Post No. 620 - Magickal Maturity

When we were children, probably most of us - certainly not all! - were able to trust to our parents and leave important things like providing shelter, food, clothes, etc to them. However, as we grew up - i.e., matured, we took on that responsibility and started to need to do things like find a job so we had money so we could do the sorts of things our parents had done and we had taken for granted - pay the rent and bills, have money for food and clothes, and so on.

We took on more of the task of sustaining our wellbeing and living.

Magick is like that.

As beginners - i.e., magickal children, we tend to do things like use prayers for protection, and maybe develop a fundamental philosophy that "everything will be alright in the end", or everything is inherently good. Then, as we mature, we start to do things like close our own aura instead of relying on others to do that. If we progress far enough, we develop the capability to work with energy, and thus clear negative energy that could have adversely influenced us, rather than relying on others to that for us (a bit like doing our own housework, instead of relying on parents, whether they be Mum and Dad, or Mum and Mum, or Dad and Dad, or Mum, Mum, Dad and Parent, according to one's family situation).

Thus as we become more proficient, we
   (a) free up others to do other work (or even something for themselves), and
   (b) come into our birthright (and duty) of being self-reliant, capable adults.

There comes a time when that extends beyond just the personal.

Just as some people take on caring for others in the physical, whether that be family, friends (our family of choice) or even perhaps strangers (e.g., caring professions), as others mature magickally they may take on caring for others magickally - again, as they mature, that caring moves from personal connections to a basis of need, which introduces caring for strangers.

I've often thought that the naive view of Guides, Manu's and Deities is idealistic, whereas the reality is that it more like move up a hierarchy in a good business - one without the back-stabbing and sniping, one that has good leadership and a genuine dedication to a worthwhile goal (not just making money), a place that is apparently rare in Australian workplaces according to this news article. This sort of maturity is reflected by the change when employees stop expecting management to do things for them, and start to understand that providing/doing things costs money, and that there is therefore a balance or trade-off between security of employment and perks - which is a balance that the USA gets wrong, in my opinion, and that European businesses are better at (in my experience, Australian businesses are generally somewhat immature, and thus inclined towards the US approach, at the moment, with a few extra problems - and benefits - of their own: there are better exceptions, of course, everywhere - and some that are worse, everywhere).

I was reminded of this with a recent work trip. It was supposed to end of Wednesday night, but wound up being prolonged because of a storm that shut down Sydney airport (an airport that is a truly dreadful place in my experience, where the likelihood of being harassed, abused and discriminated against by petty tyrants is much higher than other places - and I've found the airport industry generally is a place that does not accept difference and actively discriminates against minority groups in the name of security theatre - and generally, security measures here in Australia are more invasive than I'm happy to accept, to the extent that I have changed how I live - e.g., I never take personal amulets with me, gave up wearing bangles, and no longer travel with medicines I need [such as Ventolin] or put them in "checked-in" luggage [e.g., insulin]) for several hours. As a result, I missed a connecting flight, and the airline I was flying with had to put me up in a motel (where more problems occurred, and I will be taking issues to pre-emptively address those now as well).

I got home 24 hours later than I was meant to - which was good, in a way, as it showed that the airline industry is doing things correctly in terms of not flying through storms, which has caused accidents with large loss of life in the past, and is - up to a point - being responsible for passenger welfare. The experience will lead to me being more pre-emptive in travel planning, and taking other steps, such as planning for longer delays (I already plan for at least an extra night).

In terms of magick, however, I will now plan for my protection work to extend beyond only interpersonal exchanges and dealing with the psychic sewers of airports and modern commercial aircraft to also look at things like weather - although I have an immense caution about attempting weather magick, as there is incredible potential for things to go wrong, possibly elsewhere, out of sight or immediate knowledge.

This more mature approach to magickal management of my life is something I've been working at for decades. It isn't easy - especially in matters such as psychic attack, where I've had to learn strategy as well as tactics, rather than just bump the problem entirely to my BPLF Guides - although I still use that from time to time (e.g., if tired, overwhelmed or insanely busier than usual). This latest episode is just one more example of that learning process.

It is, by the way, well and truly worthwhile - after all, who wants to go back to being a helpless, dependent child when they can be strong and capable on their own?

[1] BPLF = Balanced Positive (spiritual) Light Forces. See here and here for more on this.

[2] Please see here and my post "The Death of Wikipedia" for the reasons I now recommend caution when using Wikipedia. I'm also exploring use of h2g2, although that doesn't appear to be as extensive (h2g2 is intended - rather engagingly - to be the Earth edition of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy").

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr, Wéofodthegn 

(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear"; ... aka Bellatrix Lux … aka Morinehtar … Would-be drýicgan or maga ... )

My "blogiography" (list of all posts and guide as to how to best use this site) is here, and my glossary/index is here.

I started this blog to cover karmic regression-rescue (see here and here), and it grew ... See here for my group mind project, here and here for my "Pagans for Peace" project (and join me at 9 PM on Sunday, wherever you are, to meditate for peace), and here for my bindrune kit-bag. I also strongly recommend learning how to flame, ground and shield, do alternate nostril breathing, work with colour, and see also here and be flexible. 

I am a Walker upon the Path of Balanced Positivity, seeking Spiritual Maturity.

• neither eloquence nor inarticulateness inherently indicates correctness;
• Gnwmythr's Stropping Strap: Occam's Razor only works if  the simplest solution is actually recognised as being the simplest, rather than the one that best fits one's bigotries being labelled 'simplest'.
• Our entire life experience, with all the many wondrous and varied people, places and events in it, is too small a sample for statistical reliability about Life.
• May the world of commerce and business be recognised to be a servant, not a master, of the lives of people.
• Being accustomed to interacting via certain rules makes those rules neither right nor universal.
• Like fire to the physical, emotions to the soul make a good servant, and a bad master.
• The means shape the end.
• As words can kill, the right to freedom of speech comes with a DUTY to be as well-informed, objective and balanced as you can be.
• My favourite action movie of all time is "Gandhi", although I've recently come across "Invictus" and might put that one in to that category. However, I loathe the stereotypical action movie - and, for similar reasons, I loathe many dramas, which are often emotionally violent, more so in some cases than many war films.
• All of the above - and this blog - could be wrong, or subject to context, perspective, or state of spiritual evolution ...

Human dignity is the inherently cumulative holistic combination of human rights, wellbeing and potential, and all actions or interaction which promote, realise or facilitate same. The converse also applies: whatever degrades, diminishes or robs humans of dignity, is inherently undignified.

Gnwmythr

The “purpose” of spiritual evolution is not the attainment of “spiritual perfection” - not in the sense of not having to evolve further, at any rate, since there is no such thing. We need to evolve in order to grow - but we can take rest breaks (hopefully well earned :) ) along the way. No, the “purpose” of evolution is, rather, to perfect our ability to learn, and thus grow.

Gnwmythr

Jesus loves you. Odin wants you to grow up.

(Facebook meme, according to John  Beckett)

We make our decisions. And then our decisions turn around and make us.

F.W. Boreham

Females, get over 'cute'. Get competent. Get trained. Get capable. Get over 'cute'. And those of you who are called Patty and Debby and Suzy, get over that. Because we use those names to infantalise females – we keep females in their 'little girl' state by the names we use for them. Get over it. If you want to be taken seriously, get serious.

Jane Elliott

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing.

(based on writing by) Edmund Burke

We didn't inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we only borrowed it from our children

Antoine De Saint-Exupéry

True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.

John F. Kennedy

Tags: immaturity, magick, maturity, personal responsibility, protection, Psychic attack, psychic development, Spiritual Maturity, weather magic,

First published: Fryrsdagr, 5^th December, 2014

Last edited (excluding fixing typo's and other minor matters): Friday, 5^th December, 2014

Post No. 205 - Taking action or not, plus vengeance and other thinking

This started off as a quick little post to prompt a little thinking ... maybe. It's grown a bit, but ah well - enjoy :)

Now, when I was helping to run the Shrine of Crystal Web for the Correllian tradition (pre-split), I would occasionally pose - after due consultation with my co-Guide - a topic for debate. One of them was: - at what stage does one start practising control of weather when things are going in ways that one does not wish?

Now, there are a few subtle aspects to this - and some not so subtle. For a start, it assumes that the person making this decision has some ability to influence weather :) (There was a discussion on weather witches on the Druid Journal website a couple of years ago: sadly, I find that site a bit hard to navigate round now, and don't go there as much as I used to. Still it may be worth trying to track down. On a personal note, I find it interesting how my birth mother, who lives on 10 acres in the recently flooded Lockyer Valley in Queensland, would find rain almost always seem to happen when her water tank was low ... [it's currently overflowing, and she hasn't been able to get out and see what has happened to her dam]. maybe - despite my aversion to crediting genetic stuff - I have inherited some of that weather control ability ... I once drove to a friend's home and, jokingly, said "let's keep it clear for me, please" and found the rain stopping just before me and starting behind me all the way to my friend's town.)

Going back to the more subtle aspects, the basic concern is that, if you do something such as cause rain to fall in one area, you may cause a shortage of water elsewhere. If - Goddess forbid! - someone with the ability to control the weather was to indulge something as superficial as indulge a liking for sunny days, they could cause massive droughts ... hmmm ... OK, 'fess up: who did it? (Actually, in some seriousness, I will be posting at some time in the future about how our thoughts and feelings can contribute to large scale effects: I might have to consider this as part of that post ... adds to the debate on climate change,. eh?) This is also an aspect that is of concern for (most of) those scientists who work with cloud seeding (but see here).

More importantly, from my point of view, if one who can influence the weather does so, and thereby contributes to "first world" (and some developing world) humans continuing to live an excessive, consumer-driven, materialistic lifestyle, is it actually being irresponsible by allowing people to ignore their personal responsibilities?

It can be very hard for someone such as myself to see trees that are struggling - dying, even - and do nothing or little in order to try and promote people living in a way that is more responsible, more in harmony with the world of nature. I'm also aware of events such as a storm here a few years ago where tres had been weakened by a few years of drought, and then were blown over by a storm bringing winds from an unusual direction [the trees had "braced themselves", in a sense, against winds from the "normal" direction, but had a root system too weak to cope with the change of wind direction] and a storm a couple of decades ago in the UK where allegedly some strong, negative person had deliberately set out to destroy trees [which could happen, as far as I am concerned: I just don't know enough to comment on the actual storm] by creating an usually violent storm. On that, I was interested to read recently that NASA has found some thunderstorms can create antimatter - see here.)

The debate in the Correllian Shrine went, if I recall correctly, along the lines that if trees are being harmed, it is time for those who can to take action. (On the Druid's Journal blog, I think the debate went the other way, with most people urging caution.) If I was in a third world or developing country, I would go along with that (in fact, I'd probably take action earlier to save lives or reduce the impact on health of starvation or food shortages from crop problems), but in developed nations, I am still not convinced ... we have a long way to go in terms of changing our lifestyle to something that is sustainable (and dealing with greenhouse gas/climate change issues is only the start!)

Now, on the terms I've used, please see:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_world;
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developed_nation;
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_world; and
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developing_nation.

Talking about thinking, I've posted recently about "AFL girl". Well, it seems like she is starting to think more about what she is doing - see here and here.

If i take a step back to have an overview of this whole situation, it may be that she has lessons to learn on not making assumptions: she appears to have expected something as a result of sex that the footy player concerned didn't. And, of course, neither party seems to have thought of the possibility of pregnancy, so possibly both share the responsibility (blame?) for her getting pregnant. This leaves me curious: what did she want or expect? It seems she wanted more than just sex ... (BTW, see here.) Keep in mind that BOTH sides clearly have faults ... (e.g. see here).

What does she want now (other than an apology)? She has been very open about wanting to "get something out of this event" - for instance, she has mentioned money through book deals. On the topic of the apology, is that because she expected the AFL or the footy player to look after her because she was pregnant? Or ... did she expect the footy player to become her boyfriend and she wants an apology because he didn't (that could be justified if she had a reasonable expectation of that from the situation she was in, and the conversations the two of them had held - footy players don't get off scott-free simply because they are footy players from morals, ethics and karma)? It seems she may think the AFL have a policy "banning" sex with those under 18. As the age of consent varies, and is generally less than 18, that doesn't seem likely. In any case, she was there too, and she is not making any allegations of rape ... So, what does she want an apology for, exactly?

This issue also raises the issue of communication: "AFL girl" says her having been treated badly is "obvious". Well, no, it isn't obvious to everyone. She would, in my opinion, help her case by saying exactly in what way she has been treated badly. I've found commentary in the media on the vindictive behaviour she claims to have received earlier, when she was trying to do something about being pregnant: is that vindictiveness what she wants an apology for?
(I am also aware she could think everyone uses Facebook/Twitter. That is not so, and, if she does think that way, would constitute another lesson for her.)

On the aspect of vengeance, who started this - AFL girl, or the people giving her a hard time when she was pregnant? It's a bit like the Middle East, where the cycles of vengeance and conflict for generations brings to mind Gandhi's comment that "an eye for an eye only makes the whole world go blind".

The Middle East, and many other such situations, are complicated and not easily resolved (and I have posted on this previously - see here and here, for instance). However, the Middle East, "AFL girl" and considerations of communication raise the issue of truth - which is something that has been described as a jewel with many facets, each facet representing one person's take. (I was originally going to post on the Mavi Marmara incident with respect to truth being a multi-faceted jewel, but time got away from me so I abandoned that idea.)

Finally, one personal perspectives, this story (see here) raises a few issues: who does this drongo think he is? Does him being French give him the right to assault people? Get real, moron! I'm pleased he has been charged.

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

This post's photo is yet to be posted.

Tags: personal responsibility, responsibility, weather magic, climate change, environment, communication,

First published: Thorsdagr, 13th January, 2011

Last edited: Friday, 14th January, 2011 (added this link)