If you’re reading my blog, you’re likely into the practice of magic or mysticism. These paths usually have a program to plug into and follow, but I’d like to talk about another undertaking one can take on that has nothing to do with magic per se, but can lend incredible value and transformation to your magical practice. I was reluctant to navigate around some of these ideas in a post, as these subjects can be like stepping around landmines that could go off and blow up in your face. So bear with me as I try to finesse around delicate subjects. 🙂

Personal Development

A many occultists may roll their eyes at the idea of personal development. New age is fraught with spiritual bypassing, and some have become incredibly frustrated with the Law of Attraction community that totes, “What you think is what you become. People suffering from poverty and disease are so because that is the state of their mind. I’m just going to think about becoming rich while I pass judgment on others suffering for the reality they created for themselves.” Hence personal development as a practice can easily get a bad rap and written off. Let’s take a moment to look under the hood, however.

Sorting through the different dimensions and aspects of metaphysical reality takes time to comb through. Anyone with the above attitude is an @$$hole. Moreso, it can be an ugly manifestation that stands at the entry gate and turns people off. This is not the gate of magic, with all of its own entrapments and allure, but the simple idea of improving oneself that has its own ghouls at the threshold.

Now, why should one be interested in personal development to begin with? Imagine the life you were born with is akin to inheriting a classic car from the early 1960s. It’s been sitting in a barn shed for decades, getting rusty, covered in bird poop, the tires now flat and the leather seats crackling at the edges. Your grandfather says this is the car you’re going to get, nothing else. He said anything you need to get from the mechanic or body shop, you can put it on his card, but it’s up to you to familiarize yourself with all its issues and spruce it up. You know you have an upcoming appointment hundreds of miles away to eventually get to and there is no other means of transportation. You’re going to have to work with what you got.

Similarly, in life we have a vehicle, ourselves, that may have features that hold us back and keep us from being our optimal self. Yet, underneath all the inherent issues that just came along with the car (incarnation), there is potential to drive a fantastic vehicle. If we take time to polish the car, get the oil changed, etc., we can then find ourselves in a vehicle that makes the journey to our future appointment all the more enjoyable and optimal. Personal development includes understanding your psychology, belief systems, emotional make-up, core life experiences, values and goals. It’s finding the “flat tires” of your earthly existence and giving it the time and effort to improve. At a baseline, it is optimizing how you exist within and interact with reality so you can start to expertly navigate the terrain, if not also thrive as you drive by fields with the top down and music up.

Attitude

What you see is what you get.

The happenings of life are inevitable. Victory and defeat. Loss and gain. Ease and friction. Health and illness. We are in duality and experiencing such. Your attitude can become one of your most valuable assets. It helps not only with normal life, but also in your magic.

Let’s imagine someone who is always in a state of self pity, blaming others for their woes and the perpetual victim. Or the person who compares themselves to others, their self identity entangled in jealousy. Or the person who believes the universe is always working against him. Or the person who thinks the only way to win in life is to cheat. Etc. etc. etc. These are negative attitudes that are running not only in the background, but running the show. They color how one views the world, but also severely hampers said individual. Not only on a personal level, but these negative attitudes can bleed out and impact those around you.

You can become aware of these negative attitudes manifesting, and in each moment they arise, “nip it in the bud” and change the narrative. These stories can be what you tell yourself by default or from prior experience. Our error can be deducing, “Well, it has always been this way, so it’s always going to be this way.” You shortchange yourself the chance for change. You are also allowing your neural pathways to follow a thought pattern that may hold you back emotionally, socially, psychologically, etc.

Changing one’s attitude can be difficult to begin with. There are often ugly thought patterns and emotions that are associated with them. It can be very uncomfortable to face these parts of yourself. First, sit with them and accept them. Don’t judge yourself. They already are. Acknowledge it for what it is, but realize you have the ability to change the narrative if you apply yourself. To no longer be subject to negative attitudes that hold you back. Surrender, accepting and embracing things can be transformative in and of itself. I’ve found Shadow Work (accepting and integrating your “shadow”) to be a key component in cultivating a healthy attitude.

Spirit

So far we’ve covered personal development and attitude. How does this feed into Spirit? One potent and constructive attitude is to be a problem-solver and results-oriented person rather than a problem-victim. Working with energy and magic can really bring forward the “As within, so without” saying. If you haven’t made friends with your shadows, they might come up and choke you out. A bad attitude becomes amplified and creates even more damage in your reality if you have the sparks of magical work to supercharge it. We eventually have to face and work through these aspects of ourselves. A proactive approach and keen inclination to refine one’s innermost self can radically shift the trajectory in your life. I’m not saying it’s easy, but it is worth it. At a baseline, your energy is no longer tied up in fighting against and struggling with yourself. You have now freed up a lot of psychic energy to apply yourself towards other endeavors, becoming less and less bound by hindrances that originate from within. As new things come up to work through, as they inevitably do, you now have cultivated experience to proficiently apply yourself towards new challenges. Having a useful attitude and having undertaken some personal development will further serve the activity and clarity of one’s Spirit. When the Spirit is refined, one then finds more opportunities in magic.

“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.”

Edmund Hillary (the first to reach the peak of Mt. Everest, along with fellow climber Tenzing Norgay)