I really want to write another Intention vs Will post. It’s just so damn difficult to discuss some things if I don’t understand the readers frame of reference. I could just explain things how I do them which may be completely meaningless to most readers and possibly confusing to even those who would understand it.
Curse of being too eclectic I guess.
Which leads me to wonder. Should I just select a frame of reference that is near universal so the most people can get what mean?
I always wonder how many really get what I try to convey over this form of communication and those that kinda get it but just like it.
I try to give enough examples from different systems (Hermetics, chaos, Yoga, chi Kung, ceremonial, breath work) but I feel like I kind of have to say sometimes, “Put it all together!” Once you do you can realize magick, hell, even life is easy. It’s all here for *you* to experience, to grow, to become a god.
But then I think, fuck that sounds too new agey or woo.
Same thing as intention. It can manifest change. Just not at the bullshit fluffy bunny levels. When you can really be at one, and truly feel as if the whole universe is within you, intention does work change on the universe.
Which is why magical training demands purification. If you were not ready and expanded and tapped into ALL, then some shitty intention can manifest with great ease. If you are fairly trained you can still get some dumb or goofy manifestations (recently manifested a cassette tape of AC/DC’s back in black. Literally handed to me and was told “I bet you would like this)
So, ya. Idk. Thoughts?
This makes me think of a meditation I did recently on the Universe card from the Thoth deck. In that meditation the snake spoke to me about how nature wants to have intercourse with humans in order to create magick. The feeling I got was, “hey man, if you’re here to make love to creation then it’s here to make love to you.”
And there’s so many ways to do that, so many paths you can choose to follow. Frames of reference that you might use. Various trips you might go on. It’s all part of the journey which is the experience of tapping into ALL.
I want to address what I believe to be @justinbthemagician’s central question of intent vs. will before I too far into my own ideas. I believe intent is a idea, a proposition that one affirms, usually about an action or pattern of thought. Will then is a mental and/or spiritual force that empowers us to manifest that intent. I believe intent is closely related to goals, or desired outcomes. I believe will is closely related to focus, attention, and endurance. Both intent and will can be cultivated or practiced. One can practice being aware of one’s intentions and can train themselves to select what they view as optimal or maximally right intentions. Will is cultivated through mediation and disciplines like Yoga. The cultivation of will aids in the manifestation of intent, magically or by mundane means. (Love the ACDC tape story!!!)
To me the central idea becomes that spiritual development is possible and you have a lot of potential inside of you. I’m at a point in my practice where a good portion of what I’m doing is getting out of my own way. I have structure and a system of follow (shout out to the Hermetic Christians doing the Great Work in its various forms) but I’m also doing a lot of body work, finding the tension in my body, which totally impeeds my practice. learning more about Qigong, and just my own energy in general.
For a while I felt very trapped in the elemental grades of the GD system. I’m not a member of a lodge, but I have a rough idea of where my self tutelage has taken me. I felt like I’d never get close to adepthood. I had to come at it from a different direction. I was so focused on attainment I couldn’t see or appreciate my growth. Insead of training a spiritual warrior king, I started growing sacred a tree in my heart. It was hard for me to let go of some of my desires for attainment, for that was the first step in getting out of my own way.
You guys seem to be making a great deal of sense to me, so I have to ask a question. Do you practice group magick?