This photo isn’t exactly 100% relevant to magick, but it is relevant to what it takes to be successful in magick, and most other things. I hope it will lend some insight and inspiration to everyone that reads this, old and new members alike.
I purchased this guitar new at the end of 2014. It has seen thousands of hours of play. Countless nights in my bedroom, whittling away at technique and form and intense note sequences.
Literally thousands of hours. 5 years worth of bedroom shredding, 5 years worth of band practices, 5 years worth of learning. 5 years worth of missed notes and flubbed solos and botched rhythm parts.
At this point in my playing career, I am often told I am one of the best guitarists they know. It can be a hard compliment to take, but in most cases it ends up being true. Now that I have made my point…
This kind of dedication and work is what it takes to master your craft. This is how you become great at the things that are important to you. None of this came overnight, not one drop of my skill or knowledge. And this kind of dedication is what it will take to be extremely proficient with magick.
Studying. Practicing. Watching commentaries and instructional videos or reading books. Trying new things. Trying OLD things. Victory and success. But most important, failure. To be a master, you may have to fail more times than most people ever try. It’s how we learn what works and what doesn’t, and identify strengths, weaknesses, natural talents, and most importantly, what works for you as an individual.
While some of us do indeed have a natural talent for things such as music, magick, art, skilled labor, etc. That talent is absolutely worthless if you never study, and never practice, and never employ your strengths and work to strengthen your weaknesses. This can be true for most, if not all things.
So do your best to be gentle with yourself. Allow yourself the time and patience to learn. Don’t expect to be the greatest overnight. Find your groove, your rhythm, your process, and get out there and create your optimal reality!
The months of feeling like you’ve made no progress are always the worst!! I always have people asking for lessons and they just never follow through once I’m honest about how much work it took to get here. It takes someone special to know what it takes and do it anyway. Thanks for the kind words!!
Great post…Im into music 10 years now,i made tons of crap music but i never gave up on working,learning new things,experimenting on new genres over and over again. I felt sad and close to give up a lot of times,but after a short break i was always returning back to work.
After 10 years (!) for the first time i can say that now i got some really good things and it is on a way different genre than i used to work on! 10 years to find my music path,my confidence,my abilities.
So as you said exactly,nothing comes overnight…You got to spend a lot of time on working,learning,experimenting over and over again the same things until your chance shows up.
Having hit ten years recently as well, I understand almost quitting several times. It’s important to take breaks and relax. It’s one of those odd things where, if you don’t take it seriously you won’t get anywhere, but if you take it too seriously you will get depressed or burn out. Balance is key! Keep at it, comrade!!
You the man! I couldnt describe it better. Work a lot-learn a lot-take good breaks to clear your mind and experiment on a lot of genres. And something last and very important,dont be delussional. When your music is crap you got to understand that it is crap.Its not bad,actually for me it was my biggest advantage and what kept me motivated to work a lot and learn a lot to be better.
The process can be speed up by light years by getting the right mentoring, getting yourself lessons from someone’s far experienced than you. I learned it the hard way in the other field.
Always wanted to learn how to play guitar but years are going by and I still haven’t practiced enough I still remember my old Cord X2 and nothing else matters haha
I still remember my old Cord X2 and nothing else matters haha