Magic … undoubtedly one of my most favorite topics in the whole world. A topic that inspires me to pour another cup of tea, make some vegemite on toast, get all cozy in my chair and let the inspiration flow
You and I, all of us, we are all magicians, it’s just some of us do it consciously and others are oblivious to the power they wield every day. People in the later category unfortunately can fall prey to those ‘in the know’ who have learned how to harness other people’s ‘magic’ for their own ends.
So what is magic? Similarly we can ask, “What is Tao?” because magic, true magic, is the lifeblood of the Universe; the glue that ‘binds’ it all together.
Let me suggest that magic is the intentional act of creation.
How did life become distinct? How did the 10,000 myriad things arise out of the primordial soup of the ‘mysterious mother’?
Let me suggest once more it was through the coalescing of universal energy into the form designated by intention.
Consider the act of casting a magic spell. How is it traditionally done?
Here is the basic formula:
Energy + Intention = Magic
So how do we ‘raise’ the energy required to perform magic?
Firstly we all have our own personal quotient of energy.
Humans are naturally endowed with prenatal and postnatal energy. Prenatal (before birth) energy is your inheritance from your mother and father plus your own ‘spark’ of universal energy. Postnatal (after birth) comes from the air you breathe and the food/drink you consume. The combination of prenatal energy and postnatal energy gives you an absolute powerhouse of rich, vital energy.
Prenatal energy is non-variable. What you start with is what you start with … period. Postnatal energy is however quite variable. Better quality air, food, and water give you more energy, and of course the vice versa is true.
It is also important to note that we can lose energy. In Taoist terms we lose energy via the “5 Thieves”, i.e. our five senses. Indulging in the distractions of our senses saps and drains our energy like nothing else.
We also ‘lose energy’ through the formation of artificial constructs of the mind. What I like to call ‘Psychodiverticuli’. These are psycho-energetic conglomerates within our personal energy field created through social conditioning. These are our abstracted beliefs, addictions, and personality features that are ‘diversions’ away from the pure, natural, unconditioned awareness of our new-born awareness.
We lose energy through these Psychodiverticuli in two ways:
• they siphon energy away from the main flow of our life force forming ‘pockets’ of artificial or contrived psycho-energy,
• indulgence in or over-association with these Psychodiverticuli drain our energy because it is through these pockets of artificial consciousness that we lose energy to the 5 Thieves.
You can also lose energy through ‘giving it away’ to others, having it forcibly taken from you, and, if you entertain the notion of spiritual entities, you can have your energy ‘eaten’ by said spiritual entities.
Now for the good news.
You can build or increase your energy.
The easiest option is clean, life-abundant air, food, drink etc. On top of this you have the treasure-loaded traditions of Tao, because you have available to you the full spectrum of Taoist cultivation arts. Arts like:
• Nei Tan, Internal Medicine,
• Tai Shi, Internal Breathing,
• Tao Yin, Energy Channeling, etc, etc.
Now some may argue that we can never ‘gain’ more energy then we have already, and that these practices merely open your awareness to what is already there. Regardless of the technical details, the bottom line is that these practices do in fact bring more energy into your conscious awareness and control.
One of the primary benefits of Taoist arts is that they are in my experience the most effective way of dissolving the above-mentioned Psychodiverticuli, releasing back into the ‘main flow’ the relevant diverted energy and fundamentally removing the instigators of the 5 Thieves.
So consuming high-grade postnatal energy and practicing Taoist cultivation equals the multiplication of one’s available life-force.
Other ways to build energy for magic:
• Summoning elemental forces,
• Gaining the assistance of non-organic beings.
So now we have gathered a mother-load of energy. Now what?
Remember the formula: Energy + Intention = Magic
Intention comes from the Latin tenet and tenere meaning to “stretch” and “hold”, or “to cause to maintain.”
Intention = to cause to maintain (!!)
Consider this quote from Theun Mares in “The Return of the Warriors”:
There is a mysterious force know as intent which exists throughout the entire universe. It is this force which brings about perception, for it is intent which, firstly, aligns the energy fields, and secondly, causes awareness of that alignment.
Intention = to cause a perception of the world and maintain that awareness.
In Taoist terminology intention = Yi. Consider this time-honored Taoist formula:
"Where the Yi goes, the Qi goes; and where the Qi goes, the Jin follows"
Yi = Intention
Qi = Energy
Jin = Physical being
When we cause and maintain a perception of the world that is where our available energy will ‘go’ and our physical reality will automatically ‘follow’ in perfect resonance.
How then do we train and direct intention?
Once again I give grateful approbation to our Taoist arts for not only do they escalate our energy quotient but they also aid in the act of handling intent. Hence we have arts like Yiquan, Taijiquan and the like. Also we have:
• Chun Shih, visualization or concentration, and of course,
• Fu Jyeo, Secret Talismanic Characters, Words and also Invocations.
The images we maintain in our minds and the words we use are the primary directors of our intent. If you want to change the physical reality of your life then change these primary directors.
All rituals, all spells, all talismans, all invocations, all any type of magical workings are there to focus and maintain intention.
In fact the very act of stringing the magical symbols of letters together to form a word to encapsulate an intent was one of the earliest manifestations of magic. Why do you think we still call it spell-ing?
And so we arrive at what I might refer to as a true (or at least a ‘very good’) definition of magic:
The creative application of images and words to cause and maintain a perception of the world that directs the flow of personal and universal energy in order to manifest the intended physical reality.
Edited by Stigweard, 28 December 2008 - 08:08 PM.