I nearly wrote it off as a bad Nyquil trip when Arnold Schwarzenegger came to me in a journey a couple weeks ago and said, “Do da magik!” Luckily, I listened to him, and the spirit wearing his face helped me relax after the stress of moving house. Yet it’s only now that I realize Arnie spouted prophecy. Andrieh Vitimus just opened up a brand new site called www.domagick.com, and that can’t be a coincidence! Schwarzenegger must have been telling me to sign up for Andrieh’s first 30-day challenge for magicians. How could I not? Even if I didn’t already enjoy Andrieh’s work—and a good challenge—I can’t ignore the Terminator’s advice!
All joking aside, I’m looking forward to the results this March. The crowd listed as participating so far is an interesting mix and includes at least one other Daemonolater. Whenever I’ve mentioned handing in notes to the teacher of my Goetic Immersion course, I’ve been talking about S. Connolly. Her course and all the conversations that have arisen from it have changed my magick and life for the better, so it feels good that I’ll be able to cheer her on for a change as we undertake a month of self-transformation. You can read her first post on the Do Magick challenge at her blog. I’ll be spending the rest of February on research, as Andrieh’s suggests, and then posting my results here starting March 1st.. I’ll also link my posts on Facebook and Twitter. Make sure to follow the #domagick hashtag so you don’t miss a thing.
Whatever you call yourself—witch, magician, occultist, Grand High Pope of Pagandom—I strongly encourage you to take part in Andrieh’s challenge. Personally, I don’t think it matters what path you follow. I believe we get better at magick just like we get better at anything else: through practice. I’m not certain we are ever truly meant to perfect magick, however. We can get a spell right and fill an empty wallet. We can chant a mantra correctly and fill an empty soul. Yet we remain human, and to be human is to always need or want more. Our pocketbook may feel like it has a hole in it again, even if it doesn’t. Our heart may ache again, although modern medicine could ever find any reason why. It is my opinion that we cannot change this aspect of what we are, though some religions preach ways of doing so. We can only rise above the pain of need and want for a moment. That is why I feel we can never truly perfect magick, but through magick we can strive to perfect ourselves.
I feel it is important to talk about the process of perfection in this day and age, in a world where being imperfect and different can sometimes have terrible consequences. I worry some people voted for Donald Trump because of how he ridiculed a disabled individual, and it makes me almost physically ill. I only have family in the States; I can’t imagine how Americans must feel. I applaud everyone speaking out, especially pagans. Realistically, they could end up on a list someday. You don’t have to be a history expert to know what a witch-burning is. The reaction I’ve received more than once received for talking about my faith to local folk has often made me want to be quiet about being a Daemonolater—and they were pagans. But hey! Somebody has to be the black sheep at every gathering… or be accused of sacrificing the sheep, anyway. Little do they know I still occasionally have misgivings about feeding my snake.
I honestly believe that everyone participating in the March Do Magick challenge can change their life for the better. During the seventeen months of daily work I’ve undertaken so far for the Goetia program, I’ve refined my ability to hear spirits, learned new divination systems, become a Reiki Master, and re-connected with my patron. In that time, I’ve also lost another sixty pounds. I was already on my weight loss journey before I started the Goetia program, but I know I stayed on it because of some of the spirits that rode my ass. I may not see as dramatic results in these thirty days, but I don’t even know exactly how I’ll be seeking to transform myself yet.
I do know that sharing my magick publicly will be an act of courage for me. I may come off as confident when teaching a class or in a forum online, but that is only after I’ve swallowed the huge lump of anxiety in my throat. As I’ve said before, people don’t always react well to the Daemonolater label. Or many of the other labels I’ve chosen to cling to over the years, frankly. Since Arnie came into my life, I’ve begun to notice that they’re not keeping me afloat as easily as they used to do. Rather than acting as life rafts, they’re a bit more like anchors. And since no one who asked me to use them, I think it may be time to kick off those chains and see where I drift, pulled by the currents of my own will.
March will be a fantastic month.