In my previous three posts (HERE, HERE, and HERE) I described an easy way to astral project, why astral travel is important and how to do it, and the concept explaining why performing astral magick can be very powerful. In the last post I wrote, “it’s possible for us to prevent ourselves from achieving our magickal goals by unconsciously countering our magick.” I would contend that this is the primary reason magickal rituals and spells that have been performed well and should be successful end up failing. This was understood many years ago by Aleister Crowley, but he presented this understanding in a very sexist way.

As we look back at some of Crowley’s comments from our perspective today, he made some very sexist comments. He also made racist and antisemitic comments. However, to brand him based on those comments isolated from the social norms he lived in is unfair. Were he alive today and he presented those opinions, he would absolutely be considered a sexist and a racist.

And Then There’s Maude

Recently, I saw an old episode from the mid-1970s of the TV show Maude. In it, the main character, played by Bea Arthur, and her daughter Carol, played by Adrienne Barbeau, were strong feminists. Yet, in the episode I was watching, they were debating whether Carol should accept the advances of her boss in order to get ahead at work. Then, the discussion was about leading-edge feminism. Today it would not only be seen as giving in to sexism and a sexist boss, but the approach would be illegal. Things have changed over the past 40 years.

Our concepts concerning what is and what is not about people’s rights evolve over time. For his time and culture a century and more ago, Crowley was a feminist for civil rights. I’m inclined to think his attitudes would be different were he alive today.

One of the things I did in Modern Sex Magick, was to reject one of his sexist concepts.

In my book I describe how he wrote that when performing sex magick (and he writes from a male perspective), you should use a woman for this without even telling her. Yes, this is presented in a very sexist manner. However, I don’t believe the sexism was based on a “women are to be used” mentality. Rather, I believe the reason he suggested this was because, due to the sexism of his era, he assumed the woman was untrained.

If a male magician tells his female partner, “I’m going to do sex magick” and she didn’t tell him to buzz off, she’d probably start asking lots of questions: How can I help? What should I be doing? Am I doing this right? What should I be saying? What should I be thinking? What should I be visualizing? and perhaps many more. After the magick is performed, she might ask, Did we do it right? When will we get the results of the magick? Did I mispronounce something? Should I have done something else? What do we do now? Do we need to do the magick again? etc. In my book I wrote there are currently many women who are trained in magick and sex magick, and it is probably better to work with someone who is trained. If she is not trained, rather than using her for magick without her knowledge, I asked why not train her in magickcal and sex magick practices? If she’s trained and can add her energies to the rite, the effectiveness could be much better. I would add that this is true no matter your gender or the gender of your partner(s).

Still, if we remove the sexism and generalize the situation, we can see what happened. As I wrote previously, the physical acts we do on this plane—the rites, rituals, and spells—are reflected in the astral plane. They end up creating on the astral plane and whatever is created there must manifest here. That is, we have successful magick.

The thing most teachers don’t seem to mention is that this process is going on 24/7. All of the energy focused on answering those questions, or just worrying about them, sends energy and intent to the astral plane that counters your magick. One of goals of training the mind, then, is to prevent focusing on anything that might counter your magick.

Here’s the example I like to give: A man gets up and spends fifteen minutes doing a ritual to bring money. Then, he eats breakfast while looking at piles of bills wishing he had more money. He thinks about winning the lottery or at least having a better job. At work, he tells his friends how broke he is and tries to borrow a little money until payday. At home, he looks at more bills that came in the mail. He wants a better job, a better place to live, some extra money, and more. That’s why he did magick for more money.

At the end of the day, he spent 15 minutes doing magick to obtain money and three hours focusing his energy on not having enough money. He puts that all onto the astral plane and he gets exactly what he unknowing worked for: poverty. His conclusion, of course, is that magick doesn’t work. In fact, it worked perfectly—he just didn’t understand it.

Crowley had a similar situation. He was broke and living in Sicily. He did a ritual to obtain enough money to pay the rent. He then immediately took his children and went to the store, treating them all with his last money to some ice cream, sure that the money would come. Indeed, he got the money for the rent, and more.

Avoiding Unconsciously Countering Your Magick

So let’s assume this model is accurate. How can you possibly avoid all of those questions. Could I have done something better? Should I have done something differently? When will I achieve the goal of my magick? Should I do another ritual to further the energy I’m sending to achieve the magick? and on and on…

The solution I have is a simple one. Make a record of your magick in a diary and give the date by which the magick should occur. Every day, check the calendar to see what should have occurred by that date. Before the ritual, pick a word that represents the goal of your magick. Any time you start thinking about the ritual in any way before the date, start repeating the word until you “drown out” any questions. Just know that the magick will work.

On the date you have chosen, for the first time since the ritual, go back and look at the results. Did you succeed fully, partially, or not at all? Now is the first time you should analyze what you did right and what you could do better.

Follow this pattern and watch your magickal successes improve.

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My Next Webinar

Sunday, August 18, 2013
12:00 PM – 3:00 PM Eastern)
(9:00 am–Noon Pacific)

—Magickal Self-Defense—

I presented this webinar to people around the world earlier this year. Later, so many people wrote and called saying they didn’t know about it in advance or couldn’t attend at the specific time, we decided I should present it again.

What it’s about: The history of humanity is filled with examples of hexes, curses, evil eyes, and magickal or psychic attacks. Although many perceived spiritual assaults are unintended, imagined, or even self-induced, one of the consequences of the growth of modern occultism has been the increased potential of planned, magickal assaults. In this live online workshop-webinar, I’ll share practical techniques to prevent, detect, and rapidly overcome magickal attacks of any type. This is invaluable information for individuals and groups.

Register for this Webinar

This is not a recorded presentation. It will take place LIVE. You’ll see my slides on your computer screen and hear me talking through your speakers or headphones. You’ll be able to ask questions directly either by typing them in or speaking to me over your microphone. I’ll be able to answer them immediately.

How to participate: You and people from all over the world can participate simultaneously. So far, we’ve had people from across North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. However, the number of people who can attend is strictly limited by the software, so I would urge you to make sure you have a guaranteed place by registering as soon as possible. Simply click on this LINK and fill in the form.

I hope to talk with you next Sunday!