Happy New year.

In a bit more than two hours it will be 2012.
Soon after that the family will go to sleep and I will be alone. I'm planning on a whole night marathon of mantra and offerings.
For some reason I feel the need of branding the first day of this new year with magic, magic, magic, magic and magic.
A famous magician once wrote : "Don't make magic your life. Make your life magic." It seemed like sound advice 10 years ago. Now it's just nonsense. There is no difference between life and magic and on this new year I want to dive even more deeply into it.
I wish all of you a Happy and Magical New Year.
And make sure that you live it the way you want it.

Sorcerers, swindlers and murder

Before starting a magical business the witch/mage/sorcerer has to define clearly in his/her head if he/she is a professional of magic or if he/she is a magically powered swindler.

For some people it is tempting to receive money from the clients and do nothing.
Others may also think that some of the things that clients ask from people like me are so vile that one has the duty to do nothing and get as much money (and other favours)  as possible.
That can cause a lot of problems.
An example that was all over the news in Portugal was the case of a mother that hired a magician to kill her own son, and paid him with money and sex.
After receiving the payment the magician didn't perform (or wasn't able) what was required and the "lady" asked for the money back. After a few months without having the money returned, she hired a guy to murder the magician, and murdered he was.

So... what is my point ?
If you can't or won't perform something, don't say that you will. It will ruin your reputation and can be hazardous to your health.
Furthermore, I strongly advise that when enchanting for a client you should also enchant the client.
I advise the use of a nice honey jar, to make sure that the client feels nothing but good things about you, and that he/she is generous. 

New Year, New You (III) - Overcoming obstacles

My house is more than reasonably clean and a lot of stuff has been recycled.
The only crap that I need to clean is whatever may prevent me from achieving my goals.
I thought hard, and for my 3rd  source of income I need to make my own company.

There are two obstacles for this.One is time, it has to be done until the 10th of January, the other is money, I need 7.000,00 € (seven thousand Euros).

Over the next few days I'll be enchanting and asking help from up above. I'm pretty confident that I'll get the money in time.

New Year, New You (II)

So, here I am, working on changes.
It's  hard because I am comfortable with who I am and with my life, but here goes.

1 - I want to have a 3rd source of income.
2 - I want to be as good to me as I am to my clients.
3 - I want (I will) buy a new house.
4 - I want to loose some weight.

Oh, I forgot something (and if Jason Miller reads this he will shake his head with pity)
5 - I want to win the lottery (And if  I manage to do it, I will claim the tittle of Sorcerer Supreme, lol)

Responsibility

I am fond of big words, and I try to live up to them.
Today's big word is responsibility. What are the limits to the responsibility of the sorcerer ?
Let me give an example and we can discuss it from there.

 I was hired by a lady to help with her job and financial problems. After a reading I found out that she was being targeted magically. Somebody she knew had hired someone like me to f*ck her life, hard.
Life sucks sometime.
I decided to help her. I would clean up the magical mess, and she would deal with the non magical aspects of the problem. Things started to improve fast on her life (obviously). And then... on one of my readings I found out that the person that had tried to hurt her was targeting her husband and daughter (and their health was already suffering).
I considered that a desperate and despicable act, and extended my help to them, free of charge. The reason why I did it was because it was partly my responsibility, if I hadn't stepped in in the first place my client would keep being the one targeted.
What would you do ?

New Year, New You

I was checking one of the blogs that I follow regularly, and found out this

http://dropoutdilettante.blogspot.com/2011/12/new-year-new-you-experiment-in-magical.html

It is an interesting challenge,and one that I embrace fully.

I have several changes that I want to do, but will post about them in a few hours. For now, duty (and clients) calls

Professionalism, Reputation, Organization and Magic

When most people start dreaming about becoming professionals of magic (witches, witch doctors, sorcerers, you name it...) they only look at the advantages.
No boss, their one schedule, their one prices, it seems that the world is smiling at them.
Unfortunately for those people that image is completely, totally and absolutely false.
No boss, unless you're hired by another sorcerer/magician to handle some of it's work load. And please beware, if that is the case he/she will be checking on you  in ways that no other boss can.
Their one schedule, true, but one has to bend to the schedule of the clients. The professional-to-be has to be  prepared to work on weekends, and at late hours. And that is just to receive the clients. The life of a professional sorcerer has the oddest schedules possible, doing workings at times that others are sound asleep, or resting.
Their one prices... right...   It is necessary to check the prices of other magical providers, if they are well known and if they can deliver what they promise. If they do, and their prices are below those of the future professional, he/she should think again.

I can hear the roar of indignation and the heat of the flames of rage that this may have caused.
A lot of idiots may think that I want to discourage people from becoming professionals. Nothing could be further away from the truth.
Let's continue.

A Bad/Good thing that can happen to the new professional, specially if he/she is any good is to get a lot of clients fast. Why is this a Bad/Good thing, and not just a Good thing?
Because there is the tendency to focus on those cases that are more difficult or more lucrative, delaying to work on the others, and in some cases even forgetting it.
A simple case can become a royal screw up, harming your reputation and the client, and making you loose other clients and respect.
Don't laugh/sneer. IT HAPPENS.
However there is a way to avoid it, requiring only average organizational skills. Make a file for every client, and record who they are, their problem, and what have you done to solve it. Write EVERYTHING. Other things, like expenses and invoices for supplies (candles, oils, powders, other stuff that may be required), should be attached to it. Twice a week go through your files and and check if you are forgetting someone.

In the end, once the problem is solved, give your file or a copy of it to the client. He/she/they will like it and probably show it to the people that he/she/they may advise to consult you

Clients

There are two types of client.

The one that expects us to fail, and the one that expects a miracle, and sometimes they are embodied on the same person or group.

Looking back at the example I gave yesterday, that client expected a miracle. With help from Ganesha that problem was solved, BUT, it was just a symptom of much bigger problems, going for much longer. Chances are that he will loose his livelihood. He should have attacked that problem when it was still an annoyance before it grew like a cancer poisoning his life.

Now ? Now that he is absolutely desperate he decided to ask for help. And with magic I can and will help him, but life won't be as it was. It  can be be better, but he will have to change. Change his job, his relationship, start a lot of things from scratch.

Obviously he is scared shitless. But that can't be avoided. It would take a fornicating miracle to turn his life like it was 7 years ago, and I am a sorcerer, not a miracle worker

Look alive !

One of the most common mistakes of beginners is that magic doesn't need a significant effort. Most believe that to make things work they only have to jerk off over a sigil and "presto!" all will be arranged as they wish.

Not true.

Most people don't have the ability to focus and concentrate hard enough to fuel up the jerk off technique. And jerking off over a drawing or symbol while focusing on it is one of the driest things one can do. That is not a beginners technique although most believe it is.

For the professional sorcerer things become even harder. Although there are a lot of things that we can do for the clients, there are times when we need their active cooperation, specially if there is an emergency. Two days ago a client and friend come to me with a desperate case. I made a reading and decided that he needed Ganesha's help to overcome that difficulty. Therefore I gave him a mala, taught him the Ganesha mantra and told him to do it while I did my part. After a while he stopped. I looked at him and asked what had happened. Nothing had happened, he simply thought that it was enough.

Enough... a serious emergency... requiring the use of a sorcerer and the help of a God that didn't knew him, and had no reason whatsoever to do anything for him... Enough ?!?

I scolded him and made him repeat the mantra for hours, which he did. The problem (that problem) was solved in less than 24 hours. Usually it requires more time, but Ganesha is a Good and Generous God.

My point ? When requesting the help of a God or other entity, look alive, do everything in your power to draw it's attention and to convince it that it is worth the time and effort to help you.

Half assed efforts won't give results.

If you believe otherwise, go home and forget about magic.

Ends and new beginings

I am tired.

A significant part of my life ended today. And yet I am not sad, because that ending was necessary to begin a new chapter of my life. I am almost afraid of the changes that life will bring to me, but in a very real sense, either I changed or I died, and I want to live.

And I am free.