We Have a Winner!
Congratulations!
I’d like to thank all of the people who entered the contest for a free quartz crystal pendulum. There were so many great entries. Many were fascinating. Some had great ideas. A couple had some hilarious statements. A few were puzzling to me and some were too long. I personally read through all of the entries and finally came up with a winner.
The person who will receive the pendulum is Leo O. Leo’s entry was a fascinating way to use a pendulum to design a type of sigil. It was highly creative and original. Right now, the free pendulum is on the way to Leo. Showing the international nature of the internet, Leo lives in Mexico. Congratulations, Leo!
And More Congratulations
It’s certainly no secret that we are currently in challenging economic times. It seems like many businesses are closing every day. This is especially true for many metaphysical, new age, and occult shops. Not only is the economy challenging, but there is also the challenge of discounted books and supplies that can be found on-line from organizations with no dedication to our community and no “bricks and mortar” stores to support.
I am delighted to report that a new store has opened. The Green Man, on Lankershim in North Hollywood, has plenty of on-street parking and is just down the block from the North Hollywood Metro Station. It’s of moderate size and delightfully open and well lit. They had their grand opening on Saturday and I was pleased to see a large number of people coming in and out…and buying things! They had a nice selection of common necessities as well as some unique items. Too many stores have “the same stuff” you find at all of the other shops. If shops want to be successful I really think they need to have special offerings.
They have plenty of room for classes and workshops, as well as a more private area for readings and Reiki treatments. They also have room for rituals. In fact, they have an area for outdoor rituals in the back of the shop, too. Even better, the “wall” between the indoor ritual area and outdoor area rolls up, so they can have a really large public ritual area if needed. Right now their web page is just that, a single page. However, I expect it to grow along with the store.
I strongly urge readers to support local stores. If you’re in “NoHo,” stop by and say hello. They told me they actually want people to come in and just “hang,” and they will always have some tea available. I hope to be giving some workshops there in the near future.
And If You’re in So. Cal…
My next appearance is going to be at a new festival here in the Southern California area. It’s being held in Ojai August 6-8. It’s called the Los Angeles Harvest Festival. I’m giving two workshops. One is on the different types of magick done by the Golden Dawn. The other is on the real secrets of chakra charging.The festival is only $30 for the weekend, a real bargain. For info on my workshops you can visit my website, www.modernmagick.com. You’ll also find out about me, what I’m doing, and my writings.
And Speaking of What I’m Doing…
I’ve been staying up waaaaay too late going over the “proofs” to the new edition of Modern Magick. I get to see what it looks like and make last minute changes before it goes to the printer. The editors have done a great job and I’m getting more and more excited as I go through it. Over a year’s work is finally coming to fruition like…er…magick! You can find out more about it on my website and you can also pre-order it here. It’s just weeks away from being real.
In the new edition of the book, now with 12 chapter for a full year of development, I suggest that you should spend at least one month with each lesson. Here is an excerpt on why I suggest you spend that much time:
WHY DO I GOTTA…?
“A month? You expect me to study just one lesson a month? Why? I could be waaay beyond that by now. Why can’t I just go as fast as possible? Why do I gotta…?”
Hold on a minute there, Speed Racer! Modern Magick is not just a course to read. Well, I suppose you could do that if you wanted to, but unlike other books that have the aim to teach you about magick, the purpose of these lessons is to help you become a powerful magician.
Many of the techniques given in this book need to be memorized so that you can forget about the technique and throw yourself into the practice. In other words, the practice needs to become a habit.
In 1960, Dr. Maxwell Maltz published Psycho-Cybernetics: A New Way to Get More Living Out of Life. Maltz was a plastic surgeon who observed an interesting phenomenon. He saw that it took about 21 days after an amputation for a patient to develop the “phantom limb” sensation, a feeling that there was still a limb where the amputation had been and that it was hurting, aching, itching, etc. He derived from this that it took three weeks, 21 days, to install a new habit.
The thinking behind this is that to install a habit we have to bombard our brains for this length of time—without an interruption—to produce the new connections and energy/information flows within the brain that will break an old habit and/or establish a new habit. If there is an interruption, you have to begin the 21-day period of repetition again.
I do not know if this is exactly what happens for one main reason. Although I believe that the brain (the grey stuff between the ears) is linked to the mind, I’m not sure they are the same. If they are not, then changing the brain may or may not change the mind. For evidence to support this, scientists have mapped out the brain, and although a section of the brain attributed to a certain behavior may be damaged, the person can still either perform or re-develop that behavior.
If we assume that the brain is not the mind, is there any evidence that it takes 21 days for the mind to develop a habit? Maltz discovered that if he worked with patients wanting plastic surgery, giving them positive visualizations to focus upon for three weeks, it would alter the patients’ mind set and many would go so far as to cancel the surgery.
This may have been achieved simply because Maltz wanted it to happen so his patients complied (one aspect that leads to success with hypnotherapy). Whatever the cause, this three-week rule has become a standard theory in behavior changing work.
I figured I could give you a week to get the basics of any lesson going, and three weeks to practice, turning rituals and techniques into habits. During that time, I hope you will also further your study of the materials in the lesson. So yes, you “gotta.”
