Accepting help from others

General Discussion
1

I thought I would share some recent developments and revelations from my path, as Im sure there has to be a few others here going through the same thing.

One of the major goals of a mage is to become 100% self sufficient, providing your own resources, being your own support system, etc. While this is no doubt a quality that needs to be attained if you hope to attain godhood, dedicating yourself to this will lead to unbalance.

Over the past few years, Ive been running into what I thought was a problem. If I was running low on funds, or things were actually getting bad enough that I was running out of food or something, I would do a ritual for it, and usually the next day, a friend or a family member would drop by with a gift or needing a favor that would end up paying to get me out of my situation. After this would happen, I would usually get angry or depressed, and convince myself that ritual failed, because the resources didnt come in a “magickal” way, and that I had to rely on another human being to rescue me. To me, this was the opposite of being self-sufficient, and was a true failure, something that I should be ashamed of.

Today, after years of fighting this pattern, and never really catching on to the whole idea that the universe delivers what you actually need, I decided to consult Azazel on what I considered to be a source of shame.

His response was:
"Just because events have not unfolded in a manner that you deem desirable, does not mean that your workings have failed. Quite the opposite, in fact. You received what you needed, so the ends justify the means. The forces of manifestation take the path of least resistance, so it should be understandable the path that these resources take to find you.

How fortunate are you to have fellow beings that love you and are willing to come to your aid! How is accepting their help any different from enlisting my help, or that of an entire legion? In helping each other, we help ourselves…this is as true for humanity as it is for the non-corporeal. On a universal scale, there is not as much to be gained from working alone, as in comparison to collaborating with other forces.

You already know this, or you wouldnt evoke as often as you do."

Anyone else run into a similar situation?

2

[quote=“TheLotusEater, post:1, topic:3325”]I thought I would share some recent developments and revelations from my path, as Im sure there has to be a few others here going through the same thing.

One of the major goals of a mage is to become 100% self sufficient, providing your own resources, being your own support system, etc. While this is no doubt a quality that needs to be attained if you hope to attain godhood, dedicating yourself to this will lead to unbalance.

Over the past few years, Ive been running into what I thought was a problem. If I was running low on funds, or things were actually getting bad enough that I was running out of food or something, I would do a ritual for it, and usually the next day, a friend or a family member would drop by with a gift or needing a favor that would end up paying to get me out of my situation. After this would happen, I would usually get angry or depressed, and convince myself that ritual failed, because the resources didnt come in a “magickal” way, and that I had to rely on another human being to rescue me. To me, this was the opposite of being self-sufficient, and was a true failure, something that I should be ashamed of.

Today, after years of fighting this pattern, and never really catching on to the whole idea that the universe delivers what you actually need, I decided to consult Azazel on what I considered to be a source of shame.

His response was:
"Just because events have not unfolded in a manner that you deem desirable, does not mean that your workings have failed. Quite the opposite, in fact. You received what you needed, so the ends justify the means. The forces of manifestation take the path of least resistance, so it should be understandable the path that these resources take to find you.

How fortunate are you to have fellow beings that love you and are willing to come to your aid! How is accepting their help any different from enlisting my help, or that of an entire legion? In helping each other, we help ourselves…this is as true for humanity as it is for the non-corporeal. On a universal scale, there is not as much to be gained from working alone, as in comparison to collaborating with other forces.

You already know this, or you wouldnt evoke as often as you do."

Anyone else run into a similar situation?[/quote]

ironically, yes…

3

Yep

4

Thank you for the scintillating conversation! :wink:

I post things like this because I feel its important to have a grasp on the “proper” mentality a mage needs to be successful in this work. Spirits and techniques will only get you so far if you dont have your head on straight, it seems.

5

I have experienced this same at times frustrating dilemma, TLE. It makes me more careful of what to ask for because from experience the help always tends to come from a friend or family member, occasionally from a stranger, so I know how you feel.

You kind of expect some big flamboyant outcome when it comes to magick but rarely that has been the case. The times when it’s been totally over the top has been when it comes to sex or seduction type magick. You’ll forget you did a working and all of a sudden there will be a handful of woman vying for your attention at the same time and it leads to getting laid. The people around you who witness this are like…WTF!?! :wink:

As for material items, for me, if it comes from someone I know, I have often felt like I’m going to owe them something for the item or help they’ve given me. I think I’ve come to a place where I will graciously accept the help nowadays regardless of the source. You just have to keep your pride out of the way in a sense. But at the same time I try to be ready to help the person that helped me should they require it.

This isn’t really necessary but if it’s your own conscience that has a hard time accepting help from loved ones or friends without giving back then it may be the way to go until you can just allow your desire to manifest without the need for return compensation. In a way though, it’s nice to help friends out but discrimination is valuable so you don’t overcompensate.

Another thing to consider is that the thing will tend to come to you through your sphere of influence, however wide that may be. Obviously the more contact and networking you have with varied and diverse people the greater the possibilities. Being a hermit in your Mom’s basement will limit what can be achieved so getting out into the world will open up way more opportunities for manifestation and the big outcomes that one would like to associate with magick.

Nice thread!

6

I have to say this is pretty much where I’m at with all things ‘magick’ right now.

When I first started doing big rituals I got some nice results. Lately it just seems ‘mundane’, however.

I’m like you, trying to be 100% self-sufficient; FTW & what not.
Accepting help from family & friends is like the last thing I want, but after I do a ritual it’s the first thing that ‘pops’ up.

Do you have ideas on time-frames before I should consider a ritual ‘failed’ and move on?

I know some of these demons like to do fucking ages long projects on you so I don’t want to step on toes by doing another.

7

[quote=“Gnosis, post:6, topic:3325”]Do you have ideas on time-frames before I should consider a ritual ‘failed’ and move on?

I know some of these demons like to do fucking ages long projects on you so I don’t want to step on toes by doing another.[/quote]
Ive been trying to figure this out myself, and when it comes to time frames, the only time Ive had instant results are from solo manifestation visualizations. Otherwise, the non-corporeal helpers seem to have their own individual ways of going about things, and since their nature is to be precise, it can take some time. Obviously its up to you which situation calls for which working.

Virdon is definitely onto something with the sphere of influence theory. The more people youre connected with, the more opportunities there are for your desire to manifest. I think it goes a bit beyond that though, Ive been doing a lot of work with the concept of reality tunnels, first explored by Leary, then really put out there by Robert Anton Wilson.

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_tunnel]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_tunnel[/url]

Essentially it lays out the fact that your beliefs and experiences set up filters in your mind, through which everything is transmitted or received through, and as such, your entirely reality can be formed by this.
Most of the core work in magick, I believe, revolves around this. By breaking down our limiting beliefs about the reality we experience, we enlargen our “tunnel”, and allow more and more varied types of things to happen. I still learned a lot by accepting help from others, but I also realized that their help was allowing me some comfort while I reconfigured and switched tunnels.

So, at this point its 2 in the morning and Im just babbling, but it seems to be leading to a stronger grasp on some magickal techniques. Basically, use spirits to help with the mental problems, overcoming fear, self doubt, etc. Once they have sufficiently helped you escape the reality tunnel you’ve created for yourself and become a confident, fully functional person again, then you should be able to take care of any “mundane” survival-based work on your own. Ultimately thats the point, right? Any input would be appreciated, as this is where Im at NOW. I dont see any pitfalls in this type of thinking, but foresight isnt always the clearest.