So a lot of what I do is observe my thoughts and intentions and direct my attention/emotion/passion/sexual energy towards the most beautiful and joyful subset of those.
When I'm particularly certain of a desired outcome I will "cast" for it, occasionally doing a bit of sorcery: drawing funny pictures and generally doing wizardly stuff.
I also do "continuous divination" AKA leaning heavily into apophenia and just generally not assuming that mysterious forces aren't at work around me. Sometimes I'll also do "acute divination" -- my favorite method is fortune cookies, not even kidding.
Visualizing and praying to various god/esse/s is important. In particular I pray to Ganesh to help me let go of negative things I'm holding onto (this was a beautiful outcome of therapy mingling with my spiritual life); I also love Inanna, and Sun meditations. I'd also be lying if I denied that Christ shows up in my most anxious moments--especially since He appeared in a dream to tell me "you don't need to be a Christian to talk to me".
Finally, there are also public rituals that I attend on a regular (sans covid) basis where we meditate on natural/spiritual forces and socialize our spirituality.
This is one of the most important bits of it all, as it 1) is a huge source of magical energy, 2) reinforces the practices I'm doing 3) inspires/goads me into deepening those practices, and 4) exposes me to more ideas and possibilities in this zone, even if I've been negligent to study the mysteries (and I have been negligent, since focusing on my career the last few years).
I'm very into Occult topics. I grew up Christian and have come to believe a bit of everything.
I believe that everything is both true and false at the same time and it is important to experience different viewpoints in your world. Currently I believe that we are all essentially God, or facets of God, separated by the concept of ego. The entire purpose to life is, therefore, to have a unique experience. I try to incorporate this by embracing chaos and choosing to do random or spontaneous activities outside of my comfort zone.
I resonate with this belief the most out of those that I have tried, but I love hearing what others believe in or practice. I'd be interested in hearing more about the public rituals that you attend, or any groups that you are aware of.
> I'd be interested in hearing more about the public rituals that you attend, or any groups that you are aware of.
Thelema's ecclesiastical arm is called Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica, and its main purpose is the public performance of The Gnostic Mass (AKA Liber XV) by Aleister Crowley: https://sabazius.oto-usa.org/gnostic-mass/ It is a public ritual Eucharist intended to communicate the principles of Thelema to all:
> I believe in one secret and ineffable LORD; and in one Star in the Company of Stars of whose fire we are created, and to which we shall return; and in one Father of Life, Mystery of Mystery, in His name CHAOS, the sole viceregent of the Sun upon the Earth; and in one Air the nourisher of all that breathes.
> And I believe in one Earth, the Mother of us all, and in one Womb wherein all men are begotten, and wherein they shall rest, Mystery of Mystery, in Her name BABALON.
And so on.
You could look up a local OTO chapter and see if they know of any performances planned -- http://www.oto.org/
Local Wiccan or Pagan groups might be willing to allow you to attend one of their celebrations of the times, like the recent Yule or upcoming Imbolc. I'm not up-and-up on how they find local chapters -- my Wicca and Pagan knowledge are stuck in the times of Witchvox!
Fortune cookies are one of my favourites, too. I tend to use coin flips a lot. Occasionally I'll draw a rune or a tarot card, but I find I don't always understand what they're trying to say until after it's happened.
> In particular I pray to Ganesh to help me let go of negative things I'm holding onto (this was a beautiful outcome of therapy mingling with my spiritual life);
I always find it fascinating which gods magicians end up on. One person looks to Ganesh and Inanna; another to Odin and Hecate; another to Lilith and Satan; another to Jesus Christ alone; and they're all linked in their quest for occult knowledge and experiences. I suppose it depends on their own divine pattern and current 'balance' needs.
Was it 'Low Magick' that Lon Milo DuQuette mentions his work with Ganesh? I remember he had a Ganesh-focused, light-hearted invocation and banishing in one of his books. Was it, 'Pop goes Ganesh', to the tune of 'Pop goes the weasel'?
I just checked, it is 'Low Magick' by Lon Milo DuQuette. The entirety of Chapter 11 is on 'Pop Goes Ganesha'. It might sound a little irreverent, but here is a snippet from the book --
> I first created it to be a whimsical meditation that I could quickly perform mentally to begin and end my morning routine, but it soon became for me something more. In fact, within the context of its goofy simplicity, I have found not only a powerful banishing ceremony, but also a profound and breathtakingly effective technique of invocation.
DuQuette is a great author (Chicken Qabalah, Magick of Aleister Crowley, especially) with a good sense of both humour and the serious, and I'd highly recommend checking him out.
> fortune cookies may actually be personal messages from the universe.
Try this next time you get one:
Take a few seconds and hold the fortune cookie in your hand. Deeply consider for a moment the comedic possibility that this fortune cookie contains a message from a higher power. Suspend your disbelief, just like you do when engrossed in a work of fiction.
Now, the key: ask a question.
Questions in the form of "Tell me about...", or "How should I approach..." etc are most suitable for the form of divination at hand.
Close your eyes and ask the question to the higher power in the cookie.
Now, have a predetermined method for opening and reading the fortune. I crack in half, eat one half, read, and then eat the other half (or don't, if I am being a brat / don't like the fortune). This part is about making a clean ritual of it.
My hit rate for meaningful messages skyrocketed since applying the above approach.
> My hit rate for meaningful messages skyrocketed since applying the above approach.
As a skeptic and non-believer of all things spiritual, whenever I have one of those "meaningful messages" moments (we get them too), my reaction is to debunk that feeling by thinking about how others might have interpreted the same event, or how the fortune cookie supply chain actually works.
It's funny that some people lean into that feeling and assign it great cosmic meaning while others rationalize it away.
So a lot of what I do is observe my thoughts and intentions and direct my attention/emotion/passion/sexual energy towards the most beautiful and joyful subset of those.
When I'm particularly certain of a desired outcome I will "cast" for it, occasionally doing a bit of sorcery: drawing funny pictures and generally doing wizardly stuff.
I also do "continuous divination" AKA leaning heavily into apophenia and just generally not assuming that mysterious forces aren't at work around me. Sometimes I'll also do "acute divination" -- my favorite method is fortune cookies, not even kidding.
Visualizing and praying to various god/esse/s is important. In particular I pray to Ganesh to help me let go of negative things I'm holding onto (this was a beautiful outcome of therapy mingling with my spiritual life); I also love Inanna, and Sun meditations. I'd also be lying if I denied that Christ shows up in my most anxious moments--especially since He appeared in a dream to tell me "you don't need to be a Christian to talk to me".
Finally, there are also public rituals that I attend on a regular (sans covid) basis where we meditate on natural/spiritual forces and socialize our spirituality.
This is one of the most important bits of it all, as it 1) is a huge source of magical energy, 2) reinforces the practices I'm doing 3) inspires/goads me into deepening those practices, and 4) exposes me to more ideas and possibilities in this zone, even if I've been negligent to study the mysteries (and I have been negligent, since focusing on my career the last few years).