Will, Love & Imagination

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“Magic is no more than the art of employing consciously invisible means to produce visible effects. Will, love, and imagination are magic powers that everyone possesses; and whoever knows how to develop them to their fullest extent is a magician. Magic has but one dogma, namely, that the seen is the measure of the unseen.”

                  — W. Somerset Maugham

Let’s break it down.

“Magic is no more than the art…”

Art is the “application of human creative skill and imagination…”

The creative skill part is what we practice, over and over, on a regular basis, so that the difficult appears easy, so that muscle memory takes over, and we don’t have to worry about thinking killing our magic.  The imagination part is all connected to what makes our magic unique.  It’s not just another dollar bill in an impossible location, but there is something unique about it, something that we have dreamed up that makes it unlike anything ever seen before.

“consciously invisible means to produce visible effects.”

I think this is all about making choices, conscious choices that are planned, prepared and practiced in order to create something that is seen by someone else, who has no knowledge of the planning, preparation and practice that has gone in. The participant is able to receive the gift of momentary astonishment because of the time and effort the magician has put in.

“Will, love, and imagination are magic powers that everyone possesses…”

Ah, three of my favorite things.  Will is all about the power of choice; it’s no accident that the prime words of the Magician in the tarot are “I Will.”  Love is the true expression of the heart, whether it is toward another living being, an experience, or a thing. Imagination,  “the faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images, or concepts of external objects, not present to the senses.”  To me, imagination is real magic.  We all have all three of these at our disposal.

“whoever knows how to develop them…”

How to Develop the Will

Many years ago, I learned of a method to develop the Will, which, according to the magician I learned it from, was created by Alice Bailey. You go into your bedroom.  You stand on a chair for ten minutes.  You do this every single day for a month. You tell no one you’re doing it.  Simple—but not easy.

How to Develop Love

To me, this is both about love for self, and love for others.  Here’s what you do.  Put your right hand palm over your heart.  Place your left hand directly over your right hand.  Breathe, slowly and deeply.  Bring to mind someone, someplace, something you really, really love.  Breathe in and think of that person.  Breathe out and imagine sending that love through your hands, into your own heart.  Breathe in, see them, and in your mind say “I love you.”  Breathe out and send that love to your heart.  Loving your own dear heart is the way to love all else.

How to Develop Imagination

Start here:  Shakti Gawain’s book, Creative Visualization.

Once you’ve read it, email me, and let me know what you think, and how what you think, is changing.  =)

“…to their fullest extent is a magician.”

If you engage in these practices, and truly develop these three: will, love and and imagination, then you really can manifest change, according to your Will, in the world around you.  You really can awaken consciousness in others (and isn’t that really what the Magician archetype is all about?).

“Magic has but one dogma…”

Dogma: a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true.

We, magicians, who by our nature make the art of deception our craft and trade, all hold this truth.  Look, we all agree.  Regardless of political viewpoint, or thoughts on climate change, or any number of other topics that could divide us, we come together to agree that:

“the seen is the measure of the unseen.”

And there is so much that is unseen.  Not just the hours of practice and preparation, but the Great Mystery itself.  That which can only be hinted at in words, and in glimpses through the telescope.  Magic connects us with the mysterious, the unseen, the potential of creativity.

Mmmm.  I love that quote.

With love from your Sister of Mystery,

Abigail

 

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