Regulars and Shorts

Coach Jeannette: Manifesting magick

By Jeannette Maw

Witchcraft, magic, prayer, law of attraction—it’s all just a state of mind.
by Jeannette Maw

 

Internationally renowned astrologer and fantasy fiction author Kim Falconer surprised me when she responded to my online musings that law of attraction practices seemed to have more than a little overlap with traditional witchcraft practices. Falconer’s exact words were, “Of course we are all witches, I thought you knew that!”

She went on to say, “Ritual magic, witchcraft, deliberate creation, prayer, chanting, evoking, shamanism, meditation… these are only words that describe a state of being—a state of awareness. We get what we vibrate and the witch, the shaman, the devotee or the ‘regular Joe’ who works with the law of attraction coach is practicing deliberately the art of vibration management.”

Once I gave up my prejudice about what it meant to be a witch practicing magic, I picked up fabulous “deliberate creation” tips from Christopher Penczak in his book Instant Magick.

Unlike most books on witchcraft, this one doesn’t require herbs and moonlight and special colored candles. Penczak says while the physical tools have been an important part of traditional witchcraft, it’s not practical for the modern mystic to employ them, nor is it necessary. He believes the key ingredients to a successful “spell” or potion (or to put in my terms, “manifesting”) are:

• altering consciousness
• focusing will
• directing energy

Those familiar with deliberate creation will likely find the second and third steps a natural part of their “spell-casting,” or deliberate creation routine. It’s the first step that got my attention.

Penczak says altering consciousness is often overlooked by modern practitioners:

“When we change our mindset, our relationship to the inner and outer worlds, we find that place within our consciousness, that inner still point where the mind is clear and focused, in alignment with our will, and our magick is most effective.”

This inner still point is the foundation of magic, he writes. When we are immersed in and distracted by cluttered thoughts of daily life, we cannot find that still point to do our best magic.

I don’t think I’m the only one who may have overlooked this opportunity to increase my creative powers.

The good news is that “altering consciousness” is easy. It simply means purposely shifting your brain wave state from beta to a lower state such as alpha or theta.

A couple of slow, deep breaths can get you started. Developing meditation skills would be even better.

If this habit of consciousness altering isn’t already part of your manifesting skill set, this is your invitation to explore it further.

These three steps to spell casting came in handy for me recently when spending the night in a noisy hotel. Once I remembered I didn’t have to suffer in sleeplessness, I purposely altered my consciousness, focused on a good night’s sleep, and imagined a web of silence being woven around the entire room, closing out the sounds of the outside world. Worked like a charm!

Another one just for fun was when the U.S. hockey team trailed the Canadians in the Olympic games. I followed the three steps with the intention of tying the score (to create an even playing field for our guys) and then imagined a powerful needle pulling a magnetic thread through the hockey puck and drawing it tightly into the Canadian net. (It did make for a dramatic overtime finish!)

The point being that there are lots of ways to employ our powers to create reality, whatever you want to call it and however you prefer to think of it. My suggestion is to experiment and play with what works best, discover what you enjoy the most, and don’t overlook the importance of managing your mental state in the process. Happy manifesting!

Jeannette Maw is a Law of Attraction coach and founder of Good Vibe Coaching in Salt Lake City. http://www.goodvibecoach.com

This article was originally published on March 31, 2010.