I was told to read books about magic and spells, but I feel I got most of it. Meditation, aura, calmness and peace. Treat the spirits around you with respect, work with them. Everyone is connected, everything is connected. We are one with everything around us. Like an invisible string of Energy, that holds everyone together.
You also have to believe the spell will work, if you don't think it will. Then it won't.
So what else is there to know? What books have you read? What books should I read? (Really trying to avoid reading books, but I'm going to the library tomorrow to print something anyway.) The only thing I like reading is Manga haha.
I still feel like I don't understand why they work, I mean is it just the Energy part through meditation? The Energy that you draw from the earth and the positive Energy produced and put into your spell. Is that the "why" it works?
Do I have a pretty good understanding so far or should I still read some books?
If you still think I should read some books, what books do you think I should read?
You are on the right track
Read the books by the old writers
It's less new Agey and straight to the point give or take a few blinders,now the trick is to do some practice spells
Spells that you still want to work but if not you keep trying
The main ingredients of magick is what you won't learn in books
You learn on your own,that's what separates the successful magicians from the rest.
What I did, and so many others, was study as many paths and ways as possible. Some then pick a path/religion or combine parts of various paths.
Never stop studying and learning. You learn things you may have thought you understood, but see it in new light. Even those ranked knowledgable here will admit they are always learning.
Lol I haven't read manga in so long, I've shifted to binging on anime when before I was all about the manga XD
Anyway, the best way to learn is hands on. There's a number of articles and forums detailing 'basic information' and exercises to try. Depending on your path certain books are better than others, but if you feel confident enough, read a beginner's article and try the exercises yourself [like grounding, shielding, charging, various meditation techniques, so on]
I'm Wiccan, so you might want to skip a few books if it doesn't pertain to your path. Wicca for Life by Raymond Buckland, The Goddess is in the Details and Everyday Witchcraft by Deborah Blake, To Walk a Pagan Path by Alaric Albertsson, The Witches Bible by Janet and Stewart Farrar. There's also a number of notable authors like Scott Cunningham, Alex Sanders, Doreen Valiente, Starhawk, and a slew of others. Best to find one beginners book by one of the more reputable authors, get the basics down, then branch out. It's better to be hands on, but it's also wise to read many different books to find new information, but you don't have to rely on them.
@ Winchester, very true, but your first year you are confused, so it is best to stick to one book to get 'the basics' down and understand what you are doing. I feel you should read as much as you can, but I remember when I started out, I read Wicca for Life as my primary source of information, then I looked at other book. Circle casting, for example, Buckland says to start in the East. Say you are also reading Cunningham, he claims you start in the North. Both authers later explain to do what's right for you, but most new members are unsure, and are afraid they're casting it wrong, it clears up some confusion if you read one beginners book, then grab everything under the sun to read. Personal opinion anyway.
But real truth is beyond us, sort like the sum zero of the void. Only truth can exist in the void. . . . and truth is everywhere, all the time.
In my humble opinion, truth is alive. And it is aware. Thus prophets of old called God "The Living Truth and All Knowing."
The first layer of existence is illusion. Matter and Antimatter . . . . when added back together equal "Nothing." For there to be illusion, there must be awareness.
It works because of this awareness. All things have a consciousness of some sort. Communicating with all things is learning their language.
And like most living things, the need for respect is critical if your want cooperation.
Life, as we know it, is illusion. The sages of many paths have told us this. The idea that we are individuals is illusion. . . . but one supported and maintained by the deeper powers of the universe.
The need for respect is fundamental if you want eternal cooperation. If you force something. . . . it will at some point defy you.
But the idea that all things connected is important. Even what seems evil is part of system. There are "equal and opposite reactions" happening all of the time that we don't see or understand. But somehow, the universe keeps a ledger sheet because "truth happens" and there is nothing else for it. Much of the dark energy and despair we feel is really the "opposite reaction" of the good deeds we do.
Sometimes we "want something" and in our ignorance we might hurt others in getting it. The universe tries to tell us when we have hurt others. We often choose to ignore this message and justify our method.
This pain is like a demon that the universe holds in "debit" column. That is the "karma" that we create.
But karma is necessary. If we knew all the pain we caused, we would never leave our homes, and wish for death. We are intentionally blinded from the harm we cause so that we can create our identities.
But it is best to remember. . . that someday, we must reconcile our debt. Those that we have harmed, we will feel their pain.
Thus the idea of "respect" is very powerful. We ate other living beings to survive. There is nothing for it. Even if you are vegan, you eat other living things.
But remembering that life is a gift, not something we deserve or have earned, helps keep us humble. It also pays much of the debt of karma. When we take what is "given" we need not pay a price. . . so much. When we "take" what is not ours, or lay claim to things that are not ours, then karma is tallied up.
So much karma can been balanced with a simple humility. For example: Native Americas used to kill an animal for food, but would then thank the animal, and mother earth, nature, etc, for the food. They knew they had killed and hurt another being, but they also knew they couldn't live otherwise. They paid their karmic debt through the admittance that it was a gift that they did not necessarily earn.
When we think we own something . . . . the truth will hurt us.
