By now, if you are familiar with us and our works, we are sure that you would have heard (or read) us say at least once that you should choose a path or paradigm, stick to it, master it, and then either move on to a different path or create your own from the knowledge and experience you have gained. We don’t say this to sound all “mysterious and wise” – we speak from cold, hard experience.
It's a simple concept, right?
Apparently not, since so many of you still reach out to us, jumping from one path to another as quickly and easily as you change your clothes. As soon as you become “bored”, or you struggle a bit, or it’s no longer “fun”, or “it’s taking too long to learn” – you abandon the path you have chosen and want to find another which will somehow miraculously be any different from the one you have abandoned. And the cycle continues ad infinitum.
Do you know why we stress sticking to a path and to not jump around between paths?
Well, let us explain, since then – perhaps – those among you who are guilty of this – will finally understand.
You might want to sit down for this. Are you ready?
Hard truth number 1: Magick is not supposed to be “fun”. It’s not a game, or a fantasy roleplay. Magick – the study and practice of it – is a science, an art. Sure, if you have a natural disposition to it, it may be “fun” for you to study and practice it, but for most – it will not be.
Note our word usage: “study” and “practice”. You will spend 50% of your time studying it and the other 50% trying to put what you have studied into practice. In other words, Magick = actual work. It’s not simple like learning how to do plumbing or some other such DIY mundane thing – no. You will spend years – fucking years studying it. If you want a mundane comparison or equivalent, imagine studying quantum mechanics, now add to that how to practically use that knowledge, and that’s only Magick itself, not even to mention all the politics that come into play when you want to work in-depth with Entities.
Hard truth number 2: if you don’t struggle, you’re definitely doing something wrong. If you, as a novice, breeze through every practice you attempt, you are fooling yourself and are most likely mentally masturbating yourself at that. As a novice especially, 90% of what you will experience are failures and struggles. Once you gain more experience, the “failures” decrease in number, but your struggles will still be there.
Hard truth number 3: if you get “bored” with Magickal practice, then you are not suited to practice Magick. Period. “Bored” is what happens when you watch a shitty B-rated show on the TV. “Bored” is what happens when you have nothing to do. “Bored” is what happens when you do not have interest in something that you are doing. To even think about pursuing Magick, you must at the very damn least have an interest in it. As for “not having anything to do” – if you can sit on your ass and say with confidence that you literally do not have anything to do in your practices at all - then you are full of shit. You never stop learning. You never stop practicing. And you will most assuredly never run out of “things to do” in Magick – even when your body dies you will still have things to do and learn.
Hard truth number 4: it’s fucking supposed to take long to learn Magick. If you could learn it all within a day, then we can assure you that this world would be a whole lot different, and everyone would practice Magick. But they don’t. It will take time – and that’s us saying it in a nice way. It will take time to start getting your footing in your paradigm, it will take time to master that paradigm, it will take time to do anything in Magick. If you do not have the patience, dedication, passion and steadfastness to pursue Magick, then rather step away, as you will get nowhere.
Many people jump from paradigm to paradigm because they seek instant gratification, shortcuts…snap your fingers and in an instant, you have everything you fucking want. Which leads us to…
Hard truth number 5: THERE. ARE. NO. FUCKING. SHORT. CUTS. IN. MAGICK. We promise you – the next person looking for a shortcut by us will find themselves at the receiving end of hell, courtesy from us…and not a verbal one, no – a spiritual one. We’ve said this so many times, that it turns to bile in our mouths.
How do you expect to be able to form your own unique path if you lack the dedication to follow a paradigm, and if you lack the knowledge and experience gained from practicing a paradigm to its limits? How do you expect to practice Magick as a whole, if you flit about like some moth after so many flames? How do you expect to develop your spiritual senses if you cannot even develop yourself and maintain a constant? How do you expect to gain power - true power – if you have the attention span of a toddler with ADHD or a dog in heat?
We are so tired of people coming to us for advice, and then they end up switching up paradigms like a Black Friday sale, because they in all their wisdom apparently know better. Then, they always come back to us, tears in their eyes, frustration and anguish on their brows: “but why am I struggling so much? Why are Entities not listening to me? Why am I failing? Why am I still weak? Why? Why? Why?”
…well.
Dedication.
Focus.
Steadfastness.
Discipline.
Devotion.
Patience.
Practitioners of old risked their very lives for their practices – yet, some of you cannot even remain focused enough to learn one facet of Magick?
You want all this power, all these abilities, all these skills, all this knowledge? Prove it.
You say that you want to learn Magick - prove it.
You say that you are not a dabbler - prove it.
…you say that you are not like the others?
Then fucking prove it.
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