Regular Practice

I’ve always had difficulty establishing a regular practice. This has caused me an undue amount of stress in my magical career, as the most common advice I got from more established magicians was always “have a daily practice,” or at the very least “meditate regularly.”

I still don’t meditate, and perhaps I would benefit from it, but I have managed to build a daily practice for myself. I have noticed a significant change in how I approach magic, how I plan for it, and how I integrate it into my mundane life.

Honoring the Ancestors

As part of my daily ritual work, I give offerings to my “ancestors, protectors, and allies,” which includes my father, my grandparents, and the man who acted as a mentor to me as I delved into the occult world. There are some problematic elements to that practice: My grandmother’s abuse has caused lasting trauma in three generations of my family, my grandfather was heavily critical of my mother for being friends with a woman in an interracial marriage (and allow my sister and I to play with their children), and my mentor continuously pushed me toward racist, sexist, and homophobic attitudes.

There’s a lot of cruel and problematic behavior packed in all that, yet I still include them in my regular practice. I also honor ancestors that came before them, who practiced various forms of Christianity that upheld systems of racism, colonialism, and oppression. A lot of other pagans have had difficulty dealing with ancestor veneration because of this issue, and I know many that refuse to engage in the practice at all.

The Law of Attraction is Garbage

I’ve never met Oprah Winfrey, so I cannot attest to her actual personability or character. But the negative cultural effects of her show are pretty apparent, and the fact that culturally and journalisticly she is shit takes precedent over how nice a person she may actually be.

I’m old enough to remember her blind promoting of the Satanic Ritual Abuse conspiracy theories. I got to watch her create the creature that is the not-really-a-doctor Dr. Phil and the damage he inflicted upon the public’s understanding of psychology. I witnessed her inflict the snake oil salesman that is Dr. Oz on the world. People are literally dying because of the boost she gave to antivaxxer nutjob Jenny McCarthy. Oh, and she introduced us to the nonsense of The Secret.

Discerning Sources and Authors

I have a master’s degree and several undergraduate degrees. I do a lot of research on ancient ritual technology, as well as the history and anthropology of religious movements. I’m not trying to flex on anyone or brag about my extra special academic credentials, but to emphasize how important accurate and vetted source material and strong scholarship are to me and to my religious and magical practice. Discernment is important when considering any source, as well as the biases and training of the author presenting that source.

And sometimes I make mistakes and but shitty material from shitty people.

Ready Made Spells

There are occasions when a spell needs to be cast on short order and it may be appropriate or plausible to raise energy to launch it. Quick defensive measures, emergency sigils, or healing spells are just a few of the situations I have encountered where it is difficult to raise the energy or maintain the focus to perform magic. Because I am first and foremost a chaos magician, I considered what lines of thinking I could adopt to approach the problem, and came up with some methods to prime or “pre-cast” spells or sigils.