To end, inhale slowly and deeply through your nose. Pull in your stomach muscles, pull up on your perineum, and clench your anal sphincter. Hold for a moment, then exhale. You will feel a powerful surge of energy. Take several deep breaths to end the practice. You may find your body tingling and buzzing, which is completely normal.
Andrew Weil’s 4-7-8 technique combines cyclical deep breathing and retention of the breath, resulting in a very deep state of calm relaxation. I’ve taught it to people for years with uniformly amazing results. It is my go-to breathing technique when I am stressed, panicky, or anxious. If you have trouble falling asleep, please try it and thank me later.
Do seek out Dr. Weil’s description and videos of the breath because he adds a number of nuances, but in brief:
Sit with your back straight. Exhale loudly through your mouth. Then, with your mouth closed, rest the tip of your tongue against the roof of your mouth inside your front teeth. Inhale deeply to the count of four. Then hold your breath while counting to seven. With your lips pursed, exhale (you should hear your exhalation as a whoosh) to the count of eight. Repeat three more times for one cycle.
You can spend a lifetime studying breathwork and pranayama, but please consider learning these two simple techniques. You can easily find instructions and videos in books and online.
Nature Bathing
Forest bathing, or shinrin-yoku in Japanese, is the practice of immersing yourself in the natural world. It is a cornerstone of alternative health and wellness in Japan, where it was developed in the 1980s and where its many practical health benefits have been studied and measured. And it’s utterly simple: find a wooded natural area. Go spend time there, wandering, with your senses and consciousness relaxed, open, and aware.
You don’t need to travel to a state or national park, either. A local city park, arboretum, or even a quiet garden will work.
Forest bathing doesn’t just benefit you physically. It is a remarkable boon to your magic. Starhawk compares spending time in nature to eating your green vegetables, and she’s absolutely right. You can’t be completely healthy and whole if you’re cut off from the energies of the natural world, so you need to set aside the time and stick to it. Even if it’s only ten minutes, do it.
Descreening and Unplugging
I have always been a technophile. As a kid I loved the original Star Trek TV series, but I never believed I’d someday be carrying a communicator and a tricorder in my pocket. It was too science-fictiony. We may not have made it to other planets, but we sure got the toys.
Of course there is a terrible downside. We see it every day—humans walking along the street or standing in line or riding a bus utterly lost in the little rectangles of plastic and glass.
Don’t be one of those people.
Learn to unplug. Set a time—two hours before bed or even a whole day once a week. Pick up a book. Invite friends and play a board game. Turn your phone off (not just to vibrate) and do your daily shinrin-yoku.
Better yet, learn to be aware of how often you pick up your phone for no good reason other than boredom or out of habit. Then force yourself to not pick it up. Extend those periods of awareness. Look around you instead of staving off your need for gratification. Pay attention to the people, the conversations and noises, the birds, the clouds, the colors and shapes and shadows. What are you missing when you mindlessly scroll through Facebook status updates or tweets? Life is scrolling by, too, often with its own important updates.
Become mindful of your use of technology. Take back control and become its master, or it will master you.
Food and Movement
Diet and exercise (groan!). You knew it was coming.
My advice is pretty simple. Eat more plants, including green leaves, and fewer animal products. Learn to cook—there is magic in food and cooking, as any kitchen witch will tell you. Eating processed food is okay once in a while, but it should not be the basis of your diet.
Eat widely, varying the colors, textures, and tastes of your foods.
I noticed an enormous increase in my magical energy, intuition, and psychic senses when I gave up eating mammals and fowl while only occasionally eating fish and seafood. I had always been drawn to the concept of vegetarianism, and it was very easy for me to stop eating meat. I’m not vegan (though I eat plenty of vegan meals and have nothing against it), but when I have a serious magical working on the agenda, I avoid all animal products for at least the day before (if I’m not fasting).
I’m convinced that a shift toward eating more plants and fewer animals is a boon to magical practice. But we’re all physiologically different, so trust your intuition and what your body tells you. If you do eat meat, try to get humanely raised, organic, hormone-free varieties and sustainable, wild-caught fish. The brutal horrors of factory farming and concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) leave dark, toxic psychic residue on the flesh of the animals—you don’t want to be ingesting that stuff, trust me.
Explore herbal medicine as an alternative or adjunct to allopathic medicine. As you become more magically adept, you will become more attuned to plant energies, making herbal medicine much more effective.
And, yes, you need to exercise. That doesn’t mean you need to join a gym or become a runner if that’s not your thing. The best way to get regular exercise is to become a person who walks. Unless you have a disability, walking is an exercise option available to everyone, and it doesn’t require membership fees or equipment other than a decent pair of shoes. It is also a way to connect with your local environment and its local flora and fauna, and it will generate the new experiences, serendipities, and synchronicities that are the joy of every magician. It is especially a good way for the introverts and screen addicts among us to leave our comfortable cocoons and interact with our world. Walks in nature are uniquely energizing and calming, but even walks in cities will open you up to the spirits and energies of various buildings, parks, and roadways.
Tai chi, yoga, and qigong are superb physio-spiritual means of keeping your mind and body supple, strong, and healthy, too, with plenty of added spiritual and magical benefits, and you can find classes just about anywhere.
Treat Your Body
The old saying is true: your body is your temple. Reward it with a visit to a spa. I try to visit a Korean spa once every few months. It’s especially great for attuning with the elements because it has saunas lined with wood, salt, amethyst crystals, herbs, and even a cold room rimmed in ice, as well as cold and hot pools. The more you can get your body in sync with elemental energies the better your magic will harness them.
Massages are worth saving your pennies for, as is time in a flotation tank. If you’re dirt poor, swap massages with a friend or partner.
If nothing else, try to sit for a few minutes a day in sunlight. It will help replenish your vitamin D, which many of us are deficient in. Many of us have become terrified of skin cancer to the point where we slather every inch of our skin in sunscreen and avoid the sun like vampires. Be prudent, certainly, but the sun is a spiritual entity as well as a ball of plasma and has been rightly revered since ancient times as the source of all life. Take some time to honor it and absorb its blessings.
And don’t forget sensuality and sex. Physical love can generate enormous amounts of magical energy (and it feels good!).
Party for Your Right to Fight
Balance your hard work with celebrations. If you’re a social person, throw a party. That can mean inviting a handful of friends to hang out or renting a hall and hiring a DJ. If you’ve been engaged in a grueling social or political campaign, reward yourself and your fellow activists with some music and dancing. Dancing, especially ecstatic dancing, is enormously regenerative.
If you’re an introvert, throw a party for yourself. Invite your dog or cat, pop a bottle of champagne, and order a pizza. Watch your favorite movie. Put on music and dance.
The road
of resistance is hard. It can be physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually exhausting. It is critical that you take the time to experience delight, whimsy, and, most importantly, joy.
Cultivate Joy
Those who are engaged in resistance are often hyperaware of injustice and oppression. It comes with the territory. And the lack of easy victories, and the frequently daunting odds against us, can be a recipe for despair. Despair, if allowed to fester, can literally kill you.
The antidote to despair is joy.
So work hard to discover what brings you joy. Is it making art? Going to see your favorite band or musician? Dancing at a festival? Swimming naked in the ocean or lying in a field under the stars?
It might be as simple as curling up with your favorite book and a cup of tea.
Whatever it is, find the time and do it. When you’re feeling lost, when you feel like the world is sliding into the abyss, when the politician you’ve campaigned for has been roundly beaten by a fundamentalist bigot, when the forest you spent months trying to protect is razed by bulldozers … do something to bring yourself joy.
Whatever it takes, and even if it seems futile, invite more joy into your life. If we all die tomorrow in a nuclear conflagration initiated by a deranged tyrant, wouldn’t you rather spend your final night with funny, interesting friends and a very attentive lover than waste it scrolling through strangers’ Instagram photos? Or worse, watching cable news?
Gratitude
It’s easy to lose sight of how fortunate we are. We would not be here, right now, riding the edge of time, if our parents hadn’t created us, and they wouldn’t have existed had it not been for a chain of love and sexual attraction stretching back to Africa hundreds of thousands of years ago. And none of them would have existed if our mother planet hadn’t given rise to microbial life, which evolved into the incredible diversity of the billions of organisms surrounding us. Earth would not exist if it were not for the beneficial fires of the sun, water carried from deep space by comets, and chemical elements forged in stellar reactors.
We are stardust, yet it’s so hard to remember that.
Aim to make expressing gratitude an everyday practice, even when you’re feeling despair. If you can’t feel gratitude to the universe or a deity, go out of your way to be gracious to the people around you, from your spouse to the guy behind the counter at a gas station.
There is a reason giving thanks is universal in spiritual traditions. It doesn’t just provide spiritual benefits and connections, it has proven positive physical effects, too.
Intoxicants and Entheogens
If you use intoxicating substances, strive to approach them ritually and with appropriate respect and caution. Alcohol can be medicinal and is an excellent social lubricant (which is why it is the most common drug used by humans), but it can also destroy lives when used indiscriminately or excessively. Only you can discover if it is an ally or an enemy, but if you drink, try to never do so unconsciously or habitually. And if you suspect you might have a problem, stop and find out. If you can’t stop, get help.
While cannabis can be a powerful broad-spectrum medicine and a boost to sensual and aesthetic pleasures, expanded consciousness, and creativity, it is a literal dream stealer—it limits your ability to experience REM sleep, which is when most dreams occur. So if you use cannabis, try not to use it daily, or if you do, make sure to occasionally take a few days off. As many daily stoners have noted, your dreams come back with a vengeance when you stop.
Dreams are important for spiritual development and are keys to hidden levels of consciousness and psychic abilities. They convey important messages. Don’t let regular cannabis use (unless needed medicinally) block you from receiving them.
Psychedelics, both plants and chemicals, have a long history in witchcraft and magic. They can be unparalleled tools for growth and insight but should never be used indiscriminately or casually. And they are not for everyone, or even most people. I have a simple rule: if you find yourself drawn to plant and chemical magic, do your research, make sure your materials are pure, and go slowly and with the assistance of experienced helpers. If you are not drawn to these powerful substances, don’t let anyone convince you to try them. And please use the utmost caution with plants traditionally historically associated with witchcraft, many of which are poisonous when ingested.
One exception is MDMA, which can be remarkably healing and therapeutic for many people when used intelligently and judiciously. It is no exaggeration to say that one experience with it, in the right circumstances and with the right people, can be the equivalent of years of conventional therapy—which is why it is currently (as of this writing) being used in trials for people with otherwise intractable PTSD. Unfortunately, it is illegal, which means it carries the risk of arrest and imprisonment. Illegality also means that without a proper lab to test it, one cannot be sure that what one is taking is pure MDMA or a dangerous fake.
My hope is that in a more enlightened future MDMA, psilocybin, and similar medicines will become available to people who need or desire them, perhaps in the controlled setting of spiritual retreats and with the help of qualified therapists. If you find this concept appealing, you may want to volunteer or make a donation to the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) or other organizations working to make that vision a reality.
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Chapter Nine
Preparation for Ritual
Magic requires preparation. You don’t just jump into a ritual—you need to prepare yourself physically, mentally, and spiritually.
Getting Clean: Cleansing and Purification
The link between physical and spiritual cleanliness is nearly universal in magic traditions. Preparation for spiritual work often required fasting or a restricted diet, avoidance of alcohol, silence, meditation, ritual bathing, and other cleansing practices. We see it in Pythagoras’s insistence on a vegetarian diet for his students, in proscriptions against sexual activity in ancient magical grimoires, in the Jewish mikveh, and among ayahuasca shamans who insist upon a very strict meat- and salt-free diet before their healing ceremonies.
Why this universality? There are all sorts of metaphysical explanations, but in short: because these techniques have been tested and simply work. Preparations like the above help set your focus and intention for the work ahead.
So while it is not absolutely necessary, it is helpful to begin all magic, including resistance magic, with a purification ritual.
Bathing
The most simple and effective preparation for magical work is a salt bath. Just run a hot bath and add salt—sea salt, Epsom salts, or special scented bath salts. Even plain old table salt works fine. One to three handfuls is usually plenty.
Light four tea lights and place them away from anything flammable at the four corners of the bathtub (or in the four cardinal directions if your tub is round).
You can, of course, buy or make your own special salt baths with herb sachets or essential oils. Be very cautious about adding essential oils to baths because some can cause skin and eye irritation. Do your research first and start with a tiny amount.
If you don’t have a bathtub, simply rub your skin with salt while showering.
Use the same visualizations whether you are bathing or showering:
Breathe deeply as you soak with eyes closed. As you inhale, imagine the water entering your pores and filling your body with light. As you exhale, visualize and feel the purified water exiting through your skin and pulling out all negativity, toxicity, and stress from within you. Repeat for several minutes.
You can also cup your hands full of water and release it over your head, shoulders, chest, and back. As the water runs down your skin, feel and see it washing away all negativity and tension.
Say a silent prayer of thanks to the universe or your deity of choice and ask for cleansing and blessing on the work ahead.
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After drying off, you can apply a special cleansing oil or lotion (see below).
Purifying Diets and Fasting
Fasting and dietary restrictions also help set your focus and attune your body and spirit. It can be as simple as refraining from particular foods (commonly meat or animal products) to fasting from food entirely.
The physical benefits of fasting have drawn increasing attention from scientific researchers in recent years, but it’s the magical aspects we are interested in. There are possible dangers, especially for anyone on medications or with health issues, so please talk to your doctor before you try it, and always start with a short period (say, four hours) before attempting a longer fast. And never attempt a dry fast (without water)—always stay hydrated.
I will usually refrain from all food for at least six and sometimes up to twenty-four hours before major spellwork. The bigger the spell, the longer I try to fast. The change in energy level and focus is dramatic.
If fasting is not possible or appealing, consider abstaining from animal products, processed food, sugar, and junk. Eat whole, unprocessed foods prepared simply.
One thing to keep in mind: it’s probably not smart to fast before heading into an unpredictable situation, like a protest, in which you may not be able to eat for a long time. Take a cleansing bath instead and have a big meal. Be smart and flexible, not dogmatic.
Oils
Anointing oneself (or another) with oil before magical work is common. My go-to is Hyssop Oil, which is easy to make—just add one part dried hyssop herb to three parts oil. After a few days, you’ll notice its pleasant vegetal scent, and the smell will only get deeper and more rich over time. You can use any oil, including olive oil (which has a long magical tradition), but some carrier oils, such as jojoba, apricot kernel, coconut, or almond oil, will last longer before developing an “off” scent.
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