As you exhale with your entire body you get a strong foundation that supports your vocal “instrument.”

The Complete or Magickal Breath

When doing diaphragmatic breathing, the upper ribs do not expand, preventing you from using the entire expanse of the lungs to their fullest. This is resolved with the complete breath, also known as the Magickal Breath. Most people do not use this all the time, so by focusing on this you bring your consciousness to an awareness that something special—something magickal—is taking place. Most people are unfamiliar with it. So rather than talk about it, the easiest way to explain it is to describe it.

1. Sit or preferably stand with your back straight.

2. Take a deep breath by whatever way is normal for you and expel all the air completely. You may want to do this a couple of times.

3. With the breath still expelled, move your shoulders back so they are straight from left to right.

4. Slowly and consciously begin to inhale. As you do, allow your upper chest to expand.

5. Continue the breath, allowing it to move lower in your lungs. Allow your ribs to expand out.

6. Continue the breath, allowing it to fill the lowest part of your lungs. Allow your stomach to expand so there is room for the air to totally and completely fill the lungs.

7. Hold the inhalation for a moment.

8. Without contracting the ribs, bring in your stomach, exhaling your breath.

9. Repeat steps 6–8 for the duration of the magickal breath.

10. When you are ready to end this work, simply exhale, allowing the ribs to contract, and return to your normal breathing pattern.

Using the magickal breath may feel quite strange and difficult during your first several experiments. You may find that certain muscles—especially those of the sides, lower back and the diaphragm—will become sore. With practice, that will fade away. As you can see, it’s complete because it uses the entire lungs and appropriate musculature. It’s magickal because it’s a great way for doing breathwork that will build magickal energy.

The Four-Fold Breath

On of the most popular ways to use the breath to build energy is with the four-fold breath. The concept is simple:

Inhale to a count of four. Hold for a count of four.

Exhale for a count of four. Hold for a count of four. Repeat.

The count can be fast or slow, whatever works for you. If you have difficulty, you can change this to inhaling and exhaling for a count of four while holding (after both the inhale and exhale) only to a count of two. The idea is to consciously regularize your breathing pattern. For me, I have found that this is primarily good only for more meditative work.

However, if you perform this within the context of the Magickal Breath—doing the four-fold breath during step nine—I’ve found a practitioner can quickly build up magickal energy that can be directed for any magickal purpose.

Give these techniques a try and see how they work for you. Please use the comments to let readers know your results.

If you have other ideas about breathwork, you can share them in the comments section, too.

1) Every night, as you fall asleep, repeat silently to yourself, “I will remember my important dreams when I awake.” This “programs” your unconscious to remember your dreams.

2) If you awake during the night and recall a dream but would rather go back to sleep, take a tissue or piece of paper, ball it up, and throw it into the middle of the floor. As you do so, tell yourself that it will remind you of the dream you just had. When you see the paper in such an unusual position after finally waking, it will trigger a memory of the dream.

3) When you do get up in the morning, record your dreams right away. Jot them down. Even if you are, uh, desperate to go to the bathroom, write something—anything—down on your pad of paper first. Transfer this—and expand on it as you remember more of the dream(s)—to your dream diary.

4) Record something in your dream diary daily. Make it a habit by doing this daily for a minimum of three weeks. Regularly doing this “programs” your mind to be better are remembering dreams.

The Content of Dreams

When you dream (and everybody does dream), one of four things may occur:

1. Astral Work. When doing astral work, you are learning lessons toward your spiritual, psychical and magickal development as well as practicing these lessons. This occurs on the non-physical level commonly called the “astral plane.”

2. Psychological Messages. Many times your unconscious mind needs to tell your conscious something, but your conscious refuses to or is unable to listen. In some dreams the unconscious sends a message, in symbols, to the conscious. This is a basis for one aspect of Freudian analysis.

3. Play. The mind, at rest, may wander aimlessly and meaninglessly, sending any sort of beautiful or bizarre pictures to your conscious.

4. A combination of the above.

The Dream Diary

If you have never kept a diary of your dreams, you will find that it is easy. Simply get a pad of paper and leave it with a pencil or pen by your bed at night. When you first wake up in the morning, write down what you remember. If you remember nothing, the entry in your diary may read: “I did not choose to remember my dreams,” and that is okay. At first you may only remember a small amount, perhaps only one event or feeling. Within a month of steady practice, you will have trouble keeping your entries to less than a page.

Also, obtain a nice blank book or binder with blank paper, lined if you prefer, into which you should transfer your abbreviated notes from the bedside pad. Unless your handwriting is very legible, print your entry from the pad of paper by your bed into the new book. This will take a little longer, but in years to come it will be much easier to read. Be sure to date each entry.

As an alternative, you may wish to keep a computerized dream journal. You should still transfer the information from your pad to the computerized journal on a daily basis.

In a paragraph above I wrote about reading the diary in “years to come.” This overview attitude is quite important. Do not, at this point, try to analyze each dream. Chances are at this time you will not be able to tell which of the four types of dreams mentioned earlier you are having. It is also unlikely that you will be able to interpret their individual meanings. Instead, look for repeated images or changes you find between recurring dreams or dreams with recurring themes. Please, please, please stay away from all of those ridiculous “meanings of your dreams” books!

Let me give you an example of how this diary can be important for you. One of my students had frequent dreams of being chased by soldiers and running and hiding. She had dreams such as these several times a month, and would wake up in a cold sweat, terrified. For her, the dream was a version of events which actually happened to her in her early life.

But after practicing some of the protection rituals from the lessons in Modern Magick, her dreams, she told me, began to change. She no longer would hide and almost be discovered and raped. Instead, she would make her escape. For her, an old mental block which manifested in a fear of men and sex was broken down. Her relationship with her boyfriend improved as she felt more secure. This was represented by the change in her recurring dream. Similarly, you may be able to see positive changes occur in your life by being able to observe the changes in your dreams over time.

Note: The above has been adapted from the

forthcoming third edition of Modern Magick,

available soon.

Over the years I’ve had several computers and worked with dozens of computers. I was even a computer assistant instructor at USC a decade ago, teaching both Windows and Macintosh, the Microsoft Office Suite, plus drawing, video, and 3D animation applications.

The thing that’s really amazing is how technology has advanced. I now carry in my pocket a computer that’s literally hundreds of times more powerful than that first kit I built. The computer in my pocket is called an iPhone.

Compared to the total number of cellular phones that are available, the number of iPhones in the real world is actually quite small. And yet I’m surprised at the number of them that I see around. When I was recently giving workshops at the Pantheacon convention in San Jose, California, it seemed like half of all the phones were iPhones. So I’m going to guess that many of you reading this either have an iPhone or are planning on getting one.

Like all “smart phones,” the iPhone has lots of computer applications or “apps” specifically designed to run on it. I have games, photo editing tools, tools for working around the house, an application that lets me scan the UPC on something and compare prices in stores near me and on the internet, psychology tests, information on virtually every prescription drug available, astrology programs, and lots more.

I’m a Tarot Geek, Too!

Besides being a computer geek I’m also a Tarot geek. I own dozens of Tarot decks and have reviewed many of them for Llewellyn’s Encyclopedia. I’ve studied the Tarot for years and was awarded the title of Certified Tarot Grandmaster many years ago.

I like to plan out when and where I’m taking my cards. I don’t carry a deck everywhere. Inevitably, however, I’m asked to give Tarot readings. Without a deck that’s difficult to do. Luckily, as the commercials say, there’s an app for that.

In fact, if you go to the on-line store for iPhone apps, there are close to 200 Tarot apps. My favorites are from a company called Garlic Software for a couple of reasons. First, each has nine different types of readings, not just one or two. Second, these apps are clear, elegant, and easy to use. Third, unlike some of the others that seem to have been just thrown together, these are well thought out, as if they are a second generation of Tarot apps designed by people who care about what they’re doing and are professionals. And finally, there is the art. Unlike other apps that are mostly copies of the RWS (of varying quality), each Garlic app uses one of three artistically spectacular and highly practical for real work decks. The three apps are available separately and feature the Fairy Tale Tarot, the Mystic Dreamer Tarot, or the Mystic Faerie Tarot [I've linked them to some additional information about the traditional forms of the decks].

If you have an iPhone, and would like to get direct information on these apps, here are the links:

The Fairy Tale Tarot App …… The Mystic Dreamer Tarot App……The Mystic Faerie Tarot App

Or maybe you have other Tarot apps you prefer or would like to recommend for the iPhone or other smart phones. Please share them with our readers by leaving a comment.

This is an important concept to understand. Karma is a natural law. A simple description of the law would be that if you drop a stone into a still pond, waves will come out from where the stone struck the water. Those waves are not positive or negative, they simply are. This means something rather startling:

There is no “good” karma or “bad” karma, there is only…karma.

Karma is not a system of punishments and rewards. For there to be punishments and rewards there needs to be some source—sometimes referred to as the “lords of karma”—to determine whether you should be punished or rewarded, and how much you should be punished or rewarded for any particular action. However, there is no individual, no council, no power source that does this. The idea of such a body, as far as I can tell, was invented for a game originally published three decades ago for use on computers such as the Commodore 64 and the TRS-80.

So why is there karma if not to punish and reward? It is to educate. It it to turn our consciousness to the concept that helping others has the advantage of helping ourselves and that cooperation is better than competition.* It’s to bring into our hearts that living an altruistic life is a good thing, mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. The purpose of karma is to help you develop spiritually. Theoretically, when you learn to be a completely spiritual person and adopt spirituality to a level where it is virtually a part of your very essence, then you will cease to need to live in the laboratory of life and not need to reincarnate (although you may choose to do so).

Errors, Errors, Errors

So why am I discussing this today? It’s because of a post I read on another site. Normally, I credit other sites when I comment what others have written, but I’m choosing not to do so today because the poster is presenting information that is simply in error.

The poster gets into the idea of “negative” karma which is completely false. As I wrote above, karma is simply karma. It is to educate you on ways to improve your life. And that’s what is heavily missing in this other blog. The writer discusses “fixing” your karma. Sorry, your karma isn’t broken. The fact that you’re interpreting the results as being negative for you shows that, indeed, your karma is working perfectly and as intended.

He writes that you can change your karma rather quickly. However, he is talking about “instant karma” and seems to assume that this is the only type of karma there is. Actually, there are at least two other types of karma (karma from past lives and karma from earlier in this life).

His technique for overcoming negative karma is to do something good for someone else. But note what is happening: you are told to do good not because you have learned that helping people is a good thing, but simply in order to fight your so-called negative karma. Respectfully, this is neither the purpose of karma nor will it really be effective.

Well, it’s a bit more complex than that (isn’t it always?). Karma is about actions, not intentions. So if you start doing good and helping others and continue with these practices, you will have a better life. You may not advance spiritually—the purpose of the learnings you should get from karma—but things will go better for you.

He also suggests that if someone does something to harm another (he calls it “insulting”), you should do nothing. He says you should neither act nor speak out against that harm. On a personal level, I’m not so spiritually advanced that if I witness someone attempting to rape a woman or harm a child that I’m going to ignore it. I’ll act, and act quickly, even if I do have to experience more karma as a result. So be it.

However, I would contend that to not act against something bad is virtually the same as doing it. Helping a person who is doing something harmful to others to realize the impact of what they’re doing is positive. It’s not forcing them to do something against their will.

Finally, he suggests (I’m not kidding) that you can get rid of “negative” karma by crawling on the ground. He claims that it “resets” your brain and your “emotional tone.” Well, it may do that, but that has nothing to do with karma.

Here Come the IROBs

I don’t know how much training this blogger has ever had in the study of karma. The only source he gives in the post is the Course in Miracles. One of the interesting things about the internet is that you can be an IROB (”I Read One Book and now I’m an expert!”) and your blog post, although filled with errors, may seem to have as much authority as someone who has studied a subject for years and is an acknowledge expert.

To readers of this blog, please remember the words of Dion Fortune: There is no room for authority in occultism. Before accepting what some occultist (including myself) writes or says. Check it out for yourself. In this way you can avoid mistakes and being taken in by the IROBs.

.

.

.

*Saying that “cooperation is better than competition” should not be taken to mean that competition is necessarily bad. Competition to make better products, for example, can result in products that are better in quality, lower in price, better for the user, better for the community, and better for the world. Competition can drive people to exceed the limitations they put upon themselves and become better at school, at work, as parents, at creative projects, etc. It is competition based on the concept of  simply wanting to overcome and destroy your competitors that is the problem. “Friendly competition,” where competitors try to improve what they’re competing over rather than trying to harm the business of their competitors, is actually a form of cooperation.

Of course the question is, what do I mean by “specific?”

One meaning of being specific in this context includes focusing on your precise needs and wants with the goal. “$100 by March 31″ is more specific than “Some money soon.” But there is something else that can be added to make goals more specific: you.

It’s valuable to put yourself right into the goal. How will you feel when you achieve your goal? What will you see? What does it feel like? What does it smell like? For example, if your goal is a car, how will you feel when you get it? How will you feel when you drive it? What will you see when you drive it? What does it feel like to sit in the car? What does it feel like to drive with the windows open?

Years ago I was giving some classes on magick. We got to a point in the  class where the assignment was to design and perform a ritual to obtain a practical goal. I’d like to share the experiences of two of the people in the class so you can learn from them.

John was desperately short of money. So he performed a Kabalistic Mental Magick technique that I taught. Part of this was to involve yourself with the goal. So he visualized himself surrounded by money. He saw himself touching it, smelling it, working with it. He made one error. He didn’t include the concept that it was his money.

He ended up getting a job as a bank teller. Every part of his magick worked, but he didn’t get what he really wanted. It took him much longer to get out of his financial situation than he had wished.

Marlene was a divorced real estate agent who was ready to get back into a romantic situation. She had seen a man she was attracted to. “Can I make a talisman to bring him to me?” she asked.

Well, just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should do something. I told her that such magick was ultimately a bad idea. You’d always worry that the only reason this person wanted to be with you was because of the ritual. “Besides, how would you feel if someone you couldn’t stand did magick to force you to be attracted to him?”

“So I can’t do anything for love?” she asked.

“Just the opposite,” I replied. “You really don’t know much about the particular person who attracted you, but there are certain qualities he has that interest you. So it would be fine to make a talisman to draw a person to you with all of the qualities you’re looking for. Be specific. How tall should he be? What should his interests be? Make your list as complete as possible. The result is that if someone with those qualities is looking for a partner, they’ll be more likely to find you. You’re not forcing anyone to do anything against their will. You’re basically sending up an astral flag to let someone who is looking know that you’re looking for a person like him.”

Marlene lit up at the idea of making a list of all the characteristics and qualities she wanted in a man and conscientiously worked it out, designed a talisman, and charged it. The very next day, literally, Adam walked into her office. He was virtually the living embodiment of her list. They started dating, moved in together, got married, and are still happily together more than 20 years later.

As I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts (such as this one), there are many variables in magick, so I can’t guarantee success with any particular ritual, spell, or magickal act. But the more specific your magickal goals are, the more likely you are to have success.

Witchtalk is part of blogtalkradio, so you can hear it over the internet anywhere on earth. “Now with more than 14,000 listeners, Witchtalk is one of the most popular shows on BlogTalkRadio. With the sole intent of helping people understand and have a contact with Paganism and Witchcraft, Witchtalk brings you the best occult personalities right into your ears. This is not a radio show – this is something else!”

There are two ways you can actively participate. First, go to this link when the show starts and listen live. While there you can even enter the live chat room and text us questions or comments. The host, Karagan, will read your questions on the air. Or secondly, you can actually call in and talk to us directly at (718) 664-9228.

The subject I’ll be talking about?

“This time will be about the mystical Judaic doctrine called Kabbalah. Although its origins are rooted in deep antiquity, from the time of ancient Babylon, the wisdom of Kabbalah has remained virtually hidden from humanity since it appeared more than four thousand years ago. To this very day, only a few know what Kabbalah really is. For millennia, humanity was offered a wide variety of things under the name “Kabbalah”: spells, curses, and even miracles – all except for the method of Kabbalah itself. For over four thousand years, common understanding of Kabbalah has been cluttered with misconceptions and misinterpretations.”

I hope to hear from you this Sunday. Please call in or text us a question or two. However, if you can’t make it the show will be recorded and will stay on that page forever, so if you miss it on Sunday you can always either download it later or listen to it later on the page (”stream” it)  by playing it there.

“It is not unusual for magical practitioners, especially beginners, to lose faith in magic…

“Maybe you cast a magic spell and your life hasn’t made the 180 degree turn you were hoping it would make…

“So maybe you start losing faith in magic, miracles, impossible dreams. Maybe you start thinking that ordinary life is all there is, the daily grind, day in and day out.”

Joel believes it’s a “crying shame” when you stop believing in magic.

“Why? Because every time someone (that’s you) stops having faith in magic, stops doing daily magic rituals, a little more magic dies in the world. A little magical flame gets blown out. The critical mass of belief that allows magic to exist on this planet shrinks a little more. Magic becomes harder for the other beginners out there to practice.”

That’s pretty strong stuff, and really very poetic. I would like to add that there is another major cause that results in people losing their faith, belief, and knowledge that magick really does work. It’s called “logic.”

Philosophy

When I got my BA in philosophy from UCLA, a major focus in the philosophy department was what’s called “formal logic.” Formal logic is a method by which you “translate” the words of a philosophical problem into mathematical symbols and then use certain rules (with names like modus ponens and modus tollens) to manipulate the symbols. This is called a “formal logic argument.” At the end of the argument you reach a conclusion that is translated back into common language, giving you a solution to the philosophical problem.

Or at least it’s supposed to.

It turns out that an argument can be figured quite correctly, following all the rules, and the result can be in error. Likewise, the argument can be faulty and the conclusion can still be correct. Formal logic itself is a tool, not an answer, although many logicians might disagree.

Further, the rules can be misapplied by people of even a scientific bent. Here is the example I like to give:

Situation One:

Chemistry Student: “Professor, my chemistry experiment failed. I didn’t get the expected result.”

Chemistry Professor: “Well, you must have made an error in the way you worked the experiment.”

—AND—

Situation Two:

Chemistry Student: “Professor, my experiment in magick failed. I didn’t get the expected result.”

Chemistry Professor: “Well, that proves magick doesn’t work.”

False Logic

I see this attitude, this “illogical logic,” all the time. There are two reasons for this. First, the metaphoric professor felt fine in his logic because he didn’t realize that he had a predetermined mindset that prevents him from believing in magick.  He only believes what he knows and, perhaps surprisingly, doesn’t realize that this predetermined mindset has the result of keeping him closed minded to other possibilities. Time and again I see people who claim to be open minded suddenly close their minds to anything that really challenges their belief system.

Are you such a “professor?” Do you have doubts about the reality of magick? It’s not just losing faith in magick that prevents it from working, it’s also not accepting as a fact that magick works.

Does this mean that magick is really all subjective and that it’s all in the mind? Not at all! If you have an ailment and are treated by a doctor, if you don’t believe his or her knowledge, drugs, and skills can help you, it can delay or even prevent your healing. Having the right mindset is a part of healing and a part of magick.

The second common reason for disbelief in magick is not understanding a basic scientific principle: actions (magick) should always produce the same results under identical conditions. With magick, those conditions are far more varied (and temperamental!) than in mere chemistry demonstrations. For example, you also have to consider such things as the phase of the moon and the weather.

Why Does Magick Have to be so Darn Difficult?

Magick really isn’t difficult. It can be complex because of all the variables going in, but if you think linearly (what are the beginning variables, control them, then move step by step, etc.), it’s not that complicated at all. The variables—especially before performing a ritual or spell—are greater and more subtle because you are dealing with more than just the physical plane. You don’t worry about the weather for most chemistry experiments.

Plan ahead and take your time. Even go so far as to write down the order of everything you want to do so you don’t leave any step out. Magick really isn’t that difficult.

But because magicians aren’t aware of all the variables, it’s not uncommon for a ritual or spell to fail or only partially succeed. At this point, follow the obvious logic (the experimenter—you, the magician—must have made an error) and not the illogical logic (that magick doesn’t work).

This is where your ritual diary comes in. Record what you did, including all of the subtle variables: Do you have a lot of energy? What’s your mood? Where’s the moon? What is the time? What day of the week is it? etc. This record becomes your true Book of Shadows, your personal grimoire. As you record your successes and failures over time, and then later review your observations, you’ll learn how best to work with all of the variables. For example, are you more successful when it is raining or dry? You can only answer this by performing magick several times under both those conditions and judging your success rate after the desired result occur (or fail to do so). That should give you one clue as to the best weather conditions to perform a ritual or spell.

Finally, another problem is that people often don’t put a time frame on their work. By what date, specifically, do you want something to happen? If that’s not a part of the ritual or spell, how will you ever know if it is working?

As Alan Joel writes:

Don’t give up five minutes before the miracle happens.