The first question we should ask ourselves is: who can do magick? We have all heard the many different rumors about being born a witch, bloodline heirs, and yet we hear others being the first of their families to ever have magick. So, what’s true? All of it. Every human is born with some spark of magick within their blood. As it is tied to the spirit of the person, not so much the physiology. That is not to state that those that have a bloodline of it in their families do not have more latent magick than those that are the first of their names.

As magick is of the spirit, the mind and body will follow. Those with more latent magick will have an easier time. They may have many past lives in which is latent in their blood that will trigger the awakening earlier than those that awaken in their 30’s. Some elders of covens or organizations such as the OTO or Golden Dawn understand all have the spark in them and even those that are not aware of it can be awakened by Initiation of another caster with sufficient strength to probe, stoke, and grow that spark into a small flame. All people can use it, many just never learn about their spark and over time, it goes dim, which is about as good as having none at all.

The second question we should all ask ourselves? Why do I want to do magick? We hear all the time about those that want to learn about magick, and yet very few ask why. We hear about the dangers and the dark sides in all the different forums and older books, we hear about the entities that can find us once we use it, we see that the awakenings are horrible experiences that make us fearful, we even know that learning magick is frustrating if we have to prove it to our peers rather than just saying it happened to ourselves. Most of us have walked away from things seemingly far more important and didn’t bat an eye, relationships that meant the world to us, and yet magick is the constant. Take a real moment and think about the answer. Think about it as we move on and answer it at the end.

So, what does magick do to us when we use it? Well, the physical effects are of bliss, of a rush when it comes into the sacral chakra and flows through the rest of our energetic system. That warmth that moves around in our bodies as we stand before the altar, and we have cleared our minds of that which is the mundane. It sharpens our senses. The sights seem more crisp, the tastes more real, the touches are more intimate, what you hear seems more real than you have ever known, every breath sweeter for the charge and the connection of the oneness, is something that is nearly impossible to put into words. It’s the feeling of being alive. A sense of being complete. This is the state that we get to, and it is like a drug for many, and, like a drug, it can be abused.

Magick can be abused? Yes, that is a novelty thought of those who were trained to respect it. Yet for some, it was taught to them as nothing more as a means to get what they want. Each time that we open to our magick and feel it flood in, we are charging up our natural energy system. This system that is used to running very little current that is required to sustain life. We force the chakras to charge, we force them to light up, we take a breath and make them burn brighter. At times we do too much or too frequently and do not give the subtle system time to heal. The results are usually from feeling drained, emotional drops (like depression), migraines, body cramping, and in the extreme we can no longer feel our magick.

What can we do to keep from harming ourselves with the use of magick? For the most part, learn to crawl before you walk. What does that mean in a magickal sense? Start the process slowly, learn to turn your magick on and off. Some people learn a trigger word or a sigil from reiki. It is simply something that you do each time or visualize each time for your mind, body, and spirit to know: “I would like to use my magick now.” Do the mental focus work and develop not so much a strong will, but a strong understanding of your own personal energy. Yes, do the meditations so that you understand what YOU feel like.

The universal centering is a technique that is used in several paths that typically deal in high magick, ceremonial. Though, I think that it is one of the better straightforward methods for getting your bearings and finding your center. Many do not have a regular centering practice and this will be new. Use it.

The wording for it is from Jason Miller’s book The Sorcerer’s Secrets: Strategies in Practical Magick, which is a great book for practicals like this, a must have for the budding practitioner in a no nonsense fashion and a bit of humor.

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Sit or stand with your back straight. Make a fist with your left hand and place it over your heart. Cover it with your right hand and apply about five pounds of pressure to bring the vital energies of the body into the central channel near the heart. Perform the vase breath and consider your heart to be the very center of your being. Close your eyes and consider that your heart is the very center of the universe. Do not imagine that you are somewhere else, but that you are the center around which all creation revolves.

Just as our perception that the sun revolves around the Earth is destroyed by taking a larger perspective from space, consider that from the ultimate perspective the whole cosmos revolves around the seed of spirit in the heart.

Take a deep inhalation and imagine that above you, emanating from the highest celestial realms descends a column of pure white light. This light enters the crown of your head and passes through you, down into the ground. This white light is enabling and purifying. Exhale and intone the following:

Decendat columba (the descent of the dove)

Take another deep inhalation and imagine that a reddish colored light from beneath you rises through the column and passes through you upwards. Whereas the white light was purifying, this light is vivifying. As the descending light was like bestowing a noble rank or title, this energy is atavistic. Exhale and intone the following:

Ascendat serpens (the ascent of the serpent)

Inhale and feel the two energies entering into you from above and below. Exhale and feel the two energies flow throughout your body, impregnating every cell of your being with their power. Feel your connection between earth and sky, underworld and heavens.

Now turn your attention to the crown of your head. Imagine an empty sphere that extends above and inside your physical head. Breathe in and see a clear energy fill this sphere. It corresponds to the element Spirit and brings increased clarity and spacious awareness. Sound the name IAO (EE AH OH).

Move the mind downward and see a sphere at the throat. Breathe in an airy bright yellow energy that feels warm and wet like humid air and moves about rapidly within the sphere. Sound the name IAO again to activate the sphere of air.

Move the mind downward again to a sphere at the heart. Breathe in a deep blue energy that feels cool and wet and fluid. After the sphere is filled with elemental water, sound the name again: IAO.

Move the mind downward to a sphere just below and behind the navel near the base of the spine. Breathe a red, hot, dry, and expansive energy into this sphere. Sound again the name IAO.

Move the mind downward again to the perineum between the legs, behind the genitals. See a dark earth-tone energy fill this sphere that is dense, cool, and dry. When the sphere is filled, sound the name again: IAO.

In your mind’s eye draw energy from the sphere of earth up your body taking of the sphere of fire and water to your heart. Draw down energy of the Spirit and take of the sphere of air down to the center of your heart.

Project that energy through the right channel from the palm of your hand and force it into the center of the circle. Let a large sphere of energy form. Let the energy flow until you feel that it releases the excess and balances yourself.

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Once you have done this a few times, it will start to show you how you feel. How you are placed in the Universe, and some of your worth as one with the Gift of Magick. During the use of the universal centering technique, you may have felt your magick kick on. Just that wonderful warmth and the crispness of the senses that allow you to dance with the Elements.

Knowing what your magick feels like is very important. Some who have learned Reiki have this feeling, but they also are taught during this time to channel an exterior source. This does help, but it does not really give you a grasp of your own strength. If you feel tired after doing a spell, be sure to remember that as well. If you know what you feel like at full and what you feel like at empty, you can judge your personal strength and heed it wisely.

To grow your strength in magick you can use a process of Tummo Yoga, pushing yourself to your limit and holding it for longer periods of time, or channeling more and more of an external source (doing reiki sessions longer or more frequent) this is the safest way. Yes, you can use pact magick with exterior entities like angels, demons, and gods. Though the door you open may be a door you cannot close again. So proceed with caution.