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09/22/2004: "Folk Magic Workshop #4 - Florida State University C.P.E. 1991"
Workshop #4 - Folk Magic - by Cypress Knee
(preserved notes from my class I taught at Florida State University CPE)
Fall 1991
Workshop 4 - Folk Magic
Magic - is within you - It is you. It is the Craft of the Wise - whether it be that of Witchcraft, Shamanism, Druidism, Ceremonial, or Christian. When you work magic you weave the unseen forces into form and explore the occult - "the hidden knowledge" of the hidden reality. It is the craft of shaping - your will, your mind, and your being. It is the actions of love, wisdom, knowledge, and is the senses of exhilaration, inspiration, power, and adventure. It is both harmless and dangerous.
It often works in ways that are unexpected and difficult to control. It is not a simple process nor a difficult one and it does not confer omnipotence. Saying a chant, waving a wand, and scattering some herbs do nothing in and of themselves but appear curious. But when you put your forces of trained awareness behind these actions, you come up with a powerful cause and effect situation.
To learn to do magic is a process of reprogramming your brain. Just like learning to play a musical instrument - you are dealing with processes that involve the development of new pathways for neurons to follow, requiring practice and patience, which when mastered is an emotional and spiritual channel for great beauty. You are taking magical energy from another plane of existence that exists within our plane of existence - but in an invisible form - hidden because of our left brain. Magic opens the doors of the mind for creativity and the subconscious. To be effective with "magic", one must get into the right brain - the creative side of the mind and be able to operate uninhibited by your logical left brain.
The dominant side of our brain is the left, that which keeps control. It is primarily the conscious mind with what we call "reality" or this world (our plane of existence) - it is the side that says something is so or not so, that which makes us feel guillty, stupid, or dumb, that which criticizes us on everything we do. Now the right brain is the creative side of the brain. It pertains entirely to what we call imagination or the other world of plane of existence. It is the artistic side, the visualization. It is the powerful belief formed in this area of the mind that contacts the deity energy pools and creates manifestations.
To use this side we must reprogram our minds and eliminate all the old messages of failure and dissatisfaction recorded there.
This can be done by the language of the old belief - the tongue of magic that is expressed in symbols and images. Images bridge the gap between the verbal and nonverbal modes of awareness - they let the two sides of the brain to communicate, arousing the emotions as well as the intellect. This is why we use spells. Spells are symbollic acts done in an altered state of consciousness - in order to cause a desired change. You are projecting energy through a symbol. It is with these symbols that are mistaken for the spell - "Burn a green candle to attract money". Some say the candle itself does nothing, it is merely a correspondence - a lense, an object of focus, the "thing" that embodies our idea. Props are great - but remember it is the mind that works magic.
Certain plants, rocks, objects, shapes, colors, scents, and images work better than others to embody particular ideas. Correspondences between colors, planets, metals, numbers, plants, and rocks make up a great body of magical lore and in fact actually has particular attributes, properties, and causes that relate to your proposed action.
In Folk magic belief, the most powerful spells are often improvised out of the materials that feel right or simply happen to come to hand. When we do a form of magic, we must physically, emotionally, and spiritually become that attribute. If we want to heal, we must become a healer, the one who is healed, the energy of healing. To attract love, we must become love. This is where spells come into play. Spell casting is the lesser, not the greater magic. Spells are extremely sophisticated psychological tools that have subtle but important effects on a person's inner growth and may actually highlight hidden complexes within the self. If one has conflicts about success they will have difficulty concentrating on a money spell. Discovering these inner blocks and fears is the 1st step to overcome them. They allow us to listen to and interpret our unconsciousness as well as to speak to it. In its own mother tongue.
Symbols, images, and objects used in spells communicate directly with your yournger self, which is the seat of our emotions and which is barely touched by the intellect. We often understand our feelings and behavior - but find ourselves unable to change them. Spells let us change ourselves. To cause magic you must also have development of your will or your character, honesty, self-discipline, committment, and conviction. In a way, magic works on the principle that "it is so because I say it is so!". A sachet of herbs acquire the power to heal, not only by physical or chemical nature, but because you say it does. you create your own reality. You have to be honest to yourself and those around you. For your words to take effect, you must be deeply and completely convinced that it is indentified with truth as you know it. If you habitually cheat, lie to your lovers, steal from your boss, pilfer from markets, renege on promises, you cannot have that conviction. This is why white magicians are much stronger than the black.
If you don't have enough personal power to keep committments in your daily life, then wielding magical power will also be different. To do magic - you need the basic belief in your ability to do things and cause things to occur. If you say you will finish a particular job by wednesday and do so, you have strengthened your knowledge that you are a person who can and will do what you say you will do. If you let that job go till Friday, you've undermined that belief. Of course life is full of mistakes and miscalculations - but to a person who practices honesty and keeps committments "As I will, so mote it be" is not just a pretty phrase, but a statement of fact.
With the symbols and images you implant certain ideas in your younger self, in the unconscious mind which influences you to actualize these ideas. For example: A woman who makes a money sachet to get a job, does the spell correctly, is assured of its success. She is filled with new self-confidence, approaching her interviews with assurance, and creates such a good impression, she is hired. But spells work on the external world as well. Perhaps the job hunter "just happens" to walk into the right office at the right time. The cancer patient, without knowing a healing spell has been cast on him, has a spontaneous remission. This is the side of magic difficult to explain. Everything is an entity of energy. The physical world is created by that energy. If we cause changes in energy patterns, we in turn cause a change in the physical world - when our own energy is connected and channeled, it can move the broader energy currents. Our magical symbols are the channels, the vessels through which our power is poured and by which it is shaped. When energy is directed into the images we visualize, it gradually manifests physical form and takes shape in the material world. However our emotion is a strobe light, our directed energy a laser beam - no matter how much hate, jealousy, and rage we project at someone - you will not esoterically affect either their physical or mental health - although you will affect your own. Even our concentrated power is a small stream compared with the vast surges of energy surrounding us. So the most adept magician cannot be successful in all his/her magical rites because the opposing currents are too strong. As John C. Lilly stated "It is all too easy to preach", go with the flow, the main problem is identifying what the flow is, here and now."
Magic teaches us the flow, and to decide whether it is going where we want to go. If not, to change it or deflect it, or to change our course. This is where the energy climate comes into play - and is a matter of intuition and experience. The planets, moon, sun, and stars influence the subtle energies the strongest - subtle power increases as the moon waxes, so the time of the waxing is the best for spells involving growth or increase. When it is full - it is best for workings of culmination and love. Waning - power subsides and turns inward - best for banishing, binding, and discovering hidden secrets. Adapt your magic when doing it when if feels right. Because energy, pursues the path of least resistance. Natural results are more easily achieved through physical actions than by magic. Its easier to pick up a bowl with your hand than to magically try to levitate it. No magic will bring results unless the channels are open in the material world. A job spell is usually useless unless you go out and look for a job.
