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A collection of ConjureMan Ali's thoughts about magic, the occult, and spirituality.



Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Belief, Magick, and the Will

We often hear that in order for magic to work that belief is necessary; hand-in-hand with this we hear the advice of “faking it” until you finally achieve some level of belief. In my own experience, I find that magic works whether you believe in it or not.


The concept that magic is fueled by belief may be based on an iota of truth, but the claim is somewhat misleading. For example, it does not address the fact that there are some people out there who have no belief in magic and yet they buy a spell kit from an online spiritual supply shop and after one go get great results.

Instead, I find that magical power is driven by the will. What I mean by the will, is the concentrated and unified force of the magician’s entire being. That means the force and power that is generated and directed when the entirety of the magician’s attention, focus, desire, and drive is aimed at a specific objective. This becomes apparent when we examine individuals who do magic at times of extreme need or overpowering emotion—both of these sharpen the will to the point that it conveys the need of the magician clearly. A curse said with a wrathful heart seems to draw the judgment of God nearly immediately, or the silent cry for help during a time of need somehow results in a quick response.

In these cases belief does not have an impact on magic itself—like in the case of the curse you don’t have to believe in its efficacy for it to work, but rather that belief, or unbelief directly impacts our own ability to direct the will. An unshakable conviction in both magic and our own ability to take part in it ensures that the very driving force of magical ability is not impeded upon. Doubt and conversely faith has the ability to either sharpen the will to help direct the magician towards his or her goal, or scatter the power of the magician.

Hence we get the adage that doubt kills magic. This phenomenon results from the simple fact that if the aspiring magus gives into self-doubt and second-guessing that his will power becomes divided and unable to impress clearly upon the malleable subtle material that forms our universe.

Whether we are working with spirits, or trying to directly alter our world, the importance of having a concentrated and directed will cannot be neglected. It impresses on the subtle worlds our desires and clearly communicates to the great movers what we want to happen.

This will power is reinforced in two ways: discipline and faith. Through rigorous training the will of the magician can be honed into the necessary sharpness that allows for consistent magical results. Similarly, an unshakable conviction or faith can ensure that the innate creative powers of the magician are not misdirected towards anything other than success.

The proof of this lies in the figure of the mystic and the magician alike. Magicians who have been truly successful—demonstrably, that is—usually always display a strong and unshakable will power. Similarly there are people in this world who have never practiced the magical arts, but due to the sheer force of will display a power that allows them to alter situations to their benefit—we have all met these people.

On the other hand the mystic is able to perform wondrous miracles all as a result of their conviction in the efficacy of their higher power. This unshakable faith translates to a will that is able to clearly communicate with the spiritual forces and powers that help move the universe.

This correlation between the power of faith and will-power with the ability to perform magic is not an insignificant one. It is not unlike the art of sculpting marble into statues—you need proper tools that help you shape the stone to the image you hold in your mind. If your tools are chipped, damaged, and if your hands are not steady you’ll find the resulting statue starkly different from the image you held in your mind.

So next time you go to do your magick, have a little faith ;-)

4 comments:

Mr. J. said...

Gorgeous post, sir. Gorgeous.

ConjureMan Ali said...

Thank you!

Phoenix said...

Magick is too true. Every time I do it on my own the weirdest things manifest around me. Number sequences are everywhere and just say I try to attract a particular person named Cliff for example, every single man I meet after that is called Cliff. It's like I'm meeting the Cliff's of the universe. Funny thing is, I'm a beginner and started magick using Planetary Magick. So even as a beginner starting out, I sure am changing my sphere!! So far though, anything i've requested has only created an abundance of absurd situations rather than manifesting my requests LOL But that's probably down to experience. I'll sort it out eventually I guess.

peregrino said...

Totally, totally agree! Magic is a science, not religion.