#greatermagic

[noauthorityonlygob]

Me starting rituals: I'm going to be low-key about this. No biggie.

Me now: *long black cloak, red horn hood, pointing a sword at picture* OPEN WIDE THE GATES OF HELL AND COME FORTH TO GREET ME AS YOUR BROTHER AND FRIEND!

[secrets-of-a-sp]

Magic over Time

A conversation came up recently about how our personal relationship to magic evolves over the years. Here’s my experience.

When I was in my late teens and early twenties, my emotions were more volatile (though I've always been relatively grounded). At that time, I really appreciated and utilized ritual as a release. As I've gotten older, my needs have changed. First, I've come to take more of a laissez faire approach; when someone does something to provoke me, they're usually not worth the time and energy of even a figurative destruction. Second, I have accomplished more of what I want out of life, and more is within my control. I’ve mentioned in a past post why ritual is most effectively used in situations outside our control. For those reasons, my need for greater magic has declined, or at least my need for destruction, lust, and compassion rituals. At the same time, I feel bare without an element of fantasy in my life. Sometimes I can fulfill that need by losing myself in a great work of art, such as a bombastic symphony or dark movie. Sometimes I can fulfill it by flexing my own creative muscles. But still, I feel drawn to ritual. Because of the shift in my needs, I'm more likely to partake in ritual outside of the destruction / lust / compassion tradition, and it is often informal and spontaneous. For example, something I do more regularly is a sort of fortifying ritual - focusing and magnifying my will to increase my confidence and power, sometimes generally and sometimes around a specific situation. I also appreciate ceremonial magic to commemorate a milestone or change. I think there is a utility in regular greater magic practice, as long as ritual does not become rote or a compulsion. I know people in other magical practices who practice magic compulsively, or as mechanically as memorizing vocabulary or visiting the gym. Compulsiveness turns magic into superstition, and regular magic for magic's sake removes the emotional impact that makes it successful.